Excel trick: convert XLSX to Google Sheets and LibreOffice

Each program has its own format and is specially designed to work with it. In the case of Excel, for example, basic spreadsheet format – XLSX while Calc is LibreOffice software, will save sheets in ODS format. However, this does not mean that we are using the program that we are using, we should be tied to it, quite the opposite. All of these programs are more or less compatible with the formats of their competitors. Thus, with a few simple tricks, we can use Excel documents in LibreOffice or Google Sheets , and easily open the files of these programs in Excel.

Save Supported Files to Excel

By default Microsoft Excel will try to force us to save all documents to XLSX format … This is Microsoft’s official format, an evolution of the classic XLS, which has excellent performance, excellent optimization and backup system to avoid data loss. If we use the save option directly, Office will automatically save the document in this format.

However, we can change the format in which we want to save the Excel spreadsheet to whatever. To do this, simply select ” Save as »Program menu and display a complete list of formats.

As you can see, the list of supported formats in Excel 2019 (in this case) is very wide. We can easily save it in almost any format we are interested in, even in ODS, the OpenDocument format used in LibreOffice.

Both LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets fully support XLSX, although there may be compatibility issues with this style. Therefore, for best results when opening these tables in programs other than Office, we recommend regular XLS or ODS.

Save Compatible Files in LibreOffice Calc

Calc is a spreadsheet program in LibreOffice. Like all programs in this set, this program uses OpenDocument formats (ODT, ODS, etc.) the default to save all the documents we create with them. In addition, LibreOffice can easily export any document created with Calc software to native Excel formats such as XLS and XLSX. Hence, depending on how we are going to use our Calc tables, we will have to choose whether to save them in one format or another.

Microsoft’s Excel is capable of opening both native format (obviously) and ODS. However, for compatibility reasons, given LibreOffice’s known issues with Microsoft’s proprietary formats, we recommend using ODS to save these Calc tables. This format can be easily opened in both Excel and Google Sheets, with no loss of data or format. Therefore, it is the best option for working with other programs.

Open Excel and Calc in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program from Google. Unlike the two previous programs, this software is launched from the cloud, from a browser. We do not need to install anything on the PC, and all changes made by Google are automatically reflected upon entering the program. Sheets uses Google Drive as a document repository. Therefore, to open a spreadsheet created with either of these two programs, we need: upload XLSX or ODS to Google Drive and open it from there.

Google Excel can easily open data and style these spreadsheet formats. Thus, we can choose either of the two if we want to work with this tool without problems.

Convert sheets to Excel / Calc

Some difficulties arise when saving documents. Google Drive uses a proprietary format designed to be saved to Google Drive and automatically opened with this package. But these documents are not compatible with other programs by default. Therefore, if we want to load a spreadsheet from Tables, we will have to transform it first. And this can be done in two different ways.

The first is to try to download the spreadsheet directly from Google Drive. To do this, we simply right click on it and select “Download” option … Google will automatically convert our document to Excel, XLSX format and comment on the downloaded file in a few seconds.

And the second way to do this is in the save parameters of the Tables themselves. To do this, just open “File” in the top menu, and in the “Download” section we will find compatible formats.

As we can see, Google allows us to save these sheets, among other formats, in ODS and XLSX so that we can open their spreadsheets with both the Microsoft package and The Document Foundation package. Google’s package usually converts pretty well to all formats, so we shouldn’t have any problems with either Excel or Calc.

However, if we are striving for maximum compatibility so that this file can be used equally in both LibreOffice and the Microsoft package, we recommend the most compatible and simplest OpenDocument ODS format.