Google Drive: edit Excel spreadsheets - how it works

You can edit Excel spreadsheets with Google Drive, because Google offers editing tools for many Office products. You can find out how to edit the tables online in this practical tip.

Edit Excel spreadsheets in Google Drive

To edit existing Excel spreadsheets in Google Drive, you must first upload them and then convert them to a Google format:

• First open Google Drive and sign in. You do not have a Google-account yet? No problem, just create a new Google account.
• Then upload the Excel document from your computer to Google Drive by clicking on the plus symbol in the top left.
• If you now click on the recently uploaded Excel sheet in Google Drive, you will see a preview. Click the "Open with Google Sheets" button above. In the background, the document is converted by Google so that you can edit it.
• To be able to edit the tables offline again, right-click on the document in Google Drive and press "Download". Then it will be converted again and you can use it in Excel as usual.

Alternative: create tables directly in Google Drive

Of course, you can also create new tables directly in Google Drive:

• To do this, simply click on "New" in the top left corner of Google Drive and then on "Google Sheets".
• Now another tab with the document opens in the browser. You can assign a name to the top left.
• You can then start working immediately. Changes are saved almost in real time, so there is no save button.

In the next practical tip, you will learn how to synchronize your PC with Google Drive.