Ask about your data & get suggested content

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Important: Explore  in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides will no longer be available by January 30, 2024. You can use the tool finder in Docs, Sheets, and Slides to quickly get to actions like “conditional formatting” in Sheets, “pageless” in Docs and “open templates” in Slides. You can also enter “@” and select from a series of items to create content like: 

• Dropdowns, emojis and people chips 
• Meeting notes and email drafts in Docs
• Finance chips in Sheets

You can ask questions about the data in your spreadsheet. Based on your data, you’ll get suggestions for formatting, charts, and analysis.

Ask questions about your data

Note: This feature is only available in English.

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. At the bottom right, click Explore .
3. If you want to ask questions about data that’s on a different sheet, at the top right click Edit and make your changes.
4. Under "Answers," enter your question in the box and press Enter.
5. To find answers, click the question under the text box.

See examples

Questions you can ask:

• "Which person has the top score?"
  • Make sure "person" and "score" are in your spreadsheet.
• "Total sales in September 2017?"
  • Make sure "sales" and a "date" column are in your spreadsheet.
• "What’s the sum of price by salesperson?"
  • Make sure "price" and "salesperson" are in your spreadsheet.

Questions that don’t work:

• Help questions like, "How do I bold this cell?"
• Web search questions like, "What’s the weather?"

Add alternating color backgrounds automatically

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. At the bottom right, click Explore .
3. Under "Formatting," choose an option.

Note: You can only add formatting to a spreadsheet if you have permission to edit the file.

Get charts & analysis automatically

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. To get info for specific data, select a range of cells.
3. At the bottom right, click Explore .
4. If you want to get charts and analysis for data that’s on a different sheet, at the top right click Edit and make your changes.
5. To see what data is being used in a chart, in the panel at the right, point to a chart.

Add a chart, formula, or pivot table to your spreadsheet

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. At the bottom right, click Explore . If you want to get charts and analysis for data that’s on a different sheet, at the top right click Edit and make your changes.
   • To add a chart, drag it to your spreadsheet.
   • To add a formula, drag it to your spreadsheet.
   • To add a pivot table, click Insert pivot table .

Note: You can only add a chart, formula, or pivot table to a spreadsheet if you have permission to edit the file.

Can't find suggestions

If you open the Explore panel and don’t find any suggestions, make sure that:

• The spreadsheet or selected cell range isn’t empty.
• You’ve selected a range of data that contains numbers, repeated text, or another type of pattern. For example, a range of data with "Yes" / "No" form responses.

Related articles

• See and use suggested content in a document
• See and use suggested content in a presentation