Google SpreadsheetsThe Basics

Free spreadsheet Many similarities to Excel

Not as powerful Easier to work simultaneously Great for data entry We don’t really have a choice

Our students are forced to use it so we must know how it works as well

As I do things, please follow along on your computer

Purpose

Getting Started

Go to your Google drive

Click “Create” Click spreadsheet

Naming your Spreadsheet

A very important thing for you to have your students do is to name their Google Docs

Start by clicking the Untitled Spreadsheet

Replace the highlighted text with the appropriate title

Google gives you 20 columns and 100 rows to start with

If you want more rows, click the Add button at the bottom of the document

Entering Data

You can move around in your spreadsheet in the following ways: Arrow keys Page up, Page down End – takes you to the Column T of the current

row Home – Takes you to Column A of the current

row Ctrl-End – Takes you to the very last cell in the

spreadsheet Ctrl-Home – Takes you to cell A1

Navigation

Often, columns are not wide enough, rows are not tall enough to handle the data

In column A, type your name In Column B, type:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog Notice, the spreadsheet automatically wraps the text

to fit in the cell You can widen the cell by moving your cursor to

the right-hand column and double-clicking the cell You can also drag the column to widen it

You can do the same thing with rows

Resizing Columns and Rows

Most of these are pretty self-explanatory The format painter icon copies the

formatting from one cell and pastes it into the next cell or cells selected Enter a 4-digit number in Example 2 column,

try copying my formatting and pasting it into your cell entry

Using the Short-cut toolbar

The border button is slightly different from Excel

Used to place borders around cell content Sets the color of borders Sets the style of line around the border

Solid Large Dashed Small Dashed Insert a Large Dashed border around Example

1

Using the Short-cut toolbar

The Sum button is the button you will use to insert a formula

Formulas generally mirror Excel formulas To manually enter a formula, it must start with an

“=“ sign If you are not sure what formula you need, go to the

following URL: https://

support.google.com/drive/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=25273&page=table.cs

Can also be found by clicking the More Functions option

Using the Short-cut toolbar

We will cover the chart option in the online version of this tutorial

The filter option is for extracting data from your spreadsheet without losing the integrity of the spreadsheet This will also be covered in the online version

Using the Short-cut toolbar

The File Menu Spreadsheet files can

be downloaded in a variety of formats Excel is one format

The Revision History option provides for a paper trail to be able to document when the document was worked on by its collaborators

Edit Menu Pretty standard as

well Try the Paste Special

by copying Example 2 and only pasting the value

View Menu Columns and rows can be

frozen for easier data entry

The List view allows you to filter out specific commonalities from your spreadsheet In example 4, insert the

first letter of your last name

Compact controls takes away the file name

All Formulas allows you to view formulas in cells

Insert Menu The big thing here is

the Function Functions are a way

to make your spreadsheet more powerful

The common ones are listed in the menu, others can be accessed by clicking More

Insert Menu Another thing that

can be used is Comments and Notes Comments can be

replied to by other users

Notes are just placed in the cell and cannot be responded to Can be deleted from

the Edit Menu

Insert Menu Try inserting a

comment in Example 2 and a note in example 3 Respond to

somebody else’s comment

Format Menu

This menu is used to change the appearance of data in your spreadsheet

Format Menu

Conditional formatting can be used to set cells apart from the rest of the spreadsheet

Try it using the above rule in Example 5 and then test it

You can change the color of the text or the cell background

Clear Formatting gets rid of this

Data Menu

Big feature here is the sorting feature

Helpful for organizing data

https://docs.google.com/a/streetsboroschools.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj1J7jlbUW2OdG90VmIwUWlSZ0dKcHFjX1VYdjdqRlE#gid=0

Data Menu

You can also name and protect ranges Protecting controls who can

edit specific data on the spreadsheet

Clicking “Add A Range” allows you to be able to work with specific data

Show my Example 6

AutoFill Handle Little black box in lower right-hand portion of cell Copies cell contents and pastes them

Formulas adjust in direction being pasted A $ in the cell reference can anchor that part of the formula

so that it does not adjust as the formula is being pasted Try it

Under example 7, click “=“, click on example 2, then type “*2”

Use the AutoFill handle to drag the formula to Example 8 column

Go back to Example 7 formula, enter a $ before the Column letter then copy and paste the formula to Example 9 column

Other Items

File Conversion Spreadsheets can be

uploaded to your computer to Google Try it on your own

time I would recommend

starting with a blank spreadsheet for best results

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