I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

Drac1609 · 2026-04-16 08:09:28

A few weeks ago i switched from Windows to Linux (using my old laptop) and is extremely satisfied by the results. But, as of 2025 my country began to use a web-based taxation system (CORETAX) which rely on Excel feature to convert .xlsx files into XML file that will be used to import Taxpayers data from excel to the web. As a tax consultant, this feature is something i was forced to use and is critical to prepare any tax return reports. I have asked chat GPT about this problem and the recommendation i received are to create a python based program using the codes it created (which i hesitates to use) to convert .xlsx files into XML. Is there any ways to navigate this problem using a third-party app or should i just grit my teeth and start studying programming?

Nikolai5 · 2026-04-16 08:30:15

You could use a virtual machine to run windows for the sole basis of producing those tax documents.

Search for Libreoffice CORETAX and see if there is anything you can use there, I can see at least one Github project that someone has made that aims to replicate that functionality via a macro script.
So the work may already be done for you.

cryptearth · 2026-04-16 09:23:20

that should be simple:
.xlsx is basically a .zip archive contain several .xml structures which excel builds the sheets from
reading .zip and decompress is part of pretty much any modern language - then it's just dealing with a lot of already .xml data
so the "conversion" is just "read .xml data from a .zip archive and write it out a bit differently structured into a .xml" - any AI should give you working code in several languages

Drac1609 · 2026-04-16 10:58:17

Nikolai5 wrote:

You could use a virtual machine to run windows for the sole basis of producing those tax documents.
Search for Libreoffice CORETAX and see if there is anything you can use there, I can see at least one Github project that someone has made that aims to replicate that functionality via a macro script.
So the work may already be done for you.

Thank you for your suggestion. I have looked into the project on Github but the way the project were made and used did not align with my work flow, i will try using virtual machine to run excel for the time being.

Nikolai5 · 2026-04-16 13:05:04

At least it allows you to move to Linux and have a workaround until you can figure out a way to achieve it in Linux.

"There's nothing more permanent than a temporary solution"

seth · 2026-04-16 13:05:45

rely on Excel feature to convert .xlsx files into XML

xml/what?
As cryptearth points out both, LO and MSO dataformats are compressed archives including xml file(s) and LO certainly can export to some form of xml and xhtml - what *exactly* do you currently use to export the file into what precise format?

Arch Linux

#1 2026-04-16 08:09:28

I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

#2 2026-04-16 08:30:15

Re: I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

#3 2026-04-16 09:23:20

Re: I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

#4 2026-04-16 10:58:17

Re: I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

#5 2026-04-16 13:05:04

Re: I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

#6 2026-04-16 13:05:45

Re: I want to fully switch from Windows to Linux, but there is a problem

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