Given a shared Dropbox link to an Excel file, how can I easily open it in Google Sheets?

Question

Scenario:

I get an email every two weeks with a vendor's price list as a link to an Excel file in their Dropbox.

At this point, I have to:

• open the link — This takes me to Dropbox, where the file is opened in a preview mode that is not compatible with cut and paste into a spreadsheet.
• download the file to my computer — I have a choice to download to my computer or copy to my Dropbox.
• upload the file to my Google Drive — To do this I go to any open Google app tab, click New, Upload, grovel through the file structure to find it.
• from there I can open it with Google Sheets.
• copy 6 columns of data out of the sheet, and
• dispose of the file.

What I would like to do in Google Sheets is to open the file directly as a read-only file and save a bunch of steps.

My personal account is on Gmail. I use the web interface.

Is there a way to easily open this link directly as a sheet?

Answer 1

Google Sheets doesn't include a built-in feature to open Excel files from Dropbox but maybe there are Google Sheets add-on that does that and if not you could use Google Apps Script to automate the procedure that you are already doing. By the other hand there are services like IFTT, Zapier among others that could help you.

To learn the pretty basics about add-ons and Google Apps Script checkout https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2942256?hl=en

---

You could try Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides, a Chrome extension that claims:

Once the extension is installed, Office files that you drag into Chrome, open in Gmail, Google Drive, and more, will be opened in Docs, Sheets, and Slides for viewing and editing.

Maybe it work with Dropbox too, I didn't tried it yet.

---

I suggest you ask for a Software Recommendation on https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com

Answer 2

today (March 01, 2018), we’re announcing a new partnership with Google Cloud that will bring Dropbox and G Suite users one step closer to a world where our work comes together. We’ll soon begin rolling out a series of integrations that will help you use Dropbox more effectively with Google productivity and collaboration tools. Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Centralized content. Dropbox users will be able to create, open, edit, save and share Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly from Dropbox. And when you’re working in Dropbox, you’ll be able to save Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to your Dropbox account.

https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/google-cloud-integrations

---

Working with Google Cloud, Dropbox plans to develop a series of cross-platform integrations that connect G Suite cloud productivity tools and content (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Hangouts) with its global collaboration platform. These integrations will be made accessible for all Dropbox users. As a result:

• Users will be able to create, open, and edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files that live in Dropbox.
• From within Dropbox, users will have the option to open and edit compatible files directly in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
• Dropbox Business administrators will be able to manage Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files just like any other content that lives in Dropbox.

https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/business/dropbox-and-google-cloud-cross-platform

---

• an alternative would be to install https://g.co/BackupAndSyncDrive
• download your file into a synced folder
• go to https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive
• locate file, open file, copy data
• press LEFT ALT + F then T then ENTER

Answer 3

Partial answer in that it shortens the process.

Google sheets now supports having a file dropped on it.

Further Chrome by default has a link to the most recently downloaded files on the lower bar. So in Sheets:

File -> Open -> Upload then drag the file name from the lower bar onto the drop space receiver panel.

This eliminates the 'open google drive, grovel for the file in my file system' which was the most time consuming step, and the 'find the file in google drive' from the open menu in sheets, which was the second most time consuming step.