In one embodiment, a database server receives a request from a spreadsheet application to open a file with spreadsheet data. The spreadsheet data is stored in one or more relational tables in one or more relational databases that are managed by the database server. In response to the request, the database server generates the file, where generating the file comprises retrieving the spreadsheet data from an XML view that is defined by an XQuery query. When executed, the XQuery query returns the spreadsheet data in an XML spreadsheet format that is understood by the spreadsheet application. The database server provides the generated file with the spreadsheet data directly to the spreadsheet application, where the spreadsheet data as retrieved from the XML view is formatted according to the XML spreadsheet format.