Learn about conditional formatting, how to set alternating colors. Can you pad a google sheets cell?
Every tutorial and how to article we’ve written that covers formatting in a Google Sheet is here.
Adding alternating colors every 2 rows in Google Sheets is easy. Simply open the menu and click Format > Alternating colors. Select a color scheme or theme and you’re done! But what if you want to alternate colors every 3, 4 or even 5 rows? You can’t do that using the in-built menus. Your best … Read more
You’ve spent some time getting your conditional formatting rules just perfect. But now you need to apply them to another column or range of cells in your sheet without affecting the data in those cells. You just want the formatting duplicated. How do you do it? You have 2 options. You can use the format … Read more
Are you working with zip code data in your Google Sheet? If you’ve imported some 5 digit zip code data and lost the leading zeros from certain states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, and New Jersey, I’ll show you several easy ways to put it back. If you need to import zip code data and … Read more
When you import data into Google Sheets using copy and paste, unless you format the destination cells as Plain Text, sheets will convert your data into numbers and lose the leading zeros. 0000123 will become 123. This will also happen if you leave the Convert to numbers option ticked during a file import. Read our … Read more
If a 7 digit fixed width field contains a number less than 1 million, that number will normally have leading zeros, i.e. 0001234 (the 000 at the start being the leading zeros). A problem can arise in Google Sheets sometimes because without proper consideration, leading zero numbers can get formatted as regular numbers and 0000124 … Read more
To edit the default font in Google Sheets, you need to edit your current sheet theme and select a new font. This change will only affect the currently opened file. Doing this using the menus only allows you to select from 6 fonts. To change your default font to anything you like, you need to … Read more
If you want to hide gridlines in Google Sheets, you need to open the View menu and select Show and then ensure the Gridlines option is unticked. Hiding gridlines only affects the current sheet. That’s it! Simple right? Here’s a screenshot of where you can find the option. Why would you want to turn gridlines … Read more
The default width of a column in Google Sheets is 120 pixels. You can be sure that whatever you end up putting in your sheet, 120 pixels won’t always be wide enough. Your data will get cropped and hidden, and sometimes that’s annoying. Don’t spend your valuable time tweaking the widths of columns. There is … Read more
You’ve seen sheets where the row heights seem to fit perfectly around the data inside them. Maybe you asked someone how to size your rows perfectly and they did it in a second whilst you weren’t looking. Either way, you are here to learn how it’s done and I’m here to show you. It’s pretty … Read more
If you’re looking for cell-padding in Google Sheets then you are out of luck. Cell padding isn’t a feature of Sheets (or Microsoft Excel 365 in a browser either FYI). Why? I’m guessing it’s a technical thing that’s hard to implement and is something that is rarely needed in a spreadsheet. Maybe they’ve just not … Read more
Stop looking for cell-padding, margins, or any of those features you might be used to Excel. If you are trying to indent the contents of your cell, you need to either change your sheet design to use more columns, or use a handy workaround that involves a custom number format. How to add an indent … Read more
You’ve seen spreadsheets where the text inside cells breaks across lines within the cell before, right? No, I’m not talking about wrapped text, I mean text where the author says when it starts a new line. Within the cell. If you’ve not seen this before, then it might impress you, but when you know how … Read more
Pretty often when you’re working in Google Sheets, you want to move cell values around, but not their formatting. Bold and underlined totals are great to make a point. But if you need to copy them into a fresh sheet to analyze them, sometimes you just want the data, and not the format. Pasting values … Read more
If you want to use Google Sheets to keep lists, one of the most useful types of formatting you can use is Strike-through text. If you write a list on paper, what’s the first thing you do when you complete an item? Cross it off the list. If you’re writing a text and you make … Read more
To cut a long story short… no. There is no option in the text alignment menu of Google Sheets that allows you to justify text. Google Docs does have this option but Google Sheets does not. However, don’t be too disappointed because if you absolutely need justified text there are a few simple workarounds you … Read more
There is no Underline button on the toolbar in Google Sheets, so you might well get stuck trying to remove some pesky underlines on text in cells or even cells themselves that are underlined. I’m going to show you several ways to remove that formatting and introduce you to some features you may not have … Read more
One of the most basic and useful of all the formatting functions available in google sheets is the humble underline. It’s great for titles and to add some emphasis to specific cells and can even add emphasis to a specific word or words within a cell. There are several ways to accomplish underlining. Some quick … Read more