What is one common characteristic of flat files and spreadsheet files?

The correct answer highlights a fundamental aspect of both flat files and spreadsheet files—their organization of data in a structured manner using tables. This structural characteristic allows users to effectively organize, analyze, and retrieve data.

Flat files often represent their data in a simple table format, typically with rows and columns, making it easy to read and write data as plain text. Similarly, spreadsheet files, such as those created by programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, inherently use a grid structure of rows and columns to organize data. This table-like format is conducive to calculations, data manipulation, and the application of formulas, which aids in data analysis.

The other options do not accurately capture this common characteristic. For instance, not all flat and spreadsheet files are necessarily available as XML documents, nor do they typically contain multiple worksheets as a standard feature; often, flat files are singular and do not support this multi-table structure inherent in relational database systems. Additionally, while they may be used in business settings, their use is not limited to day-to-day activities; they serve a broader range of data management purposes, including analysis and data storage.