Migration guide
Excel to Google Sheets
Move from Excel to Google Sheets without losing formulas or formatting — and use AI to clean, improve, or rebuild your spreadsheet templates along the way.
Why move from Excel to Google Sheets
Excel is a great place to build a spreadsheet alone, but the moment more than one person needs to edit, comment, or review the file, Google Sheets becomes the easier home. Moving from Excel to Google Sheets gives you real-time collaboration, link-based sharing, version history, and a single source of truth that doesn't get emailed around as 'final_v3_FINAL.xlsx'.
How to convert an Excel file to Google Sheets
- Open Google Drive and click New → File upload, then select your .xlsx file.
- Once uploaded, double-click the file to open it in Sheets.
- Click File → Save as Google Sheets to create a native, editable copy.
- Check formulas, conditional formatting, and any pivot tables — these are the most common conversion casualties.
- Share the new file via the green Share button instead of emailing the .xlsx.
Things that don't always convert cleanly
- VBA macros — not supported in Google Sheets (use Apps Script instead).
- Power Query and Power Pivot — Sheets has no direct equivalent.
- Complex pivot tables — usually work but may need to be rebuilt.
- Custom number formats and conditional formatting rules — review after import.
- External data connections — re-create using IMPORTRANGE or IMPORTHTML.
Use AI to clean up the spreadsheet after the move
A direct Excel → Google Sheets conversion often gives you a working file that still feels messy: inconsistent headers, wrong data types, formulas pointing at the wrong cells. This is the perfect moment to let AI do a pass. Upload the file, tell the AI 'clean this up, make headers consistent, fix the totals row, and add a summary tab' — and you get a much better spreadsheet without rebuilding it by hand.
Rebuild the template from scratch (often faster)
If the Excel file you're migrating is a generic template — a budget, an invoice, a project tracker — it's often faster to regenerate it with AI than to fix the converted version. Describe what the spreadsheet should do in one sentence, and Sehnna creates a clean .xlsx that opens beautifully in Google Sheets with no leftover Excel quirks.
Tips for a smooth Excel to Google Sheets migration
- Flatten complex formulas before exporting (paste as values where possible).
- Remove unused tabs and hidden ranges — they slow Sheets down.
- Standardise date and currency formats before the move.
- Re-check every formula after conversion, especially XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, and SUMIFS.
- Set permissions intentionally: Viewer, Commenter, or Editor — most leaks happen because of overly open share links.