Opening files with ._xls file extensions

[donwhite]

I have received a file with a ._xls extension and am unable to open it in Open Office. I have Googled the problem and so far have established that files sent as .xls files are sometimes converted to ._xls by the email software to prevent malicious files being opened.

I have tried saving the file as an attachment and then changing the title but although I am able to change the main title I am prevented from changing the file extension. I have also tried to open in WordPad but just get random characters.

Can anybody advise me regarding how to open this file in Open Office?

Thanks

[Villeroy]

If you can not open any file with any program regardless of the extension then you may contact a local institute for some computer training. Opening files with applications is the main purpose of all desktop environments since the 80ies. The command line makes it even easier to tell the computer what you want if you know how to use a command line.

If you open the file with OOo and OOo is not able to handle the file properly, then it might be no Excel file at all.
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[donwhite]

Thanks for the input Villeroy, as you commented ._xls is not an Excel file, well not a standard one at least. As mentioned earlier it was originally sent as an Excel .xls file but the underscore gets added by Windows Live Mail as a malicious file protection strategy.

I have been trying lots of options and have finally cracked it. Rather than opening the file through Libraries/Documents/folder name/file, first open OOo then open the ._xls file via All files (*/*), it can then be saved in any of the spreadsheet formats available via OOo.

It took a while but I got to the simple solution in the end.

[Villeroy]

The name of the file is completely unrelated to the content.
Simply open that file in some application. You may rename it but you don't have to.
This is not a help forum for people who can't operate Microsoft Windows. This is the year 2012. You should really know better.
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Rest in peace, oooforum.org
Get help on http://forum.openoffice.org

[donwhite]

In attempting to find out how to open ._xls files I have found quite a number of people on the net with a similar problem, this problem has been recornised with Excel as an add-on has been produced that opens the files in the normal way.

However my problem was in OOo and maybe the answer that I have posted will help less pompous users of the forum. If you didn't want to help maybe you shouldn't have wasted your time responding.

[Villeroy]