Google Apps: The Missing Manual

Chapter 3. Working with Docs Spreadsheets

Start spreadin’ the news: Google Docs spreadsheets let you and up to 50—count ’em, 50—of your colleagues collaborate on a single spreadsheet simultaneously. It’s a great, timesaving way to speed up group projects and actually get things done.

The program’s popularity has been spreading like wildfire. In the first year after its launch in 2006, Google Docs (originally called Google Docs and Spreadsheets) grew by 84 percent, to more than 1.6 million users—that’s a lot of number crunching! And its growth is sure to continue, thanks to Google’s clever, highly addictive invite-and-share system. When somebody accepts an invitation to view or work on a spreadsheet, that person sees how easy-to-use, secure, and accessible these spreadsheets are. That’s convinced a lot of people to switch to Google Docs as their primary spreadsheet program.

If you’re a spreadsheet maven, you might find Docs spreadsheets a little on the basic side. Right now, for example, you can’t use autofilters like you can in Excel. On the other hand, Docs spreadsheets offer everything that most people need: You can sort your data in various ways, work with formulas and functions, name cell ranges, create forms and charts, apply formatting rules, and a whole lot more. Add the bonuses of easy collaboration and a central location for all your spreadsheets, and Google’s take on the spreadsheet is definitely worth a try.

Getting Started with Google Docs Spreadsheets

Before you can dive ...