Lotus 1-2-3

2021-04-13T18:32:08Z

Prevtenet: /* Format specs */ added archive links to broken links

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Document
|subcat2=Spreadsheet
|extensions={{ext|wks}}, {{ext|wk1}}, {{ext|wk2}}, {{ext|wk3}}, {{ext|wk4}}, {{ext|123}}
|mimetypes={{mimetype|application/vnd.lotus-1-2-3}}
|pronom={{PRONOM|x-fmt/116}}, {{PRONOM|x-fmt/117}}, {{PRONOM|x-fmt/114}}, {{PRONOM|x-fmt/115}}
|released=1983-01-26
}}
'''Lotus 1-2-3''' was regarded as the "killer app" of the IBM PC in its early days, just as [[VisiCalc]] was for the Apple II platform. Both were spreadsheets which used a similar interface, still familiar to modern spreadsheet users, consisting of a matrix of rows and columns where the columns have letters and the rows have numbers, and a cell can be addressed by an address such as "B2".

After years of dominance of the spreadsheet market for PC/MS-DOS, 1-2-3 failed to successfully move over to the Windows platform, and was eclipsed by [[XLS|Microsoft Excel]]. Making 1-2-3 part of a new "Lotus SmartSuite" didn't help bring it back to prominence. When 1-2-3 was finally officially discontinued in 2013 (by IBM, which now owns Lotus), the general reaction was "What, they still made 1-2-3 until now? I thought it died a long time ago."

The original 1-2-3 files had a .wks extension. Version 2.0 originally used a .wk1 extension, but that was soon changed to .wk2, and from then on the number in the extension corresponded to the program version number. [[Lotus Symphony]] (the '80s version, not the unrelated 2000s version which used a variant of Open Office format) used a similar file format.

== Format specs ==
* [http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF1.TXT Spec introduction] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180129005324/http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF1.TXT (archived)]
* [http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF2.TXT Summary of record types] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180130195323/http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF2.TXT (archived)]
* [http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF3.TXT Cell format encoding] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180130195328/http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF3.TXT (archived)]
* [http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF4.TXT The Formula Compiler] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180130195348/http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF4.TXT (archived)]
* [http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF5.TXT 1985 addendum] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180130195353/http://www.schnarff.com/file-formats/lotus-1-2-3/WSFF5.TXT (archived)]

== End of support ==
IBM officially ceased its support for Lotus 123 on 30 September 2014 (see the [http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS913-091 announcement here]). This also applies to its SmartSuite and Organizer products.

== Support by modern spreadsheet software ==
Support of the Lotus 1-2-3 formats has shown a steady decline over recent years. Although older versions of Microsoft Excel were able to read (some of?) these formats, Excel 2010 doesn't support any of them anymore, as shown in [http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/file-formats-that-are-supported-in-excel-HP010352464.aspx#BMunsupportedformats this overview of unsupported formats] on Microsoft's website. Meanwhile, OpenOffice only supports the old (.wk1, .wks and .123) versions of the format ([https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides/Getting_Started/File_formatslist source here]). No specific info could be found on LibreOffice, but the situation is probably identical to OpenOffice.

== Sample files ==
* [http://www.opf-labs.org/format-corpus/office/spreadsheet/wk1/ Version 2.0 (WK1) samples]
* [http://www.opf-labs.org/format-corpus/office/spreadsheet/wk3/ Version 3.0 (WK3) samples]
* [ftp://ftp.lotus.com/product_information/123weval.zip ZIP file on Lotus FTP site with some WK1 and WK3 files] [https://archive.org/download/2012_11_24_ftp_lotus_com/2012.11.24.ftp.lotus.com.zip/ftp.lotus.com%2Fproduct_information%2F123weval.zip archived]

== Import/export info ==
* [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/61941 Tips for Importing Lotus 1-2-3 Files to Excel]
* [http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/acpcref/63184/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a003103772.htm Interfacing with 1-2-3 files in SAS/ACCESS]
* [http://download.cnet.com/Fantastic-Lotus-1-2-3-Converter/3000-2065_4-75758879.html Lotus 1-2-3 converter] (commercial software with free trial)

== See also ==
* [[Lotus 1-2-3 Chart]]

== Other links ==
* [[Wikipedia:Lotus 1-2-3|Wikipedia article]]
* [http://www.zdnet.com/goodbye-lotus-1-2-3-7000015385/ Goodbye, Lotus 1-2-3]
* [ftp://ftp.lotus.com/ Lotus FTP site] (Archived version [https://archive.org/details/2012_11_24_ftp_lotus_com here]) - many resources on Lotus products, including documentation, sample files, software.
* [https://medium.com/backchannel/a-spreadsheet-way-of-knowledge-8de60af7146e A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge]

[[Category:IBM]]
[[Category:Lotus]]

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Lotus 1-2-3