Stay informed on the latest updates in Google Sheets.
October 2023
Emoji reactions to comments
Emoji reactions are now available on comments in Google Sheets, increasing collaboration by enabling you to quickly and creatively express your opinions about spreadsheet content.
Learn more about using comments, action items, & emoji reactions.
Filter by filter only fields and parameters with Connected Sheets for Looker
We’re adding support for two additional field types for filtering in Connected Sheets for Looker: filter only fields and parameters. These new options will give you even more ways to explore the semantic layer of your data as you will now be able to recreate advanced filtering in Looker explorers or dashboards using Connected Sheets for Looker.
Learn more about filter only fields and parameters in Looker.September 2023
Improved paste values experience
Previously, when pasting a number in Google Sheets using Paste special > Values only, the content pasted was only the text from the original range of cells. To improve upon this feature, the default for paste values for numbers will include values and the number format, meaning all of your numbers will retain their formatting as you are working in Sheets.
Insert links in the Google Sheets app on iOS devices
You can now insert a hyperlink into a cell in the Google Sheets iOS app by selecting a cell > clicking “+” in the top left corner > Insert > Link. If a cell contains a link, you’ll see options to edit or remove the link.
Learn more about working with links & bookmarks.
Increased row limits in Connected Sheets for BigQuery
Connected Sheets provides the power and scale of a BigQuery data warehouse in the familiar context of Google Sheets. We’re increasing the maximum number of rows of results returned from BigQuery for pivot tables and for data extracts:
- Pivot tables have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 30,000)
- Data extracts have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 25,000)
August 2023
Organize with Duet AI in Google Docs
In Google Sheets, you can use the “Help me organize” prompt to create tables using artificial intelligence. Learn more about Duet AI in Google Sheets.
Filter by expression for Connected Sheets for Looker
You can now use common filter expressions from Looker such as “last 30 days”, “last quarter”, or “NOT 50” to filter on pivot tables in Connected Sheets for Looker.
Learn more about Connected Sheets.Place chips bulk conversion
You can now convert links to place chips in bulk from the insert menu or cell menu. This time-saving update is especially helpful when formatting data in bulk for event schedules, vendor lists, trip itineraries, etc.
Learn more about inserting smart chips in your Google Sheets.Dropdown chips new pre-fill
If you select a range of cells then insert a dropdown chip, manually entered cell data will convert to pre-fill the dropdown values. You can then use the dropdown sidebar to easily adjust the options or add styles to the dropdowns before accepting.
Learn more about creating a dropdown list with existing data.
People chips available on mobile devices
People chips allow you to quickly view more information about colleagues or contacts, including their location, job title, and contact information. These smart chips are now available on iOS and Android devices.
Learn more about inserting smart chips in your Google Sheets.Import and convert sensitive Excel files into client-side encrypted Google Sheets
July 2023
Extending long running queries within Connected Sheets
Filter by measures and value in a pivot table with Connected Sheets for Looker
Previously, Connected Sheets users could filter by dimensions in pivot tables, but not measures. Now, Looker users are able to filter by measures in a pivot table, which allows for even more targeted analysis on Connected Sheets. Additionally, Looker users will be able to filter by value in a pivot table on Connected Sheets.
Learn more about measure types on Looker and creating & using pivot tables.Add emojis in Google Sheets
You can now insert emojis into a Google Sheet by:
- Typing “@” > “Emoji” > select the desired emoji
- Going to “Insert” > “Emoji” > select the desired emoji
Convert email addresses and links into smart chips using the tab key
You now have the option to insert a link and press the tab key to convert the link into a smart chip in Google Sheets. Access this feature when you copy and paste email addresses or links to Google Drive files, Google Maps places, or Youtube videos into a Sheet.
Learn more about inserting smart chips in your Google Sheets.Including the Alt text option in the Image options sidebar
June 2023
Additional updates for the Google Sheets app on Android devices
You can now use a hardware keyboard to insert ranges in a formula via the arrow keys in the Google Sheets app. We’re also adding more formula-related keyboard shortcuts.
Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Sheets on Android foldable and tablet devices
There will now be a more creation-focused experience when first opening the Sheets apps on Android devices. For example:
- In the Sheets app, there will be larger tap targets and tapping once exposes the formula bar, tab bar, and a contextual formatting toolbar
Respond to access requests for Google Workspace files more efficiently
We’re introducing a new file access experience to make it easier for file approvers to respond to pending access requests across Google Workspace.
- Users can now review and respond to requests from within the file. Approvers will see a notification dot on the “Share” button if they have a pending access request and a new banner at the top of the sharing dialog.
