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Convert XLS Changelog

What's new in Convert XLS 16.20

Jun 6, 2023
  • Moving a licenses between two computers with Windows 11 was failing.

New in Convert XLS 16.00 (Dec 25, 2022)

  • Office 2021 compatibility completed.

New in Convert XLS 15.00 (Feb 6, 2022)

  • Certified Windows 11 compatibility

New in Convert XLS 14.20 (Dec 12, 2020)

  • Special Process 111 was not properly being shown inthe user interface.

New in Convert XLS 14.01 (Nov 2, 2020)

  • Sample batch files had incorrectly referenced the incorrect URL for further examples.
  • These sample batch files have been updated for clarity also.
  • Sample batch files are available in this folder after installation:
  • %appdata%SoftInterface, IncConvert XLSDemo Batch Files

New in Convert XLS 13.70 (Nov 3, 2019)

  • Documentation updated for accuracy. Special Process 207
  • Tutorial Videos updated. Now hosted on Youtube as a watchlist.

New in Convert XLS 13.50 (Jun 11, 2019)

  • User interface: Brazilian-Portuguese language localization file added.

New in Convert XLS 13.00 (Oct 30, 2018)

  • When using Excel to do conversions or special processes: More user friendly error messages are being created to assist users with faulty Excel installations.

New in Convert XLS 12.90 (Oct 19, 2018)

  • User interface Conversion of Excel files: When specifying *.xls* for the input file, the sheets to convert parameter was being reset to all sheets (*).

New in Convert XLS 12.80 (Oct 3, 2018)

  • User interface Conversion of Excel files: When specifying a range, it is forced to UPPPER CASE. Range is case sensitive, and only upper case seems to work.

New in Convert XLS 12.70 (Aug 12, 2018)

  • Added special process 118: Remove empty rows from sheet.
  • Command line: Added special process 118

New in Convert XLS 12.50 (Mar 22, 2018)

  • Command Line: Using /L{Log File} switch created an extra output log file.

New in Convert XLS 12.40 (Jan 23, 2018)

  • Converting XLS/XLSX using MS Excel method. If sheets are hidden, they will be skipped.

New in Convert XLS 12.20 (Jan 23, 2018)

  • When a sheet name was specified, and the name contained a - (dash) character the 'Convert XLS' would fail to find the sheet.

New in Convert XLS 12.10 (Sep 21, 2017)

  • Log file specified in command line now may have date time attributes. See version 10.00 below for a list of attributes.

New in Convert XLS 11.60 (Mar 18, 2017)

  • Converting to/from fixed width text files. If doing more than one profile, an issue occurred when going first converting a larger than a smaller number of columns. Extra column data were introduced.

New in Convert XLS 11.50 (Mar 17, 2017)

  • User interface completely updated. Fonts are now 25% bigger. This is great for those using bigger monitors.

New in Convert XLS 11.40 (Feb 16, 2017)

  • Fixed Width Profile Editor now has larger fonts.
  • Fixed Width Profile Editor can now show/hide advanced options (Alignment, pad character, remove).

New in Convert XLS 11.30 (Jan 24, 2017)

  • Command line /? switch now works. Help file was shutting down, now opens equivelent URL.

New in Convert XLS 11.20 (Dec 20, 2016)

  • 'Convert XLS' on-line documentation updated. On-line documentation now responsive to the device and user friendly

New in Convert XLS 11.10 (Dec 20, 2016)

  • Installation was enhanced to allow for wrapping application within a service

New in Convert XLS 10.81 (Aug 10, 2016)

  • Special Process 111 (Change Excel workbook password) was failing.

New in Convert XLS 10.80 (Aug 9, 2016)

  • Conversion using MS Excel method. Regional/Local settings are now used when converting.

New in Convert XLS 10.70 (Jul 27, 2016)

  • Conversion to/from fixed width text file: If the profile could not be found or was badly formatted the error would report both possibilities. Now the error is very specific to what the issue is.

New in Convert XLS 10.60 (Jul 14, 2016)

  • Conversion from XLS/XLSX files: If sheet specified had a name with this format: {Number}{Non-Number} the wrong sheet may be converted. For example a sheet named 12312Apples would potentially cause an issue.

