Tips & Tricks

Learn practical tips to get the most out of your spreadsheet

01.

Duplicating a Tab

Duplicating a tab is a quick and easy way to create a copy of your budget, calendar, or household tab for the next month or period—a practice we highly recommend! When you duplicate a tab, it creates an exact copy, including all the information and formatting, in just seconds. This allows you to keep separate tabs for each month or period, which many users find helpful for better organization.

Pro Tip: We recommend duplicating tabs through a web browser rather than the Google Sheets app. The app sometimes alters column sizes in the duplicated tab, which can affect the design and layout.

To duplicate a tab:

  1. Right-click on the tab name (or click the small arrow) at the bottom of the spreadsheet.
  2. Select Duplicate from the menu.

Additionally, right-clicking on the tab name gives you options to rename, delete, or hide the tab.

02.

Changing the Date Entry Format

If you’d like to use a different date format, you can easily customize it by following these steps:

  1. Click on the date column (in this case, column B).
  2. Go to the menu at the top, click on Format.
  3. From the dropdown, select Number, then choose Custom Date and Time.
  4. Pick the date format you prefer from the options.
  5. Click Apply to set the new format.

Additionally, you can quickly double-click any date field in the spreadsheet to bring up a mini calendar, making it even easier to select the date you want.

03.

Sorting Your Log Transactions

Almost all of our budget spreadsheets include a Log tab where you can enter and manage your transactions. Whether you’re adding transactions as they occur or catching up with a pile of receipts, you may find your transactions are out of order. This can make it challenging to locate specific entries.

Fortunately, we’ve made it easy to sort your transactions in just a few seconds. Here’s how:

  1. Right-click on the B column (or click the small arrow at the top of the column) to select the entire column.
  2. Click on Sort Sheet A to Z.

This will instantly sort all your transactions in chronological order. You can repeat this process as often as needed, ensuring your transactions stay organized.

04.

Hiding Rows to Simplify Your Log Tab

Over time, your Log tab might become lengthy, making it tedious to scroll down every time you add a transaction. Hiding rows is a great way to manage this! When you hide rows, the data remains intact and continues to appear in your budget overviews, but the unnecessary rows are out of sight. Plus, you can unhide them anytime if needed.

To hide rows in the browser version of Google Sheets:

  1. Click on the row number of the top row you want to hide.
  2. Hold Shift on your keyboard.
  3. Click on the row number of the bottom row you want to hide (this selects the range of rows).
  4. Right-click on the selected rows and choose Hide Rows from the menu.

Your rows will now be hidden. To unhide them, simply click on the two small black arrows that appear in the row bar where the hidden rows are located.

05.

Creating a New Template for a Fresh Start

Sometimes, you may make so many changes that you didn’t intend to, or perhaps you’ve made changes that you can’t fix, or you’ve tracked an entire year’s budget and are now ready to reset. In such cases, you can easily create a brand new copy of your original spreadsheet with all the default settings, just as it was when you first bought it.

To create a new template:

  1. Go to the Read Me tab.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the tab.
  3. Click the New Template button.
  4. Click the “Use Template” button at the top right corner, just like when you first accessed the spreadsheet.

This will create a brand new template, ready for you to start again from scratch!

06.

Accessing Your Spreadsheet from Multiple Accounts

If you’d like to access the spreadsheet with multiple Google Accounts, for example, to share your budget with your partner, follow these simple steps:

  1. In the top right corner of the template, click the “Share” button.
  2. In the field that says “Add people or groups”, type in the email address of the person you’d like to share the spreadsheet with.
  3. Choose the level of access you want to give the person.
  4. Click the Send button.

This will allow you to share your spreadsheet with others and access it from multiple Google Accounts.

07.

Accessing Your Spreadsheet on a Phone or Tablet

While we recommend opening the spreadsheet for the first time on a computer or laptop for optimal setup, there are no restrictions on which devices you can use to access or edit your spreadsheet.

If you’d like to access your spreadsheet on a tablet or phone, we highly recommend downloading the Google Sheets app (available for both Android and Apple devices). The app makes it easier to view, edit, and manage your spreadsheet on the go.

08.

Make Your Spreadsheet Available Offline

While an internet connection is typically required to edit your spreadsheet, Google Sheets offers an offline mode that allows you to access and make edits without internet access.

To enable offline access:

  1. Open Google Sheets in your browser and ensure you’re signed into your Google account.
  2. Click the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-left corner.
  3. Select Settings, then toggle on Offline mode.
  4. Follow the prompts to set up offline access for your device.

Once offline mode is enabled, you can work on your spreadsheet even when you’re not connected to the internet. Any changes made offline will automatically sync when you’re back online.

For more detailed instructions, visit the Google Docs Help Platform.