Preserving Spreadsheets with Open Standards: A Collaborative Approach : Short Paper - iPRES 2025 - Wellington, New Zealand / Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa
Abstract
This paper outlines a collaborative initiative by European national archives within the Open Preservation Foundation (OPF) to address the long-term preservation of spreadsheet data. Recognising the risks associated with vendor lock-in and the ephemeral nature of commercial software solutions, the group focused on adopting and extending the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format (ISO 26300), an open standard. They developed a free and open-source (FOSS) validation tool to ensure compliance with both the standard and additional archival requirements, such as disallowing encryption and macros. This case study demonstrates the benefits of community-driven development, open standards, and FOSS tools for digital preservation, highlighting the importance of organisations like the OPF in maintaining long-term access to information.Details
- Creators
- Carl Wilson; Maria Meschersmitt; Asbjørn Skødt; Neil Jefferies
- Institutions
- Date
- 2025-09-01 00:00:00 +0000
- Keywords
- digital humanities
- Publication Type
- paper
- License
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- Download
- 227267 bytes