5 Google Sheets Features You Need To Know

You’re probably acquainted with the basics of Google Sheets, however Google’s spreadsheet offering boasts loads of features that aren’t apparent initially glimpse. Here are some of our favorites.

Obviously, you probably are currently acquainted with some standard solutions, like SUM and AVERAGE. And it’s most likely you’ve learnt more about the toolbar relatively well, however it’s quite amazing simply how deep it all goes. I like spreadsheets, but even to this day I’m still discovering brand-new tricks within Google Sheets.

Import Data Tables

This sounds extremely boring, but it’s actually truly cool. If a site has a table or a list of information that you wish to keep track of, you can use the ImportHTML function to basically scrape that information and paste it into a spreadsheet. From there, the information automatically updates whenever you open the spreadsheet (if modifications to the initial table were made, of course). The function would look like this:

= ImportHTML( URL, table, 0).

The URL is the websites where the information lies, table is how the information is shown on the web page (you can also use list if it’s a list), and 0 represents which table it is you wish to import if there are multiple tables on the internet page (0 is the first one, 1 is the 2nd one, and so on).

An example of this would be tracking sports statistics for a dream league. You can import numerous stats from a site like. Baseball Recommendation. into a spreadsheet. Naturally, you might simply bookmark the site, but with ImportHTML, you can customize things like exactly which statistics appear (by including Col1, Col4, etc. after the 0), along with bring data from other tables on a various website and have it all appear in a single spreadsheet.

Reference Data From Other Spreadsheets

If you have several spreadsheets (or multiple sheets within a spreadsheet) that all connect to each other in some method, you may discover yourself going back and forth between them often. There’s a way to make all that a bit simpler.

You can reference cells from other sheets (or another spreadsheet completely). For instance, say that keep records of everything you invest on groceries in one sheet and that sheet also includes a total amount spent for the month. And, state you have another sheet that offers you a summary of what you invest monthly on various categories. In your summary sheet, you could reference that grocery sheet and the specific cell which contains the total. The value in the summary sheet would upgrade automatically Whenever you upgrade the original sheet.

The function would look like this

= sheet1!B5.

Sheet1 would be the name of the sheet with the data you want to reference, and B5 is the cell that you wish to reference. The exclamation point enters between. If you wish to reference data from an entirely different spreadsheet, you would utilize the IMPORTRANGE function, thus

= IMPORTRANGE( URL, sheet1!B5).

The URL is the link to the other spreadsheet. This links the cell in that spreadsheet to the cell that you go into the above formula in. Whenever the cell gets updated with a various value, the other cell updates along with it. As the name of function recommends, you can also reference a series of cells, like B5: C10.

Conditional Format

This function is a bit more well known than a few of the others I have actually discussed, but I seem like it’s still not as popular as it must be.

Conditional Format lets you alter a cell’s appearance based upon the data that cell contains. You can access the function by clicking Format in the toolbar and then picking the Conditional Formatting command. In the pane that opens to the right, you can set up your parameters. You may desire to turn a cell (or cells) green if the number they contain is higher than absolutely no.

There’s also the IF function, which isn’t technically a part of the Conditional Formatting function, however it can take it to the next level in a method. This lets you do things like add a specific value to a different cell whenever the worth in the active cell is a particular number

= IF( B4>>= 63, 35, 0).

In that example, if cell B4’s value is 63 or higher, you could immediately make the existing cell’s worth 35. And then show a 0 if not. Of course, that’s just an example, as there’s a lot more you can do with it.

Embed Spreadsheets on a Site

If you developed a schedule or a list in Google Sheets that you wish to share with others, you could simply share the real file with them by sending them an email welcome to view it. However, if you require to supplement it with other info that’s on your blog site or site, you can actually embed spreadsheets onto web pages.

All you need to do is browse to File > > Publish to the Web. From there, click the Embed tab and after that pick whether to release the whole spreadsheet or just a specific sheet. After that, just copy and paste the iFrame code into your website.

Experiment with Scripts

For anything that Google Sheets can’t do out of the box, there’s normally a Google Apps Script that you can utilize along with your spreadsheet to make pretty much anything happen.

We have actually. talked about Google Apps Scripts prior to and there’s a lot you can do with this sort of capability. You check out offered add-ons by going to Tools > > Add-Ons, or you can compose your own scripts by picking the Script Editor in the Tools menu.

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