Open an XLSX File on a Mac Without Excel

A workbook is not like a CSV, which any text editor can read. An .xlsx file is a compressed archive of XML, so it takes an app that understands the format. A Mac already has two.

Quick Look

Select the file in Finder and press Space. You get a preview of the workbook, usually with a tab for each sheet. It’s the fastest way to check what’s in a file, and it can’t change anything.

Numbers

Numbers is free and comes with macOS. Double-click won’t use it if another app owns the file type, so right-click the file and choose Open With, then Numbers. It imports a copy, so your original stays as it was. Complex formatting and some functions may not come across exactly.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is free and is the closest thing to Excel here, with real editing and formulas. It’s also the heaviest install, and it’s more than you need if you only want to read a file.

CSV Desk

CSV Desk opens .xlsx, .xls and .ods files read-only. You pick the sheet, and it shows the values in a grid you can sort, filter and search, with statistics for each column. There’s no formatting and no formulas: you see each cell’s value as the workbook stored it, and your workbook isn’t changed.

It suits the case where you got a workbook from someone else and want to know what’s in it, or need the data out of it.

Converting Excel to CSV

For one file, open it, pick the sheet and export. For a folder of them, File, then Convert Files takes a list of workbooks and CSVs and writes each one in the format you choose, into a folder you pick. Your originals aren’t touched, and nothing gets replaced: if a name is taken, the new file becomes “name 2”. Each sheet with data becomes its own file, such as book – Sheet1.csv.

There are Shortcuts actions for the same job on macOS 13 and later, so a conversion can run from a Finder Quick Action or an automation.

Which to use

To glance at a file, use Quick Look. To work inside a workbook, use Numbers or LibreOffice. To read the data, check it or get it out as CSV, use CSV Desk.