Tag Archives: Google Sheets

New features to help improve and analyze data in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

We’re launching two features that will make it easier to prepare and analyze data in Sheets: 
  • Cleanup suggestions, which helps ensure your data is accurate by identifying and suggesting fixes for common data errors. 
  • Column stats, which provides automated insights about the values within a column, so you can identify outliers and quickly get a sense of what your data looks like. 

We previously announced that these features were coming soon. See more details below. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features assist in the identification of possible cleanup actions, and help you be more confident that your data isn’t distorted by simple errors. It will also enable quicker analysis by generating intelligent views that can help surface insights, which you can then choose to look into more closely. 


Additional details 

Cleanup suggestions 
Before analyzing and making decisions based on data in your sheets, it’s important to clean up your data by rectifying errors and improving data consistency. Cleanup suggestions will help you do this by surfacing intelligent suggestions in the side panel. These suggestions may include removing extra spaces, removing duplicate rows, adding number formatting, identifying anomalies, fixing inconsistent data, and more. This can help make data cleanup faster and more accurate. 



Column stats 
Column stats can help you quickly get a sense for your data by automatically generating visualizations and key stats that provide insight into the data in a specific column. These insights can include count and distribution charts, frequency tables, and summary statistics. This can help you quickly catch potential outliers and confidently move on to deeper analysis. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Cleanup suggestions: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Cleanup suggestions. When you import data into Sheets, you may see a proactive notification as well. Visit our Help Center to learn more about cleanup suggestions. 
    • Column stats: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Column stats. Visit our Help Center to learn more about column stats. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

New features to help improve and analyze data in Google Sheets

What’s changing 

We’re launching Sheets Smart Cleanup, two features that will make it easier to prepare and analyze data in Sheets: 
  • Cleanup suggestions, which helps ensure your data is accurate by identifying and suggesting fixes for common data errors. 
  • Column stats, which provides automated insights about the values within a column, so you can identify outliers and quickly get a sense of what your data looks like. 

We previously announced that Sheets Smart Cleanup was coming soon. See more details below. 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features assist in the identification of possible cleanup actions, and help you be more confident that your data isn’t distorted by simple errors. It will also enable quicker analysis by generating intelligent views that can help surface insights, which you can then choose to look into more closely. 


Additional details 

Cleanup suggestions 
Before analyzing and making decisions based on data in your sheets, it’s important to clean up your data by rectifying errors and improving data consistency. Cleanup suggestions will help you do this by surfacing intelligent suggestions in the side panel. These suggestions may include removing extra spaces, removing duplicate rows, adding number formatting, identifying anomalies, fixing inconsistent data, and more. This can help make data cleanup faster and more accurate. 



Column stats 
Column stats can help you quickly get a sense for your data by automatically generating visualizations and key stats that provide insight into the data in a specific column. These insights can include count and distribution charts, frequency tables, and summary statistics. This can help you quickly catch potential outliers and confidently move on to deeper analysis. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for these features. 
  • End users: 
    • Cleanup suggestions: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Cleanup suggestions. When you import data into Sheets, you may see a proactive notification as well. Visit our Help Center to learn more about cleanup suggestions. 
    • Column stats: When you are in Sheets, go to Data > Column stats. Visit our Help Center to learn more about column stats. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

Quick launch summary 

We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 
Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Office editing on Android brings G Suite collaboration to Microsoft Office files

Quick launch summary 

We’re making Office editing available on Android. This feature brings the collaborative and assistive features of G Suite to your Microsoft Office files when you’re using your Android device. Already available on the web, it: 
  • Allows you to edit, comment, and collaborate on Microsoft Office files using Google Docs’, Sheets’, and Slides’ powerful real-time collaboration tools. 
  • Improves sharing options, improves sharing controls, and reduces the need to download and email file attachments. 
  • Streamlines workflows by reducing the need to convert file types. 
Office editing will replace QuickOffice (sometimes known as Office Compatibility Mode), which has more limited functionality and collaboration capabilities. See more about Office editing in our announcement for the feature on the web. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

What’s changing 

We’re making visitor sharing—secure, pincode-based collaboration with people who do not have a Google account—generally available. This means you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on, or edit content in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites using a secure pincode. 

