A lot of times these files seem to lag and be incredibly slow even if just a few dozens rows of data. Here is how you can convert it with "gnumeric": ssconvert file.xlsx file.csv You may get lots of weird errors like this but the conversion seems to work fine: (ssconvert:15244): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: g_object_set_valist: object class 'SheetObjectImage' has no property named 'style'........

catdoc.i386 : Decodes MS Word files into plain text or TeX format I haven't figured out how to use it, it is really not clear or obvious but it should do the job if you can figure it out. Usage: catdoc [-vu8btawxlV] [-m number] [-s charset] [-d charset] [ -f format] files........