Is Excel Still Available Free?

[Cloverjo]

I'm trying to get excel on my fairly new laptop, but am having problems. I have it on my decrepit desktop, but would really like it on my lappy. Is it still available free?
Thank you.

[dannyk13]

http://microsoft_excel.en.downloadastro.com/

[dannyk13]

or this:-http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/free-office-software

[CrapAtCryptics]

Openoffice is free and contains a spreadsheet that does pretty much everything Excel does and will open and save xls. It wont have any compatibility issues.

[dannyk13]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/free-office-software

[Cloverjo]

Thanks to you both. I'm trying both of your suggestions, but computer is playing up. I'll get back to it later.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't believe Excel was ever legally free. It's Microsoft Office after all.

[brainiac]

I think Old Geezer's correct. Excel is never (legally) free as it's part of Microsoft Office, which you always have to pay for. A few months ago I bought a new laptop with a 'special offer' of Microsoft Office for £40 when bought with laptop. It was only several weeks later that I discovered that the £40 was only for one year's subscription! No wonder Bill gates is so obscenely rich.

[Cloverjo]

I'm sure I never paid for Excel on my desktop. I suppose it came already installed, and I paid for it in the price of the computer.
Still waiting for laptop to behave so I can try the previous suggestions.

[Buenchico]

Excel has never been free. It's been bundled with Microsoft Office that's sometimes included in the purchase price of a computer but it has most definitely not been free! (Danny's link goes to a trial version, as shown in the 'Product details' column). The only freebie offered by Microsoft is Excel Viewer which, as the name suggests, allows you to view Excel spreadsheets but not to create or edit them.

As CrapAtCryptics states, OpenOffice Calc (which is part of the full OpenOffice suite) does everything that Excel does. (Indeed, it handles some of the very large spreadsheets that I download from research sources rather better than Excel does):
https://www.openoffice.org/
The only thing you need to note about OpenOffice programs is that, by default, they save files in non-Microsoft formats (meaning that people using Microsoft Office won't be able to view them). You can get round that simply by using 'Save As', instead of 'Save', and selecting a suitable format. It's better though to change the default settings, so that your OpenOffice programs automatically use Microsoft formats. Their are easy instructions here:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/office-tips/set-openof%EF%AC%81ce-org-to-save-in-microsoft-of%EF%AC%81ce-format-by-default/

[Cloverjo]

Thank you, Buenchico. I'll have a look at it tomorrow. I'm fed up with the blooming computer for today.

[Cloverjo]

Sorry I've taken so long to give feedback.
Thanks, Buenchico. It's perfect for what I want to do.