New in Convert XLS 10.57 (May 18, 2016)

  • Conversion from TXT files: PAD characters can be removed from the output. See the menu option by pressing F3. It is now enabled by default.

New in Convert XLS 10.56 (May 17, 2016)

  • User interface: Special Process 114 was simplified. If users are specifying a macro that is not within an external workbook, the application would add an apostrophe.

New in Convert XLS 10.53 (Apr 21, 2016)

  • Conversion to XML was not being done properly

New in Convert XLS 10.52 (Apr 20, 2016)

  • Fixed Width Text Profile editor improved greatly. You can now resize the entry form allowing you to see more/less information.

New in Convert XLS 10.51 (Apr 18, 2016)

  • Conversion to/from fixed width text files: You can now SKIP/REMOVE a column from the output by using a negative width.
  • Conversion to/from fixed width text files: You can now RE-ORDER a column in the output file.

New in Convert XLS 10.50 (Apr 16, 2016)

  • Conversion to/from fixed width text files: You can now SKIP/REMOVE a column from the output by using a negative width.
  • Conversion from XLSX to TXT. There was a round off error causing issues.
  • Conversion to XML. If the input file didn't exist an output file would be opened and left opened

New in Convert XLS 10.30 (Feb 11, 2016)

  • Skip INPUT files already processed (i.e. Do not overwrite existing Output files) implemented in the File\Options menu item. Any input file that has an associated output file that exists will not be processed when this feature is enabled.

New in Convert XLS 10.28 (Feb 5, 2016)

  • When upgrading to a newer version, and previously using the scheduler, the program will fault.

New in Convert XLS 10.27 (Jan 27, 2016)

  • Command line: If extra spaces were specified in the /N switch for the sheet, problems may occur. /N"Sheet1 " vs /N"Sheet1". This is no longer a problem

New in Convert XLS 10.26 (Jan 27, 2016)

  • Converting to/from a fixed width text file. Badly formatted, missing or invalid profiles are now reported.
  • Converting to/from a fixed width text file. GUI: Pressing F3 and changing the profile did not take effect.
  • Command line: Converting to/from a fixed width text file. Badly formatted, missing or invalid profiles are now reported.

New in Convert XLS 10.20 (Jan 18, 2016)

  • Special Process 56 and 109: When using the user interface, and the 'search for' or 'replace with' text contains control characters, the software would fail.

New in Convert XLS 10.12 (Jan 14, 2016)

  • Conversion from XLS/XLSX to CSV using 'Convert XLS' method: In special cases the output was not correct.

New in Convert XLS 10.11 (Jan 13, 2016)

  • Conversion from CSV to XLS/XLSX: If a quoted value has a comma (or the specified delimitation character), the values are incorrectly split into separate columns.

New in Convert XLS 10.10 (Jan 9, 2016)

  • Converting a csv file that has line feeds ("between CRLF quotes") does not produce what MS Excel does. It separates the lines for each row.

New in Convert XLS 10.06 (Dec 29, 2015)

  • Error 21 resolved.

New in Convert XLS 10.04 (Dec 14, 2015)

  • Documentation updated. Wildcards " and *, as well as date/time fields better explained.

New in Convert XLS 10.03 (Dec 14, 2015)

  • During registration, the "Register Now" button sometimes did nothing.

New in Convert XLS 10.00 (Dec 14, 2015)

  • Critical update. Windows 10 Compatibility. Do not use Windows 10 with a version earlier than 10.00.
  • In the File\Options menu item you can now specify to not overwrite the OUTPUT file when specifying the INPUT file.
  • User interface: You can now specify input files better with wild cards * and ?. For example: C:\Input\Prefix*.TXT or C:\Input\*Post.TXT will now work. Also ???Apples*.TXT will work.
  • Move INPUT file to folder option no longer requires the output folder to exist at the time you set this up.
  • Move INPUT file to folder option will incorporate the same enhancements for using Date-Time fields as described next.
  • OUTPUT file/folder names can now have date and time attributes associated with it. The following are now recognized:

New in Convert XLS 8.60 (Dec 9, 2015)

  • Default conversion method is now 'Convert XLS'

New in Convert XLS 8.54 (Dec 1, 2015)

  • Windows 10 (and Windows 8.1) Compatibility modifications completed. This version will be much more reliable on the latest operating systems.

