Dr. Sheets Blog

The Formula That Changes Everything If you've ever written a formula in one cell and then painstakingly dragged that little blue square down hundreds of rows, you understand the repetition involved in spreadsheets. Not only is this tedious, but it also makes your sheet slower and harder to maintain. It's time to learn a better way with the Google Sheets ARRAYFORMULA . ARRAYFORMULA is a wrapper function that allows formulas that normally work on a single cell to work on an entire range or "array" of cells. With one single formula in one cell, you can perform calculations for an entire column, revolutionizing the way you build your sheets. Why You Should Use ARRAYFORMULA Switching from individual formulas to ARRAYFORMULA offers several game-changing benefits. It's a key step in moving from a casual user to a true spreadsheet architect. Efficiency and Maintenance Instead of managing hundreds of individual formulas, you only have one. If you need to make a cha...

The Smarter Way to Organize Your Data Well-organized data is the foundation of any good analysis. While the "Sort range" tool under the Data menu is useful for a one-time arrangement, it's a static action. To build truly dynamic reports that stay organized as your data grows, you need the power of the Google Sheets SORT function . Unlike its manual counterpart, the SORT function creates a new, live-updating range of your data, perfectly ordered according to your rules. This non-destructive approach preserves your original dataset while giving you a clean, sorted view that's always in sync. Using the Google Sheets SORT Function The SORT function is incredibly versatile, allowing you to organize your data based on the values in one or more columns, in either ascending or descending order. The Basic Syntax The formula structure is logical and easy to follow: =SORT(range, sort_column, is_ascending, [sort_column2, is_ascending2, ...]) range: The full set of dat...

The End of Manual Filtering If you've ever used the built-in filter tool in Google Sheets, you know it's great for a quick analysis. But what happens when you need a live, self-updating report on a separate dashboard tab? The answer is the incredibly powerful Google Sheets FILTER function , a tool that will fundamentally change how you build reports. Instead of manually applying filters to your raw data, the FILTER function lets you create a new, dynamic table that pulls in only the rows meeting your specific criteria. When your source data changes, your filtered report updates instantly, making it the engine behind any effective dashboard. Why the Function Beats the Tool The ability to filter data in google sheets is crucial, but the FILTER function offers distinct advantages over the traditional menu-based filter (Data > Create a filter). It's Dynamic: The function's output automatically updates when the source data changes. No need to re-apply filters. ...

The Easiest Way to Handle Duplicate Data Duplicate entries are a common headache in any dataset. They can skew your calculations, clutter your reports, and make it difficult to get an accurate count of anything. While there are manual ways to find and delete them, the dynamic Google Sheets UNIQUE function offers a faster, smarter, and non-destructive solution. This powerful function scans a range of data, filters out all the duplicate entries, and returns a clean, new list containing only the unique values. It's an essential tool for anyone who needs to create summary lists, populate drop-down menus, or simply get a quick overview of the distinct items in a large dataset. UNIQUE Function vs. The "Remove Duplicates" Tool Google Sheets has a built-in feature under the "Data" menu to remove duplicates google sheets style, which permanently deletes rows from your original data. While useful for one-time cleaning, this method is destructive and static. If you...

The Foundation of Smart Spreadsheets From tracking project timelines to managing employee records, dates are the backbone of countless spreadsheets. To truly harness the power of your data, you need to go beyond simply recording dates and learn how to calculate with them. This is where mastering Google Sheets date functions becomes a critical skill for any professional. At their core, Google Sheets treats all dates as serial numbers, which allows you to perform mathematical operations on them. This simple concept opens up a world of possibilities for calculating durations, projecting deadlines, and analyzing time-based data with precision. Calculating the Days Between Two Dates The most straightforward date calculation is finding the number of days between a start and end date. Thanks to the way Sheets handles dates, you can do this with a simple subtraction formula. This is perfect for quick calculations like the length of an event or a project phase. For example, if you have ...

The Power of a Live, Updating Date In a world of dynamic dashboards and real-time project tracking, static, manually entered dates just don't cut it. To build intelligent spreadsheets that stay current, you need functions that update automatically. This is where the essential Google Sheets TODAY and NOW functions come into play, providing the simplest way to work with live dates and times. While they sound similar, these two functions serve distinct purposes. Understanding the difference between them is the key to accurately calculating deadlines, creating timestamps, and managing schedules without ever having to update a cell manually again. The TODAY Function: For the Current Date The TODAY function is wonderfully simple: it does exactly what its name implies. It returns the current date and nothing more. This is your go-to function when you need to insert current date google sheets for day-level calculations. The function is "volatile," which means it recalcul...

The Find and Replace You've Been Missing Google Sheets' built-in "Find and Replace" tool is handy for swapping one specific word for another. But what if your needs are more complex? How do you remove all numbers from a string, reformat a date, or swap the order of first and last names? For tasks like these, you need a more intelligent tool: the Google Sheets REGEXREPLACE function. This function completes the powerful regex trio, alongside REGEXMATCH and REGEXEXTRACT. It allows you to find text that matches a specific pattern and then replace it with something else—or even with a rearranged version of the text it found. It's the ultimate weapon for advanced data cleaning and transformation. Understanding the REGEXREPLACE Syntax The function works by taking three arguments: the original text, the pattern to search for, and the text you want to put in its place. This allows for a dynamic regex find and replace google sheets workflow, all within a single form...

From Matching to Extracting While REGEXMATCH is great for confirming if a pattern exists (returning TRUE or FALSE), its sibling function, Google Sheets REGEXEXTRACT , takes it a step further. This powerful tool doesn't just find a pattern; it pulls out and returns the specific text that matches it. This moves you from simple data validation to sophisticated data extraction. If you've ever needed to pull a specific piece of information, like an order number, a domain name, or a username from a block of unstructured text, REGEXEXTRACT is the surgical instrument you've been looking for. It offers a level of precision that functions like LEFT, MID, and SPLIT simply cannot match. The Key Concept: The Capturing Group () To use REGEXEXTRACT effectively, you must understand one crucial concept: the "capturing group." In a regular expression, any part of the pattern that you enclose in parentheses () becomes a capturing group. REGEXEXTRACT will only return the text ...

Beyond FIND: Advanced Pattern Matching Simple text functions like FIND or SEARCH are great for locating a specific, static piece of text. But what if you need to check for a pattern? For example, how do you verify if a cell contains a valid email address, a product code that starts with "SKU-", or any 5-digit number? This is where the Google Sheets REGEXMATCH function comes in. REGEXMATCH is your gateway into the world of "regular expressions," a powerful language for describing search patterns. It's a logic function that doesn't return text, but rather a simple TRUE or FALSE , making it the perfect tool for data validation and conditional logic. What is a Regular Expression (Regex)? A regular expression (or regex) is a special sequence of characters that defines a search pattern. Instead of searching for a literal word like "apple", you can create a pattern that searches for "any word that starts with 'a' and is five letters l...