Use both Excel and Sheets – Best practices

Today, even after 30+ years since its launch, Excel is one of the most popular Spreadsheet tools, especially in the business world. Thousands of companies leverage this Microsoft product to maintain their Data Records and create Data Visualization. However, in the last decade, Google Spreadsheet’s popularity is also on the rise. This Cloud-based tool offers huge scalability and flexibility to users which were absent in the traditional Excel software. 

Google Spreadsheets and Excel both have their benefits and restrictions. However, companies are looking to combine both of these tools to obtain maximum benefits for their Data Management tasks. Businesses can Sync Excel to Google Sheets to enhance their Sales Records and create vivid Charts for various teams.

This article will introduce you to Excel and Google Sheets along with their key features. It will also provide a step-by-step explanation for you to link Excel to Google Sheets. Read along to understand the steps and benefits of connecting these 2 tools!

Prerequisites

To Sync Excel to Google Sheets, you must have:

• A Gmail account.
• Data present in Google Sheets.
• An Excel account.

What is Excel?

Excel is one of the most popular traditional spreadsheet tools used by businesses worldwide. Microsoft launched Excel in the year 1985 intending to assist businesses in compiling their data related to finances, yearly credit & debit, taxes, etc. 

It facilitates complex statistical & mathematical computations, graphs & tables, and custom coding. Moreover, Excel allows you to integrate with popular external software easily and import data from various sources directly. Companies rely heavily on Excel and have vast data volumes accumulated over the years. Furthermore, Excel finds applications for tasks involving stock analysis, budgeting, organizing client lists, and many more.

Key Features of Excel

The following features make Excel a popular choice for businesses:

• Easy Arithmetic Solutions: Excel, with its rich collection of formulae, can execute arithmetic operations at a massive scale. Moreover, you can easily re-do a complex calculation in case a value is changed. This feature is useful for companies in managing yearly sales and other such long-term data.
• Formatting Options: Excel offers various formatting techniques such as italics, highlights, custom coloring, etc. This way businesses can distinguish their valuable data from the rest of the information. For example, you can use row highlighting to mark specific data in the Accounting Sheets.
• Availability of Online Access: Excel, being a tool of the Office 365 Productivity Suite, allows business teams to access their files over the cloud network seamlessly. Moreover, with a working internet connection, you can access and modify your Excel sheets remotely using your PC, mobile, tablet, etc. 
• Charts for Analysis: Excel enables you to design comprehensive data charts in a hassle-free manner. Once your data passes through the filtering process, you can create a Pie Chart or Clustered Columns with just a few clicks. Furthermore, you can even customize the colors & boundaries of your charts to make them more appealing and elegant.

To learn about Excel in more detail, visit here.

What is Google Sheets?

Google Sheets is an online tool that offers you the services of a spreadsheet over the Cloud. Google Sheets due to its Cloud support provides high scalability and flexibility as compared to traditional tools. Moreover, it offers numerous functionalities that allow you to perform complex data management tasks in no time.

This Google product provides you with services to create, format, manage, and collaborate data & you can even access, edit, and even collaborate on Excel files directly from Google Sheets using the Office editing tool. Furthermore, this tool is easily compatible with most popular browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, etc.

Key Features of Google Sheets

Google Sheets provide you with the following unique features: 

• Easy Access: Since Google Sheets operate using Cloud, you can easily access the data stirred in its sheets from anywhere around the world. Moreover, all the popular operating systems come with an integrated Google Sheets connection. This way you do not have to indulge in any complex installation process.
• Free: Google Sheets is free for all Gmail users and its access is directly associated with your Gmail ID. Therefore, you don’t have to shell out any extra cost to store and modify your data in Google Sheets.
• Small Learning Curve: Google Sheets shares a basic design with Excel Sheets. So if you are familiar with the features & functions of Excel Sheets, working with Google Sheets will be a cakewalk. 
• Integrations: Google Sheets offers you easy integrations with external software via plug-ins, add-ons, and even custom codes. This way you can extend the functionality of Sheets to further increase their data analysis capabilities.

To learn more about Google Sheets, visit here.

Methods to Sync Excel to Google Sheets

Method 1: Import Data from Excel into Google Sheets Using your Drive

Go to ‘File’ option in an empty Google Sheet> Navigate to ‘Open’ > Select the ‘Upload’ tab> Click on ‘Browse’

Drag your Excel document into the area and then select ‘Open’. A new window will open with the Excel document. Your Excel file will instantly upload to your Google Drive and open as a Google spreadsheet.

