my $exc = Win32::OLE->new('Excel.Application','Quit') || die "could not start excel\n";
$exc->{Visible} = 0; #runs excel in the background
$exc->{DisplayAlerts} = 1;
my $book = $exc->Workbooks->Open("$path") || die ("Can't open file $path ", Win32::OLE->LastError());
$book->SaveAs({FileName => "$convto", FileFormat => 51}) || die ("Can't save as file format ", Win32::OLE->LastError());
$book->Close();
$exc->Quit();