Visitor sharing was previously available in beta, and will replace the current admin setting to allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations.  '

We’ll introduce the new feature according to this timeline: 
  • August 31, 2020: The setting to control sharing with people who are not using a Google account will begin to appear in the Admin console. This setting may be on or off by default depending on your current settings. See “Getting started” below to learn more. This setting will not start taking effect for users until September 8, 2020 (for Rapid release domains) or September 28, 2020 (for Scheduled release domains). 
  • September 8, 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin. 
  • September 28, 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why you’d use it 

G Suite customers often work with partners outside of their company. These external users, or “visitors,” don’t always have Google accounts, making it more difficult for G Suite and non-Google users to collaborate seamlessly and securely. 

This new feature will help ensure smooth and secure collaboration with visitors through: 
  • Rich collaboration—including comments, edits, and more⁠—with anyone you need to work with, regardless of whether they have a Google account. 
  • Audit logging for collaboration with visitors, so that all interactions are monitored and recorded. 
  • Ability to revoke access and remove collaborators as needed. 
  • Reduced need to download, email, or create separate files to work with external users who don’t have Google accounts. 
If the visitor chooses to create a G Suite account with their email address, their collaboration and activity history will be preserved after the account is created. 



Additional details 

Visitor sharing will not be supported for Cloud Identity users. With this launch, Cloud Identity users will only be able to share with non-Google recipients by sending invites that allow users to preview file contents in a read-only mode without signing in to Google accounts. 


Getting started 

Admins: 
  • Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be ON by default if you currently allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations to people outside your organization who are not using a Google account.
  • Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be OFF by default if you currently do not do not allow sharing outside your organization, or use domain whitelisting, Use our Help Center to learn more about sharing to non-Google accounts. 
  • Visitor sharing will be controlled by new settings at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Sharing Settings. See image below. The new settings can be controlled at the domain or OU level. 


End users: Visit our Help Center to learn more about visitor sharing. Visitors can use our Help Center to learn how to delete their visitor session. 



Rollout pace 

Admin console setting: 
End user feature availability: 

Availability 

  • Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, Cloud Identity customers, or users with personal accounts 

Resources 

Roadmap 

Automate and expand Connected Sheets updates with new APIs, connections, and capabilities

What’s changing 

We recently launched Connected Sheets, which connects Google Sheets and BigQuery to help you analyze large datasets using familiar spreadsheet tools. We’re now adding support for macros and APIs to help you automate tasks, as well as providing mobile access. Specifically, you can now use Connected Sheets with: 

Who’s impacted 

Developers and end users 


Why you’d use it 


Sheets Macro recorder 
You can use the macro recorder to record when to create, edit, delete, and refresh Connected Sheets objects. This generates macros which you can then directly run in Sheets to refresh the data. This can automate common tasks, saving time and reducing errors. 

Apps Script and Sheets API 
You can use these APIs to write scripts and applications that automate tasks. For example, you can automate CRUD functions for Connected Sheets objects, including sheets, formulas, pivot tables, and extracts. Additionally, you can use the APIs to refresh these objects, as well as to refresh charts. 

Mobile app support 
You can now view Connected Sheets on mobile devices. You can also copy and paste data from Connected Sheets using the mobile apps. At this stage, you can’t create, edit, or refresh data in Connected Sheets on mobile. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: 
    • Sheets Macro recorder: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020. 
    • Apps Script: Available now for all users. 
    • Sheets API: Available in September. 
    • Android app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets Android app. 
    • iOS app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 24, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets iOS app. 