Method 2: Convert Excel to Google Sheets Using Import Option

Another easy way to sync Excel to Google Sheets is by using import. The steps are as follows:

• Go to ‘File’> Import in Google Sheets.
• Drag your Excel file into the upload window using the Upload button or browse for it on your computer.
• After the file has finished uploading, select whether to create a new spreadsheet or replace the existing one, then click Import data.

The format of your Excel file will be imported without any change.

Method 3: Using Google Drive to Migrate Data from Excel to Google Sheets

Google Sheets supports the following Excel file formats:

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

A file must first be accessible in your Google Drive to be opened in Google Sheets. Therefore, uploading an Excel file to the drive is the first step in opening it in Google Sheets.

To sync Excel to Google Sheets, follow these steps:

• Google Drive may be accessed simply by opening your browser and typing drive.Google.com into the address box.
• Click ‘New’ in the upper-left corner of the Google Drive screen. Then select ‘File Upload’ from the drop-down menu.

• Choose the Excel file from your computer that you want to upload. It will take a few seconds for the upload.
• The above steps will add your Excel file to the drive, making it possible for you to access it even if Excel isn’t already installed on your computer.
• You just need to double-click the file to access its content.
• The file can only be viewed at this moment; you can’t do any edits.
• By selecting ‘Open’ in Google Sheets at the top of the page, you can access it in Google Sheets and make changes there.
• Don’t worry if you can’t see this choice. Right click on the Google Sheets and Select ‘Open with’->  Google Sheets
• You can edit your Google Sheet file, share it, and work together with your collaborators on the data import. This is a really easy approach to move Excel data to Google Sheets.

Many Excel to Google Sheets converters are also available online. With these converters, an Excel file is converted to the xls, cvs, or ods formats. Cloudconvert is a good example.

Method 4: Use Online Converters

Visit Cloudconvert.com. You might need to register for an account or log in using Google.

• Go to ‘Select File’. Select the location from which you wish to upload your Excel file. For this situation, select file From my Computer.

• Choose the file.
• Select “xls” from the drop-down menu under “convert to.”
• Click on ‘Convert’. 

• The website will save the converted file to your computer once it is complete.
• When you click Download, you can see it automatically open in Google Sheets.

Now you can try to Sync Excel to Google Sheets on your own.

Benefits of Linking Excel to Google Sheets

You can follow the steps given in the previous section and Sync Excel to Google Sheets. This will provide you with the following benefits:

• Google Sheets provide flexibility to deal with the data. Therefore, you can Sync Excel to Google Sheets and transfer your data into Google Sheets for flexible processing.
• You can make use of a rich variety of data visualization options as compared to the limited services of Google Sheets. Moreover, you can also use the formulas present in Google Sheets to manage accounting. Therefore, you can sync Excel to Goole Sheets and enjoy the visualization and mathematical superiority of Excel for your data.
• Google Sheets documents your data over the Google Cloud which is very safe. Google is a tech giant who is in the industry for a long time. So, its not easy for hackers to get to your business email and steal your Cloud data. So, it is better to manipulate your data using Google Sheets and then store it there.

Conclusion

This article introduced you to Excel and Google Sheets along with their key features. It also provided three easy methods to Sync Excel to Google Sheets. This way you can easily transfer your data from Excel to Google Sheets and even automate the entire process. Furthermore, the article listed the benefits of setting up this integration. After reading this article, you can go and Sync Excel to Google Sheets on your own and experience its various benefits.

Visit our Website to Explore Hevo

Google Sheets and Excel are great tools for performing Data Visualization for your business. However, at times, you need to transfer this data to a Data Warehouse for analysis. Building an in-house solution for this process could be an expensive and time-consuming task.

Hevo Data, on the other hand, offers a No-code Data Pipeline that can automate your data transfer process, hence allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business like Analytics, Customer Management, etc. This platform allows you to transfer data from 100+ sources like Google Sheets & Excel, and load it to Cloud-based Data Warehouses like Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, etc. It will provide you with a hassle-free experience and make your work life much easier.

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Try to Sync Excel to Google Sheets yourself and share your experience in the comments section!