Craft Apps GuidePreserve the original
Duplicate a legal representative workbook, including formulas and charts you actually use.
CHECK
Original stays available for comparison.
Can GridCraft Open and Edit Excel XLSX Files?
GridCraft reads and writes XLSX, but a successful open alone does not prove a safe Excel roundtrip. Test calculations, sheets and chart structure, export a copy, then reopen that copy in the destination application.
Our reproducible workbook
On 20 October 2026 we ran official GridCraft CLI 0.8.0 on macOS 27.0.1 Apple Silicon. The self-created workbook has Sales and Summary sheets, seven formulas and a column chart. Sales contains three months of synthetic values; Summary links to Sales!D5. We changed February sales from 150 to 160, exported a new XLSX and reopened it with GridCraft.
Results and limits
| Task | Observed result | Boundary / next check |
|---|---|---|
| Values and formulas | Sales 460, costs 260, profit 200 after edit. | Seven formula caches matched GridCraft recalculation; this is not an independent Excel oracle. |
| Multiple sheets | Sales and Summary retained; cross-sheet result 200. | Complex external links and hidden/protected structures not tested. |
| Chart | One clustered column chart and one series retained on reopen. | Visual Excel chart rendering not checked. |
| Excel reopen | Not verified. | Background launch changed focus unexpectedly; GUI test stopped. No Excel fidelity pass is claimed. |
| Macros / pivot tables / advanced formulas | Not in this fixture. | Do not generalize these results to XLSM/VBA or larger production workbooks. |
Run your own destination check
If this fails: Remove confidential data only from the test copy.
Keep: original.xlsx + test-copy.xlsx
Import and edit one driver
Open in GridCraft, inspect every sheet, then change one input with a known expected result.
CHECK
Dependent formulas update consistently.
If this fails: Locate the first wrong formula before treating later errors as independent faults.
Keep: edited working copy
Export a new file
Write a different XLSX filename; close and reopen it.
CHECK
Sheets, formulas, number formats and chart series remain present.
If this fails: If only values survive, keep the source and document that loss.
Keep: exported.xlsx
Reopen in Excel
Open the exported copy in Excel; inspect any repair message and calculate again.
CHECK
Your expected totals and chart appearance agree.
If this fails: Do not overwrite the source when Excel reports repairs or changed results.
Keep: destination-verified.xlsx
Why a compatibility claim needs scope
GridCraft’s official docs describe its own check command, which compares cached formulas and package features after roundtrip. A cache produced by the same engine is a consistency check, not proof against another engine. Files produced by libraries may request recalculation and provide no usable cached oracle. Our result is limited to the downloadable small workbook.
Sources & Evidence
Official sources checked 20 October 2026. Test results are limited to the versions, environment and files stated above.
- GridCraft official capabilities ↗ — Official documentation checked 20 October 2026; capabilities are documentation claims unless separately marked tested.
- GridCraft CLI check methodology ↗ — Official documentation checked 20 October 2026; capabilities are documentation claims unless separately marked tested.