How to compare an Excel file with a Google Sheet

Quick answer

Import the Excel worksheet into your Google Sheet as a new tab, tidy up anything Excel-specific, then compare the two tabs by a column they share, such as an SKU, employee ID or invoice number. Formulas handle a one-off check. SheetDiff does the import and the comparison together.

Step 1: Bring the Excel file into your Google Sheet

1. Open your Google Sheet and choose File → Import → Upload, then select the .xlsx file.
2. Choose Insert new sheet(s). Each worksheet in the workbook arrives as its own tab.
3. Click Import data, then delete any imported tabs you do not need.

Only need one worksheet out of a large workbook? Open it in Excel, save that worksheet as CSV, and import the CSV instead. The CSV comparison guide covers that route. If you would rather convert the whole workbook into its own Google Sheets file, you will be comparing two separate files; see how to compare two Google Sheets files.

Step 2: Clean up what Excel brings with it

• Formulas: imported formulas recalculate in Google Sheets, and a few Excel-only functions may show #NAME?. For a fair comparison, copy the tab and use Paste special → Values only.
• Dates: a real date and a date typed as text (03/04/2026) never match. Check whether the file is day-first or month-first, too.
• Merged cells and stacked headers: unmerge them and keep a single header row, so each row is one record.
• Hidden rows: rows hidden or filtered out in Excel are still data, and they will appear in any comparison.
• Displayed vs stored values: a cell showing 10.50 might hold 10.4999. Comparisons use the stored value.

Step 3: Compare two lists in Google Sheets with formulas

With the workbook data in a tab called Excel and the ID in column A of both tabs, this lists IDs in your sheet that are missing from the Excel file:

=FILTER(A2:A, A2:A<>"", COUNTIF(Excel!A2:A, A2:A)=0)

Run the same formula from the Excel tab, pointing back at your tab, to find rows that only exist in the workbook. To highlight changed values instead of listing them, select column C and add a conditional formatting rule with a custom formula:

=AND($A2<>"", C2<>XLOOKUP($A2, INDIRECT("Excel!A:A"), INDIRECT("Excel!C:C"), C2))

Conditional formatting in Google Sheets cannot refer to another tab directly, which is why the ranges are wrapped in INDIRECT. You need one rule per column you want to check.

The one-click way: upload the .xlsx in SheetDiff

1. Open your Google Sheet and choose Extensions → SheetDiff → Start.
2. Upload the Excel file in the sidebar. SheetDiff reads it in your browser and adds it to the spreadsheet as a new tab. If the workbook has several worksheets, it asks which one to bring in.
3. Pick the tab to compare it with.
4. Match rows by a key column, by whole row for lists without IDs, or by row order.
5. Click Compare.

The sidebar shows how many rows are only in A, only in B, changed and matching, with a one-sentence summary in plain English. Click any row in the preview to jump to it. The color-coded SheetDiff Report tab lists the differences with clickable row numbers, and changed numbers show the change and percentage, such as +5 (+5.6%). Neither your tabs nor the original file are modified.

When formulas are enough, and when they are not

• Formulas work when you have one clean ID column, care about one or two fields, and only need to do it once.
• SheetDiff helps when the same workbook arrives every week, many columns can change, rows have no ID, or you need a report someone else can review.

Can Excel compare its file against a Google Sheet?

Not directly. You would have to download the Google Sheet as a workbook (File → Download → Microsoft Excel) and compare two .xlsx files. Microsoft's Spreadsheet Compare tool can do that, but it is only included with some Windows editions of Office.

Will SheetDiff change my Excel file or my Google Sheet?

No. The file on your computer is only read, and its data is added to your spreadsheet as a new tab. Your existing tabs are never modified; results go to a separate SheetDiff Report tab.

Can I get the results back into Excel?

Yes. Download the spreadsheet with File → Download → Microsoft Excel, and the SheetDiff Report tab comes with it. With Pro you can also export the differences as a CSV file, which Excel opens directly.

Is it free?

Yes. The free plan compares files of any size, 5 times a day, with exact counts and the first 25 rows of each list. Pro is $10 a year for every difference, unlimited comparisons, highlights in the source tabs, a side-by-side view and more.