How-To

How to Merge Sheets in Google Sheets

By Ben Stockton

Published January 9, 2023

Merging sheets together in Google Sheets can help you organize and analyze your data. This guide explains how.

If you have multiple sheets in a Google Sheets spreadsheet, you may want to merge them together to make it easier to analyze and structure your data.

Merging sheets in Google Sheets will combine the data from multiple sheets into a single sheet. This should allow you to better organize and work through your data, creating a more streamlined spreadsheet.

If you want to know how to merge sheets in Google Sheets, follow the steps below.

Using the Copy Sheet Option

You can copy all the existing content in a Google Sheets sheet and place it in another. This is the quickest and easiest way to merge multiple sheets in Google Sheets.

To copy multiple sheets into one sheet in Google Sheets:

1. Open your Google Sheets spreadsheet.
2. On the bottom tab, right-click a sheet you want to merge.
3. Select Copy to > Existing spreadsheet from the pop-up menu.
   
4. In the pop-up menu, choose the new spreadsheet file to copy the data to.
5. Click Insert to copy the sheet.
   
6. Once you’ve copied the sheet data into one sheet, you can delete the previous sheets from the original file by right-clicking the sheet tab at the bottom and selecting Delete.
7. Select Hide sheet if you’d prefer to keep the original data and hide the sheet.
   

Once you’ve copied your sheets, the data will appear in the spreadsheet you selected for you to use.

Using the IMPORTRANGE Function

Confusingly, a sheet in Google Sheets could refer to two things. It could refer to the individual sheets in your spreadsheet. It could also refer to the spreadsheet file itself.

The method above refers to copying individual sheets into a different spreadsheet. However, what do you do if you’d prefer to merge data from multiple sheets into a single sheet?

To do that, you can use the IMPORTRANGE function. This function will show the data from existing sheets (across multiple files) and place it in one sheet for you to use.

To use the IMPORTRANGE function in Google Sheets:

1. Open your Google Sheets spreadsheet.
2. Select the sheet you want to merge data into from the tabs at the bottom.
3. At the bottom of your existing data and in an empty cell, type: =IMPORTRANGE(
4. In quotation marks, type the URL of the sheet you want to import data from, followed by a comma.
5. After the comma, and in quotation marks, type the name of your other sheet and the range of cells from that sheet that you want to import (e.g., “Sheet1!A1:Z100”).
6. Close the parentheses and press the Enter key (e.g., =IMPORTRANGE(“https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/abcd”, “Sheet1!A1:Z100”)
   
7. A pop-up window will appear, asking you to grant access to the sheet. Click Allow access to confirm.
8. If it doesn’t, select the cell again and click Allow access.
   

The data from the specified range of cells in the other sheet will now be imported into the current sheet.

To edit the data in your imported range, open the sheet containing the data and make changes. You’ll then need to refresh the sheet with the IMPORTRANGE formula if the data doesn’t update.

Using the Import Tool

Using the Import tool, you can also import other spreadsheet file types (including CSV and XLSX files) into a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This tool allows you to add any imported data to an existing sheet in your spreadsheet.

To use the import tool to merge sheets in Google Sheets:

1. Open your Google Sheets spreadsheet.
2. Select File > Import from the top menu.
   
3. Click the Select a file from your computer option.
4. To upload a file instead, click the Upload tab and upload it first.
5. Otherwise, choose the spreadsheet file you want to import from the menu and click Insert.
   
6. Select Append to current sheet under Import location on the Import file dialog.
7. Click Import data.
   

The imported data will be added to the existing sheet, replacing any existing data. If Append to current sheet isn’t available as an option, you may need to convert your original file first. For example, if you’ve uploaded an XLSX file from Microsoft Excel, you may need to save your data as a CSV file first to ensure compatibility.

Organizing Your Google Sheets Data

Merging sheets in Google Sheets using the steps above is another way to advance your spreadsheet and make it easier to analyze your data.

If you’re looking to take your Google Sheets skills to the next level, you can try plenty of other tips. For instance, if you need to perform calculations on your data, you can learn how to sum a column in Google Sheets.

Alternatively, you may want to customize the appearance of your spreadsheet by learning how to change cell size in Google Sheets. Finally, if you need to find specific information within your spreadsheet, you can use the search function in Google Sheets to locate it quickly.