Intro to Google Sheets

October 2023

Confidential. Do not distribute.

First off - Why Excel or why Google Sheets?
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

Google Sheets Excel

Data analysis ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extensive library of formulas; lacks some ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extensive library of formulas;
statistical tests and functions includes advanced functions and statistical
tests

Data visualization ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Offers a decent selection of data ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Offers more data visualization
visualization options; not as intelligent as Excel options; intelligent "Recommended Charts"
feature creates charts from complex data sets

Collaboration ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Built for live collaboration, with ⭐⭐⭐ Live collaboration requires additional
intuitive tools such as live chat and easily accessible setup and alignment of Excel versions; fewer
version tracking intuitive collaborative tools

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First off - Why Excel or why Google Sheets?
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

Google Sheets Excel

Simplicity ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fewer advanced tools; interface is clear ⭐⭐⭐ Many advanced features and tools;
and minimally cluttered interface feels a little cluttered; bigger learning
curve

Speed ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Huge quantities of data can slow down ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Can handle huge quantities of
the platform data with minimal impact on performance

Price ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Free for individual use ⭐⭐⭐ The desktop app costs a flat fee, and
Microsoft 365 requires a subscription

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Intro to Formulas
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

● What is a cell?
○ A cell is the intersection between a row and a column
● What can a cell contain?
○ Each cell can contain any value (either text or number) or a formula with a relative
cell reference.
● How can I avoid the relative cell reference?
○ By using the “$”. You can either block the whole thing or just a column or row!
This might come in VERY handy at times.
● Formulas are always summoned with “=” or “+” sign. If you want to use “+” or “=” at
the beginning of a text string you can add “ ‘ “.
● Formulas always follow the same logic: =FORMULA(INPUTS). Want to know what
the inputs are? How many? You already have it there!

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Table Transformations - The basics
PLEASE, PLEASE, STOP MERGING CELLS! I BEG YOU!

● Why is it important to create my table correctly?

○ Formulas are easier to use → copy/paste your way to a full table
○ Functions work in your favour! Lookup functions are an example
○ Be a good teammate. Keeping a default format makes knowledge transferable

● Helpful tips
○ Why do we hate merged cells?
○ Chose a data format and stick to it
○ Remove Duplicates
○ Avoid double entry tables (as long as it makes sense!)

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Table Transformations - Data Validation
THESE TITLES DON’T MAKE ANY SENSE

● What is Data Validation?

○ Data validation is a feature in Excel/Google Spreadsheet used to control what a
user can enter into a cell.

● Why is it useful? What kind of input can I ‘limit’ to?

○ It is a VERY easy way to create a homogenous database. It also helps make data
entry easier.
○ The “Data Validation” types are almost unlimited: numbers, dates, texts,
booleans, etc.

● How can you do it?

○ Right click, bottom of the list! Let’s check out a live example.
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Table Transformations - Conditional Formatting
YOU SAID FORMULAS, WHAT IS THIS?

● What is Conditional Formatting?

○ Conditional Formatting is a tool that allows you to apply formats to a cell or range
of cells, and have that formatting change depending on the value of the cell or
the value of a formula

● Why is it useful?
○ You can make information very easy to read or intuitive for the viewer.

● How can you do it?

○ Right click, bottom of the list! Let’s check out a live example.

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Intro to Formulas - Commonly Used Formulas
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

● SUM: As you might suppose, this formula returns the sum of all the values selected

● AVERAGE: Again pretty straight forward, use this formula if you want to know the
average value of a given interval

● COUNT: This formula counts the amount of numbers in a given interval

● COUNTA: This formula counts the amount of ‘things’ in a given interval

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Intro to Formulas - Commonly Used Text Formulas
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

● LEFT/RIGHT: This formula allows us to extract a piece of string from a cell starting
from the left or from the right

● LEN: Pretty straight forward, this formula counts the letter in a word, its LEN-gth

● FIND: Lets us find a certain word in a string within a cell

● MID: Super useful! Allows us to extract a string from the middle of a string

● TRIM: Useful for data quality best practices! This removes all non-printable
characters (white space) from the beginning and the end of a word
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Intro to Formulas - Conditional Formulas
IT IS STARTING TO GET COMPLICATED. HANG IN THERE.

● The conditional formula for excellence is the IF. What does conditional mean? It
means that the result will depend on a given condition.
● Lets review the anatomy of an IF statement:
○ =IF(CONDITION,OUTPUT IF CONDITION IS TRUE, OUTPUT IF CONDITION IS
FALSE)
○ =IFERROR(
● So, what can SUMIF, AVERAGEIF or COUNTIF mean?

● What if I have more than one condition?

○ IFS (SUMIFS, COUNTIFS & AVERAGEIFS)
○ AND & OR statements

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Intro to Formulas - Lookup
IT IS STARTING TO GET COMPLICATED. HANG IN THERE.

● This function is probably one of the most used when working with several tables

● Lets review the anatomy of a VLOOKUP statement:

○ =VLOOKUP(What to look for,Where to look it for, Which column do you want,
Exact or Approximate match?)

● IMPORTANT! Take into account that vlookup only works if your search key is in
the first column of your lookup table

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Intro to Pivot Tables
YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW PIVOT TABLES?

● What are pivot tables?

○ Pivot tables are a way of easily analyzing big data sets. It allows us to
choose different rows, columns, values and format this values to find
insights

● How do we create Pivot Tables?

○ Go to Insert >> Pivot Table

● How does a Pivot table look?

○ Let us find out!

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Intro to Pivot Tables
YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW PIVOT TABLES?

These are your available fields

This is where data will come up

This is where you will drag or

choose fields

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Intro to Pivot Tables
YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW PIVOT TABLES?

● What does each field mean?

○ Columns: Pretty straight forward. This will define the columns you’ll see
○ Rows: Again, pretty straight forward. This will define the rows you will see
○ Values: THIS is where the magic happens. Value will determine what your
pivot table is filled with, the intersection between columns and rows. IOt is
very important to put some thought into what you choose here: if you
want to count values, use a column you know will be complete, if you want
to sum or average make sure your desired column has all the information
in the right format. You can count, sum, average, show us percentage.
THIS is THE field in pivot tables
○ Filters: You will use this field to filter you values. It is pretty useful!

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Intro to Complex Formulas
NOW THIS IS IT. THERE IS LITTLE MORE THAN THIS FOR AVERAGE GOOGLE SHEETS USERS.

This last section will probably set you apart from average google sheets users. These
are complex formulas, hard to use, so hand on to your hats.

● IMPORTRANGE: This allows us to import information from a different

spreadsheet. Used with other formulas, such as VLOOKUP, it can be very
useful!

● QUERY: One of THE most powerful formulas there is. This formula allows us to
use SQL language (the language you use in Databases) with our tables.
Combined with other formulas, such as IMPORTRANGE) it can be incredibly
handy.

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Questions?
Thank you!
October 2023

Confidential. Do not distribute.

Useful Shortcuts
AS BASIC AS IT CAN GET

● Want to move to the end of a table? Command + ←↑→↓

● Want to select more than one cell? Shift + ←↑→↓

● Want to select a column? Command + Shift + ←↑→↓

● Want to select a table? Command + Shift + Spacebar

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