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How to open .OTS files on Linux

To open .OTS files on Linux, open the .OTS file in an ODF-compatible spreadsheet app (commonly LibreOffice Calc, often available via your distribution).

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Open the .OTS file in an ODF-compatible spreadsheet app (commonly LibreOffice Calc, often available via your distribution).
  2. From your file manager: right-click → Open With → select the spreadsheet app (or open via File → Open in the app).
  3. If the file should become a working spreadsheet, save a copy as .ODS to avoid modifying the original template.

Common issues

The .OTS file won’t open or shows an unknown format error

This usually happens when your spreadsheet app doesn’t support OpenDocument templates or the file association points to the wrong program.

  1. Open the file from inside an ODF-compatible spreadsheet app (for example, LibreOffice Calc) using File → Open.
  2. On desktop systems, use “Open with” and choose the spreadsheet app explicitly, then set it as the default for .ots if desired.

It opens, but I can’t edit (or edits don’t behave as expected)

Some workflows treat templates as a starting point and expect you to create a new document from them. Editing the template directly can be confusing or may overwrite the template you intended to reuse.

  1. Create a new document from the template (or open it and immediately “Save As” a working spreadsheet, commonly .ODS).
  2. Keep the original .OTS unchanged and store it separately as your master template.

The file looks corrupted or content is missing

The download/copy may be incomplete, or the file may have been produced by software that wrote a non-compliant template.

  1. Re-download or re-copy the file and try opening again in an ODF-compatible app (for example, LibreOffice Calc).
  2. If it still fails, ask the sender to re-export/recreate the template as a standard ODF spreadsheet template (.OTS).

Security note

.OTS files are documents (not executables), but they can still be used to deliver unexpected content; only open templates from sources you trust.

Back to .OTS extension page