If you don't have Excel, or you want family members or a club committee to see the same numbers, Google Sheets is a natural home for your receipts. It opens on any phone, and nobody has to email files back and forth to see the latest version. This guide shows how to keep adding the spreadsheets you download from a receipt scanner into one Google Sheet that grows month by month.
1. Open the downloaded file in Google Sheets
The .xlsx file from the receipt tool opens in Google Sheets as it is.
- As a new spreadsheet: upload the file to Google Drive, open it, then choose File > Save as Google Sheets to get an editable copy.
- Into a spreadsheet you already use: in that spreadsheet, choose File > Import > Upload, pick the file and select "Insert new sheet(s)".
If dates look wrong, check File > Settings and make sure the locale matches the date format you use. The locale decides whether 03/04 means March 4 or April 3.
2. Keep every month on one sheet
A new tab for each month means jumping between tabs whenever you want a total. A single All spending sheet that you add rows to each month is far easier to work with.
- On the newly imported sheet, copy the Date, Store and Total columns.
- Paste them below the last row of the All spending sheet.
- Delete the imported sheet once the rows are pasted.
The No. column restarts at 1 every month, so either leave it out or turn it into something like "2026-09-3" so rows can still be matched to receipt photos.
3. Build summary tables with QUERY
Google Sheets' QUERY function builds a summary table without touching your original data. Assume the All spending sheet has dates in column A, stores in column B, amounts in column C, and headers in row 1.
Total by store, largest first
=QUERY('All spending'!A1:C, "select B, sum(C) where C is not null group by B order by sum(C) desc", 1)
Total by month
=QUERY('All spending'!A1:C, "select year(A), month(A), sum(C) where A is not null group by year(A), month(A)", 1)
QUERY's month() counts January as 0, so add 1 to the month numbers when you read the results. Paste new rows into the source sheet and both summaries update on their own.
4. Use filter views and the right permissions
When several people use the same sheet, one person's filter changes what everyone else sees. A filter view (under the Data menu) applies only on your screen, so use those instead of plain filters.
Match permissions to what each person needs.
| Person | Access | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Whoever keeps the records | Editor | Adds and fixes rows |
| Family or members who just look | Viewer | Nothing changes by accident |
| People with questions | Commenter | Can ask on a specific cell |
Sharing with "Anyone with the link" means the link can travel further than you intended. Where possible, share with specific people by email instead.
5. Check it from your phone
With the Google Sheets app, the All spending sheet and your summaries are always in your pocket. Phones are better for checking than for data entry, so do the pasting on a computer and use your phone to answer "how much have we spent this month?"
Summary
Let the receipt tool turn photos into rows, then keep three habits in Google Sheets: paste every month into one sheet, build summaries separately with QUERY, and give people only the access they need. Months of spending stay easy to read in a single file.