Spreadsheet basics

Open Sheets from the app launcher and press New spreadsheet. A fresh sheet is 50 rows by 26 columns, A to Z, and grows as soon as you need more. It saves continuously, the same way documents do, and the chip in the top right says whether it is Saved, Saving, Reconnecting or has hit a Save issue.

Moving around#

The grid takes the keyboard seriously, because that is the whole speed of a spreadsheet. Start typing on a selected cell and it begins editing with what you typed.

Select more than one cell and a small readout appears beside the formula bar with Sum, Avg, Min, Max and Count for the selection, plus the range you have selected written as A1:C10. Drag the small square at the bottom right corner of a selection to fill it down or across; formulas move their references with them as they go, and a reference written with a dollar sign, such as $B$2, stays put.

Rows, columns and size#

• Press Rows and columns in the bar at the bottom to add a row, add a column, or delete the row or column you are on.
• Drag the edge of a column header or a row number to resize it. Double-click that same edge to put it back to the default.
• A sheet always keeps at least one row and one column, so the delete options switch off rather than emptying the grid.

Formatting cells#

Press Format cells in the bar at the bottom. It applies to everything you have selected, not just the active cell.

Bold, italic and underline also have the usual shortcuts, ⌘B, ⌘I and ⌘U, and work on a whole selection at once. A cell holding a bare web address becomes a link you can open with ⌘ and a click.

Tabs#

One spreadsheet can hold several tabs, listed in the sidebar. Add one with the plus, and right-click a tab to rename, duplicate or delete it; a double-click renames it straight away. Duplicating a tab copies its cells, its column widths, its row heights and its pictures. A workbook always keeps at least one tab.

How many spreadsheets you can have#