Stay on top of projects, manage your time & make the most of Google Sheets & Slides
Manage to-do lists
Manage your tasks and project lists with Google Tasks. Tasks is a simple way to create personal lists of daily tasks with due dates. It integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Google Calendar, and syncs on all your devices.
Open Tasks
Tip: In Gmail spaces, you can create, assign, edit, complete, and delete group tasks.
You can drag an email to Tasks, and it appears as a task in a list. You can then edit the task, add details, and schedule recurring or one-time reminders.
- Go to Gmail.
- On the right, click Tasks
.
- Find the email you want to save as a task.
- Drag and drop the email to the side panel.
- To add a date and time, click Date/time.
As a member of a space in Google Chat, you can create and manage group tasks and assign tasks to other space members. You can view tasks in the space where they're created. If a task is assigned to you, it appears in your personal task list in Google Tasks. When someone creates or updates a task, a notification appears in the space.
Tip: If you use a work or school account and don't have the “Tasks” tab in a space, contact your Google Workspace administrator to turn on this feature.
- On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
- If you opened Gmail, on the side, click Chat.
- Select the space where you want to create a task.
- On the top, click the Tasks tab
Add space task.
Tip: In Gmail, you might have to expand the space to view the Tasks tab. - Enter the task title.
- (Optional) To add a description or more details, click Add details and enter the information.
- (Optional) To add a date and time, click Add date/time
Tip: If you add a date and time to your task, you get notifications at the scheduled dates and times. - (Optional) To assign the task to a member of the space, click Assign
Tip: If the assignee leaves the space, the task remains in the space and in their personal task list in Google Tasks. - Click Add.
Tip: Users may have restrictions when they assign tasks to a subset of members. Learn more about group restrictions.
After you create a task, a notification displays in the space to let everyone know.
You can set deadlines for tasks and add recurring reminders. Adding a due date also adds the task to Calendar.
- Go to Gmail, Calendar, Chat, Drive, or a file in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
- On the right, click Tasks
.
- Click an existing task or create a new task.
- To add a date and time, click Date/time.
- Next to “Date/time,” click Repeat
.
- Under “Repeats every,” select day, week, month, or year.
- Under “Ends,” select an option to create a recurring task:
- With no end date, select Never.
- With a specific end date, select On, then choose a date.
- That ends after a certain number of occurrences, select After, then select a number of occurrences.
- Click OK.
Want more Tasks basics? Get started with Tasks in Google Workspace
Become a spreadsheet expert
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Select the cells you want to have checkboxes.
- In the menu at the top, click Insert
Checkbox.
- To remove checkboxes, select the checkboxes you want to remove and press Delete.
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Select the cells you want to include in your chart.
- Click Insert
Chart.
Change the color of tabs on a spreadsheet to quickly tell them apart.
- On a sheet tab, click the Down arrow
.
- Click Change color and select a color.
- (Optional) To choose a custom color, click Custom and select a color using the sliders or by entering a color number.
You can easily remove duplicate values from your sheet, without having to write an app script or manually remove the data.
- In Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
- Select the data range that you want to remove duplicate data in.
- Click Data
Remove duplicates.
- Select which columns to include and whether the data has headers.
- Click Remove duplicates.
- In the status window, click OK.
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet at sheets.google.com.
- At the top, click Extensions
- At the bottom, choose which type of cell reference you want your macro to use:
- Use absolute references: The macro will do tasks on the exact cell you record. For example, if you bold cell A1, the macro will only ever bold cell A1 regardless of which cell you clicked.
- Use relative references: The macro will do tasks on the cell you select and its nearby cells. For example, if you record bolding cells A1 and B1, the macro can later be used to bold cells C1 and D1.
- Complete the task you want to record. When you’re done, click Save.
- Name the macro, create a custom shortcut, and click Save.
- Note: When you create a macro in Google Sheets, an Apps Script is created. To edit this Apps Script, at the top, click Tools
To perform a macro, click Extensions Macros
the macro you want.
Prevent others from making changes to sheets & ranges
- Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Click Data
Protect sheets and ranges. A box will open on the right.
- Click Add a sheet or range or click an existing protection to edit it.
- To protect a range, click Range. To protect a sheet, click Sheet.
- Range: To change or enter the range you’re protecting, click the spreadsheet icon and highlight the range in the spreadsheet.
- Sheet: Choose a sheet to protect. If you want a set of cells to be unprotected in a sheet, check the box next to "Except certain cells."
- Click Set permissions or Change permissions.
- Choose how you want to limit editing:
- To show a warning when anyone makes an edit: Select "Show a warning when editing this range." It doesn’t block people from editing, but they’ll see a message asking them to confirm if they really want to make an edit.
- To choose who can edit the range or sheet: select "Restrict who can edit this range." Choose:
- Only you: Only you (and the owner if you’re not the owner) can edit the range or sheet.
- Only domain: If you use Google Sheets for work or school, only people in your domain can edit the range or sheet. This option is only available when everyone in your domain can edit the spreadsheet.
- Custom: Only the people you choose can edit the range or sheet.
- Copy permissions from another range: Reuse the same permissions you set up on a different set of cells or sheet.
- Click Save or Done.
