How to Make a Spreadsheet

This updated guide examines How to Make a Spreadsheet and organizes the essential facts, background, and practical takeaways in clear American English.

Method 1

Using Microsoft Excel

1. Open Microsoft Excel. Click or double-click the Excel app icon, which resembles a white "X" on a dark-green background.
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. 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. Select a template. Click the template you want to use to do so. The template's window will open.
5. ClickCreate. It's on the right side of the template window. Doing so opens the template in Excel.
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.
   • Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
   • Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the Excel window.
7. Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
   • 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. Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
   • For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1 , you would click cell A1 .
9. Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
10. Save the data. Press?Enterto do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
11. Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
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:
    • Select an empty cell.
    • 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)).
    • Press?Enter.
    • Review the sum.
13. Save your file. Press eitherCtrl+S(Windows) or?Command+S(Mac) to open the "Save As" window, then do the following:
    • Type in the name you want to use for your file.
    • Select a save location (on a Mac, you may first have to click the "Where" drop-down box).
    • Click Save .

Method 2

Using Apple Numbers

1. OpenNumbers. Click or double-click the Numbers app icon, which resembles a series of white, horizontal bars on a light-green background.
2. 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:
   • Click the All tab in the upper-left side of the Numbers window.
   • Click the Blank template in the upper-left corner of the page.
   • Click Choose in the lower-right side of the window.
3. 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.
   • You can also just scroll down through the list of templates in the middle of the page.
4. Select a specific template to use. Click once the template you want to use to select it.
5. ClickChoose. It's in the lower-right corner of the window. Your template will open in Numbers.
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 spreadsheet" step.
   • Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
   • Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the Numbers window.
7. Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
   • 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. Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
   • For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1 , you would click cell A1 .
9. Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
10. Save the data. Press?Returnto do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
11. Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
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:
    • Select an empty cell.
    • 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)).
    • Press?Return.
    • Review the sum.
13. Save your spreadsheet. Once you've finished creating the spreadsheet, you can save it as a file on your computer by doing the following:
    • Click File in the upper-left corner of the screen.
    • Click Save As... in the drop-down menu.
    • Enter a file name.
    • Select a save location (you may first have to click the "Where" drop-down box to see a list of locations).
    • Click Save .

Method 3

Using Google Sheets

1. Open the Google Sheets About page. Go to https://www.google.com/sheets/about/ in your computer's web browser.
2. ClickGo 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.
   • If you aren't logged into a Google Account, you'll need to enter your email address and password when prompted.
3. 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:
   • Click ? in the top-left side of the page.
   • Click Settings .
   • Check the "Templates" box.
   • Click OK .
4. 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. Expand the list of available templates. Click the TEMPLATE GALLERY link in the upper-right side of the page to do so.
6. 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. 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.
   • Skip this step if you aren't using a template.
   • Some templates use multiple spreadsheets which you can switch between by using the tabs in the lower-left side of the page.
8. Know where to place your data headers. You'll usually place headers in the 1 row at the top of the sheet.
   • 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. Select a cell. Click once the cell in which you want to insert data.
   • For example, if you want to type the word "Date" into the cell A1 , you would click cell A1 .
10. Enter your data. Type in the word, phrase, or figure that you want to enter into the cell.
11. Save the data. Press?Enterto do so. Your cell's data will be formatted and saved.
12. Enter any other necessary data. You can fill out the rest of your spreadsheet as you please.
13. 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:
    • Select an empty cell.
    • 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)).
    • Press?Enter.
    • Review the sum.
14. 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:
    • Click File in the upper-left side of the Google Sheets page.
    • Select Download as in the drop-down menu.
    • Click a file format (e.g., Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) ) in the drop-down menu.

Sample Spreadsheets

Sample Budget Proposal SpreadsheetSample Shopping List SpreadsheetSample Profit and Loss Spreadsheet