DOCX to XLS Converter

What happens when you convert DOCX to XLS

• Each table in the DOCX becomes its own sheet, named Table 1, Table 2 and so on. Numbers are stored as numbers.
• Text outside tables, such as headings and paragraphs, is left out, because a spreadsheet only holds the tables. A DOCX with no tables gives a clear message rather than an empty file.
• XLS allows at most 65,536 rows and 256 columns per sheet. Larger sheets do not fit the format; use XLSX for them.
• The Word document is read by mammoth.js and the tables by SheetJS, both running in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

How to convert DOCX to XLS online

1. Press "Choose DOCX files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
2. There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
3. Press "Convert to XLS". The spreadsheet library, about 900 KB, and the Word reader load the first time, and then documents convert in a moment.
4. Save each XLS with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.

Why convert DOCX to XLS?

DOCX files usually come from letters, reports, CVs and most documents shared at work. People convert them to XLS because some older accounting systems, government portals and legacy software still only accept the older XLS format from Excel 97 to 2003.

In short, DOCX is good at what it was made for, and XLS is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. DOCX opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice Writer, while XLS opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice Calc.

How to convert DOCX to XLS on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

On Windows

Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your DOCX files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each XLS is saved to your Downloads folder.

On a Mac

Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the DOCX files from Finder onto the drop zone and the XLS files land in Downloads.

On iPhone and iPad

Open the page in Safari and tap Choose DOCX files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted XLS appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.

On Android

Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose DOCX files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The XLS is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.

Best settings for DOCX to XLS

There are no settings: every table is read with its rows and columns as they are, and numbers are stored as numbers.

Each table has its own sheet, in the order the tables appear in the DOCX. Rename the sheets in your spreadsheet program if Table 1, Table 2 are not clear enough.

DOCX vs XLS: the differences

About DOCX and XLS files

What is a DOCX file?

DOCX has been Word's default format since 2007. Like XLSX it is a ZIP archive of XML files, which is how its text can be read without Word.

What is an XLS file?

XLS is the binary Excel format used before 2007. It is limited to 65,536 rows and 256 columns per sheet, far fewer than XLSX allows.

DOCX to XLS not working? Common problems

• "No tables were found in this file." The DOCX has no tables, only text; there is nothing to put into cells.
• Some numbers are text. Numbers written with spaces or currency signs stay text; format the column as a number in your spreadsheet program.
• The document is password protected. Encrypted Word documents cannot be read; remove the password in Word first.

Convert DOCX to XLS from the command line

Pandoc turns the document into HTML, and pandas reads its tables; this writes the first one (it needs lxml, and openpyxl for XLSX):

pandoc input.docx -o tables.html
python3 -c "import pandas as pd; pd.read_html('tables.html')[0].to_excel('output.xlsx', index=False)"
soffice --headless --convert-to xls output.xlsx

The converter on this page does the same job in your browser, without installing anything.