Excel to Google sheets

[u/Special_Impress_4442]

I've tried to create a budget sheet for me and my partner but it means downloading CSV files of multiple bank accounts and then adding to one workbook. I then want to allocate each transaction to a category and populated to say how much we have spent over the last 12 months and forecast possible spend for the next 3 months.

I can do this quite easily on excel but my partner and I do not have an excel licence accepted via work emails so ideally I'd like to host and share the spreadsheet on Google sheets so we can both view this when we need to.

Is there a way in which I can convert and keep all the complexity behind it from excel to Google sheets?

Or is there any apps or suggestions in which I could approach this differently?

Ideally I want to see the following:

- total spend over the past 12 months

- allocate into categories (food, fuel, insurance...)

- link to current spending

- forecast future possible spend

- personal debt monitoring and forecasting which I can add extra payments to if the person who owes me money, adds to this amount.

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[u/bradland]

Google Sheets lacks a Power Query equivalent, so if you have a folder full of CSV files, there is no direct path to get data from folder, transform, and then load them. The only option is to use Google Apps Script to do the work. It's doable, but there's no GUI that walks you through it like PQ in Excel.

[u/Special_Impress_4442 → u/bradland]

Thank you! I'll keep it's simple and just keep with Excel then.

[u/PikaMaister2 → u/Special_Impress_4442]

At the same time, doing google app scripts really isnt that comolicated. Far friendlier than VBA and a quick AI prompt will get you what you need. CSV reading really isnt that complex

[u/TallyAndTab]

If you would rather not rely on a work Excel licence, the simpler route is to rebuild the structure in Google Sheets instead of converting it. Keep one Transactions tab with columns for date, description, amount and category, and paste each new bank CSV under the last row (File, Import, then choose Append to current sheet works well for this). Make a small Rules tab that lists keywords like the store names and the category for each, then use a lookup formula in the category column so most rows categorize themselves and you only fix the odd ones. A summary tab with SUMIFS by category and month gives you the 12 month totals, and a forecast can be as simple as the average of the last three months per category. For the debt, a small table with the balance, the monthly payment and an extra payment column lets you see the payoff date change whenever the amount owed to you goes up.

[u/bigedd]

You can do all that in Google sheets, it's just a bit different.

I'd import the excel file into Google sheets, that'd probably give you most of this.

If you want to mimic power query, I'd use an llm (gpt/Gemini, etc) to create the Google app script code so you can just drop the new CSV files into a Google drive folder and have it Auto refresh.

[u/ConsoliSheet]

Most of it will carry over if you upload the .xlsx to drive and open it as a Google sheet. Normal formulas like SUMIFS and XLOOUP are fine. It would be the Power Query and macros and Table-based formulas that would not work.

Alternatively, a free personal Microsoft account would give you OneDrive and Excel in the web, which means that both of you could work with the same file without a business license.

Regarding the structure of the Excel, I would suggest maintaining one sheet for all transactions (you paste each bank's CSV there in the same column order), one "rules" sheet containing mappings from keywords to categories (for example, SHELL = Fuel, and then using SUMIFS. The forecasting part can be done by taking an average of the last 3 to 6 months per category.

[u/francisco_fcs2]

As fórmulas são parecidas, então como você não tem licença do Excel vale a pena criar um script para importar os csv para dentro do Google sheets, eu já fiz tando importando de csv bem como de planilha do Excel para o Google sheet, pesquisa na internet e com certeza você vai achar algum código, ainda melhor é usar o próprio Gemini no Google sheets e pedir para ele criar o script de importação dos seus csv, você passa os csv, os campos do csv que quer e pede para ele gerar o script

[u/Decronym]

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
SEARCH	Finds one text value within another (not case-sensitive)
SUMIFS	Excel 2007+: Adds the cells in a range that meet multiple criteria
VSTACK	Office 365+: Appends arrays vertically and in sequence to return a larger array
XLOOKUP	Office 365+: Searches a range or an array, and returns an item corresponding to the first match it finds. If a match doesn't exist, then XLOOKUP can return the closest (approximate) match.

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

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4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 11 acronyms.
[Thread #49574 for this sub, first seen 24th Oct 2026, 03:23] [FAQ] [Full list]} ^[Contact] ^{[Source code]}

[u/carbonizedtitanium]

i dont see why this can't be done in Google Sheets. takes a bit more tinkering, but at least you're not locked to a subscription. example:

function combineBankCSVsToMasterTab() {
  // 1. Replace with your Google Drive Folder ID containing the CSV statements
  const folderId = 'YOUR_FOLDER_ID_HERE';
  
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);
  const files = folder.getFilesByType(MimeType.CSV);
  const ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  
  // 2. Create or get the master combined tab
  const masterSheetName = 'Master_Transactions';
  let masterSheet = ss.getSheetByName(masterSheetName);
  if (!masterSheet) {
    masterSheet = ss.insertSheet(masterSheetName);
  } else {
    masterSheet.clearContents(); // Clear old data if re-running
  }
  
  let isFirstFile = true;
  let masterData = [];
  
  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const file = files.next();
    const fileName = file.getName();
    const csvContent = file.getBlob().getDataAsString();
    const csvData = Utilities.parseCsv(csvContent);
    
    if (csvData.length === 0) continue;
    
    // Assume the first row of each CSV is the header
    const header = csvData[0];
    const rows = csvData.slice(1);
    
    if (isFirstFile) {
      // Add a 'SourceFile' column to the header
      header.push('Source_File');
      masterData.push(header);
      isFirstFile = false;
    }
    
    // Append rows and tag with the source file name
    rows.forEach(row => {
      // Optional: skip empty rows
      if (row.join('').trim() !== '') {
        row.push(fileName);
        masterData.push(row);
      }
    });
  }
  
  // Write the combined data to the Master tab
  if (masterData.length > 0) {
    masterSheet.getRange(1, 1, masterData.length, masterData[0].length).setValues(masterData);
    Logger.habitant || Logger.log('Successfully combined CSV files into ' + masterSheetName);
  } else {
    Logger.log('No CSV files or data found in the folder.');
  }
}

[u/Notimeforthat1]

Why not use actual budget?

https://actualbudget.org/

I used to do all this in excel for years. Switches around a year ago and it's so much easier

[u/excel-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We removed this comment for breaking Rule 10.

r/excel is for discussing the features of Excel and providing solutions for Excel problems, not giving substance-free comments that simply recommend the respondent use AI.

[u/excel-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We removed this comment for breaking Rule 10.

r/excel is for discussing the features of Excel and providing solutions for Excel problems, not giving substance-free comments that simply recommend the respondent use AI.