What you intend to (e.g., import it into a database, use it in a script, or just document its contents)?

The name "ids.xls" is also a common generic title for supplementary data files in academic research papers, particularly in genetics. Example Paper "GIFtS: annotation landscape analysis with GeneCards" includes a supplementary file named Table S3 - GIFtS sources ids.xls Example Paper "The DAVID Gene Functional Classification Tool"

If you absolutely cannot migrate away from Excel, apply strong encryption:

| Problem | Likely cause | Solution | |---------|--------------|----------| | File opens but shows gibberish | Wrong encoding or corrupt | Try opening with LibreOffice; change encoding to UTF-8 | | "This file is in a different format" | Saved as HTML/XML but named .xls | Open in Notepad – if you see <table> , rename to .html or .xml | | Very large file (hundreds of MB) | Bloated with unused formatting | Open → Save As .xlsx (smaller) | | Can't find the ID column | Hidden columns or merged headers | Unhide columns (Ctrl+Shift+0) or unmerge cells |

: Scientific papers often provide an "ids.xls" file as supplementary material to list gene symbols, protein IDs, or database source identifiers.