- Approvers can continue to respond to access requests through the existing emails that are sent when users request access to files. If the “Notify” checkbox is selected when an approver responds to a request, the user who requested access will receive an email with the status of the request.
Within a file, open the file and click the Share button > select the Review button in the new banner to view the access request(s) > respond to the request(s).
Learn more about sharing files from Google Drive
Add or remove client-side encryption from a Google Sheets and Google Slides files
You can now simply add or remove client-side encryption to existing spreadsheets in Google Sheets. This update gives you the flexibility to control encryption as your documents and projects evolve and progress. This feature is already available for Google Docs. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only.
- Admins: Client-side encryption can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels (Admin console > Security > Access and data control > Client-side encryption). Learn more about client-side encryption.
- End users: If client-side encryption is enabled by your admin, use our Help Center to learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides.
May 2023
New capabilities in timeline view
The timeline view enables you to easily interact with project information and can help you manage things like marketing campaigns, project milestones, schedules, cross-team collaboration, and more.
We’re adding the following capabilities to expand the timeline view feature:
- Enhanced formatting options, including card text truncation and the undo/redo option
- A card collapsed view that enables you to merge cards into a single row for each card group
- Print and download support
Data Extraction from Smart Chips
With smart chip data extraction, you can enrich your Sheets with information from people, file, and events chips. More specifically, this feature allows you to pull out metadata associated with specific smart chips into its own cell, while maintaining a connection with the chip it was extracted from.
For example, if you need to keep track of a set of documents, their owners and details, such as creation time or who last modified the file, you can do so by extracting those fields from the relevant file chips.
Keyboard shortcuts Improvements
We’re adding new keyboard shortcuts to Google Sheets to help you increase your productivity and perform actions faster. Examples include: applying/removing bold formatting, moving to the next Sheet, and displaying the Find and Replace box.
Additional updates for the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides apps on Android devices
In continuing our efforts to improve the Google Workspace experience on large screen Android devices, we’re adding the following updates:
- The ability to access a vertical context menu when you use mouse right-clicking in the Google Docs and Slides apps.
- The option to use a hardware keyboard to insert ranges in a formula via the arrow keys in the Google Sheets app. We’re also adding more formula-related keyboard shortcuts.
April 2023
Additional smart chip functionalities
We’re expanding YouTube chips to Sheets to help you more easily manage YouTube content. This feature allows you to add YouTube data, such as the title, description, and video preview, directly into your spreadsheet cell. Simply copy and paste a YouTube link into the cell, hover over it, and click the “Chip” option included in the “Replace URL” hovercard.
You can also now insert multiple smart chips and text into a single cell using the @ menu. This enhances your ability to quickly preview and interact with even more context-setting information in Sheets.
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides New Feature: Enhanced tool finder
March 2023
Filters improvements
Filters and filter views help you analyze a set of data in a spreadsheet, and to improve upon this widely used feature, we’re introducing two updates.
- You will now see the number of rows that are displayed in the bottom right margin, helping you know immediately whether you are looking at the entire data set or just a subset of it.
- With the new option to directly apply filters from the right-click menu, filters are now more accessible and discoverable. Simply right-click and apply filters directly to your data, remove them, or filter by the current cell value from the same menu. Learn more
February 2023
New Smart Canvas Features: place chips, expanded date capabilities, finance chips
Place chips: When a Google Maps place chip is added to your Sheet, you can open the location directly in Google Maps, and see a preview of the location or find directions.
Expanded date capabilities: Include dates in your Sheet more easily using the @ entry point with shortcuts like @today, @yesterday, @tomorrow, and @date. Clicking on the date will display a date picker that allows you to update dates as needed.
Finance chips: Add Google Finance entities, such as stocks, mutual funds, and currencies into a Sheet. Hover over the chip to preview information dependending on entity type.
Updates to functions, location settings, and importing CSVs
- The POWER function, which returns a number raised to a power, will now return a real-valued root when trying to take the odd root of a negative number. Learn more
- Sheets will now use the Locale of your spreadsheet to ensure formatting details, such as functions, dates, and currency correlate with your physical location. For example, in France it is more common to use commas as decimal separators, which will now be automatically detected upon updating your locale. Learn more
- Previously, if you used commas (,) as your decimal separators and semicolons (;) as your text separators, you had to choose this custom delimiter and type ";" for the import to properly split text to columns. Now Sheets will autodetect semicolons (;) as a way to separate text into columns, making the import process smoother for more users.
