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Links

Google has some helpful materials to train people to use their products. Here are a few general resources:

• Google Sheets training and help - a startup guide, this is particularly helpful for transitioning from Excel to Google Sheets

• Google Sheets cheat sheet - explains some basic functionality.

• Google Sheets function list - includes a ton of Google Sheets functions with descriptions and links. It’s a pretty exhaustive list so many of the functions are pretty advanced, but there is still useful information about beginner functions on the list.

Google Sheets reference data from other sheets - includes information on how to use a formula that references data you have in another sheet (tab) of your document. It’s helpful to know how to do this as you get more into formulas, but it didn’t quite fit in this guide. 

How to find answers

If you want to get better at Google Sheets, it’s important to know where to look for help when you need it. Almost everything I learned about Google Sheets I learned by googling answers whenever I hit a snag.

The way you google your problem, will impact the results you get. I usually search like this:

• google sheets highlight duplicates

• google sheets how to import data from another sheet

• google sheets conditional formatting based on another cell

I’ve found I usually get good results by starting with “google sheets” and by using common and specific keywords to describe my problem. If your first search doesn’t get you the answer, try rewording it and searching again.

There are a lot of great, free resources online! Here are a few sites that I found to be especially reliable when I’m using google to find solutions. If I see these sites in my search results, I usually start with them. 

• Google Support

• Sometimes YouTube can have helpful video explainers too

• Stack Exchange

• Reddit

There are a lot of blogs and other sites with helpful info, so, as long as a site doesn’t look obviously spammy and the info is relevant, I’ll usually try it.