STEFANY LUNA DE LINZY/Shutterstock
Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel are similar in many ways. They both let you create spreadsheets for similar purposes — invoices, bookkeeping, scheduling, party planning — and have many of the same features.
However, even if the programs are incredibly similar, some people find it preferable to work in Excel over Google Sheets. This could be because you don't need an internet connection to save your work, or maybe they're just more familiar with the interface.
In any case, if you've started working on a spreadsheet with Google Sheets, but later want to use Excel, you can convert your documents easily.
To do this, you'll just need to use Google Sheets' downloading functions, which are available on both your PC and Mac.
Here's how to use them.
1. On your PC or Mac, open the Google Sheets spreadsheet that you want to convert.
2. In the top-left corner, click "File."
Melanie Weir/Business Insider
3. In the drop-down menu, hover over the option that says "Download."
4. In the new menu that appears, click "Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)." This will convert the spreadsheet into Excel format. Depending on your browser settings, the file will then either download automatically, or you'll be asked where you want it to download to.
Melanie Weir/Business Insider
Once the new Excel file has been downloaded, you can open it into Excel like any other Excel file.
