How to Use Gemini in Google Sheets: Formulas, Charts and Analysis

The short version

Gemini in Sheets turns a sentence into a formula, a table or a chart, right inside your spreadsheet. Describe the result you want using your column names, check it on a few rows, then insert it.

Step by step

1. Open your spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Click Ask Gemini at the top right. The side panel shows a summary of your data and suggested prompts.
3. Type your request using your real column names: “Create a formula that divides Goals by Games.”
4. Review the answer. Click Retry for a different version, or ask a follow-up.
5. Click a target cell and click Insert. If an action goes wrong, click Undo.

Shortcuts Google lists

• Formula help from a cell: type = then press Ctrl + Alt + G (Windows, ChromeOS) or ⌘ + Ctrl + G (Mac).
• Summarize the sheet: Ctrl + Alt + N (Windows) or ⌘ + Ctrl + N (Mac).

Fix a broken formula

When a cell shows an error, hover over it and click Fix. Gemini reviews the formula and explains the issue.

Charts and analysis

Ask “Make a line chart of total sales by month” or “Identify trends in this table.” Click Analysis steps to see how it got there, Export to Docs to write it up, or Insert to add the chart on a new tab.

Prompts to copy

A formula:

Create a formula for column F that shows "Overdue" if the Due Date in column D is before today
and Status in column E isn't "Paid". Otherwise leave it blank.

A starter table:

Create a table to track customer orders: order date, customer, item, quantity,
unit price, total, paid (checkbox).

Cleanup actions:

Apply conditional formatting to highlight any row where Stock is below 10 in red.
Then freeze the header row.

Analysis:

Which three products had the biggest drop in sales from Q2 to Q3? Show the numbers.

Example

You have: a sheet of 400 invoices with dates, clients and amounts.

You ask: “Create a pivot table of total invoiced per client per month, sorted by total.”

A good result: a pivot table on a new tab. Spot-check two clients by filtering the original data and adding up their invoices yourself.

Mistakes to avoid

• Inserting without testing. Check a formula on rows where you know the answer.
• Vague column references. “The date column” is ambiguous if there are three. Use the header name.
• Assuming charts stay live. Inserted charts are snapshots of the data at that moment.
• Too many tabs at once. Use the dropdown in the prompt box to focus Gemini on the tab that matters.

Good to know

Gemini in Sheets needs an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan, or Google’s Workspace Experiments tester program. Without a plan, you can upload a spreadsheet to the Gemini app and ask it for a chart; see upload files to Gemini.

Related: use Gemini in Google Docs.