xls "preview" weirdness

[lambdavu]

Hi everyone, I am pretty new to Mac OS so I am probably missing something obvious, please bear with me. When I try to view a MS Excel file, Mac OS X tries to open it with TextEdit (I have neither OpenOffice or iWorks nor anything similar installed) and of course it ends up displaying only gibberish. BUT when I am looking for a .xls file in Finder, the preview on the right shows what seems to be a regular spreadsheet with columns rows and all the usual stuff (screenshot attached). How can this be? Should i be using something different from TextEdit to open the file? I tried opening it with Preview but it did not work. I have no interest in editing the xls, simply viewing it would be enough.

Thanks,

λv

 

[tpg]

Hi - in the finder, have the xls file selected, then press SPACE. This brings up quick look, which should display it just fine

 

[lambdavu]

Ah, brilliant! Thank you!

 

[spinnerlys]

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