Google Drive Spreadsheet - Part 1

Google Drive spreadsheet (http://drive.google.com) is a popular choice for a cloud solution because of the many features common to desktop solutions and the ability to share collaborative editing.  Google Drive is available for the Window OS X, Mac OS X, iPad, and Android mobile devices.  An alternative cloud spreadsheet solution, SkyDrive, is available for users who have Microsoft Office desktop or Microsoft Office 365, a cloud solution.  SkyDrive is available for Mac and Windows mobile devices.  However, for the purpose of this blog, discussion of cloud-based spreadsheet software is limited to Google Drive because of its non-commercial nature, popularity and robust features.

Google Drive users get 5 GB of free storage for all Google Doc files, including spreadsheets). Google Drive is also a downloadable app for Windows and Mac computers, as well as Apple and Android mobile devices.  The app allows users to sync Google Doc files with either a Mac or Windows PC, providing a backup solution.  Google Drive files can be organized using folders and users have the ability to search for files and preview them.

The menu for a Google Drive spreadsheet is similar to other spreadsheet software (figure1).  

Figure1 Google Drive Spreadsheet

The Google Spreadsheet app includes text and number editing features.  The Functions menu is used to create formulas  and use common formula functions, such as sum, average, count, max, and min. The functions menu is available from the the Insert menu and also the sum symbol on the toolbar (figure 2).

Figure 2 Formula Menu with Common Formula Functions

Information on additional functions is available online at https://support.google.com/drive/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=25273&page=table.cs