New in Convert XLS 8.51 (Nov 25, 2015)

  • Converting a csv file to xlsx does not create an output file.

New in Convert XLS 8.42 (Nov 25, 2015)

  • Conversion of special input files caused a corrupted output.
  • COM interface: Compiling of the application was set back to a standard binary for forward and backward compatibility. This issue may have existed for several versions back.
  • A demo file had a ill formatted 'Conversion job'.

New in Convert XLS 8.10 (Oct 20, 2015)

  • Office 2016 Compatibility

New in Convert XLS 8.01 (Sep 24, 2015)

  • Additional BAT demo files added.

New in Convert XLS 8.00 (Sep 24, 2015)

  • Numerous special process were failing in Office 365. Error reported: "Excel reported an error: Object does not support this property or method".

New in Convert XLS 7.66 (Jul 30, 2015)

  • Enhanced BAT demo file
  • Fixed special process 102 (Copy Entire Sheet). It would save as the default (xls or perhaps xlsx) regardless of what the user specified in the OUTPUT file extension.

New in Convert XLS 7.60 (Jul 13, 2015)

  • Added ability to preserve time stamp to output file. See the File\Options menu item

New in Convert XLS 7.42 (Apr 17, 2015)

  • Special process 116 was enhanced to allow for changing cells to a single or multiple space characters

New in Convert XLS 7.3953 (Jan 15, 2015)

  • Output file names were defaulting to lower case, instead of what the user typed in.

New in Convert XLS 7.3853 (Nov 10, 2014)

  • Japanese help file now uses CHM help file instead of using web based help. This will make it much quicker.
  • Japanese help file updated to support latest browsers.

New in Convert XLS 7.3753 (Oct 16, 2014)

  • File\Open Conversion Job menu item would not always update the user interface to the first item in the conversion job.

New in Convert XLS 7.36 (Sep 6, 2014)

  • Conversion of XLS/XLSX to multiple files. An error was being reported if multiple file output was chosen. This issue is only present from versions 7.34 and 7.35. Although the conversion would complete successfully the program reported that the conversion failed and the failure may be due to read only attributes of the output file.

New in Convert XLS 7.35 (Sep 5, 2014)

  • Command Line: Special process 56 does not fail if the input file extensions is not recognized. For example using non-standard file extension (say *.abc) for a text file would cause it to fail.

New in Convert XLS 7.34 (Aug 26, 2014)

  • Documentation updated to reflect recent enhancements
  • Languages folder has been moved to the %AppData%\Softinterface, Inc\ folder.

New in Convert XLS 7.33 (Aug 9, 2014)

  • Application default font set to Tahoma. In some instances of Windows 7 (perhaps 8.x) the default font "MS Sans Serif" was installed but not the smaller type fonts. This resulted in a user interface with text much too large.

New in Convert XLS 7.30 (Jun 21, 2014)

  • Application loads and exits faster now. Extra needless startup and shut down items removed.
  • User interface: The 'Conversion Task List' grid now auto-sizes the Input and Output file columns making it much easier to see everything.
  • User interface: CTRL-TAB and (SHIFT-CTRL-TAB) now works far Tabbed items within dialog boxes.
  • User interface: Adjusted user interface to handle Windows 7 64 bit default font size
  • User interface: The LOG displays much better now that the table autosizes allowing for the viewing of the error/warning.
  • User interface: Special Process 114 was simplified. If users are specifying a macro that is within an external workbook, often they forget to add the single quote character to both sides of the path. 'Convert XLS' not auto-corrects this now.
  • Demonstration 'Conversion Job' files are now installed in %AppData% folder.
  • If a 'Conversion Job' file (e.g. *.SII) has #OPEN.SII at the end of the filename then the 'conversion job' will only be opened for editing and not executed when chosen from Windows Explorer. For example a file named c:\MyJobs\WorkingOnThis#OPEN.SII will open within the user interface when double clicked. Without the #OPEN.SII the 'Conversion Job' file will execute as before.
  • Users can specify the following in the program and commandline:
  • %USERPROFILE% or %HOMEPATH%
  • %APPDATA%
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%
  • %WINDIR%
  • %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%
  • %PROGRAMFILES%
  • %MYDOCUMENTS%

New in Convert XLS 7.20 (Jun 6, 2014)

  • Manual updated
  • Version number now shown when launching application.
  • Windows 8 Installation - Removed excess icons in the Start menu.

