n this article we will show you how to convert currency in Google Sheets in just a few clicks. Simply follow the steps below.
For the purpose of these demonstrations, an example data sheet was created. Click here to access the sheet and follow along at home.
Click an empty cell in your sheet, this will be the cell where the conversion populates.
In our example below we have highlighted cell A6
In the selected cell input the formula in the format of: =GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:<Currency Code 1><Currency Code 2>")
Formula Breakdown:
=GOOGLEFINANCE: This is the function that retrieves current as well as historical monetary information from Google Finance.
CURRENCY: Defines the following input data as currency
<Currency Code 1>: This will be the currency code of the currency to compare against.
<Currency Code 2>: This will be the currency code we are converting to. These must be input with no gaps.
See the list below for the codes for several popular currency:
Currency = Code
In our example we will input the formula into cell and compare the US Dollar (USD) to the Great British Pound (GBP), therefore our example formula is:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:USDGBP")
With the formula inputted, simply press the Enter key.
The formula will run and the currency result will populate.
In our example the currency conversion has been completed and the value of the US dollar (USD) to Great British Pound (GBP). The result is 0.83277 USD to GBP.
To convert a specific amount, click on a new cell.
In our example we have clicked B6 and input the same formula with the addition of *Value at the end after the bracket ‘)’. We will enter the number 100 as the example value.
Therefore our formula for this demonstration will be:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:USDGBP")*100
The exact total of the formula calculation for conversion rate for the value of $100 to GBP is previewed below.
It is also possible to convert currency using currency codes located in other cells. In the below demonstration we will show how to use cell references in the GOOGLEFINANCE formula.
Click an empty cell to select it.
In our example we will select cell C5
In the selected cell input the formula in the format of: =GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:"&<Cell_Ref1>&<Cell_Ref2>)
Formula Breakdown:
=GOOGLEFINANCE: The function that retrieves current as well as historical monetary information from Google Finance.
CURRENCY: Defines the following input data as currency
<Cell_Ref1>: This will the reference of the cell containing the currency we will compare to. In our example this will be A5 which contains the currency code for the US Dollar (USD).
<Cell_Ref2>: This will the reference of the cell containing the currency we will compare against. In our example this will be B5 which contains the currency code for the Great British Pound (GBP).
In our example we will input the formula in cell C5, As we are comparing the currency code for US Dollar(USD) from cell A5 to the Great British Pound (GBP) which is located in B5, our example formula is:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:"&A5&B5)
With the formula inputted, press the Enter key to see the results. The formula will run and the results will populate.
In our example we compared the currency unit values from cells A5 (USD) and B5 (GBP), the returned result is the conversion rate which is 0.083239. This rate is frequently changing, the returned number will change when the spreadsheet is opened or edited.
You can also convert a specific numeric amount based on the cell reference values, first click on a new cell.
In our example we have clicked C6 and input the same formula with the addition of *Value at the end after the bracket ‘)’. For this example we will use 100 as the value. Therefore the full formula for this demonstration is:
=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:"&A5&B5)*100
This will return the value to that exact specification based on the currency parameters in cells A6 and B6 in the formula as previewed in our example below. We can see that 100 GBP in EUR is 113.599.
We hope this article has helped you and given you a better understanding of how to convert currency in Google Sheets. You might also like our articles on how to convert Google Sheets to Excel and how to convert text to number in Google Sheets.
To optimize your workflow, we recommend reading our guide on how to set up automatic email notifications.
