Search
Close this search box.

Spreadsheet Formulas: Google Sheets and Excel

How-To Videos

Our team of spreadsheet experts regularly makes videos on complex formulas. Check out our YouTube channel.

Recently, we’ve covered VLOOKUP, SPLIT, and the COUNTIF formula.

Functions are the engine inside the cells of your spreadsheet. They power all your most important operations.

Whether you’re calculating compound interest, concatenating cells, or projecting financial expectations, you’ll need to use formulas in Google Sheets and Excel.

Here, we’ll talk about how they work. Our team of experts includes data analysts, programmers, and financial wonks.

Use our search function to look for any specific formula you want to explore, or read on for some of the most popular Google Sheets formulas we’ve ever covered.

Popular Formulas in Google Sheets

We already mentioned a few powerful built-in formulas. The most common might be using a spreadsheet to calculate compound interest.

The same formulas also allow financial planners to project potential investment growth for retirement investments.

We use similar spreadsheet formulas for linear regression, which is helpful for predicting all sorts of financial situations.

Of course, many formulas are so ubiquitous they can’t be confined to a single category. You might need to concatenate cells for all sorts of imported data.

Understanding Syntax

We cover the syntax of Google Sheets and Excel functions in every one of our articles. That means we’ll break down any formula with an equals sign.

In our article on the IF CONTAINS formula, you’ll see this:

=REGEXMATCH(text, expression)

Then, we break down what that means. The first term is the name of the function. The terms in parenthesis are arguments for the formula.

Those vary based on the Google Sheets function, so we give examples for exactly what you need.

Spreadsheet Formula Examples

We also include step-by-step instructions on how to use each formula. That’s true for Google Sheets and Excel functions.

Read my guide to ISERROR, for example. I give a complete guide on how to use it to highlight rows with errors. The guide also includes instructions on how to modify the formula to check for errors in multiple rows or across your whole spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet Formula Cheat Sheet

Looking for quick answers in a single PDF? We wrote a popular Google Sheets Formulas Cheat Sheet. You can download it for free.

Find a Specific Formula

To calculate age in Google Sheets, use the DATEDIF or YEARFRAC formulas. Follow along for screenshots and full formula explanations....
Here's how to hide gridlines in Google Sheets with the view menu or the print menu. The guide also shows how to show lines in specific cells....
To make a Google Sheet drop down list, use the insert menu or right click. This guide also covers data validation in drop downs menus and Excel....
Learn how to make a single-color, multi-color, and Geo Google Sheets heat map in a few clicks with this comprehensive step-by-step guide....
While Google Sheets already have cells that you can use to add numbers or text, sometimes you may need to insert a text box in Google Sheets. This could be useful when you want to call specific cells ...
If you work with numbers in Google Sheets, there is one thing that can often frustrate many users. When you enter a number in a cell in Google sheets that has leading zeros, it will automatically remo...
Spreadsheet software like Google sheets is usually multi-faceted. So, you can use the same software to view, analyze, present, and print your data. These data processing software lets you use formulas...
Learning how to round numbers in Google Sheets will help you clean up your data and make it more readable. Check out this easy guide to master this skill....
To search in Google Sheets, use the Find and Replace feature, the search shortcut, or conditional functions. Read this guide for instructions....
If you work with checklists in Google Sheets or use it to keep track of tasks/projects, you can also use checkmark symbols to show the tasks/projects that have been completed. It adds a layer of visua...
If you work with monetary data in Google Sheets, such as sales or income/expense or stock prices, having a currency symbol ($/€ or USD/EUR) may make sense. And sometimes, you may not want it. For ex...
Sometimes simple formatting ina complex program can be frustrating but once you learn how to underline in Google Sheets with this guide, you'll find it easy....
A Histogram will help you to visualize your data and make itmore digestible. This guide breaks down how to make a histogram in Google Sheets into an easy steps....
A Google Sheets table of contents can comein handy when sharing your work with others or to help you navigate huge spreadsheets. Find out how to add one here....
Learn how to unmerge cells in Google Sheets in under 5 minutes with this simple guide. We cover shortcuts and menu options....
Learn how to use Google Sheets find and replace to make bulk changes in your spreadsheets easily. We'll also cover some handy alternatives....