People have created all sorts of amazing things with spreadsheets, but I’ve never been one of them.It’s just one of those things I didn’t think was worth spending time learning.However, I have found myself using Google Sheets more often, and Gemini is to thank.
Confessions of a spreadsheet skeptic I do not like them, Sam-I-Am I grew up during the explosion of the home PC.My family got our first computer when I was in grade school, and by college, we had upgraded from dial-up to Wi-Fi.Throughout my school years, we had classes for learning things like typing with the “home row” and using WordArt.
Unsurprisingly—you’re reading this on a technology website, after all—I was a fast learner when it came to computers.There’s always been one blind spot in my personal knowledge graph, though: Microsoft Office.Sure, I can write a paper in Word and create a presentation in PowerPoint, but my real weakness is Excel.
The problem is, I never really saw the value of spreadsheets.It seemed like a very boring, adult thing to learn how to do.I didn’t retain any of the information I was taught about formulas and all the cool things they can do.
Thankfully, my career hasn’t required much spreadsheet knowledge, but I have started to see how they can be useful.Related How-To Geek’s A to Z of Key Microsoft Excel Jargon Familiarize yourself with some essential Excel lingo! Posts By Tony Phillips Unlocking the potential of spreadsheets Finally, something useful AI can do for me In my experience, AI is good at things I don’t need it to do, and bad at things that would actually improve my life.However, I was recently proven wrong.
I was playing around with one of the few spreadsheets I've made and decided to ask Gemini for help with something.The results impressed me so much, I feel like it’s given me a skill I never learned.It started with a relatively simple idea.
Like many people, I shop at various stores for groceries and other general day-to-day necessities.Costco for the monthly load up, a local market for weekly produce, Target for the random one-off purchase, etc.I thought it would be cool to see how many times I shop at each place and how much I spend.
Related 4 Google apps that are actually better with Gemini Sometimes it's bloat, but when implemented correctly, it can be a game changer.Posts 4 By Arol Wright As much as I hated to admit it, this was a perfect situation for a spreadsheet.I knew I could set up the simple things like the sum of multiple cells, but I wanted more than that.
If you pay for Google AI Plus, you can use the Gemini tab directly inside Google Sheets.But Gemini can help you in Sheets without a subscription, too.Using Gemini’s “Canvas” tool, I entered this prompt: I would like you to build a Google Sheet for me.
I want it to be for tracking a grocery budget.Column A should be for shopping date, column B is for store name, and column C is for receipt total.I also want Column E to list each store name that gets added, column F keeps track of the number of visits for each of those stores, and column G has the total price of the visits.
Gemini proceeded to build a fully functional “Grocery Budget Tracker” spreadsheet in the canvas—which was pretty cool on its own.I didn’t want to keep track of this in the Gemini app, though.I needed to know how to do it in my own Google Sheet.
First, I asked Gemini to add an “Export to Google Sheets” button.After it did that for me, I was able to download the CSV and import it into Google Sheets as my starting point.Then I gave my next prompt: Please list all the formulas used to create this spreadsheet, and how I should add them in my Google Sheet.
Gemini gave me all the formulas I needed to replicate the sheet it had made, and told me exactly which cell to put them in.It also told me when I should drag the cell down so it could populate more cells.After I pasted the formulas into their correct cells and followed the rest of the instructions, I started entering data into the spreadsheet.
Sure enough, it worked perfectly—but I wanted more.I have one more idea.How can I keep a tally of how many times I went shopping in a given month? This time, Gemini gave me a couple of different options to try.
I found one that worked, and my spreadsheet was off and running.In under 10 minutes, I had a very handy spreadsheet that would have taken me much longer to create on my own.AI delivering on its promise Bringing spreadsheets to the masses! Now, I fully understand that many people can set up this sort of thing without the need for AI.
If I had tried this on my own in the past, I would have been Googling every step until I either figured it out or gave up.But in all honesty, I probably wouldn’t have even tried.Subscribe to the newsletter for AI-powered Sheets tips Make AI do the heavy lifting in Google Sheets—subscribe to our newsletter for clear prompts, replicable formulas, and ready-to-use templates that turn spreadsheet ideas into working trackers.
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That’s what’s so impressive about this to me.It feels like a situation where the promise of AI has actually been realized.I most likely would have given up on this idea the second I realized Google Sheets was the best place for it.
Gemini made the power of spreadsheets accessible to me, and that’s pretty cool.I’m excited to see what else I can get into with my newfound ability.
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