To open Excel 2007 files with Excel 2003 (or earlier) you need the
compatibility utility from Microsoft. Go to:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007
File Formats

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

In Xl2007, you can also save a workbook in the earlier format

Please note, this is not a Windows XP / Windows Vista issue. It is all about
the version of Office that one is using. For example, I run Office 2007 on a
XP machine and Office 2003 on a Vista machine.

best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
remove caps from email

"lildiana" wrote in message
...
Seems that the format in windows xp is a different format in windows
vista. I
try to open an excel file sent from xp to vista and it gives me a message
that this file cannot be opened. In xp the format is .xlr and in vista it
is
.xlxs. Is there any way that either xp or vista exel formats can be
changed
in order to open an attachment of a vista or xp file so it can be
compatible
to be read?