You probably already know that Excel will easily open a wide variety of spreadsheets stored in other formats. One that it will open is spreadsheets originally created in Lotus 1-2-3. If you have some old 1-2-3 files and you want to make sure that they are treated, in Excel, according to Lotus 1-2-3 'rules,' there are a couple of settings you need to pay attention to. These settings are available from the Options dialog box. (See Figure 1.) Choose Options from the Tools menu to display this dialog box.
Figure 1. The Transition tab of the Options dialog box.
When you want to open a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, you must first convert the files to the Excel format. Microsoft stopped supporting Lotus spreadsheets in 2007. If you still have access to a computer with Lotus 1-2-3 installed, the simplest solution is. Lotus 1-2-3 v2.3 Functions and Macros Guide - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. Lotus 1-2-3 v2.3 Functions and Macros Guide.
Make sure the Transition tab is displayed. Notice the two options under Sheet Options; these are what you need to work with:
- Transition Formula Evaluation. When checked, this option causes Excel to open and evaluate 1-2-3 files without losing or changing information. Based on the formulas in the 1-2-3 file, if this option isn't checked, then you might lose some data or some formulas won't calculate the same in Excel as they would have in Lotus 1-2-3. Specifically, with this option selected Excel evaluates text strings as 0 (zero), Boolean expressions as 0 or 1, and database criteria according to the rules used in Lotus 1-2-3.
- Transition Formula Entry. If this check box is selected, then formulas entered in Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.2 syntax are converted to Excel syntax. This option should not be selected if you don't plan on saving the spreadsheet in Excel format.
Lotus 123 Help
Make your settings, as desired, then close the Options dialog box. Open the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet and Excel should process the file according to the settings you made.