Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Description
Tab	Go to next cell in the row
cmd + shift + v	Paste values without style
cmd + d	Fill down
cmd + a	Select entire sheet

Functions

Numbers

Function	Description
`=MAX(A1:A10)`	Returns the maximum value in the range
`=MIN(A1:A10)`	Returns the minimum value in the range
`=SUM(A1:A10)`	Returns the sum of the values in the range
`=SUMIF(A1:A10, ">10")`	Returns the sum of the values in the range that are greater than 10
`=SUMIF(A1:A10, ">10", B1:B10)`	Returns the sum of the values in the range B1:B10 if the value in the range A1:A10 is greater than 10	r
`=SUMIFS(A1:A10, ">10", B1:B10, "<20")`	Returns the sum of the values in the range that are greater than 10 and less than 20
`=AVERAGE(A1:A10)`	Returns the average of the values in the range
`=AVERAGEIF(A1:A10, ">10")`	Returns the average of the values in the range that are greater than 10
`=AVERAGEIFS(A1:A10, ">10", B1:B10, "<20")`	Returns the average of the values in the range that are greater than 10 and less than 20
`=COUNT(A1:A10)`	Returns the number of values in the range
`=COUNTA(A1:A10)`	Returns the number of non-empty values in the range
`=COUNTBLANK(A1:A10)`	Returns the number of empty values in the range
`=COUNTIF(A1:A10, ">10")`	Returns the number of values in the range that are greater than 10
`=COUNTIFS(A1:A10, ">10", B1:B10, "<20")`	Returns the number of values in the range that are greater than 10 and less than 20
`=IF(A1>10, "Greater than 10", "Less than 10")`	Returns “Greater than 10” if the value in A1 is greater than 10, otherwise returns “Less than 10”
`=OR(A1>10, B1>10)`	Returns TRUE if either A1 or B1 is greater than 10

Note: You can also return a formula in an IF statement (e.g. =IF(A1>10, A1*2, A1*3))

Dates

Function	Description
`=YEAR(TODAY())`	Returns the current year
`=TEXT(YEAR(TODAY()),"YY")`	Returns the current year in two-digit format
`=TEXT(TODAY(),"DD/MM/YYYY")`	Returns the current date in DD/MM/YYYY format
`=MONTH(TODAY())`	Returns the current month
`=DAY(TODAY())`	Returns the current day
`=WEEKDAY(TODAY())`	Returns the current day of the week (e.g. 1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday, etc.)
`=TEXT(TODAY(),"dddd")`	Returns the current day of the week (e.g. Sunday, Monday, etc.)
`=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()), DAY(TODAY())+1)`	Returns the date of tomorrow

Text

Function	Description
`=CONCATENATE(A1, " ", B1)`	Returns the concatenation of the values in A1 and B1
`=LEFT(A1, 5)`	Returns the first 5 characters of the value in A1
`=RIGHT(A1, 5)`	Returns the last 5 characters of the value in A1
`=MID(A1, 5, 10)`	Returns 10 characters of the value in A1 starting from the 5th character
`=LEN(A1)`	Returns the length of the value in A1
`=LOWER(A1)`	Returns the value in A1 in lower case
`=UPPER(A1)`	Returns the value in A1 in upper case
`=PROPER(A1)`	Returns the value in A1 in proper case (e.g. “hello world” → “Hello World”)
`=TRIM(A1)`	Returns the value in A1 with all leading and trailing spaces removed
`=SUBSTITUTE(A1, " ", "")`	Returns the value in A1 with all spaces removed

Note: Google Sheets and Excel have many more functions than the ones listed above.

Absolute References

Reference Type	Description
`$A$1`	Absolute reference (does not change when copied)
`$A1`	Absolute column, relative row (column remains fixed)
`A$1`	Relative column, absolute row (row remains fixed)

Note: Absolute references are useful for referencing fixed values (e.g. constants).
Beware: $A1 keeps the column fixed while allowing row changes, whereas A$1 keeps the row fixed while allowing column changes.

