Moving from the Excel add-in to Google Sheets™

By Paul Kemp · Published 24 September 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026

Two-File Reconciliation runs in Excel and in Google Sheets™. The engine is the same, so the same pair of tables gives the same answer in both. Your key and your recipes come with you. This page covers what carries over and what works differently.

Your licence key works in both

There is nothing to buy again. Paste the key you already have into the Sheets sidebar: Extensions › Two-File Reconciliation › Open, then Enter a licence key at the bottom. A Pro key has 3 activations shared between Excel and Google Sheets™, and one Google account is one activation, however many computers you use it on. If all three are in use, email support@appgarden.co.uk to free one.

Bringing your recipes across

In Excel, open the pane, pick the recipe under Saved recipes and press Export. That saves a small .json file.
In Google Sheets™, open the sidebar and use Import a recipe under Saved recipes.
It loads the mapping and every setting. If the spreadsheet has tabs or named ranges with the same names as the Excel sheets, it picks them. Otherwise pick the two tables again.
Press Save to keep it in My recipes. Saving is Pro; importing and running are free.

The same works the other way, from Sheets to Excel.

What works differently in Google Sheets™

Where recipes live	Excel keeps a recipe inside the workbook. Sheets keeps it against your Google account (My recipes), so it follows you to next month's new spreadsheet. You can also save one In this spreadsheet for colleagues.
Running next month	Extensions › Two-File Reconciliation › Run a saved recipe… opens the sidebar at your recipes.
Sources	Tabs, named ranges and the range you have selected. Use a named range when the table does not start at A1.
The second file	The add-on can only see the spreadsheet it is opened in. Copy the other table's tab in with right-click › Copy to › Existing spreadsheet, or load it as a CSV.
The report	Six new tabs, named with the date (`Recon 2026-10-31 · Summary`), so a second run never overwrites the first.
Accepting near-matches	Real checkboxes in the Review tab's Accept? column, then Apply review.
Size	Google caps a spreadsheet at 10 million cells, report included. The add-on checks the report fits before writing it. For bigger reports, Download as CSV (Pro) has no limit.
Dates	If a CSV is imported with Convert text to numbers, dates and formulas on, Sheets reads its dates in the spreadsheet's locale first. Check them, or import with it off and tell the add-on day/month or month/day.

What stays the same

The matching: the same key clean-up, the same rules, the same four buckets and the same decomposed difference.
Near-matching is off by default, and a guess is never counted as a clean match.
Your source data is never modified.
Nothing leaves your spreadsheet. The only network request is the licence check.

Install: in Google Sheets™, Extensions › Add-ons › Get add-ons, search for “Two-File Reconciliation”. Then the guide walks through a first run.

Google, Google Sheets™ and Google Workspace™ are trademarks of Google LLC. Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Two-File Reconciliation is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google or Microsoft.