[RED ALERT: I have just received warning from two sources in the comments that Anko is uploading your data to an external site for analysis. I do not condone this, therefore I will advice not to use this app until this has been cleared out. I will contact Anko for more information about their service and report back. In the meantime you may try the ComponentOne Viewer which is better anyway.]

[Update2: Ok Anko just placed themselves in the list of Bad Vendors. The App is NOT FREE as advertised. After two days or thereabout, you get a popup to recommend to your friends. If you say NO, you’re told App trial period has expired and App is closed. This is in violation of the Store policy and I have reported them. The App is not advertised as Trialware in the Store, therefore it cannot officially expire!]

Wow! Anko has just dropped a bomb in the Store! Just last week I was imploring a Dev to work further on his Excel Sheet viewer because it was too basic, you can only view basic information, no Cell titles, no expansion of columns, no support for graphs etc, etc. Well, Anko Software, known for their Windows Phone and Windows 8 Apps has just blown everyone away with this release of Excel+ App.

I wrote then that we are happy to see Devs attempting to Metrofy Office Apps. That anything to keep us away from the Desktop is a welcomed addition on our Mobile Devices. The Desktop is power drain on a tablet. The Apps that run there aren’t optimized for power-sipping. They are power hogs! By running purely in the Metro environment, you can be sure of extended Battery-life. Therefore if all I want is just to peek an Excel file, why do I have to drop to the desktop to open Excel if I can just open simple MX App that does this. So, Excel worksheets is just the beginning, we are gunning for an MX Word Viewer too, and why not throw in an MX Powerpoint Viewer too. All these will get us on-track till Microsoft is finished porting Office to the MX environment. So, Go Anko! Go Devs! Dazzle us with what you can achieve in the MX environment. Prove the MX detractors that they are wrong. That you can also be productive in the Metro environment.

Anko is generous to make this app free for now. They need coverage of course, so I guess they’ll be asking for the money down the line somewhere. So get this while you can. Here is an excerpt of the App from the Store:

Description

Excel + is an application for reliably viewing and interacting with Excel documents across platforms and devices. Install the Excel + app to work with Excel documents on your Windows 8 or Windows RT.
Features
• Quickly open Excel documents
• Search text to find specific information
• Multiple spreadsheets support
• Open local as well as online documents
• Rich graphics support
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993, and it has replaced Lotus 1-2-3 as the industry standard for spreadsheets. Excel forms part of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets, using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors for different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager).It has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics, and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. It also has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer, or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports. In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule, analyze the results, make a Word report or Power Point slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants.
Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.

So, you’ve got a sizzling hot device, go get this sizzling hot piece of awesomeness. Download for free now via the Source link here below; while you can. :-)

Source: Windows Store