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How to Make a Spreadsheet

This wikiHow teaches you how to create a data spreadsheet, which is a document that uses columns and rows to organize data. Commonly used spreadsheet programs include Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, and Google Sheets. Open Microsoft Excel....
Method 1 of 3:

Using Microsoft Excel

  1. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 1How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 1
    Open Microsoft Excel. Click or double-click the Excel app icon, which resembles a white "X" on a dark-green background.
  2. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 2How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 2
    Create a blank spreadsheet if you like. If you don't want to use a pre-formatted spreadsheet template, click Blank workbook in the upper-left side of the page, then skip ahead to the "Know where to place your data headers" step.
  3. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 3How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 3
    Browse the available templates. Scroll through the list of templates in the Excel window, or type a word or phrase into the text box at the top of the page to search for templates by keyword.
  4. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 4How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 4
    Select a template. Click the template you want to use to do so. The template's window will open.
  5. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 5How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 5
    Click Create. It's on the right side of the template window. Doing so opens the template in Excel.
  6. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 6How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 6
    Fill out the template if necessary. If you're using a pre-formatted template, fill out the necessary cells to complete the template, then skip ahead to the "Save your file" step.
    1. Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
    2. Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the Excel window.
  7. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 7How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 7
    Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
    1. For example, if you're creating a list of employee names organized by department, you might place one department title in cell A1 and another in cell B1, etc.
  8. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 8How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 8
    Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
    1. For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1, you would click cell A1.
  9. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 9How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 9
    Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
  10. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 10How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 10
    Save the data. Press ↵ Enter to do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
  11. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 11How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 11
    Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
  12. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 12How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 12
    Add cells together. If you want to use a cell to combine the results for a list of cells into one sum, you can do the following:
    1. Select an empty cell.
    2. Type in =SUM( followed by the cells you want to add in "A1,B1,C1" format and a closing parenthesis (e.g., =SUM(A1,B1)).
    3. Press ↵ Enter.
    4. Review the sum.
  13. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 13How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 13
    Save your file. Press either Ctrl+S (Windows) or ⌘ Command+S (Mac) to open the "Save As" window, then do the following:
    1. Type in the name you want to use for your file.
    2. Select a save location (on a Mac, you may first have to click the "Where" drop-down box).
    3. Click Save.
Method 2 of 3:

Using Apple Numbers

  1. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 14How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 14
    Open
    How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 15How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 15
    Numbers. Click or double-click the Numbers app icon, which resembles a series of white, horizontal bars on a light-green background.
  2. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 16How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 16
    Create a blank spreadsheet if you like. If you want to create a blank spreadsheet, do the following and then skip ahead to the "Know where to place your data headers" step:
    1. Click the All tab in the upper-left side of the Numbers window.
    2. Click the Blank template in the upper-left corner of the page.
    3. Click Choose in the lower-right side of the window.
  3. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 17How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 17
    Browse the available template categories. On the left side of the window, you'll see several tabs (e.g., All, Basic, etc.). Clicking a tab will display a list of templates in that category.
    1. You can also just scroll down through the list of templates in the middle of the page.
  4. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 18How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 18
    Select a specific template to use. Click once the template you want to use to select it.
  5. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 19How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 19
    Click Choose. It's in the lower-right corner of the window. Your template will open in Numbers.
  6. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 20How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 20
    Fill out the template if necessary. If you're using a pre-formatted template, fill out the necessary cells to complete the template, then skip ahead to the "Save your spreadsheet" step.
    1. Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
    2. Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the Numbers window.
  7. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 21How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 21
    Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
    1. For example, if you're creating a list of employee names organized by department, you might place one department title in cell A1 and another in cell B1, etc.
  8. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 22How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 22
    Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
    1. For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1, you would click cell A1.
  9. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 23How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 23
    Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
  10. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 24How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 24
    Save the data. Press ⏎ Return to do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
  11. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 25How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 25
    Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
  12. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 26How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 26
    Add cells together. If you want to use a cell to combine the results for a list of cells into one sum, you can do the following:
    1. Select an empty cell.
    2. Type in =SUM( followed by the cells you want to add in "A1,B1,C1" format and a closing parenthesis (e.g., =SUM(A1,B1)).
    3. Press ⏎ Return.
    4. Review the sum.
  13. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 27How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 27
    Save your spreadsheet. Once you've finished creating the spreadsheet, you can save it as a file on your computer by doing the following:
    1. Click File in the upper-left corner of the screen.
    2. Click Save As... in the drop-down menu.
    3. Enter a file name.
    4. Select a save location (you may first have to click the "Where" drop-down box to see a list of locations).
    5. Click Save.
Method 3 of 3:

Using Google Sheets

  1. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 28How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 28
    Open the Google Sheets About page. Go to https://www.google.com/sheets/about/ in your computer's web browser.
  2. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 29How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 29
    Click Go to Google Sheets. It's a blue button at the bottom of the page. Doing so will open the Google Sheets page for your Google Account.
    1. If you aren't logged into a Google Account, you'll need to enter your email address and password when prompted.
  3. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 30How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 30
    Prompt templates to appear if necessary. If you don't see a list of templates at the top of the Google Sheets page, you can make them appear by doing the following:
    1. Click ☰ in the top-left side of the page.
    2. Click Settings.
    3. Check the "Templates" box.
    4. Click OK.
  4. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 31How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 31
    Create a blank spreadsheet if needed. If you want to create a blank sheet and fill it in as you go, click the Blank option on the left side of the list of templates, then skip ahead to the "Know where to place your data headers" step.
  5. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 32How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 32
    Expand the list of available templates. Click the TEMPLATE GALLERY link in the upper-right side of the page to do so.
  6. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 33How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 33
    Select a template. Scroll through the list of templates to browse until you find one you want to use, then click it to open it in Google Sheets.
  7. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 34How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 34
    Fill out the template if necessary. If you're using a pre-formatted template, fill out the necessary cells to complete the template, then skip ahead to the "Download your spreadsheet" step.
    1. Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
    2. Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the page.
  8. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 35How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 35
    Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
    1. For example, if you're creating a list of employee names organized by department, you might place one department title in cell A1 and another in cell B1, etc.
  9. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 36How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 36
    Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
    1. For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1, you would click cell A1.
  10. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 37How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 37
    Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
  11. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 38How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 38
    Save the data. Press ↵ Enter to do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
  12. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 39How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 39
    Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
  13. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 40How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 40
    Add cells together. If you want to use a cell to combine the results for a list of cells into one sum, you can do the following:
    1. Select an empty cell.
    2. Type in =SUM( followed by the cells you want to add in "A1,B1,C1" format and a closing parenthesis (e.g., =SUM(A1,B1)).
    3. Press ↵ Enter.
    4. Review the sum.
  14. How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 41How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 41
    Download your spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet will be saved in your Google Drive account, but you can download it to your computer as a file by doing the following:
    1. Click File in the upper-left side of the Google Sheets page.
    2. Select Download as in the drop-down menu.
    3. Click a file format (e.g., Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)) in the drop-down menu.

Sample Spreadsheets

How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 42How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 42 Sample Budget Proposal Spreadsheet
How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 43How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 43 Sample Shopping List Spreadsheet
How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 44How to Make a Spreadsheet Picture 44 Sample Profit and Loss Spreadsheet
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