twineconvert

free · in-browser · no upload

RIS to XLSX
Converter

Drop your RIS file. We'll convert it to XLSX right here in your browser, your file never leaves your device.

or drop your file

Select your file here to get started

or drop your file here.

Accepts .ris

nothing uploaded no file size cap no signup

How it works

Three steps. No upload, no signup.

  1. 1

    Drop your file

    Click the dropzone above or drag a RIS from your desktop. Files of any size, there's no upload, so there's no upload limit.

  2. 2

    Convert in your browser

    The conversion runs entirely in this tab using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your file never touches our servers, we don't have any.

  3. 3

    Download

    Get your XLSX the moment the conversion finishes. Convert another, or close the tab.

Files stay on your device

Your file is never uploaded. The entire conversion runs in your browser using WebAssembly. We can't see what you convert because we have no server to see it.

No file size limit

Server converters cap free users at 1-2 GB and gate larger files behind a paid plan. Since nothing uploads, our limit is whatever your browser can handle.

Free, no signup, no ads on conversions

No account required. No watermark on the output. No queue. Drop a file, get a converted file.

Why convert RIS → XLSX

What this conversion is actually for

RIS is a tagged text format meant for reference managers, not humans. Converting to XLSX turns it into a sortable sheet with author, title, journal, year, and DOI columns so you can audit a library or hand it to someone who does not use EndNote or Zotero.

A real example

A journal sends you 200 submissions as a single RIS export. You need to assign reviewers in a spreadsheet. Convert to XLSX, add an "assigned to" column, and you have a working tracker in two minutes.

Troubleshooting

Multiple authors are all in one cell.

That is intentional, authors are joined into one field so each reference stays a single row. Split in Excel with Data, Text to Columns on the separator if you need them apart.

Dates look odd in Excel.

RIS year and date fields are written as text to avoid Excel reinterpreting partial dates. Format the column as text or a custom date if you want a different display.

Formats involved

About RIS and XLSX

RIS, Research Information Systems

RIS is a tagged citation format from Research Information Systems (the Reference Manager company), now an industry-standard interchange. Two-letter tags (TY=type, AU=author, TI=title, JO=journal, etc.), one per line, records terminated by ER. Most academic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, JSTOR, Scopus) export to RIS. Reference managers all import and export it.

How to open

Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, Papers, RefWorks, Citavi, every modern reference manager. Plain text in any editor.

Full RIS format guide →
XLSX, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet

XLSX is the spreadsheet format Excel has used since 2007, like DOCX, it's a zip containing XML for cells, formulas, formatting, and embedded objects. Replaces the older binary .xls format. Read and written by Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, and LibreOffice Calc, with high fidelity for standard cell data and reasonable fidelity for complex formulas and pivot tables.

How to open

Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice Calc. CSV is a more portable format if you only need the raw cell values.

Full XLSX format guide →

Related tools

Convert other files to XLSX

Convert your RIS to other formats

FAQ

Common questions

Is this RIS → XLSX converter really free?

Yes. No signup, no watermark, no daily file count limit. Every conversion runs in your browser, your file never touches our servers because there are no servers.

Where does my file go when I convert it?

Nowhere. The conversion runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly. Your file is never uploaded to our servers. We don't have any servers handling files, there's nothing for us to log, store, or accidentally leak.

What's the maximum file size?

Whatever your browser can hold in memory. Practically, this means a few hundred MB on most computers, significantly larger than the 1-2 GB caps that server-upload converters charge for. Very large files (multi-GB) may require closing other browser tabs first.

Why convert RIS to XLSX?

Citation interchange between databases and reference managers. Spreadsheets with formulas, formatting, multiple sheets. The most common reason to convert is compatibility, XLSX works in places where RIS doesn't, or vice versa.

How do I open a RIS file in the first place?

Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, Papers, RefWorks, Citavi, every modern reference manager. Plain text in any editor.

Does this work offline?

Once the page is loaded, the conversion itself runs entirely offline. The first time you use a tool, your browser downloads the conversion library (a one-time cache). If you reload while offline, the page won't load, but you can install the site as a Progressive Web App for full offline use.

Can I convert multiple files at once?

Single file at a time for now. Batch conversion is on the roadmap, for now, drop one file, download the result, then convert the next.