Imagine having an assistant that can analyze your data, identify trends, and transform them into beautiful charts and reports. Well, with the latest artificial intelligence features from Google, you can do just that! In this article, we’ll explore how you can leverage the power of Google Sheets and Docs to automatically generate insightful visualizations and reports.
Explore Your Data in Google Sheets
One of the newest additions to the Google Apps suite is the “Explore” feature. It aims to provide you with the best insights and formatting options for your document. When it comes to Sheets, it truly shines. Here’s how it works:
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Start by creating a table with your data, organized with column headings. The best tables for “Explore” are formatted tables that can be compared or summarized. A list of city names or book titles won’t offer much, but a list of cities with their population and pollution index, or a list of books with their sales numbers and publication dates, would work well.
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Once you have your table, click on the “Explore” button in the bottom right corner of Google Sheets. This will open a sidebar with suggestions, formatting options, and analysis specifically tailored to your data.
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Analysis is the easiest option. It provides pre-built charts and statistics derived from your data. Google examines your table, determines the best way to visualize the data, and creates charts accordingly. The findings are explained below the chart, showing things like the range of data or the annual change. You can click on the magnifying glass to view a fullscreen copy of the chart or click on the “+” symbol to insert it into your table.
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Formatting is the simplest tool. Just click on one of the suggested color schemes to redesign the look of your table. Alternatively, click on the “Edit” button to open your design tools.
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Answers are the most powerful and fascinating part of “Explore”. It acts as a simple AI assistant embedded in your table. “Explore” displays some standard questions like “Average of column name” or “Correlation between column 1 and column 2” at the top of the sidebar. Click on them to get the answer – it’s an easy way to explore your data. You can also select some data in the table, like a column of numbers, and “Explore” will display the sum, average, and other quick calculations in the top-right of the “Explore” tab.
To delve deeper into answers, type your own question in the search field. Ask a question that can be easily answered using a standard spreadsheet formula, like “Which year had the best sales?” in a table with a column for year and a column for sales. “Explore” will likely find the right answer. To confirm the answer or see how Google Sheets arrived at it, click on the “Show formula” link at the bottom of the answer block. This can also help you identify if the answer is incorrect. For example, when I asked for the best sales year in my table, the =Max() formula was applied to the column containing the years, indicating the year with the highest value (which would always return the latest year).
While it may not be perfect, it’s definitely fun to use. The charts and data provided by the Analysis feature are a great way to quickly gain insights from your data.
Explore Your Documents in Google Docs
“Explore” may not be as intelligent in Docs, but it’s still quite handy. It helps you discover trends and topics in your document without needing to open another tab.
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Simply write your document, and Google Docs will detect the trends and topics you’re covering. It displays the top three topics in the sidebar of “Explore”. Additionally, it shows images and “related research” with links and previews from Google Search.
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The images are an effortless way to make your document more engaging, although their relevance may vary depending on the topic. For a school report, it might be useful to find images of animals or countries you’re writing about. For business texts, maybe not so much. Just click on the “+” symbol next to an image to insert it into your document or drag it to the desired location.
The most practical part of “Explore” in Docs is the search field. Enter any text or click on one of the suggested topics at the top to search in Google, Google Images, or Google Drive. This is a quick way to perform research right from your document. Click on a relevant document or table to open it in a new tab.
Explore Your Presentations in Google Slides
In Google Slides, the presentation software in the Google Docs and Sheets suite, “Explore” aims to be a design tool. Simply add raw data and images to your slides, then click on “Explore” to receive suggestions for the best slide layouts based on that data. It works best with two core components on the slide, such as an image and a text box, or two images, or a title and a text box. This feature helps you create presentations more efficiently.
The search bar in “Explore” remains the same, providing a convenient way to search the web or your own documents. The image search can be especially useful since presentations often require visuals.
Now, with Google Sheets and Docs, you can automatically create charts and reports. With the “Explore” feature, you can analyze your data and gain valuable insights without investing much time and effort. Learn more about effective Google Tools usage on Crawlan.com.
