diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 1b1aebc..f4f3d37 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -9,11 +9,12 @@ License: GPL-3 + file LICENSE
 BugReports: https://github.com/vertesy/ReadWriter/issues
 Depends: 
     Stringendo (>= 0.5.0)
-Imports: 
+Imports:
     gtools,
     openxlsx,
     qs,
-    readr
+    readr,
+    stringi
 Encoding: UTF-8
 Packaged: 2026-08-25 16:41:37.734198
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 035a34a..5d57af3 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ importFrom(readr,read_csv)
 importFrom(readr,read_csv2)
 importFrom(readr,read_delim)
 importFrom(readr,read_tsv)
+importFrom(stringi,stri_detect_regex)
diff --git a/R/ReadWriter.R b/R/ReadWriter.R
index 1e67a16..c197c54 100644
--- a/R/ReadWriter.R
+++ b/R/ReadWriter.R
@@ -957,10 +957,12 @@ write.simple.xlsx <- function(
   )
 
   # assign row names if required
+  write_row_names <- has_row_names
   if (isFALSE(has_row_names)) {
-    assignRownames <- function(x) column.2.row.names(df, rowname_column = rowname_column, make_names = TRUE)
+    assignRownames <- function(x) column.2.row.names(x, rowname_column = rowname_column, make_names = TRUE)
     named_list <- lapply(named_list, assignRownames)
     message("Converting column ", rowname_column, " to row names: ", head(rownames(named_list[[1]])))
+    write_row_names <- TRUE # the converted identifiers must still be written as the sheet's row names
   }
 
   FnP <- construct.file.path(
@@ -970,7 +972,7 @@ write.simple.xlsx <- function(
   )
 
   openxlsx::write.xlsx(
-    x = named_list, file = FnP, rowNames = has_row_names,
+    x = named_list, file = FnP, rowNames = write_row_names,
     firstRow = FreezeFirstRow, firstCol = FreezeFirstCol,
     headerStyle = hs, tabColour = TabColor,
     colWidths = "auto", creator = Creator
@@ -1139,38 +1141,37 @@ write.simple.md.table <- function(
 #' @return The function does not return a value but writes the file to disk in the specified format.
 #'
 #' @importFrom qs qread
+#' @importFrom stringi stri_detect_regex
 #'
 #' @export qs.2.table
 
 qs.2.table <- function(path, out_file = c("tsv", "csv", "csv2", "excel")[1]) {
   # Ensure that the file exists and is a .qs file
-  stopifnot(file.exists(path), stringi::stri_detect(str = path, regex = "\\.qs$"))
+  stopifnot(file.exists(path), stringi::stri_detect_regex(str = path, pattern = "\\.qs$"))
 
   # Ensure out_file is one of the allowed choices
   out_file <- match.arg(out_file, c("tsv", "csv", "csv2", "excel"))
 
   # Read in the .qs file
-  data <- qs:qread(path)
+  data <- qs::qread(path)
 
-  # Determine the output file extension and write the file based on the output format
-  path_out <- Stringendo::ppp(base_filename, out_file)
-
-  if (out_file == "excel") {
-    # out_path <- ppp(base_filename, "xlsx")
-    Stringendo::ppp(base_filename, out_file)
-    ReadWriter::write.simple.xlsx(data, out_path)
-  }
+  # Base name (without extension) shared by all output formats
+  base_filename <- sub("\\.qs$", "", path)
 
   if (out_file == "tsv") {
-    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, path_out, separator = "\t")
+    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, manual_file_name = base_filename, separator = "\t")
+    out_path <- paste0(base_filename, ".tsv")
   } else if (out_file == "csv") {
-    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, path_out, separator = ",")
+    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, manual_file_name = base_filename, separator = ",")
+    out_path <- paste0(base_filename, ".csv")
   } else if (out_file == "csv2") {
+    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, manual_file_name = base_filename, separator = ";")
     out_path <- paste0(base_filename, ".csv")
-    ReadWriter::write.simple.tsv(data, path_out, separator = ";")
   } else if (out_file == "excel") {
+    # write.simple.xlsx() expects a list of sheets; wrap a bare table into one.
+    payload <- if (is.data.frame(data) || is.matrix(data)) list(data) else data
+    ReadWriter::write.simple.xlsx(payload, manual_file_name = base_filename)
     out_path <- paste0(base_filename, ".xlsx")
-    ReadWriter::write.simple.xlsx(data, out_path)
   }
 
   message("File saved as: ", out_path)