In Excel, select the formulas you want to change, open the Data tab, choose the matching command, and confirm.
Select the formulas you want to change.
Open the Data tab on the Excel ribbon and pick the command that acts on formulas.
Set any options the dialog offers, then confirm.
Check the result on a few formulas before applying it to the whole sheet.
What this does
Strip “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” back and what you are really doing in Excel is a data step that keeps your analysis trustworthy. The specific commands matter far less than one habit: keep the values behind the result in their own labelled cells, reference those cells from every formula, and rely on Excel to recalculate the instant anything moves. Handle formulas that way and the work scales from a handful of rows to thousands without breaking, and it stays auditable for the next person to open it — including you in six months. That is the whole gap between a quick fix you redo every single time and a pattern you build once with formulas and simply reuse. It is worth separating “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” from the many near-identical phrasings that surround it. Specifically, “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” turns on function similar importdata, and that function similar importdata detail is what sets it apart from the dozen near-identical formula questions around it. In Excel the safe pattern for function similar importdata is the same every time: isolate the inputs, apply the “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” step to a small copy, check the figure for function similar importdata against the tool on this page, then scale up once it looks right. Doing “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” in that order means a surprise in your function similar importdata data surfaces while it is cheap to fix, not after the result has gone into a report. Keep the function similar importdata inputs labelled, point the formula at them, and the “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” outcome stays something you can re-run and defend long after you first searched for it. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make.
A worked example
Walk it through on a sample of your formulas first. Highlight the formulas you want to act on, open the Data tab in Excel, pick the matching command, and confirm. Rehearse it on a throwaway copy — or on the tool above — so nothing surprises you on the live sheet. When it behaves the way you expect on a handful of formulas, the very same clicks cover the entire table. It is worth doing your formulas properly the first time. Trustworthy analysis starts with trustworthy data, and a careful data step here is what keeps every total and chart downstream honest. Build it once, verify it against the tool above, and the same setup keeps earning its keep on every later visit to the file. Search results often blur “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” together with looser questions about formulas, but the wording here is precise on purpose. Specifically, “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” turns on function similar importdata, and that function similar importdata detail is what sets it apart from the dozen near-identical formula questions around it. The quickest reliable route in Excel is to build a tiny example matching your data, confirm “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” against the tool above, and only then run it for real — that way you solve the exact function similar importdata problem you searched for, not an approximation. The thing people get wrong about “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets” is treating function similar importdata as interchangeable with the generic formula case; it usually is not, and the few seconds you spend checking function similar importdata on a small sample is what keeps the result honest. If your real sheet differs in one detail, change that one input, re-check “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets”, and the same function similar importdata method carries straight over. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.
In Google Sheets
If you are in Google Sheets rather than Excel, the good news is that the formula shown here is identical and the workflow barely changes — menus sit across the top instead of in a ribbon, and a few function names differ slightly, but anything you build here moves across with little or no rework. The aim was to get you unstuck fast and leave you a little more capable than a copy-paste would. The answer is at the top, the tool proves it, and the detail above shows why it holds — so the next time a colleague asks, you can answer without reaching for search. If you take one thing from this page on “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets”, make it the habit rather than the keystrokes: set the problem up with labelled inputs, reference those cells, and let Excel do the recomputing. Bookmark the page for the syntax, but do the example once in a blank sheet and check it against the tool above — five minutes of hands-on practice fixes the method in memory far better than re-reading, and it surfaces the small snags while they are still harmless. After that the technique is genuinely yours: faster than searching for it again, and reliable enough to drop into work that other people depend on.
Common mistakes
- Applying the action to the wrong formula — check the selection highlight covers exactly the formulas you mean before you commit.
- Hard-coding values inside a formula instead of referencing cells, which silently breaks the moment the data changes.
- Sorting one column on its own and tearing each row apart from the rest of its record.
- Overwriting the original data instead of working on a copy, so there is nothing to fall back to if the result is wrong.
- Applying the change to every formula when only some qualified, instead of filtering to the ones you meant first.
Frequently asked questions
What is the quickest way to excel function similar to importdata for google sheets?
Use the boxed answer at the top of this page — it gives the exact Excel steps for “excel function similar to importdata for google sheets”, and the tool just below lets you run it on your own formulas before you touch the real sheet.
Does this work in older versions of Excel?
Yes. The approach for formulas has been stable across recent Excel versions; only the ribbon icons changed cosmetically, so the steps still apply.
How do I apply this to a whole column of formulas at once?
Set it up on the first row, then double-click or drag the fill handle — Excel repeats the same logic down every one of your formulas without re-typing it.