Worksheets

Sheets are the central structures within a workbook, and are where the user does most of their spreadsheet work. The most common type of sheet is the worksheet, which is represented as a grid of cells. Worksheet cells can contain text, numbers, dates, and formulas. Cells can be formatted as well. Sheets often have Workbooks usually contain more than one sheet. To aid in the analysis of data and making informed decisions, spreadsheet applications often implement features and objects which help calculate, sort, filter, organize, and graphically display information. Since these features are often connected very tightly with the spreadsheet grid, these are also included in the sheet definition on disk.

Other types of sheets include chart sheets and dialog sheets.

Note that sheet information is organized into three main sections:

  • Top-level sheet properties (everything before <sheetData>)

  • The cell table (<sheetData>)

  • Supporting sheet features (everything after <sheetData>)