How to Convert Excel to Google Sheets

Sumit

Last updated June 15, 2023

Prefer watching a video tutorial? View ours here:

If you work with Google Sheets, there may be times when you have to convert Excel files to Google Sheets. So can you convert Excel to Google Sheets? Although there’s no method relating to how to save Excel as Google Sheets, there are a couple of methods you can use.

Convert by importing an Excel file to Google Sheets
Convert while uploading to Google Drive
Upload to Google Drive and then Convert

This allows you to collaborate with others and benefit from the powerful features of Google Sheets. Let’s look at some examples so you can learn how to convert Excel into Google Sheets in detail.

This Article Covers:

Compatible Excel Spreadsheet to Google Sheets File Formats

You can use the following Excel files in Google Sheets:

.xls
.xlsx
.xlsm
.xlt
.ods
.csv
.tsv
.tab

Switching From Microsoft to the Google Suite

Although many of the file formats are transferable between Microsoft Office and G Suite, you may find yourself struggling to use the Google software. The quickest way to overcome this potential issue is to take a comprehensive G Suite course to learn all the basic and intermediate skills you’ll need.

Convert Excel To Google Sheets by Importing an Excel File to Google Sheets

You can import data from different file formats into Google Sheets like xlsx, ods and csv. Here are the steps to convert Excel files to Google Sheets by importing the Excel data:

Go to Google Drive Homepage and log in using your credentials.
In the Google Drive Homepage, click on the New button and select Google Sheets.
In the new Google Sheet that opens, go to File and click on Import.
In the Import File dialog box, select the Upload tab.
Drag the Excel file that you want to convert to the dialog box, or click on ‘Select a file from your computer’ and then select it manually.
Once the file is uploaded, you will see a dialog box as shown below. You can create a new spreadsheet, insert new sheets in the open Google Sheet, or replace the open Google Sheet with the imported file.

Create new spreadsheet: This will open a new spreadsheet for the Excel file that you have converted.
Insert new sheet: This option will open the imported file into your current spreadsheet but in a new sheet tab.
Replace spreadsheet: With this option, your current spreadsheet will be cleared, and the converted Excel file will become your new spreadsheet.

In my opinion, the conversion is almost flawless. I have converted many Excel files into Google Sheets (that had formulas and conditional formatting), and in most cases, I got a perfect conversion.

However, in some cases, you would lose some functionalities when you convert an Excel to Google Sheets:

Macros don’t work in Google Sheets.
Interactive controls would not work.
There are features in Excel that are not yet available in Google Sheets (such as split worksheets, linked shapes, and charts)

This method is best suited when you have a couple of Excel files that you want to convert to Google Sheets.

Convert Excel to Google Sheets While Uploading to Google Drive

When you have a lot of Excel files that you want to convert to Google Sheets the best method to use is saving Excel to Google drive. There’s an option in Google drive to convert an Excel file to Google Sheets while it’s uploading. We’ll also show you how to save Excel to Google drive.

Here’s how to convert Excel files to Google Sheets while uploading to Google Drive:

Go to Google Drive Homepage and log in using your credentials.
Click on the gear icon on the top right.
Click on Settings.
In the Setting dialog box, select the option ‘Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format’.

Click on Done.

Now, when you upload an Excel file to Google Drive, it will automatically be converted into the Google Sheets format. If you’re not sure how to save an Excel file to Google drive, all you need to do is:

Go to your Google drive.

Click New > File upload.
Select the files on your computer and click open.

You will see a notification on your drive showing the status of the file being uploaded to your drive. It is also good to upload Excel files into your drive to back them up.

Convert Excel Sheets to Google Sheets via Sheets

You can also convert an Excel file into Google Sheets by simply opening it on sheets.

Here’s how to convert Excel into Google Sheet in sheets:

Open Google Sheets.
Go to File> Open or click the Open file picker icon.

Choose the Upload option.

Drag your file into the window or Click Browse.

Drag your file into the window or Click Browse.

Find you’re original Excel file on your computer and select it.

Screenshot of original excel file in computer

Click Open.

Screenshot of notification telling you that Google spreadsheets is opening the file

You will see a notification that Google spreadsheets is opening the file. This will take a few seconds. Once done, your Excel file will be opened as a Google Sheets file. It will also copy the same format that it had in Excel into Google Sheets.

Upload An Excel File to Google Drive and then Convert to Google Sheets

If you already have some Excel files in Google Drive, or if you don’t like the idea of Google Drive automatically converting your files to Google Sheets format, this method is for you.

You can choose to convert selected files into the Google Sheets format.

Here are the steps to Convert an Excel file in Google Drive into Google Sheets:

Right-click on the file that you want to open in Google Sheets.
Go to Open with and click on Google Sheets.

This will open the file in Google Sheets. However, your file in Google Drive will remain in Excel format.

Exporting a Google Sheets File as an Excel Spreadsheet

After you’ve been working on an Excel spreadsheet in Google spreadsheets, you may need to download the changes and send them back as an Excel file. To do this, just follow these steps:

Navigate to File > Download
Click on Microsoft Excel (.Xlsx)

A screenshot showing how to download an xlxs file from Google Sheets

Google Sheets Formulas That Don’t Work in Microsoft Excel

The following Google Sheets functions are incompatible with Microsoft Excel, so be careful not to include them in a file you intend to send to an Excel user:

UPLUS
UNIQUE
UNARY_PERCENT
UMINUS
TO_TEXT
TO_PERCENT
TO_DOLLARS
TO_DATE
SPLIT
SPARKLINE
SORT
QUERY
POW
MULTIPLY
MINUS
LTE
LT
JOIN
IMPORTXML
IMPORTRANGE
IMPORTHTML
IMPORTFEED
IMPORTDATA
IMAGE
GTE
GT
GoogleTRANSLATE
GoogleTOURNAMENT
GoogleFINANCE
FILTER
EQ
DIVIDE
DETECTLANGUAGE
COUNTUNIQUE
CONTINUE
CONCAT
ARRAYFORMULA
ADD

Limitations When Converting Excel to Google Sheets

There are a lot of Excel conveniences when comparing Excel vs Google Sheets. While it is easy to be able to convert an Excel file into Google Sheets, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Google Sheets has a size limit of 5 MB for any file you’re importing. If your Excel file happens to be larger than this, you’ll get a prompt saying the file size is too large to import.
Excel also has more cells than Google Sheets. If you’re working with large files with lots of data, then you might have a problem exporting Excel to Google Sheets. This is because Google Sheets has a maximum of 1000 rows and columns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Convert an Excel File to Google Sheets?

The simplest method of how to transfer Excel to Google Sheets is to:

Open an empty Google Sheets page
Navigate to File > Import > Upload
Drag the Excel file into the pop-up window
Click Select to upload Excel to Google Sheets

Can You Convert .xlsx File to Google Sheets?

Yes, you can learn how to export Excel to Google Sheets by using Google Drive in two steps:

Right-click the file
Navigate to Open with > Google Sheets

Conclusion

Transferring Excel to Google Sheets is not difficult to do. In this article, we’ve shown you how to convert Excel to Google Sheets. We’ve also shown you how to upload Excel to Google drive.

If you found this article helpful, you can also check out how to convert PDF to Google Sheets.

Now You Know how to Convert Excel to Google Sheets, You May Also Like the Following Google Sheets Tutorials: