Google Sheets: App of the day

No matter what your line of work is, one thing unites most knowledge workers: the spreadsheet. From number-crunching to planning projects, spreadsheets are a workplace staple—and a common source of frustration for some.

There's no denying that Google Sheets has changed the spreadsheet game. First, it's web-based, so anyone can use it—for free. But just because it's free doesn't mean it skimps on features.

Google Sheets uses the same terminology and has many of the same functions as Microsoft Excel, such as formulas. Along with standard functions, such as AVERAGE and SUM, Sheets also has unique ones to translate text into different languages and even import an RSS feed right to your spreadsheet.

You can also create pivot tables within Google Sheets—which can summarize and analyze your data more efficiently—and turn your spreadsheet data into beautiful charts and graphs.

We should also mention that it auto-saves. How many times have you lost a file because you forgot to save, or your computer crashed? No more tears in your keyboard over lost files.

Just like other G Suite products, Sheets' collaboration features make it easy to share and edit spreadsheets with your team, so you can have a few more helping hands on that 1,000-row sheet. You can set blanket sharing and permission levels, or customize it per person.

Don't want to make permanent changes to a spreadsheet? You can make suggestions and add comments for your colleagues to review. If you lose an important piece of data, don't worry. Google Sheets saves automatically and keeps records of your version history, so you can revert to a previous version if necessary.

Need your spreadsheet to do a specialized task, such as detecting and deleting duplicate rows automatically? You can build and publish custom add-ons with the Google Apps Script to take your spreadsheets to the next level. Don't know code? Browse the Google Sheets add-on store to see what features others have built.

And even though Google Sheets is web-based, you can save a file as a PDF, Excel, or other formats so you can get your spreadsheets to the right people.

If you're looking for a better way to crunch numbers and collaborate with others, look no further than Google Sheets. It'll turn your love-hate relationship with spreadsheets into a full-on lovefest.

You can automate your spreadsheets with Zapier's Google Sheets integrations. Here are a few popular Google Sheets workflows to get you started: