Google Sheets Update!

When I teach students about spreadsheets, I often stress the importance to not only include the numerical data, but the use of charts and graphs as well to add a visual of the data.  This week, Google made a few updates to Sheets.  You can now add data labels to bars or points.  When you use line or scatter charts, you can change the shapes of your data point to various shapes like stars or diamonds.  

Google also added new tools to help analyze data.

• Preview formula results instantly as you type.  This is super helpful for catching errors quickly.
• Filter rows and columns by conditions like "greater than," "date is before" and "text contains."  This will help you view the info you need.
• Add calculated fields to pivot tables when applying formulas to pivot table data.

Google is all about search and collaboration.  I love collaborating with Google, but it can be tricky with Sheets.  To avoid accidental edits,  you have been able to restrict editing to a specific user or users and a specific range, but now you can also warn yourself and collaborators who try to edit certain cells. 

Next time you are working in Google Sheets, give a few of these a try especially with the chart data.  Remember to Keep Calm, Click Undo!