Conversion issue in Excel 2004

[erikron]

My mom uses Excel 2004 and after finishing up with a spreadsheet accidentally saved it as an Excel 2008 doc. Now, when she attempts to open it, it just shows up as gibberish? Any way to salvage it, or is it a lost cause?

 

[jaduff46]

Email it to someone with Excel 2008 or later, have them save it Excel 97-2004 format (save as ...) and email it back to her.

 

[MisterMe]

My mom uses Excel 2004 and after finishing up with a spreadsheet accidentally saved it as an Excel 2008 doc. Now, when she attempts to open it, it just shows up as gibberish? Any way to salvage it, or is it a lost cause?

Microsoft has a free tool, the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, that will convert your Excel 2008 file to Excel 2004.