Convert Units

Overview

A unit conversion API that replaces hand-maintained conversion tables in your code. It covers 185 units across 23 measures, so the everyday conversions are one call each: liters to gallons, miles per hour to kilometers per hour, Celsius to Fahrenheit, megabytes to gigabytes, psi to bar, pounds to kilograms, and kilowatt-hours to joules. Beyond length, area, mass, volume and temperature it handles time, speed, pace, pressure, digital storage, parts per million, frequency, angles, illuminance, volume flow rate and electrical units from volts and amperes to watts and kilowatt-hours. Results are rounded to 2 decimal places. On paid plans, precision returns up to 10 decimal places, so very small results no longer round to zero, and conversions=true returns the same value in every unit of its measure in one call, such as a mass in micrograms through metric tons.

Live Test Convert Units Source →

Formula

One function covers the whole catalog: the first argument names the source, the next are its inputs, and the field after them says which single value lands in the cell. Formulas covers the grammar that applies to all of them.

=VERVE("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2, "result.result")

=VERVE.CALL("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2, "result.result")

A2 holds value, B2 holds from, C2 holds to. Arguments go in that order — the same order as the table below.

With literal values

Nothing has to come from a cell — typed values work the same way.

=VERVE("unitconverter", 100, "lb", "kg", "result.result")

=VERVE.CALL("unitconverter", 100, "lb", "kg", "result.result")

Inputs

Required inputs are positional, in the order below, followed by the field. Everything else is passed as a "name", value pair after that — the same shape as SUMIFS. Premium inputs are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Passing an option

=VERVE("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2, "result.result", "precision", 4)

=VERVE.CALL("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2, "result.result", "precision", 4)

What lands in your sheet

The field — the argument after the inputs — is what makes the formula resolve to one cell. Its value is a dot-path from the table below, so swapping it is how you pull a different value — one formula per column.

Seeing everything at once

Leave the field out and the formula returns the whole response instead: two columns, field name on the left and value on the right, spilling from the cell you typed in.

=VERVE("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2)

=VERVE.CALL("unitconverter", A2, B2, C2)

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Each one is exactly what the field argument accepts, so swapping it is how you pull a different value into a cell. On a plan without a Premium field the cell reads #PREMIUM(field) rather than a value, so a locked field never looks like a real answer.

Filling a whole column

Both platforms make one batched call for a column rather than one request per cell, and both cost the same — 1 credit per row looked up. How you write it differs, because the two runtimes batch at different points.

=VERVE("unitconverter", A2:A100, B2:B100, C2:C100, "result.result")

In Google Sheets, give the arguments ranges and the answers spill down from the cell you typed in. Custom functions there run synchronously and in isolation, so dragged cells cannot be coalesced — the range form is how a column becomes one call. The field is required here: a per-row two-column table has nowhere to spill. Use a full column per input (A2:A100, not A2) — a single-cell reference is read as row 1 only and the rest of the column comes back blank.

In Excel, type the formula once and fill down — no range form and none needed, because its runtime is asynchronous and the add-in coalesces the calls a fill produces into a single batched request. Do not hand VERVE.CALL a range: Excel flattens it into positional arguments, so A2:A100 arrives as a hundred separate arguments and the cell reads #ERR rather than filling.

Either way, column A holds your value values and the answers land beside them, one row each, blank rows skipped.

When a cell doesn't fill

A failed lookup returns readable text starting with #ERR rather than a spreadsheet error, because Excel cannot show a custom message on a real error — you would get a bare #VALUE! with no reason. The trade-off is that IFERROR() will not catch it; test with LEFT(cell, 4) = "#ERR" instead. Error handling covers the rest.

Before the formula works

The add-in reads the API key you saved once in the side panel — the key never goes in the formula, so a shared sheet does not leak it and a collaborator without access simply sees the last calculated values.

1. Install the add-in for Google Sheets or Excel.
2. Open the side panel and sign in, or paste a key from your dashboard.
3. Type the formula above into any cell.

Supported Units

All 185 units across 23 measures. Units convert only within the same measure (length to length, pressure to pressure). Codes are case-sensitive: Mb is megabits and MB is megabytes. Miles per hour is m/h. Temperature codes also accept lowercase (c, f, k, r).

Use cases

Measurement Converters

Convert measurements such as weight, length, area, temperature, and more by using the Unit Converter API. Use the API to convert units between different systems

Unit Standardization

Standardize units across different systems by using the Unit Converter API. Convert units to a common standard for consistency and compatibility

Unit Calculation

Perform unit calculations by using the Unit Converter API to convert units in mathematical operations. Use the API to simplify unit conversions in calculations

Other ways to use Convert Units

Set up Convert Units on VerveSheets, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveSheets account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

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