New in Convert XLS 7.10 (Dec 3, 2013)

  • Registration upgraded to handle Windows 8.

New in Convert XLS 7.01 (Oct 30, 2013)

  • If the program was closed while the size was maximized to the screen the software would not re-open.This was introduced in version 7.00.

New in Convert XLS 7.00 (Oct 24, 2013)

  • Installation upgraded to handle Windows 8 and Windows 7.

New in Convert XLS 6.76 (Jul 27, 2013)

  • Special Process 201 "Surround fields with quotes" was not working for a file with a line without a linefeed.

New in Convert XLS 6.75 (Jun 8, 2013)

  • Help File System updated.
  • Chrome now works properly for html web based help.

New in Convert XLS 6.74 (Jun 6, 2013)

  • Converting Excel Files to Excel files (i.e. xls to xlsx) with 'MS Excel' method. If user selected "Formulas and Values" in the 'Conversion Options' the output would be saved with the display set to show formulas. This was more confusing than useful. Therefore the output will always be displayed in the way it was in the Input file. Also, to clarify, both values and formulas were saved regardless of the options being set (and this hasn't changed).

New in Convert XLS 6.73 (Jun 5, 2013)

  • Special Process 114: Running a Macro was no longer working. The default active sheet somehow changed from 2010 to 2013.

New in Convert XLS 6.72 (May 31, 2013)

  • Selecting the INPUT or OUTPUT folder. When the asterisk was used, the program would always start the selection at the root ("computer") instead of the path last chosen. This is now resolved allowing for quick file/folder selection.

New in Convert XLS 6.71 (May 16, 2013)

  • Special Process 101. Specifying both input and output file names to be the same was causing an issue. This is also true of specifying whole folders with the *.ext syntax.

New in Convert XLS 6.70 (May 16, 2013)

  • Special Process 101. The ability to copy Column Widths has been added.
  • Special Process 101. The ability to specify what to copy has been greatly expanded. You can now specify to copy:
  • Values
  • Formulas
  • Values and Number Formats
  • Formulas and Number Formats
  • All
  • Comments
  • Formats
  • Validation
  • All Except Borders

New in Convert XLS 6.6151 (Apr 12, 2013)

  • Documentation updated

New in Convert XLS 6.61 (Nov 29, 2012)

  • It recognizes double quotes, and thereby ignores comma's within it.

New in Convert XLS 6.60 (Nov 12, 2012)

  • Special Process 101. Had an issue with copying data between two workbooks when links existed.
  • Special Process 101. Faster now by 40% in some cases.

New in Convert XLS 6.50 (Nov 12, 2012)

  • Compatibility with Office 2013.

New in Convert XLS 6.33 (Nov 12, 2012)

  • Command Line: The /I switch was not working.

New in Convert XLS 6.31 (Nov 12, 2012)

  • Special Process 114: When specifying the MACRO to run, often users would add a space before or after the exclamation point, causing an issue. For example: 'C:\in\TEST.xlsm' ! sheet1.HelloWorld would not work. Now this is no longer an issue as the excess space (or two) is removed before attempting to run this special process

New in Convert XLS 6.20 (Nov 12, 2012)

  • 'Convert XLS' Conversion Method: When converting to CSV or TXT cells with very large amounts of data were getting truncated.

New in Convert XLS 5.12 (Feb 22, 2011)

  • Conversion of XLS/XLSX files. When specifying sheets whose name contains a dash character "-" it would not work if the 'Convert XLS' conversion method was being used.
  • You can now specify a range of sheets by sheet name.

