Google Sheets rolls out better Excel imports: tables keep formatting

Google Sheets started rolling out a new update in August 2026, and Google says it makes Excel imports hold up better. The big change is that Sheets now does a better job preserving Excel table formatting and structural information, and it also improves pivot table imports. If you move .xlsx files back and forth between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace on a regular basis, this is the kind of update you’ll actually notice. Tables should keep more of their styling and built-in behavior, rather than making you rebuild reports, budgets, sales trackers, and other shared files from scratch. Pivot tables, too, should arrive in a state that’s still useful, instead of flattening into static data.

Google Sheets Download

For businesses that still rely on Excel for long-established workflows but prefer Google Sheets when it’s time to collaborate in the browser, that takes some of the pain out of the handoff. It won’t fix every compatibility problem between the two platforms, but it should ease one of the more annoying ones.

It also lines up with Google’s larger effort to make Sheets feel like a real first-choice spreadsheet tool, not just the lighter alternative to Microsoft Excel. Real-time collaboration already gives it an edge for some teams, and Google has been adding things like natural-language editing features and Connected Sheets improvements. Better Excel imports matter for the same reason: people are a lot more willing to move files over when they trust those files will survive the trip.

Google says the rollout began in August 2026 for all Google Workspace customers as well as personal Google accounts. What Google hasn’t spelled out is how well Sheets handles the messier parts of Excel files, including locale-specific formats, advanced formulas, complex templates, or macros used in finance, research, and engineering work.

Microsoft Excel Download