3 Google Sheets features that Excel definitely doesn't have

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How to quickly transfer data into one table, translate text, insert a picture into a cell - we show with the help of gifs.

Google Sheets is in the shadow of its illustrious competitor. It would seem that all the tricks and tricks that the human mind can come up with with spreadsheets have already been implemented in Microsoft Excel. But Google product engineers have developed a range of capabilities that leverage the cloud-based nature of the service. We present three functions, the implementation of which in a simple and understandable way is so far inherent only in a Google product.

1. We pull data into one table from different books and files

Imagine a situation: you need to combine information from different books and even from different files with tables. Some of the data in the source tables is derived from calculations. Transferring them to Excel is not difficult work, but painstaking and sometimes time-consuming.

With Google Sheets, you can transfer data from one spreadsheet or workbook to another and keep it consistent. If you change the numbers in the source file where they were taken from, this data will change in other documents where they were transferred from the source.

The function = IMPORTRANGE (range import) helps the user with this. To use it:

• In the file and workbook where you want to transfer data from other tables, select the specific cell where you would like to place the data.
• Set the command = IMPORTRANGE.
• In the pop-up window, specify a link to a book or a file with a table from where you want to get the data.
• In the same place, specify the range of data (specific cells) that you need to import.

Ready. If you go to the original file and change the data there, it will automatically change in the new document. This is very useful when you are dealing with exchange rates and other data that is constantly changing. Or when the numbers that are important to you depend on these changing data, for example, the sales plan. You can safely use them in other tables and be sure that they will be exactly the same as in the original document.

2. Using "Google Translate" for the contents of the cells

This is a very simple and convenient function implemented in the popular Google Translate product. It uses the = TRANSLATE function and is able to automatically detect the language of the source word or expression.

To use the translator in the table:

• Select the cell where the translation result will be placed.
• Set function = TRANSLATE.
• Specify the cell from which you would like to translate the content.
• If the function does not automatically detect the target language, set the language of the source word and the language of the result.

The functionality of Google Translate in Google Sheets is sufficient even to translate phrases and sentences.

3. Insert the image into the cell

This feature will make Microsoft Excel users look with envy at Google Sheets users.

Surprisingly, but true: in the super-functional table editor from Redmond, inserting pictures into tables is very inconvenient. Yes, if you often have to create illustrated price lists in Excel, you are definitely getting your hands on it. But in Google Sheets, a similar task is much easier to accomplish.

Pictures are inserted using the = IMAGE function in several steps:

• Select the cell where you want to place the image.
• Copy the direct link to the image from the address bar of your browser.
• Format the picture the way you need it by simply resizing the cell where it is located. The size of the image in Google Sheets changes proportionally and does not distort the image. It is very convenient.

These three features of Google Sheets are a great example of how developers have made the best use of the cloud-based nature of the service. We hope that they will be useful to our readers.