So many people are using Google Sheets – workers, students, stay-at-home moms, because it is just so useful and easily accessible. However, not many people are aware that you can use tips and tricks to make your work easier. Here are our favorites:
Keyboard Shortcuts
Just like any office program, Google Sheets has plenty of shortcuts that will save you plenty of time, and many of them will shock you how easy work is going to be now that you know about them. Here’s a few:
If you want to explore more keyboard shortcuts in Google Sheets, just hover your cursor on any command in the menu and formatting bars, and a small box appears with shortcut keys, like so:
Dragging Cells to Automatically Add Numbers or Dates
It’s truly time-consuming if you have to type the date in chronological order over and over when you use Google Sheets. The same goes for when you need to number cells in your spreadsheet. Good thing, you can just drag the cells to automatically add dates and numbers.
To copy and paste the same number, hover your mouse at the bottom right corner of the cell until you see a + sign. Drag the plus sign up until the cell you want to paste the same number. It will look like this:
If you want to number your cells, select the first two numbers and then drag. If you want to put consecutive dates on your cells, you can select only the first cell then drag. Your table will look like this:
Leaving Comments on Cells
This feature has made remote communication easier than ever. You can leave comments, tag point persons, and respond to comments with this feature.
To create a comment, simply right click on the cell you want to add a comment to and select “Comment” or use shortcut Ctrl + Alt + M to add comments. Another simple way to add a comment is to select your cell and find the Insert Comment icon in the formatting shortcut bar. It looks like this:
Conditional Formatting
This feature is for the organizational freaks. This makes identifying different categories of data in your spreadsheet easier. You can change the background and text color of cells based on a criteria that you set. Say you’re a recruiter who keeps a database of applicants on Google Sheets, and you want to grey out the rows of applicant data that were already rejected in the recruitment process. You can do that with conditional formatting.
All you have to do is to select the cells or range of cells that you want to include, right click, select “Conditional Formatting,” and go nuts.
Adding Images
This feature is especially useful for graphic designers or social media managers who need all of their publicity materials in one place. You can add your designs in Google Sheets with only a few clicks. The quickest way to do it is to select the cell where you want to place your image, click “Insert” from the menu bar, select “Image,” then “Insert Image in Cell.” This common will lead you to your folders. Then, locate the image you want to add. And, voila! This feature also allows you to search the images you want to add to your spreadsheet if you do not want to go through the hassle of Googling the image in another tab, then saving it.
Data Validation
Oftentimes, when we create Google Sheets, we enter repetitive data. To save you time and effort needing to type every one of such data, you can just add a drop down menu using the Data Validation feature. Let’s use the same scenario earlier. You want to update the status on the application of an applicant. Instead of typing, you can just choose from a list of options, like so:
To create a drop-down menu for auto-responses or to auto-fill cells, select the cells where you want this drop-down menu to go, right-click, select “Data Validation.” Then, this box will appear:
Choose “List of Items” under Criteria. Then, type the different options you want on the field next to Criteria. Separate the options with commas. Once done, click Save.
There you go. Get yourself used to these shortcuts, and your work will become such a breeze.
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