Add .xls Files To Web Sites

6 Simple Steps to Add .xls files to Web Sites

Have you created an .xls program using Microsoft Excel that you think your readers will benefit from? Did you get permission to add a link to an .xls file on your Web site? This is how you add the .xls file to your Web site so your readers can open it or download it.

* Don't forget to add a link to the Microsoft Excel Viewer so your readers that don't have Excel can still view the file if they want to.

1. Make Sure .xls Files Are Allowed - Some hosting services don't allow files over a certain size and some don't allow you to have certain types of files on your Web site, this includes .xls files. Make sure that what you are about to add to your Web site is allowed by your Web hosting service first. You don't want to get your Web site shut down for not following the rules or do a lot of work getting ready to add the .xls file to your Web site to find out you can't.

   If your hosting service does not allow you to have .xls files on your Web site you can get your own domain name for your Web site or switch to another hosting service that does allow .xls files or large files on Web sites.

2. Upload .xls File To Your Web Site - Upload your .xls files to your Web site using the easy file upload program that your Web hosting service provides. If they don't provide one then you need to use an FTP program to upload your .xls file to your Web site.

3. Find Your .xls File's Address (URL) - Where did you upload the .xls file to? Did you add the .xls file to the main folder on your Web site or to another folder? Or, did you create a new folder on your Web site just for .xls files? Find the address of the .xls file on your Web site so you can link to it.

4. Choose a Location For Your .xls File - Which page on your Web site, and where on the page, do you want the link to your .xls file to be? You could make the .xls file open when the Web page opens, but a lot of people find this annoying and some find it to be bad form. So you should decide where you want the link to the .xls file to show on the Web page.

5. Find The Location of the .xls File in Your HTML - Look through the code on your Web page until you find the spot where you want to add the link to your .xls file. You may want to add <p> before you enter the code, for the link to your .xls file, to add a space.

6. Add The Link to the .xls File - Add the code to the place where you want the link to the .xls file to show up in your HTML code. It's actually the same link code that you would use for a normal Web page link. You can make the text for the .xls file link say anything you want it too.

   example

   • Your Web site is hosted at Freeservers
     
   • The username for your Web site is "sunny"
     
   • Your Web site is located at http://sunny.freeservers.com
     
   • You uploaded the .xls file to the main directory in your file manager on your Web site
     
   • The .xls file is called "flowers..xls"
     
   • The text you want the reader to click on to download the .xls file is "Click here for the .xls file called flowers."

   • Your code will look like this:

     <a href="http://sunny.freeservers.com/flowers.xls">Click here for the .xls file called flowers.</a>

   • If you had uploaded the .xls file to a folder called "fun", the code for the link to the .xls file would look like this instead:

     <a href ="http://sunny.freeservers.com/fun/flowers.xls">Click here for the .xls file called flowers.</a>

7. Testing The .xls File Link - IF you are creating your Web site on your computer, before downloading the Web site, and the .xls file, to your server, and you want to test the link to the .xls file to make sure it works right you will need to link to the .xls file on your hard drive like this:
   • The .xls file is located in the "My Documents" folder
     
   • It is called "flowers.xls"
     
   • The text for the .xls file says "Click here for the .xls file called flowers."
     
   • Code is: <a href ="file:///C|/My Documents\flowers.xls">Click here for the .xls file called flowers.</a>