Google Sheets Tutorial for Beginners, How to Use Google Sheets in the AI Era Easily 2026

If your data already lives in Excel or a CSV, don't retype it. Open File > Import, upload the file, and Sheets confirms with a Success message and an Open now link.

Google lists .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlt, .xltx, .xltm, .ods, .csv, .txt, .tsv and .tab as importable. The choice that matters is Import location.

There are six options: Create new spreadsheet, Insert new sheet(s), Replace spreadsheet, Replace current sheet, Append to current sheet, and Replace data at selected cell. Not every file type gets all six.

With the .xlsx file in the recording, the last three are greyed out, which leaves you choosing between a new file, new tabs, or overwriting the whole spreadsheet. Replace spreadsheet deletes everything already in the open file, so pick Insert new sheet(s) unless you mean it. For plain-text files such as .csv, Sheets also asks which separator to split on, with Detect automatically as the default.

From the Sheets home page, click Template gallery at the top right. From inside a spreadsheet, the same list is under File > New > From a template.

Picking one opens your own copy, so nothing you type changes the original. The Weekly schedule template used here has a Week of cell at the top and a grid of half-hour time slots below it.

Click the date next to Week of and set your start date. The seven day headers recalculate from it, which is why the week in the recording begins on a Friday. Working inside a layout like this teaches spreadsheet structure (headers, labelled rows, merged title cells) faster than an empty grid does.

Type entries into the time slots (Grocery, Laundry, Shopping) and the template becomes a working document. To make certain entries stand out automatically, select the cells, then open Format > Conditional formatting.

A panel titled Conditional format rules opens on the right. Each rule has three parts: the range it applies to, a condition under Format cells if, and a formatting style.

Choose Single color for a straightforward highlight, or Color scale to shade numbers from low to high. Custom formula is there for rules based on other cells, but it can only reference the same sheet without INDIRECT.

When one range carries several rules, Sheets checks them top to bottom and the first true rule decides the format. Drag rules in the panel to reorder them.

Formulas turn rows into answers. SUM adds up a range, AVERAGE gives the typical value, and COUNTIF tallies cells that match a condition.

For a schedule, COUNTBLANK across a day's column tells you how many slots are still free. Always point formulas at a range such as C6:C30 instead of typing the numbers in.

They recalculate the moment a cell changes. Keep dates in one format and avoid blank rows in the middle of a range, because sort and filter behave unpredictably on inconsistent data.

Click Share on a file that still says Untitled spreadsheet and Sheets stops you with a Name before sharing prompt. You can Skip, but save a real name.

A collaborator's Drive fills up with untitled files fast. In the share dialog, add people by email and choose a role for each: Viewer can only read, Commenter can read and leave comments, and Editor can change the sheet and reshare it.

Under General access you can instead switch to Anyone with the link. Google caps a single share at 600 email addresses, and editing is limited to 100 open tabs or devices at once.

The spark icon at the top right, beside Share and Upgrade, is Ask Gemini. It opens a side panel where you can ask for a table, a formula, a chart, a pivot table, conditional formatting or a written summary of the data.

There is also an AI function you type straight into a cell, for example =AI("Classify this task as errand or chore", C6). It only sees the range you pass it, and it generates up to 350 cells at a time.

Both require an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan. On a free personal account the panel may not appear at all.

If you imported an Excel file and kept it as .xlsx, save it as a Google Sheets file first (File > Save as Google Sheets), because Gemini does not work on the .xlsx version. Google's own help pages warn that Gemini can suggest inaccurate information, so check any formula it writes against what you learned in the steps above.