eigensupport

Import an Excel file

last updated at: Jun 8, 2026

You can bring an Excel workbook into Sheets in two ways: import it into an existing spreadsheet to replace its content, or convert an .xlsx file stored in Drive into a new spreadsheet.

Import into an open spreadsheet

This replaces the current spreadsheet's content with the data from the Excel file.

  1. Open the spreadsheet you want to replace.
  2. Click File in the top-left of the menu bar.
  3. Click Import xlsx file….
  4. A dialog opens. You can either:
    • Browse your Drive to pick an .xlsx file you have already uploaded, then click Select.
    • Click Upload from device to open a file chooser and pick an .xlsx file from your computer.

Sheets loads all the sheets from the workbook and replaces the spreadsheet's content straight away. The change is saved automatically.

Convert an Excel file in Drive to a new spreadsheet

If you have an .xlsx file sitting in Drive, you can turn it into a Sheets spreadsheet without opening it first. This leaves the original file in place and creates a new spreadsheet alongside it.

  1. Open Drive and find the .xlsx file.
  2. Right-click the file (or open the ⋮ menu) and choose Convert to Sheet.

Drive creates a new spreadsheet in the same folder and opens it in Sheets.

What carries over

The import reads every worksheet in the workbook and preserves:

  • Cell values (text, numbers, booleans, and dates)
  • Formulas
  • Merged cells
  • Column widths and row heights
  • Cell borders
  • Text formatting: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, font size, and text colour
  • Fill colours
  • Text alignment (horizontal and vertical), text wrapping, and text rotation
  • The sheet tab names and their order
  • The gridlines setting (hidden or visible)

Fonts from Excel are mapped to the four fonts Sheets supports. Common sans-serif fonts (such as Calibri, Arial, and Verdana) map to Inter; serif fonts (such as Times New Roman and Georgia) map to Source Serif 4; monospace fonts (such as Courier New and Consolas) map to JetBrains Mono; Comic Sans maps to Excalifont.

What does not carry over

The following are not imported:

  • Charts
  • Images embedded in cells
  • Conditional formatting rules
  • Data validation rules
  • Hyperlinks (the link text is kept, but the URL is dropped)

If these are important, keep the original .xlsx file in Drive so you have a reference copy.

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