How to open .SDS files on Mac
To open .SDS files on Mac, control-click the .SDS file → Open With → choose LibreOffice (or Apache OpenOffice, if you have it installed).
Step-by-step instructions
- Control-click the .SDS file → Open With → choose LibreOffice (or Apache OpenOffice, if you have it installed).
- If the file fails to load, open it from within the suite (File → Open) and then export/save to a newer format if needed.
Common issues
The .SDS file won’t open or shows as an unknown format
This often happens when no compatible office suite is installed, or when the suite version has limited support for legacy StarOffice chart documents.
- Install LibreOffice, then try opening the file again (or try Apache OpenOffice if available, as legacy formats may behave differently across versions).
- Open the suite first and use File → Open instead of double-clicking the file.
- If possible, ask the sender to export the chart to a modern format from the original application.
File opens but the chart looks wrong or content is missing
Legacy chart documents can import imperfectly depending on the generating StarOffice version and the importing suite/version.
- Try opening the file in a different version of LibreOffice/OpenOffice (import filters can differ between releases).
- If you can open it at least partially, immediately save a copy and export to a newer format to preserve what imports correctly.
The file appears corrupted or won’t load at all
The file may be incomplete (bad transfer/download) or damaged, which can prevent chart parsers from reading it.
- Re-copy or re-download the .SDS file from the original source and try again.
- Test the file on another computer with LibreOffice/OpenOffice to rule out a local installation issue.
Security note
.SDS is a document/chart format; it’s generally opened by complex document parsers. Only open files from trusted sources because malformed legacy documents can trigger vulnerabilities in document-handling software.