New in Convert XLS 5.10 (Feb 22, 2011)

  • Special Processing of XLS/XLSX files: If users didn't specify an extension in the OUTPUT file an error would sometimes occur. An extension will automatically be added if none exists.

New in Convert XLS 5.09 (Jan 6, 2011)

  • Conversion of XLSX: "Treat Values As Text" was not functioning. Leading zeroes were being dropped.

New in Convert XLS 5.08 (Nov 10, 2010)

  • Conversion of csv to xls,xlsx: spaces and double quotes may have been dropped
  • Conversion of XLSX: Roundoff issues resolved

New in Convert XLS 5.07 (Oct 23, 2010)

  • Command Line: When using special process 109, control characters like carraige return and line feed were not getting passed properly.

New in Convert XLS 5.06 (Oct 23, 2010)

  • Conversion of xlsx: Dates weren't getting handled properly
  • Conversion of xlsx: If regional settings were such that a comma is used for decimal point, issues sometimes occurred.

New in Convert XLS 5.05 (Sep 30, 2010)

  • Special Processes: When specifying a target file with the wild card, the file extension of the output files did not always use what was specified.

New in Convert XLS 5.04 (Sep 24, 2010)

  • Special Process 117 added, Delete All Empty Sheets from workbook.

New in Convert XLS 5.03 (Sep 24, 2010)

  • When converting XLS or XLSX to Unicode (42) and using the MS Excel method, while specifying more than one sheet, only one sheet was present in the output.

New in Convert XLS 5.00 (Sep 24, 2010)

  • Windows 7 compatibility enhancements made. Default report folders now updated. Fixed width \Profiles\ folder now placed according to operating system for example. If Vista or greater see the %appdata%\Profiles\ folder, otherwise c:\Program Files\Sofinterface, Inc\ConvertXLS\Profiles\
  • Working well now with Office 2010

New in Convert XLS 4.34 (Jul 8, 2010)

  • Conversion: When the input file was XLSX and there were more than 27 columns the output would be problematic. Columns after the 27th would be problematic.

New in Convert XLS 4.33 (Jun 2, 2010)

  • Language: Japanese language module updated.

New in Convert XLS 4.32 (May 25, 2010)

  • Command Line: Special process 113 Print Excel Sheets: If the /4 switch (number of copies to print) was not specified, this command line would fail.

New in Convert XLS 4.31 (May 16, 2010)

  • Special process 115 Import Tables from document, has been enhanced for Office 2007 and greater.

New in Convert XLS 4.30 (May 13, 2010)

  • Conversion: When converting to/from an Excel file, a new option "Treat values as text" has been added (see Options button, then Excel tab). Use this option to retain leading zeroes (i.e. 000101023) when converting from txt or csv to xls for example. This option can be enabled by using the /D switch from the command line.
  • Conversion: Some XLSX columns were not coming out perfectly.

New in Convert XLS 4.26 (Apr 22, 2010)

  • When using the 'Convert XLS' conversion and choosing a sheet within the OPTIONS button area, the error 'Unable to get Excel Properties' was occurring when xlsx files were being used as the Input file.
  • If users saves SII file, we add existing conversion item if none exists in the list.

New in Convert XLS 4.20 (Mar 10, 2010)

  • Conversion: When using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method and converting from TXT or CSV, the conversion would stop after 128 empty lines were detected.

New in Convert XLS 4.19 (Mar 10, 2010)

  • Conversion: When using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method, converting a input XLS file, if an incorrect sheet was specified no error was being reported.
  • Conversion: When using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method, if an input file was open in another application, no sharing violation error was being reported.
  • Conversion: When using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method, converting xls files, formulas were not being converted properly.

New in Convert XLS 4.18 (Mar 10, 2010)

  • Search and replace was failing with a text file, when trying to replace a double quote

New in Convert XLS 4.17 (Feb 12, 2010)

  • Japanese language file updated

New in Convert XLS 4.16 (Feb 12, 2010)

  • User Interface: If users launch the target file and it does not exist, now it opens the folder in explorer.