January 2023
Connected Sheets for Looker
Interactively explore modeled data from Looker using Connected Sheets. This brings connectivity between the familiar interface of Google Sheets and the 50+ data sources available within Looker’s open ecosystem, including BigQuery, Cloud SQL, Snowflake, and Redshift.
From a single source of truth, you can analyze data using pivot tables, charts, formulas, and other integrated data sources. Additionally, with this live connection, access is secured and your data will stay up to date.
Powerful New Functions for Advanced Analysis
11 additional functions that will introduce new concepts, provide you with more efficient functions, and more:
- EPOCHTODATE: Converts a Unix epoch timestamp in seconds, milliseconds, or microseconds to a datetime in UTC.
- MARGINOFERROR: Calculates the amount of random sampling error given a range of values and a confidence level.
- TOROW: Transforms an array or range of cells into a single row.
- TOCOL: Transforms an array or range of cells into a single column.
- CHOOSEROWS: Creates a new array from the selected rows in the existing range.
- CHOOSECOLS: Creates a new array from the selected columns in the existing range.
- WRAPROWS: Wraps the provided row or column of cells by rows after a specified number of elements to form a new array.
- WRAPCOLS: Wraps the provided row or column of cells by columns after a specified number of elements to form a new array.
- VSTACK: Appends ranges vertically and in sequence to return a larger array.
- HSTACK: Appends ranges horizontally and in sequence to return a larger array.
- LET: Assigns name with the value_expression results and returns the result of the formula_expression. The formula_expression can use the names defined in the scope of the LET function. The value_expressions are evaluated only once in the LET function even if the following value_expressions or the formula_expression use them multiple times.
Additional Sheets functions and JSON support for BigQuery
Expanding the ability to access, analyze, visualize, and share billions of rows of BigQuery data from Google Sheets:
- Connected Sheets users can now include JSON columns from a BigQuery connection in their formulas, pivot tables, charts, extracts, and filters.
- Adding 4 new Sheets functions within BigQuery:
December 2022
Android Keyboard Shortcut Improvements
We now have new and updated keyboard shortcut options on Android that better align with the Google Sheets web experience.
Newly supported keyboard shortcuts:
- Copy embedded object (Ctrl+C), cut embedded object (Ctrl+X), delete embedded object (Delete, Backspace), insert new line (Ctrl+Enter), open filter menu (Ctrl+Alt+R), hide row/column (Ctrl+Alt+9/0), unhide row/column (Ctrl+Shift+9/0), move to beginning/end of row (Home/End), move to beginning/end of sheet (Ctrl+Home/End)
Shortcut functionality fixed:
- Select all/row/column (now uses cycling behavior), open hyperlink (now supports opening multiple hyperlinks).
Alternate shortcuts added:
- Apply outer border, move to next/previous sheet, open context menu
View the full list of shortcuts and learn more here.
Updated data validation sidebar & dropdown chips
Use Dropdown chips to easily indicate statuses or various project milestones outlined in your Sheet. This feature is already available for Google Docs.
Additionally, we’ve modified the workflow for creating and managing all data validation rules, including dropdown chips and checkboxes. You can now view and edit all existing rules that have been created in a specific Sheets tab and create additional rules from a new sidebar view.
November 2022
Timeline View
Timeline View allows you to track and perceive projects in Google Sheets. This new visual layer displays project information stored in Sheets, such as the task start and end date, description, and owner.
It can help you manage many project parts, such as:
- Project tasks
- Marketing campaigns
- Schedules
- Cross-team collaborations
- Any future plans
This feature is only available to certain Workspace editions, check out your account’s eligibility here.
Learn more about how to use Timeline View:
October 2022
Add more information easily with smart chipsUse smart chips in your Google Sheets to add information about:
- People with Gmail or Google Workspace email addresses
- Other Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files
- Google Calendar events
Tip: In your spreadsheet, you can hover over or click a smart chip for more information.
August 2022
Use named functions, LAMBDA functions, and LAMBDA helper functionsYou can use named functions, LAMBDA functions, and LAMBDA helper functions to provide greater formula flexibility, readability, and reusability within Sheets. Formulas that were previously complex and difficult to understand can now be simplified into more comprehensible and reusable named functions.
Learn more in our Workspace blog post.
Learn more about:
- Named functions
- LAMDA function
- LAMBDA Helper Functions:
XLOOKUP and XMATCH support enhanced match and search functionality compared to the MATCH and LOOKUP functions.
Learn more about:
Click the pop-up Edit button underneath the pivot table to open the pivot table editor. You no longer need to click the pivot table directly. This change helps prevent accidental clicks.
