How to Import Excel into SharePoint online list?

In this SharePoint tutorial, I will show you how to import Excel into SharePoint online list.

And also, I will explain how to format an Excel list as a table so you can avoid the error; you don’t have any tables in this file. You need to define tables to import as a list. Also, I will mention the supported datatypes while importing an Excel list to a SharePoint custom list.

I have an Excel spreadsheet named ‘Employee Details‘ which needs to be imported to a SharePoint custom list as shown below:

Import an Excel Spreadsheet to a SharePoint Online List

Now, I will show you a step-wise process of importing Excel spreadsheet data to a SharePoint Online custom list.

There are two steps to Import a SharePoint list from Excel, such as:

• Format the Excel list as a Table
• Import formatted Excel table to SharePoint list

You don’t have any tables in this file. You need to define tables to import as a list

This section will tell you how to format an Excel list as a table.

We can not import an Excel Spreadsheet to a SharePoint list if it is not formatted as a table. It will display the message ‘You don’t have any tables in this file. You need to define tables to import as a list ‘.

Note:

An Excel Spreadsheet has to be formatted as a table,before importing it to the SharePoint Online custom list.The reason is that SharePoint can only detect tables in the Excel file to import.

Instructions to Format an Excel Spreadsheet:

• Open an Excel sheet, select a cell with the data -> Click Format as Table as shown below:

• Then it will show the tables section; select whichever table style you prefer.

• Next, Create Table dialogue box will appears; click on OK.

• The image below shows us that an Excel Spreadsheet has been formatted as a table.

• After that, save a formatted Excel file to your local system.

This is how to format an Excel list as a table, and now, we can import the formatted Excel data to a list in SharePoint.

import Excel into SharePoint online list

Here, I will demonstrate how to import a formatted Excel table to SharePoint Online custom list.

• Open a SharePoint Online home page, Expand + New button -> Select List.

• It will open Create a list page -> Select From Excel.

• Next, it will open From the Excel page; choose Upload file.

• After that, Select and open a saved Excel list (Employees Details) that is formatted as a table from your local system as shown below:

• Then, Customize page will open. Click on Next.
• In the Customize page, we can see all the columns aside from the “Title” are set to the “Single line of text” and “Number” type, which we can change.

• A dialogue box will appear, Provide a Name and Click on Create.

• Then the Excel list will appear in SharePoint Online custom list as shown below:

Supported Data Types of a SharePoint list:

• A single line of Text,
• Multiple lines of Text
• Currency
• Date and time
• Number
• Choice
• Title

We can also change the data types of a SharePoint Online list column after importing a formatted Excel list.

This is how we can import an Excel spreadsheet to SharePoint Online custom list.

Conclusion

We can easily import an Excel spreadsheet to a SharePoint list. In this tutorial, I have explained how to format an Excel file as a table and then import an Excel sheet into a sharepoint online list. Also, I have covered the data types that can be supported while importing a SharePoint list from Excel.

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