New in Convert XLS 4.15 (Feb 12, 2010)

  • Help system completely rewritten. CHM help file now used, and web help is there for backup.
  • User Interface: The terms "Original" and "Target" file have been replaced with the more intuitive "Input" and "Output" respectively.

New in Convert XLS 4.14 (Feb 12, 2010)

  • Localization: Japanese language file updated.
  • Special Process, Search And Replace. When replacing with nothing, the user interface would not update properly. It would work fine however.

New in Convert XLS 4.13 (Dec 3, 2009)

  • Command Line: A new test batch file called TestCommandLine.bat has been added to the installation folder. This should exercise the command line, and be a good guide for future command line users.
  • Command Line: We've made it much faster for any conversion/process not requiring Excel.
  • Command Line: Special Processes that used MS Excel, had an issue.
  • User Interface: When XLSX is chosen for the input file, the status bar now shows more details of what options are chosen
  • User Interface: Picking input and output files, the filter should be more appropriate

New in Convert XLS 4.12 (Dec 3, 2009)

  • User Interface: Is faster for those processes not requiring MS Excel. An unnecessary check was being done with MS Excel, if installed on each run. Command line was already streamlined.

New in Convert XLS 4.11 (Dec 3, 2009)

  • User Interface: Upon completion of a Conversion Job, the status bar now flashes 100% complete. If minimized, the taskbar flashes to indicate completion.
  • User Interface: When running the scheduler, if program is minimized the time remaining shows up in the task bar.
  • User Interface: When running the scheduler, PAUSE button now enabled to halt scheduler.

New in Convert XLS 4.09 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion: XLS to CSV/TXT using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method. Some xls files were problematic.
  • Command Line: "Runtime error 380" was popping up. Happened when users selected MS Excel in the user interface, however, used the 'Convert XLS' method in the command line. Finally fixed in 4.092.

New in Convert XLS 4.08 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion: CSV to XLS usng the 'Convert XLS' conversion method. Fields with unusually large text strings were being truncated.

New in Convert XLS 4.06 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion: For some extremely large XLS files the conversion would say completed but no output file existed.

New in Convert XLS 4.05 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion: For input xls files created in OpenOffice conversion would sometimes be incorrect.

New in Convert XLS 4.04 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Move the input (original) file after processing has been added as a 'program option'. See the FileOptions menu or the Options button in the user interface. This will be very helpful for those looking to use the scheduler to convert a specific folder of files while avoiding redundant conversions.

New in Convert XLS 4.03 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Command Line: When users are not using MS Excel, upon exit the program was attempting to kill any instances of Excel. This was removed, and therefore the command line should be a bit faster now.

New in Convert XLS 4.025 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion of XLS, XLSX to TXT, CSV etc. Fractional values getting lost in the conversion.

New in Convert XLS 4.00 (Oct 17, 2009)

  • Conversion of XLS, XLSX to TXT, CSV etc. Column B formatting (number of decimal places) was getting lost.
  • Conversion of XLSX, sheet 2 Cell A1, sometimes did not convert completely. Error introduced on 7/14/2009 and removed on 7/15/2009.

New in Convert XLS 3.989 (Jun 5, 2009)

  • Conversion of XLSX: Conversion sometimes lost textual data, numeric data seemed fine in some cases.

New in Convert XLS 3.988 (May 30, 2009)

  • Command Line: Full path not required for /S /T /L /I /B and /J. If the full path is not specified it is assumed the current folder will be used. If the current folder path is invalid, then the folder that contains ConvertXLS.exe will be used. This makes it easy to specify the command line like so:
  • ConvertXLS.EXE /S "input.CSV" /T"Output File.XLS" /C-4143 /F6 /M2

New in Convert XLS 3.987 (May 2, 2009)

  • Usability: Most Recently Used Conversion Job files now available from the FILE menu item

New in Convert XLS 3.979 (Jan 15, 2009)

  • Conversion of XLS Files. Certain xls files when converted to CSV, the output would be "Ge0eral".

New in Convert XLS 3.974 (Nov 18, 2008)

  • Special Process (114 Run a Macro): If the original and target file were the same file, it would never save the xls file even if this option was chosen.