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?

snakeroot · 2026-04-22 16:20:26

Microsoft Office365 has an online mode that allows you to use Office applications, including Excel, in a browser window. I use it for work and it's OK once you get used to it. Not exactly a speed demon and very resource intensive, but it gets the job done.

You could try opening the converter file (which is just a .xlsx file) in LibreOffice Calc and importing a Calc file with tax data in it saved as .xlsx to see what happens. But if there's some hidden incompatibility and you submit bad data, I suspect the DJP will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

cryptearth · 2026-04-22 18:29:14

if i'm not mistaken one can even upload M$ to googles online office suite and it should be able to open them ... unless they contain M$ specific macro/vb code

Succulent of your garden · 2026-04-23 11:31:59

cryptearth wrote:

if i'm not mistaken one can even upload M$ to googles online office suite and it should be able to open them ... unless they contain M$ specific macro/vb code

Most of the time that works, I mean I had never found an issue to load a MS office file into that, but also I don't use it frequently , just for the NPCs in life.

If you just only need excel you can use this with docker: https://github.com/winapps-org/winapps

Seems [by doing a quick research] that pandoc supports .xlsx as an input format but doesn't support XML as default for output, but it can as DocBook XML. But, you can use pandoc to treat the .xlsx input into html, and then use something else to parse the html into xml.

Or just use the virtual machine
Chris Titus windows debloat script if you want to have a debloated vm btw.

Last edited by Succulent of your garden (2026-04-23 11:34:51)

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#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

#7 2026-04-22 16:20:26

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

#8 2026-04-22 18:29:14

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

#9 2026-04-23 11:31:59

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

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