Google Sheets is a uniquely versatile program that allows its users to create, edit, and collaborate on making spreadsheets. It’s simple to use, has a nice, crisp interface, and supports integration with other Google applications, such as Google Analytics and Google Forms. The entirety of it is somewhat comparable to the pioneer Microsoft Excel, but Sheets is free of cost, unlike the latter.
This program’s far-flung functionality can get quite overwhelming, and you might also be missing out on some beneficial features. Therefore, we’ve written this article and compiled 10 of the best tips and tricks that you can use today and revamp your experience with Google Sheets. Let’s get started.
1. Apply Heatmaps
Heatmaps go a long way in distributing your data according to their significance. If you’ve just imported an extensive amount of facts and figures from Google Analytics, it’s best that you give them color and arrange them based on their importance. You can apply heatmaps using an exceptional Google Sheets feature called conditional formatting. Read more about that here.
2. Easy Capitalization Function
Keeping in mind the PROPER function, there’s a handy feature that allows you to tackle large data sets a bit easier. If you find that the capitalization of the first and last names are off, you can automatically correct the punctuation with the aforementioned tool. Read more about the functionality of PROPER here. Similarly, if you desire to shift all words to lowercase, you can use the LOWER function. Check that out here.
3. Directly Email Your Comment
Google Sheets focuses heavily on teamwork and collaboration with real-time updates, especially when it comes to large projects. When commenting on something, you can click on the “+” sign and add the person’s email. When you’re done with your comment, and as soon as you press enter, the person will be sent an email with your comment so that they can view it better.
4. Integrating Google Sheets With Add-Ons
You can double down on your creativity and work like never before by using certain add-ons with Google Sheets. There are many of them out there, but speaking from personal experience, we have found Google Analytics to be the most worthy of our time and energy. Additionally, there’s also Supermetrics that fetches your marketing data from popular social signals such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
5. Pull In Images Using Their URL
You might know the basic method of inserting images into your Google Sheets document, but were you aware of a more effortless method? It turns out; you can use your desired image’s URL to get them inside your doc directly. All you have to do is use the following command, but be sure to replace the “URL” part with the image’s actual URL.
=IMAGE(“URL”)
6. SPARKLINE Feature
If you’ve meant to give your metric-oriented document a visual representation to compare trends and other things, you can use the SPARKLINE feature. This will pull up a small-scale graphical image that will make it possible to observe considerable inclines and declines.
7. Seamless Text Translation
If you’re working on a multi-lingual document and you’re struggling with translation, Google Sheets has a quick fix for you. All you have to do is use the following command, and everything in your cell will be swiftly translated without you having to open another Chrome tab and going forth with the traditional method.
=GOOGLETRANSLATE
8. Name Splitting
Using Google Sheets, you can also split your data of one cell into many other cells if the need arises. For this, you’ll have to refer to the “Split text to columns” option under the “Data” tab. This will effectively split names and other data into several more cells.
9. QR Code Formation
Barcodes can prove pretty useful for keeping a track record and showing information on a need-to-know basis. However, there are plenty of other functions that a QR code has, such as permitting people for viewership at conference calls, etc. To insert a QR code, use the following command.
=IMAGE("https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chs=200x200&cht=qr&chl="&A1&"")
10. Use Google Sheets Shortcuts
Shortcuts are always a great way to boost your productivity, no matter what you’re doing. Quite fortunately, Google Sheets has gathered a whole list of valuable shortcuts that you can check out here. For Chromebook users, there’s a dedicated section as well, right alongside Windows and macOS users.