Conditional Formatting

Step	Description
1	Select the cells you want to apply conditional formatting to
2	Click on the “Format” menu and select “Conditional formatting”
3	Select the type of conditional formatting (e.g. “Greater than”)
4	Enter the value you want to compare the cell to (e.g. `10`)
5	Select the style you want to apply (e.g. “Bold”)
6	Click on “Done”

Insert Chart

Step	Description
1	Select the cells you want to include in the chart
2	Click on the “Insert” menu and select “Chart”
3	Select the type of chart you want (e.g. “Column chart”)
4	Style the chart as needed
5	Add x-axis data if required

Split Column Text to Multiple Columns

Step	Description
1	Select the column you want to split
2	Click on the “Data” menu and select “Split text to columns”
3	Select the separator (e.g. “Space”)

Example: “John Doe” will be split into “John” and “Doe” in separate columns.

Extract Text from a Cell

Function	Description
`=LEFT(A1, 5)`	Returns the first 5 characters from the `A1` cell
`=RIGHT(A1, 5)`	Returns the last 5 characters from the `A1` cell
`=MID(A1, 5, 10)`	Returns 10 characters from the `A1` cell starting from the 5th character

Note: Indexing starts at 1, not 0 like in many programming languages.

Fill Down

Sometimes you want to fill down a column with the same value or formula

Method 1

Select the cell you want to fill down
Click and hold the bottom right corner of the cell (the cursor should change to a cross)
Drag the cell down to the last cell you want to fill down

Method 2

Select the cell you want to fill down
Hold down the shift key and press down arrow (or click on the last cell you want to fill down)
Click cmd + d to fill down the column

Sort

You can sort selected cells, columns, rows or the entire sheet

Select the cells, columns, rows or the entire sheet you want to sort (e.g. click on the top left square to select the entire sheet)
Click on the “Data” menu and select “Sort range” -> “Advanced range sorting options”
If the sheet has a header row, check the “Data has header row” checkbox
Select the column you want to sort by
Select the order you want to sort by (e.g. “A to Z”)
Click on the “Sort” button

Filter

You can filter selected cells, columns, rows or the entire sheet

Create a filter vs Filter Views

Filter views: The filter will be applied to the sheet and will be visible only to you
Create a filter: The filter will be applied to the sheet and will be visible to everyone who has access to the sheet

Filter views

Click on the “Data” menu and select “Filter views” -> “Create new filter view”
Select the column you want to filter by
Select the condition you want to filter by (e.g. “Greater than”)
Enter the value you want to filter by (e.g. 10)
Click on the “OK” button
Choose a name for the filter view (e.g. “Only sales from Arizona”)

Pivot Table

A Pivot Table allows you to summarize data from a table into a new table

Select the cells you want to include in the pivot table
Click on the “Insert” menu and select “Pivot table”

Note: A new sheet will be created with the pivot table

Go to the “Pivot table editor” section on the right
Select either the suggested pivot table or create your own by selecting the columns, rows, values or filters you want to include in the pivot table
Click on the “Add” button

TIP: You can then insert a chart based on the pivot table

Lookup Table

A lookup table allows you to lookup a value in a table and return a value from another column in the same row

Create a table with the values you want to lookup:

Note: Those are simply two columns with values that you can put anywhere in the sheet

B	C
CR	Chrysler
FD	Ford

Sort the table by the first column (e.g. “B”), if not the sorted, the lookup will not work

See Sort

Select the new cell you want to return the value to
Enter the formula =VLOOKUP(A1, B$1:C$2, 2)

Note: A1 is the value you want to lookup (which in this case is placed in the A column), B$1:C$2 is the table you want to lookup the value in, 2 is the lookup table column number you want to return the value from

We used an absolute reference for the table because we want to be able to copy the formula to other cells

General Tips

You can use the = operator to convert a value to a number (e.g. =A1*2)
You can click on a column header to select the entire column
You can add a column by right clicking on a column header and selecting “Insert 1 left”
You can calculate the number of days between two dates by subtracting them (e.g. =A1-A2)
Double click on the column right border to auto resize the column to fit the content
You can rotate text in a cell by selecting the cell and then clicking on the “Text Rotation” button in the toolbar
You can either use .5 or 50% to represent 50%