Google Docs is a useful online document management tool. With it, you can create, store and share documents with the people you need to share them with. It’s especially useful if you work in a field where documents are common. For example, if you’re an accountant or writing articles on finance and investing regularly – Google Docs is great for that! A spreadsheet is essentially a table of data organized into rows and columns. As such, creating a Google Docs spreadsheet template is an excellent way to streamline your work process. In this article, we will cover some of the basics of spreadsheets, as well as how to set one up in Google Docs.
What is a Google Docs Spreadsheet?
A Google Docs spreadsheet is a table of data, organized into rows and columns. Each row represents a different ‘record’ of information (for example, an individual customer’s order history or a company’s yearly profits). Each column represents a different ‘field’ of information. Some examples of fields you might include are product name, price, quantity sold, quantity remaining, etc. While a spreadsheet is primarily used as a data visualization tool, it can also be used to organize data and perform simple calculations. This is the reason why Google Docs exists: you can create a spreadsheet and then collaborate with other people in real time on it. If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ve probably seen people use Excel to create and manage spreadsheets on computers. While Excel is a very powerful tool, it can be difficult to learn and use. Google Docs, on the other hand, is much more user-friendly. It’s also completely free to use!
How to Create a Google Docs Spreadsheet
First, you’ll need to open up the Google Docs app. You can do this by typing ‘Google Docs’ into your search bar, or by going to docs.google.com. Once you’ve logged in, click on ‘New’. This will take you to the Google Docs home screen, where you can select ‘New spreadsheet’. Once you’ve selected ‘New spreadsheet’, you’ll see a pop-up window. You can input a name for your spreadsheet, select the number of columns and rows you want, and select a theme if you’d like. Once you’re finished, click ‘Create’ and you’re done! Your spreadsheet is ready and you can start adding data to it.
Organize your data with columns
As we’ve already discussed, a spreadsheet is organized into columns, each of which represents a different field of information. In an accounting spreadsheet, for example, you might have columns for ‘customer name’, ‘amount owed’, ‘amount paid’, and ‘date of last payment'. For each column, you can input data. To do so, select the cell in which you’d like to place the data, click ‘Insert’, ‘Range’, and then select ‘Current row’. This will input data into the cell, but only in that one cell. For example, if you want to input the name of a customer into one of your columns, select the cell, click ‘Insert’, ‘Range’ and select ‘Current row’. You’ll see that the cell turns blue, and the name ‘Travis’ will appear. This means that the data is inputted into that cell, but it won’t affect any other cells in the spreadsheet.
Organize your data with rows
As we’ve already discussed, a spreadsheet is organized into rows, each of which represents a different record of information. In an accounting spreadsheet, you might have rows for different customers or products. For each row, you can input information. To do so, select the cell you’d like to input data into, click ‘Insert’, and then select the type of data you’d like to input. For example, if you want to input the name of a customer into one of your rows, select the cell and click ‘Insert’. You can then select ‘Text’. You’ll see that the cell turns blue, and the name ‘Travis’ will appear. This means that the data is inputted into that cell, but it won’t affect any other cells in the spreadsheet.
Add formulas to help summarize your data
If you’re keeping track of numbers in your spreadsheet, you might want to add a little summary at the bottom of the page. This can be done with formulas. For example, say you’re keeping track of the amount owed by each of your customers. You might have a cell that says ‘Amount owed’, and you’ve inputted the amount owed by each customer in their own column. To add a summary at the bottom of the page that says ‘Total owed’, select the cell that says ‘Total owed’, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Formula’. You’ll see that the cell turns blue and the ‘=’ symbol appears. To create the formula, you need to type ‘=SUM’ followed by the name of the column. For example, if the column name is ‘Amount owed’, your formula would be ‘=SUM Amount owed’. After you’ve created the formula, click ‘Enter’ and your summary will appear at the bottom of the page!
Summing up
Spreadsheets are an excellent way to organize data, track finances, and keep track of different aspects of your business. If you’re using Google Docs, you can make your spreadsheets even more useful by creating a template! To create a Google Docs spreadsheet template, first create a spreadsheet in Google Docs. Then, select all the cells in the spreadsheet by clicking ‘Select’, ‘All’, and then ‘OK’. Next, click ‘File’, ‘Save as’, and ‘Google Spreadsheets Template’. After that, you can close the spreadsheet and reopen it as a template! With a template, you can easily create new spreadsheets by selecting ‘Open existing template’ and choosing the one you created. That way, you can make your work more efficient, share your documents with others, and collaborate with ease.