Waffle Bytes

(Part of my administrative assistant series on Google Sheets.) Conditional formatting is a great way to dynamically view your data, even while entering it.  Many people spend a lot of time highlighting data individually, not realizing that this feature is built in and can save a lot of time. Conditional formatting can be turned on by going to the Format menu and selecting it from about 3/4th of the way down - First you highlight the data you want to format.  You can click on an entire row or column, or even multiple rows & columns if you want to apply the same rule over a large amount of data. Second you click on Add new rule - There are several options that come up - The data range to which it should be applied (you can change it here manually if you did not highlight the correct data) The condition for formatting the cells - the list of your options is the next graphic below How you want those cells formatted You can even add multiple rules for the s...

(Part of my administrative assistant series on Google Sheets.) One item that frustrates several people I work with is how text appears when it does not fit into its cell.  Knowing how to change text wrapping is key for getting the information to appear as you want it. The text wrapping icon is about 3/4 across the formatting toolbar - When you click on it, there are three options - The options are: Overflow: lets the text flow into the next cells ONLY if those cells are empty Wrap: wraps the text within the cell so all is visible, automatically adjusts the row height as necessary for it to fit Clip: clips the visible text to the size of the cell, the rest is "hidden"

(Part of my administrative assistant series on Google Sheets.) Number entries can be easily formatted within Google Sheets.  In fact, if you know how you want the entries formatted prior to entering the data, you can even pre-format the cells so that the formatting occurs as you enter data! Options on the Formatting Toolbar : The most common formatting options are found right on the Formatting Toolbar - Here you can easily change a number to currency or a percentage, establish the number of decimals desired, and access the formatting menu. Menus for Formatting : There are actually two locations you can see the menu options for formatting - under the Format Menu and selecting Number, in addition to the formatting toolbar when clicking the "123" icon - The menu has many of the most popular formats, but notice at the bottom there is even a choice for More Formats where you can explore additional currency and date/time formats, or even create a custom format.   ...

One popular request I often get from people that are looking at large sheets with lots of data is how to alternate the color of the rows to make it easier to read across and not lose your line.  Setting alternating colors is very easy with Google Sheets.  Simply - 1. Highlight the columns you want to assign alternating colors to 2. Go to the Format Menu and select Alternating colors... (towards the bottom of the menu) 3. Set your formatting -  A. Choose if you have a header and/or footer on your sheet - it will use darker highlights on those cells  B. Select the Formatting styles that are preset OR click on the + to create a custom style  C. Make any modifications you would like to the colors (Note: if you selected a preset style, as soon as you make a color change it will create a custom style) 6. Click Done If you want to remove alternating colors, go back to the Format Menu and select Alternating colors... and at the bottom of the ...