To see protected cells, click View Show
Protected ranges. A striped background will appear over the cells.
Hide a sheet
- Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Click the sheet you want to hide.
- On the sheet tab, click the Down arrow
.
- Click Hide sheet. This option won’t show if your spreadsheet doesn’t contain two or more sheets.
Note: People with Edit access can unhide a sheet. People with View access won't see the sheet, but they can make a copy of the spreadsheet and can unhide the sheet.
Filter your data without changing what others see
On a computer, you can filter data so the filtered data only applies to your view of the spreadsheet. Your filter view changes are automatically saved.
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Click Data
Create filter view.
- Sort and filter the data.
- To save your filter view, at the top right, click Save View.
- Click Save.
You can also filter data in ways other people can see.
| At the top, click Ask Gemini |
||
| Select a prompt or create your own. | ||
| Press Enter |
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Learn more: Google Sheets productivity guides
Create impactful presentations
Generate a new slide with Gemini
You can use the Gemini in Slides side panel to generate a new slide.
- On your computer, open Google Slides. New slides are generated using your current theme.
- At the top, click Ask Gemini
.
- In the side panel, select a prompt or create your own. To create a prompt with the name of your file, insert @ before the name. For example, Create a slide about how to optimally train for a marathon or Create a slide about @Company 2023 Goals deck.
- From the generated slide, you can:
- Get a different version: From the menu, click Retry
.
- Add the slide to your presentation: From the menu, click Insert
.
- Refine the generated slide: From the menu, click Close
. On the side panel, write a new prompt.
- Send feedback: From the menu, click Good suggestion
or Bad suggestion
.
- Get a different version: From the menu, click Retry
Copy text formatting
- In a sheet, document, or slide, format your text or cell the way you want it.
- At the top, highlight the text or cell and click the copy formatting icon
.
- Click a cell or highlight text. The cell or highlighted text will pick up the same formatting.
Copy a theme to a new presentation
You can also copy a Slides theme you like to an existing or new presentation.
Important: Your imported theme must be from an existing Google Slides or PowerPoint presentation. You can also use your own image as the background for the entire presentation.
- On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
- At the top, click Slide
Change theme.
- In the bottom right, click Import theme.
- Double-click the presentation you want to use.
- Click the theme you want.
- Click Import theme.
If your Slides presentation has a lot of data, help your audience easily visualize it by turning your information into charts. Just create a chart in Sheets and add it to your presentation. Your chart is linked to your Sheets data, so any changes you make to your data automatically update in your presentation.
Insert a chart
- On your computer, open a document or presentation in Google Docs or Google Slides.
- Click Insert
- Click the spreadsheet with the chart you want to add, then click Select.
- Click the chart you want to add.
- If you don't want the chart linked to the spreadsheet, uncheck "Link to spreadsheet."
- Click Import.
Edit the chart directly from your presentation
- On your computer, open a document or presentation in Google Docs or Google Slides.
- Click Insert
- Click the spreadsheet with the chart you want to add, then click Select.
- Click the chart you want to add.
- If you don't want the chart linked to the spreadsheet, uncheck "Link to spreadsheet."
- Click Import.
Update the chart to match the original in Sheets
If you make a change on the fly, make sure any data is updated.
- On your computer, open a document or presentation in Google Docs or Google Slides.
- In the top right corner of the chart, table, or slide click Update.
Create a flowchart, diagram, or other type of drawing
- On your computer, open a document.
- In the top left, click Insert
- Insert shapes, lines or text with the editing tools.
Add your drawing to a document or presentation
- On your computer, open a document.
- In the top left, click Insert
- Click the drawing you want to insert.
- Click Select.
Insert other types of diagrams
Important: You can insert a diagram in any language that uses the Latin alphabet.
- On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
- Go to the slide where you want to add the diagram.
- At the top, click Insert
- Choose your style, number of levels, and template.
- The diagram will get added to the slide. You can change it how you want.
You can add speaker notes to presentations that only you will see when you present. People you share the presentation with will be able to see the notes. When you present your slides, your speaker notes show in a separate window.
- Open a presentation in Google Slides.
- In the top right corner, next to Slideshow
, click the Down arrow
.
- Click Presenter view.
- Click Speaker notes.
You can then add your text below the slide.
You can start a live Q&A session in your Google Slides presentation and present questions at any time. Viewers can ask questions from any device.
Start your Q&A & get questions from viewers
- Open a Google Slides presentation.
- At the top, next to Slideshow
, click the Down arrow
- Click Presenter View.
- In the new window, click Audience tools.
- To start a new session, click Start new.
- To resume a recent session, click Continue recent.
- To end Q&A, click the on/off switch in the Q&A window.
- Tip: Even if you don't turn off Q&A, the Q&A view closes shortly after you end your Google Slide presentation.
When you start the session, a short URL for the presentation shows up at the top of the slides as you're presenting. Viewers can enter the URL in their browser to submit a question. You'll see questions in the Presenter view window.
Display a question to viewers
Presenters can display audience questions in a presentation:
- Under "Audience Tools," find a question to display.
- Click Present.
- To change the question, find a different question and click Present.
- To hide the question, click Hide.
Learn more: Tips for great presentations
Next steps
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