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It's easy enough to list your expenses in a spreadsheet, use =sum(A1:A20) to see how much you spent, and add a graph to compare your expenses. It's also easy to use a spreadsheet to deeply analyze your numbers, assist in research, and automate your work—but it seems a lot more tricky.

Google Sheets, the free spreadsheet companion app to Google Docs, is a great tool to start out with spreadsheets. It's free, easy to use, comes packed with hundreds of functions and the core tools you need, and lets you share spreadsheets and collaborate on them with others.

But where do you start if you've never used a spreadsheet—or if you're a spreadsheet professional, where do you dig in to create advanced workflows and build macros to automate your work?

Here's the guide for you. We'll take you from beginner to expert, show you how to get started with spreadsheets, create advanced spreadsheet-powered dashboard, use spreadsheets for more than numbers, build powerful macros to automate your work, and more. You'll also find tutorials on Google Sheets' unique features that are only possible in an online spreadsheet, like built-in forms and survey tools and add-ons that can pull in research from the web or send emails right from your spreadsheet.

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