In ArcMap what is the deprecation plan for Excel XLS versus XLSX file formats? Currently on Windows 10 we need to install Access Database Engine components for Office 2007 to enable the use of XLS files. At ArcGIS 10.6.1 and 10.7 which version of Excel files are supported?
ArcGIS supports both Excel 2003 and earlier .xls files and Excel 2007 .xlsx files. One advantage of Excel 2007 is that it allows much larger worksheets (1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns) than you can have in Excel 2003 (65,536 rows by 256 columns).
At least Pro will keep the legacy alive for the foreseeable future at least
Our issue is 'Access Database Engine components for Office 2007' must be installed on the Windows 10 machine for the Excel .xls files to work. If you start Access 2016 this component is overwritten, breaking your ability to load and view .xls files in ArcMap.
