This might catch flak, but generalizing I would assume that the people banning things are the same people who would use excel for something where a database would be better, and if so, that is the reason Excel isn't banned on the same conditionals that would get sqlite banned.

The sane thing would be to ban Excel and promote SQLite. Excel is often used for tabulated text (issue tracking) not calculations. Perfect use case for a relational db

I’ve worked at some organisations that have strict rules (not always strictly followed) about what can go in Excel spreadsheets, and where they have to be stored. The C drive is verboten. Some also have standards about classification and labelling of PII and sensitive data.

IMO, almost any Excel more than a month old should become readonly.

They generally cannot. But they do banish Access.

Do companies ban text files? Text files are used to store data.