Availability 

  • Connected Sheets is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers 
  • Connected Sheets is not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers 

Resources 

New chart text and number formatting options in Sheets

Quick launch summary 

We’re adding new features to help you customize chart text and numbers in Google Sheets. Specifically, you can now: 
  • Directly click on almost any chart text element and update both its content and style, most notably individual data labels and legend items. 
  • Set advanced number formatting options on both your data labels and axis labels, including the option to conditionally format by color. 
  • Use a contextual sidebar editing experience, making it easier to format individual data labels, legend items, and single data points. 
See images below for demonstrations: 

Customize the text content and style of legend items and single data labels 

Advanced number formatting of chart data and axes labels (including conditional color formatting) 

Quickly format single data columns, bars, or points using the contextual sidebar 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts 

Resources 

Dark theme now available for Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android

Quick launch summary 

We’re enhancing Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android with Dark theme support. Dark theme will intelligently adjust the product interface and user-generated content in ways that can make it more usable in low-light environments and save battery life. 

Settings for Docs, Sheets, and Slides will adjust automatically when the Android system is set to use Dark theme. You can also turn dark mode on or off for Docs, Sheets, or Slides independently. If you do this, each app will always be in the selected theme regardless of the Android system settings. 


Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dark Theme 

Getting started 

  • Admins: No action needed. 
  • End users: This feature will automatically respect the Android system settings. Dark theme can also be enabled in the Docs, Sheets, or Slides apps individually by going to Menu > Settings > Theme > Dark in each app. When using Dark theme, you can preview your current document or sheet in the Light theme using More > View in light theme. Visit our Help Center to learn more about Dark theme in Google Docs, Sheets & Slides. 

Choose your theme

View in light theme 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts 

Resources 

Connected Sheets now generally available, replacing Sheets data connector

What’s changing

We’re making Connected Sheets generally available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers. Connected Sheets helps you analyze BigQuery data in Google Sheets. It was previously available in beta. Connected Sheets will replace Sheets data connector, a more limited way to connect Sheets and BigQuery.

Read more about how you can use it to analyze petabytes of data with Google Sheets in our Cloud Blog post.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Connected Sheets links Google Sheets to BigQuery, so you can analyze large BigQuery datasets using familiar spreadsheet tools and operations. This means users don’t need to know SQL and can generate insights with basic spreadsheet operations like formulas, charts, and pivot tables.

This makes it easier for more members of your organization to understand, collaborate on, and generate insights from data. Specifically, it can help subject matter experts work with data without relying on analysts, who may be less familiar with the context of the data or be overloaded with a wide range of data requests.

Connected Sheets includes all the capabilities of the legacy Sheets data connector with additional enhancements. Enhancements include the ability to analyze and visualize data in Sheets without needing to first extract the data, being able to see a preview of data through a Sheet, and scheduling data refreshes to avoid analyzing stale data.

Learn more about how you can analyze petabytes of data with Google Sheets on the Cloud Blog. 

Getting started


  • Admins: No action required, Connected Sheets will be ON by default. To use it, you must have set up BigQuery for your organization, and users must have access to tables or views in BigQuery. Use our Help Center to learn more about how to set up Connected Sheets.
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default. To use it, must have access to tables or views in BigQuery. Use our Help Center to learn more about Connected Sheets.

Rollout pace


  • Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially more than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 30, 2020. We expect rollout to complete within a month. 

Availability 


  • Available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers* 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers 

Resources 



Roadmap 


*Availability in alternative packages is variable and based on your services.

Update your G Suite mobile and desktop apps before August 12, 2020, to ensure they continue working

Quick summary

In 2018, we began making changes to our API and service infrastructure to improve performance and security. As a result of these changes, some older versions of G Suite desktop and mobile apps may stop working on August 12, 2020. In particular, versions released prior to December 2018 may be impacted.

To ensure their workflows are not disrupted, your users should update the following Google apps to the latest versions as soon as possible:

Getting started
  • Admins: Encourage your users to upgrade their apps. If you deploy Drive File Stream to your organization, ensure you’re using the latest version.
  • End users: Upgrade the apps listed above to the latest versions as soon as possible.
Rollout pace

Availability
  • This impacts all G Suite customers and users with personal Google accounts.