Convert an excel spreadsheet to google sheets

Published in Apps on 11/05/2022, last updated 27/06/2022.

Everyone’s got their spreadsheet tool of choice. It doesn’t matter if they seem just about identical to the outsider looking in; a preference exists. It’s like PC vs. Mac or driving stick vs. automatic. But whether your go-to spreadsheet tool is Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, you’ll eventually have to work with people who prefer the other. That means you’ll have to convert Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets.

Here are two different ways you can do that.

UNITO USERS: You can also check out our guide on how to sync spreadsheets between Microsoft Excel and Googles Sheets with Unito.

First method: importing an Excel sheet into Google Drive

Did you know you can actually open Excel files in Google Sheets? All you need to do is import them into your Google Drive. It’s a pretty simple process.

Time needed: 5 minutes.

Here’s how it’s done.

1. First, go to your Google Drive.
   

2. Click on + New in the top left, then on File upload.
   

3. Pick the Excel workbook you want to import.
   

4. Open your Excel file.

   After a few minutes, your Excel workbook will be uploaded to your Google Drive. You’ll find it under My Drive. You can also click on it in the upload dialog to open it.

   

The .XLSX bubble at the top means you’re still opening and working in an Excel file. You can keep working in this file format, which is useful if you need to send the file back to Excel later. You can also convert your Excel file to a Google Sheet without any extra tools.

Converting your Excel file to Google Sheets

Maybe you’re done with Excel. Maybe you’re not using Excel yourself, and you need to keep working in Google Sheets. Either way, here’s how you can convert the workbook you imported into a Google Sheet.

Let’s go back to Google Drive and click on File.

Looks like there’s an option made just for your needs. Hit Save as Google Sheets.

Notice that the .XLSX bubble is gone? That’s because you’ve converted your Excel workbook into a Google Sheet. Now you can work in Google Sheets with the toolbars and features you’re used to.

But while this method might be easy, it’s not perfect.

Limitations of this method

You can get a single Excel workbook into Google Sheets in just a few clicks, but is that really the best way to get it done? After all:

• It’s manual: How many Excel workbooks can your department create in a month? How many of those do you need to bring into Google Sheets? Even a few clicks can add up, until it feels like all you’re doing is clicking through menus.
• Nothing is up to date: The moment you convert an Excel workbook to a Google Sheet, it becomes obsolete. Why? Because all the work you’re doing in Google Sheets doesn’t get sent back to Excel. Sure, you can continually ship your spreadsheets back and forth every time there’s an update. But who has that kind of time?
• There’s no filtering: Sometimes, you don’t need an entire workbook in Google Sheets. You just want specific columns from that workbook, maybe to add in some additional data in Google Sheets. But with this method, it’s the whole workbook or nothing. Unless you want to manually create a copy of the workbook and delete a bunch of information.

With these limitations in mind, here’s a better way to convert Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets.

Second method: convert Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets with Unito

Unito is a no-code workflow management solution with the deepest two-way integrations for the most popular database tools on the market, including Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. With a Unito flow, you convert Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets while keeping all your data updated in both tools in real-time. No more importing workbooks, copy-pasting, or manual work.

Here’s why Unito is a better method for converting Excel spreadsheets to Google Sheets:

• It’s automatic: Instead of manually uploading workbook after workbook every time, you can just create a Unito flow that will automatically keep everything in sync in both tools.
• Everything’s up to date: Is there anything worse than having to manually update spreadsheets in two tools any time new data comes in? With Unito, that’s a thing of the past.
• Filtering data is built-in: You don’t have to sync an entire Excel spreadsheet to Google Sheets. Unito’s rules use simple logic to allow you to filter out the columns you don’t want in your Google Sheet.

Want to see how easy it is to set this up?

Building a Unito flow

Anyone can build their first Unito flow in just a few clicks.

Start by connecting your tools.

Next, you’ll want to pick the spreadsheets you want to connect.

After that, you can set up your rules and filter out data you don’t want to be synced over.

Now, you can map your columns in Excel to columns in Google Sheets. Unito can map these for you automatically if they’re similar enough. Otherwise, you just need to click on + Add mapping and find the columns you want to map on either side.

And that’s it! Now all you need to do is launch your flow and watch the data sync over.

Want to learn more about this integration?

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