Learn more about how to edit pivot tables:
July 2022
Use Delegated Access with Connected SheetsWith Delegated Access:
- A user who creates a Connected Sheet can choose to have future queries to the underlying data source use their account credentials. This option is possible even when other Sheets users trigger the queries.
- Collaborators can perform analysis on the data even if they don't have access to the underlying data source. This ability is useful when people who don’t have access to the data source want to perform data analysis and refresh data that comes from a Connected Sheet.
- Standard BigQuery rates apply when queries are run with Delegated Access.
May 2022
Learn about Connected Sheets VPC-SCYou can use VPC Service Controls to restrict access to Google Cloud resources. VPC Service Controls doesn’t support Sheets. However, if you have the required permissions and meet the VPC Service Controls access restrictions, you can use VPC Service Controls to allow queries issued through Connected Sheets.
Learn more about BigQuery data in Google Sheets.April 2022
Fix formula errors with formula suggestionsWhen you insert a formula into a Sheets cell, a suggestion box may appear with a replacement formula. You can accept or reject the suggestion.
From Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you can:
- Join a Google Meet video meeting
- Present directly to a Google Meet video meeting
Learn more about how to use Google Meet in Google Docs Editors.
March 2022
Learn about doubled cell limit in Google SheetsThe cell limit in Google Sheets is now 10 million cells, increased from 5 million cells. This limit applies to new, existing, and imported files.
Learn more about Google Drive file limits.November 2021
Use people chips to view more information about stakeholdersYou can add people chips directly into a Google Sheet. These chips allow you to quickly find more information about colleagues or contacts, including their location, job title, and contact information.
With a people chip, you can also:
- Book a meeting.
- Start a Chat.
- Send an email.
- And more.
This feature is already available for Google Docs.
To insert a people chip, select an option:
- Enter “@” in any cell.
- At the top, click Insert
People chip.
People chip.October 2021
Learn about enhanced menus in Google SheetsTo make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features in Google Sheets, we made the following updates to the menus. We:
- Shortened the menu bar and right-click menus to better fit your screen and prevent menus from being hidden off-screen.
- Added and moved features to more intuitive locations. For example, you can now freeze a row or column from the right-click menu.
- Shortened some item descriptions in the menu to allow faster recognition.
- Added icons to help you find features more easily.
- Made changes across all menus, including:
- File
- Edit
- View
- Insert
- Format
- Date
- Tools
- Extensions
- Help
- Accessibility
August 2021
View embedded Office files in Google SheetsYou can view embedded Microsoft Office files in your documents when you work with Office files in:
- Docs
- Sheets
- Slides
This feature allows you to:
- View files in preview mode.
- Copy or download an embedded file directly to Drive.
When you work with data in Google Sheets, you can find in-line, sequential, and context-aware suggestions for formulas and functions.
With formula suggestions, you can:
- Write new formulas accurately.
- Make data analysis quicker and easier.
When you insert a formula in Sheets, suggestions automatically display as you continue to enter text. You can view additional suggestions in the drop-down menu.
You can find and select theme colors in Sheets and Slides.
To select theme colors:
- Go to any color picker drop-down and click the edit button for your theme color palette.
- In the theme color sidebar, select a color from the drop-down.
- Edit your content with the new theme colors.
When you create shared links, you can open Microsoft Office files in Google Drive directly in:
- Docs
- Sheets
- Slides
Previously, Office files opened in preview mode. Now you can open files in edit mode and collaborate sooner. Learn more about working with Office files in Drive.
Smart Compose can help you comment faster and more accurately in:
- Slides
- Sheets
- Drawings
Learn more about Smart Compose in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings.
July 2021
Perform basic actions in multiple tabs in Google SheetsWork in Google Sheets faster and with more confidence as you perform basic actions on multiple sheets.
You can select, then join, delete, duplicate, copy, color, or hide multiple tabs.
- Drive
- Docs
- Sheets
- Slides
- Sites
June 2021
Find new ways to navigate comments in Google SheetsIn Google Sheets, you can:
- Review comments and conversation threads in a sidebar.
- Apply filters to find the most relevant comments.
- Page through comment threads in the comment overlay.
May 2021
Present Google Sheets directly to a Google Meet meetingEnjoy more line and fill customization options for series and series items. You can modify:
- Color
- Opacity
- Line dash styles
- Line thickness
For column-shaped series, you can add and style borders. Learn more about adding and editing a chart or graph.
April 2021
Find more ways to analyze BigQuery data with Connected Sheets- Column stats
- Filter by value
- Calculated fields for pivot tables
- Pivot table grouping
- Slicers
January 2021
Use the range name box to improve navigation in Google SheetsUse the range name box to navigate to active cells and ranges in Google Sheets.