So, now that you know about both sorting and filtering — how do you choose which to do? After all, they produce similar results in a way. The simplest answer is generally, “Whichever you want.” I personally use filtering so… Read moreSorting vs. Filtering: How to choose

Still with the example of the book inventory, imagine you have a very long series of books to record. Now, there are a variety of alternatives you could try, and all of them could be good for one purpose or… Read morePasting values: Basic how-to

Sooner or later, if you have a list of things in a spreadsheet, you’re probably going to find yourself wanting to sort it. In its simplest form, sorting a spreadsheet is like organizing a bookshelf or closet. Sure, if you’ve… Read moreSorting: Basic how-to

If you have an inventory or other detailed list in a spreadsheet, chances are that sooner or later you’ll want part of the list, and not the rest. Looking at the example of the book inventory, imagine that there was… Read moreFiltering: Basic How-To

Okay, let’s say you’ve got an inventory with all the information you could possibly want… but you don’t necessarily want it all right now. Let’s say you’re browsing in a bookstore, and have your inventory on a chip in your… Read moreHiding and Showing: Basic How-To

Okay, time a brief introduction to some techniques that we’ll be needing from here on out. I’ve previously mentioned selecting one or more cells, but if we’re talking about potentially large detailed lists it’s now time to discuss how to… Read moreSelecting and navigating cells, rows, and columns: Basic How-To

Continuing with the example of the book inventory, let’s say that you set up the perfect inventory — and then realized you needed something else. The last time we moved, I had had enough of not being able to find… Read moreInserting columns: Basic how-to

To start off the discussion of detailed lists in spreadsheets, here’s a simple example: a book inventory. While this project focuses on books the techniques it demonstrates can be used for almost any sort of inventory. I’ve always wanted to… Read moreProject 5: Book inventory

Now that I’ve covered the basics of how to use a spreadsheet to get a high level overview of something by using graphs, it’s time to go to the other extreme. Spreadsheets can make it very easy to work with… Read moreDetailed Lists

Now that there are a fair number of project posts, I thought it might be good to post templates for each of them. They’re all available on Google docs. I used formatting to clearly identify various elements. Yellow background: This… Read moreTemplates: Projects 1-4