Using Google Spreadsheets

Logging in
Before you can use Google Spreadsheets, you need to sign up for a Google account. If you already have a Gmail account you can add Google Spreadsheets to your list of services by accessing the “all my services” link on the top left of the mailbox.

Once you are logged into the account, you are presented with a staging area of sorts. This page is the same for Google Docs and Spreadsheets. This is the place where a record of the documents and spreadsheets you have worked on in the last 30 days is maintained. If it is the first time you logged in, this page will be empty. To start a new spreadsheet, click on the “New spreadsheet” link. This will cause a script file which is the interface to be loaded. Once loaded, you are presented with the familiar spreadsheet grid. Continuing the clean look of all Google services, Google Spreadsheets also avoids unnecessary frills and ads. It is indeed a mystery as to how Google sustains itself since the mandatory ads seen on most other sites are conspicuously absent here.

The Staging Area is in many respects similar to the Gmail mailbox. Here the spread sheets can be tagged, a process similar to Labeling. Once this is done, all spreadsheets with the same tag
can be selectively viewed by clicking on the tag link. Spreadsheets which are no longer active can be archived to reduce clutter on this page. The archived spreadsheets can be viewed with the “View All” link at the top right, a system reminiscent of the “All Email” link in Gmail. Spreadsheets can also be deleted, in which case they end up in the trash and can be retreived by using the “Browse Docs and Spreadsheets link” at the top right. Information regarding the storage capacity is not readily available.