In this post, we are going to show you how to open XML File In Excel, Word, Chrome, and Edge. XML, also known as eXtensible Markup Language, is a platform-independent markup language used to transport data or exchange information between various applications and devices. XML files are plain text files. You may use a basic text editor software or a dedicated XML Editor software to open these files. You may also use a web browser to open the XML file if you only need to view the file data.
In special cases, you may require to open the file in Microsoft Word or Excel. If you’ve never opened an XML file in any of these Office Suite products, then this post is sure to help you. We will not only explain how to open an XML file in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word but also show you how to open the same file using the most popular browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.
How to open XML File In Excel, Word, Chrome, Edge
We’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to open an XML file in Excel, Word, Chrome, and Edge. Let’s get started.
1] Open XML file in MS Excel
It may sound strange, but MS Excel can handle XML data. It allows you to open XML documents and view or edit their content.
You may open an XML file in Excel using two different methods – a) using the File menu and b) using the Data menu.
Note: An XML file contains data that’s been arranged within tags. These tags are used by Excel to display the file information in the form of a table. Excel may face issues while displaying the data if the source file contains too many nested tags.
Now let us take a detailed look at the above methods.
A] Open XML file using the File menu (Open XML file)
Open Microsoft Excel. Then go to File > Open. Browse and select the file and click on the Open button. An Open XML dialogue box will appear, wherein you will see 3 different options to open the file. Select As an XML table and then click on the OK button.
If you see an alert (which appears if the file doesn’t refer to a schema), click on the OK button.
Your XML file will open in Excel.
B] Open XML file using the Data menu (Import Excel)
This method involves loading the data from an XML document using Power Query, which is a powerful data automation tool found in Excel.
Open MS Excel and click on the Data tab. Then go to Get Data > From File > From XML. Browse and select your XML document and click on the Import button. This will open the Excel Navigator that shows the layout of your XML file. Select the data table from the left pane of the Navigator to see its preview. Then click on the Load button.
This will load your XML data in tabular form in a new worksheet in Microsoft Excel.
Read: Excel: The File couldn’t open in Protected View.
2] Open XML file in MS Word
Opening an XML file in MS Word is easy. Go to File > Open > Browse, and navigate to the file location on your PC. Then in the File type dropdown, select XML Files. Then select the file and click on the Open button.
Note: Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013 no longer support custom XML elements. So if you try to open such a file in MS Word, your custom XML elements will be removed and only the text will be displayed. However, you may use a trick to open the XML in Word. Here’s how:
- Open the XML file in your preferred browser (see the next two sections for details).
- Go to More options > Print.
- Select Save as PDF from the Printer/Destination dropdown.
- Click on the Save button.
- Launch Microsoft Word.
- Click on Open > Browse.
- In the Open dialogue box, make sure the File type is set to All Files.
- Browse and select your file.
- Click on the Open button.
- Click on the OK button in the alert that appears.
Using the above trick, your PDF will be converted to a Word document, and as a result, all your custom XML tags will appear in the file when you open it in Microsoft Word. However, it is important to note that due to the conversion process, the original XML structure will be lost. So you need to pay attention to your XML code before saving the data back to an XML file.
Another important thing to note is when you use Word to save the file in an XML Document format, the resultant file will include new XML data which may seem overwhelming. This is because, with the release of Office 2007, Microsoft changed the structure of its document format from plain binary to a combination of XML and binary files. And that’s why it added an ‘X’ (for XML) at the end of these file extensions (XMLX, DOCX, PPTX, etc.).
Read: Best free XML Editor Software for Windows computers
3] Open XML file in Google Chrome
All modern browsers are capable of reading XML files.
To open an XML file in Google Chrome, open File Explorer and navigate to the file location. Then right-click on the file and select the Open with option from the context menu. If you see Google Chrome in the list of available options, click on it. Else, click on Choose another app. If you see Google Chrome under Suggested apps or More options, click on it. Else, click on Choose an app from your PC. Navigate to the location where Chrome is installed. Select Chrome and click on Open. The XML file will open in the Google Chrome browser.
Alternatively, you may drag the XML file from the File Explorer window and drop it over a new tab of your Google Chrome browser.
4] Open XML file in Microsoft Edge
Open File Explorer and navigate to the location of your XML file. Right-click on the file and select Open with > Microsoft Edge. The file will open in the Edge browser in read-only format. Alternatively, you may launch the Edge browser and drag and drop the XML file (from the File Explorer window) over a new tab of your Microsoft Edge browser.
We sincerely hope you find this post useful. Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Read Next: Set Notepad++ as the default editor for .xml files in Windows.
