Excel Trick: Convert XLSX to Google Sheets and LibreOffice

Although the most widely used office software today is Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), currently we can find a large number of suites to choose from. We have the typical desktop suites, such as Office or LibreOffice, in addition to a series of cloud-based alternatives (Office online, Google Drive, etc.) that allow us to have these programs from anywhere and on any device, just needing to have access to Internet. However, if we have tried to work with several at the same time we will have realized that it is complicated, and we will often run into compatibility problems.

Each program has its own format, and is specially designed for use with it. In the case of Excel, for example, the main format of the spreadsheets is XLSX , while Calc, the LibreOffice software, will save the sheets in ODS format. However, this does not mean that we use the program that we use we are going to have to be tied to it, quite the opposite. All these programs are compatible, to a greater or lesser extent, with the formats of their rivals. Therefore, with a few simple tricks we will be able to both use Excel documents in LibreOffice or Google Sheets , and open the files of these programs in Excel without problems.

Convert XLSX to Google Sheets and LibreOffice

Save supported files in Excel

By default, Microsoft Excel will try to get us to save all documents in XLSX format . This is the official Microsoft format, an evolution of the classic XLS, which has excellent performance, great optimization, and redundancy systems 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 we want to save the Excel spreadsheet in whatever we want. To do this, simply select the ” Save as ” section of the program menu, and display the complete list of formats.

Guardar como en Excel 2019

As we can see, the list of supported formats in Excel 2019 (in this case) is very wide. We will be able to save it without problem in almost any format that interests us, 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 the style. Therefore, to obtain the best result when opening these spreadsheets in programs other than Office, we recommend either normal XLS or ODS.

Save compatible files in LibreOffice Calc

Calc is the spreadsheet software in the LibreOffice suite. Like all the programs in this suite, this program uses the OpenDocument formats (ODT, ODS, etc.) by default to save all the documents that we create with them. Additionally, LibreOffice is able to seamlessly export any document created with its Calc software in native Excel formats such as XLS and XLSX. Therefore, depending on how we are going to use our Calc sheets, we will have to choose whether to save it in one or another format.

Guardar como en LibreOffice Calc 7

Microsoft’s Excel is capable of opening both its own format (obviously) and ODS. However, for compatibility reasons, given LibreOffice’s known problems with Microsoft’s native formats, we recommend using ODS to save these Calc sheets. This format will be able to be opened without problems in both Excel and Google Sheets, and there will be no loss of data or format. Therefore, it is the best option to work with other programs.

Open Excel and Calc in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is Google’s spreadsheet software. Unlike the two previous programs, this software runs from the cloud, from the browser. We do not have to install anything on the PC, and all changes made by Google are automatically reflected when entering the program. Sheets uses Google Drive as storage for documents. Therefore, in order to open a spreadsheet created with either of these two programs we will have to upload the XLSX or ODS to Google Drive , and open it from there.

Google Excel can seamlessly open data and style these spreadsheet formats. Therefore, we can choose either of the two in case we want to work without problems with this tool.

Convert Sheets to Excel / Calc

Where we can find some complication is when saving the documents. Google Drive uses its own format designed to be saved to Google Drive and automatically opened with this suite. But these documents, by default, are not compatible with other programs. Therefore, if we want to download a spreadsheet from Sheets, we will have to convert it previously. And this can be done in two different ways.

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

Convertir y descargar de Google Sheets

And the second of the ways to do it is from within the save options of the Sheets itself. To do this, we simply open the “File” option from the top menu, and within “Download” we will find the compatible formats.

Descargar como en Google Sheets

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 suite and that of The Document Foundation. The Google suite usually converts to all formats quite well, so we shouldn’t have a problem for either Excel or Calc.

However, if we seek maximum compatibility so that this file can be used equally in both LibreOffice and Microsoft’s suite, then we recommend the most compatible and simple, the OpenDocument ODS format.