Site icon The Data are Alright

How to build a “table” in Google Sheets

Samantha Shain

Hi! Welcome to The Data Are Alright, a blog about tips and tricks for changemakers. According to my stats, most of you found your way here through Google. I hope you enjoy the post below. If you’d like to stick around, here are a couple of great options to read. You can even SUBSCRIBE, which would absolutely make my day! (I post approx 3x / month)

Okay, okay, I admit it, I used to be a staunch Excel snob who would turn up her nose at Google Sheets… so much so that I didn’t even realize that core Excel functions are now available in Google Sheets (like pivot tables! and vlookups!).  My, my, my how the … tables have turned!   So let’s dig into the Tables functionality and why they’re important for changemakers managing a spreadsheet…

  1.  In Tables (as opposed to regular old spreadsheets), rows alternate colors, which makes them prettier AND easier for your eyes to track
  2.  Tables offset your Column Titles in a darker color
  3.  Tables make it super easy to sort and filter your data
  4.  When you sort and filter your data, you can find blank cells and inconsistencies (and more!)  I’ll save sorting and filtering for another blog post, but trust me, you can do all kinds of awesome things with this feature combo.

Tables in Excel (refresher)

Excel makes “Format as table” really simple.  All you have to do is select the data that belong in your table, and then click “CTRL + T” (Windows) or “Apple + T” (Mac).  Alternatively, there’s a Format as Table button in the standard toolbar.

Tables in Google Sheets

Unfortunately, Sheets doesn’t have a “one stop shop” for Tables.  Here are two very simple steps that give you a lot of the same functionality, but with added Google benefits, like being free, cloud based, and shareable with multiple collaborators.

Select the data that belong in your Table (in this case, my sample Phonebanking data).  After you select your cells, Google Sheets will display a green border around the data.

 

After selecting the data, click the the Filter button (funnel icon) in your toolbar.  If your screen is not maximized, you may need to click a small triangle button to see more options.  Then, you can click, “Filter”.  The Column Labels and Row Labels (A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, etc) will highlight green and little triangles will appear in your Column Names.  You should always select the Filter button after you have given your columns names (like Name, Called, and RSVP?

 

Finally, select your data one more time and click the Format menu in your tool bar.  Then, select Alternating Colors.  Google Sheets will open an Alternating Colors dialogue box in the side bar.  You can select from pre-defined alternating color pallets or design your own.

From this point forward, as you add additional data to your rows or columns, Google Sheets will automatically incorporate your data into the alternating color theme.

Also, you can use those handy striped triangles in your column header to select, sort and filter down your data so that you can see just the important segments at any given time.  This becomes really useful if you want to see JUST the “RSVP Maybes” or just the people who haven’t been called.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  I have some exciting TDAA projects up my sleeves, so stay tuned for more!

Exit mobile version