Google Sheets is a product offered by Google free of cost to its Gmail users for personal use. It can do almost everything Microsoft Excel can do, so let's just dive right in.
How anyone can access Google Sheets?
If you are trying to access the software from a desktop, here are the steps to follow.
Assuming you are a first-time Gmail user, although I highly doubt it.
Step 1: Go to https://www.google.com/gmail/about/ or https://mail.google.com or https://www.gmail.com
It will take you to the signup/login page, their you can either signup or sign in (existing user).
Step 2: Go to the right top corner of the Gmail inbox page highlighted in yellow below.
Step 3: A popup will appear with all the Google products listed, find Google Sheets from there (you may need to scroll up or down to find the app), and the Google Sheets app will start getting loaded. The Sheets app below is the Google Sheets app.
The landing page of the app will look mostly like the image below.
The landing page has a few templates which you can choose and have a starting point like a To-do list, Annual budget, Investment, or Calendar. I use the To-do list and Monthly budget the most.
If you don't need a template to start just click on the Blank template and get started with Google Sheet exploration.
The actual Google Sheets has lots of menu options at the top, as usual, let's understand some of them closely.
If you click on the "Untitled spreadsheet" it will let you rename your spreadsheet.
The "File" option lets you save, import existing downloaded files, print your file, etc.
The "Edit" menu has options like redo, undo, delete, paste, etc, similar to what we have in Word or Excel files in Microsoft Office.
The "View" menu lets you see some special features like Formulas, GridLines, Freezing any column, etc.
The "Insert" option lets you insert images, charts, new rows or columns, functions, dropdowns, checkboxes, etc.
Let me know if you want to deep dive into each menu options or comment for any specific menu feature.
You can start adding formulas by typing the equals sign "=" and start typing the function name. A sample is illustrated below.
Pro Tip: Find all the formulas here: Sheets Formula
Sharing: Now you created your awesome spreadsheet, let's share it.
Sheets lets you share it directly with anyone who has an email address, it can be any email address, or lets you download and share.
Sharing can be done by:
Downloading and forwarding it using any social media platform like Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Publishing to Web
Sharing it with specific people (email addresses)
Upload to Google Drive and share the drive link.
Sharing it with specific people is the easiest of them all.
Step 1: Click on the "File" menu and click on Share -> Share it with others. The below popup will be presented.
Here you can type in the email addresses to whom you want to send the Sheet.
The "General access" option
You can restrict the permission of the Sheet.
If you select "Restricted", then only the email address in the list will have access to this sheet.
If you select "Anyone with the link", well whoever will have the link to the Sheet will be able to access the sheet.
Are you now feeling somewhat familiar with Google Sheets?
You can do a lot more than what is discussed above in the ultimate guide to Google Sheets. The app has lots of advanced options like creating charts based on data, adding a Pivot table, etc.
The best thing about Google Sheets is it's very easy to use for data keeping, doing some calculations, showing charts, etc. And the second best thing is it's free for personal use.
So if you are a student then you can save lots of money by not buying Microsoft Office 365 and using Google Sheets.
Try the software yourself and lets us know in the comments if you face any issues while using it.
Can Corporate Users Use Google Products?
Yes, the whole package of products like Sheets, Docs, Meet, Slide, etc is called Google Workspace
For pricing you can visit: Google Workspace
Links
Google Sheets Learning: Google Workspace Learning Center To know more: How-to-freeze-rows-in-google-sheets-a-handy-guide-for-improved-data-navigation