Industry studies show that 90 percent of spreadsheets containing more than 150 rows have at least one major mistake. Yet we keep using them for mission critical projects #spreadsheets

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/we-keep-making-the-same-mistakes-with-spreadsheets-despite-bad-consequences/

I need to set up a private spreadsheet that is viewable and editable by an elderly relation (who uses spreadsheets all the time) and a couple of younger family members, one of whom lives interstate.

The obvious answer is Google Sheets. Is there an alternative that is usable for these people?
#spreadsheet #spreadsheets

When buggy spreadsheets accidentally make you rich #spreadsheets

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/we-keep-making-the-same-mistakes-with-spreadsheets-despite-bad-consequences/

Online Journalism Blog: Google Sheets has a new AI function — how does it perform on classification tasks?. “AI has been built into Google Sheets for some time now in the Clippy-like form of Gemini in Sheets. But Google Sheets’s AI function is different. Available to a limited number of users for now, it allows you to incorporate AI prompts directly into a formula rather than having to […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/13/online-journalism-blog-google-sheets-has-a-new-ai-function-how-does-it-perform-on-classification-tasks/

Turn numbers into insights—instantly!

Sparklines in Collabora Online let you visualize trends right inside your spreadsheet—no bulky charts needed!

Swipe through to see how easy it is to insert, customize, and format them in just 3 simple steps.

Want more details? Check out the full blog post: https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/how-to-use-sparklines-in-collabora-online/?utm_campaign=Blog&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Mastodon&utm_content=Sparklines

A tip for spreadsheet users that I have learned from watching a mistake made by others:

When you use
=MAX(M2-X2/M2,0.1)
to place a floor of 10% on how low you want your calculation to be of a fractional positive gap to reduce M2 to X2 by, please try to remember that the X2 cell value could be *already greater* than the M2 cell value.

You probably want
=IF(X2<M2,MAX(M2-X2/M2,0.1),0)
or similar.

Because if (say) M2 is 6.81E+10 and X2 is 7.99E+10, then your calculation is going to come up with 10% instead of 0%, let alone the correct -17%.

Which might be embarrassing. (-:

TOTALLY getting a set of these
#spreadsheets #lol #infosec https://vis.social/@infobeautiful/114274133861273281

https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core#:~:text=the%20grist-core%20repo%20is%20the%20heart%20of%20grist%2C

Grist is the evolution of #spreadsheets.

The grist-core repo is the heart of Grist, including the hosted services offered by Grist Labs, an NYC-based company and Grist's main developer.

The French government organizations ANCT Données et Territoires and DINUM (Direction Interministérielle du Numérique) have also made significant contributions to the codebase.

- https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core/commit/7bfe88bb3ee08d2393210e26bbc240aba4a0f5a7

Standardize units like "lbs" and "kg" with a single formula! ASK_LOCAL in (Un)Perplexed Spready makes messy data consistent in seconds.  
https://matasoft.hr/qtrendcontrol/index.php/un-perplexed-spready/un-perplexed-spready-various-articles/134-unleash-your-data-s-potential-with-un-perplexed-spready-the-ai-revolution-you-ve-been-waiting-for
#DataStandardization #ProductivityTools #AI #Spreadsheets #SpreadsheetRevolution #AIProductivity #AugmentedIntelligence #HumanAITeamwork #WorkLifeBalance #AIProductivity #DataCleaning #Standardization #ProductAnalysis #AITools #AIAssistant #DataCategorization #DataAnnotation #EcommerceTools #DataAnalysis #DataInsights #DataScience

Compare two products effortlessly! Is the packaging the same? Use ASK_LOCAL2 formulas to analyze directly in your spreadsheet. #AIIntegration #AI #LLM #SmartSpreadsheets #Spreadsheets #DataScience #DataExtraction #DataCategorization #aiforbusiness #AIFormulas #datacrunching https://matasoft.hr/QTrendControl/index.php/un-perplexed-spready

AAAAAH

That moment way too late into trying to do work with someone else's spreadsheet when you realize

it was not a human who did this

all of these subtle mistakes are not because of failures to update as reality shifted over time

Marketing teams: Analyze social media sentiment, categorize leads, and optimize campaigns with AI formulas that understand context and nuance. Data-driven decisions made simple! #MarketingAnalytics #SocialMediaInsights #DigitalMarketing #AI #AITools #DataAnalytics #BI #LLM #spreadsheets #spreadsheetformula #AISpreadsheetFormula #SpreadsheetAI #AI-driven #BusinessIntelligence #BusinessAnalyst #spreadsheets #AIinBusiness #DataScience
https://matasoft.hr/qtrendcontrol/index.php/un-perplexed-spready/un-perplexed-spready-various-articles/135-un-perplexed-spready-when-spreadsheets-finally-learn-to-think

Convert "Premium Widget, 12 oz, $19.99, blue" to structured data with one formula. AI understands context and extracts exactly what you need—across thousands of rows instantly! #DataStructuring #AutomatedExtraction #AI #spreadsheets #SpreadsheetAI #AIFormulas #AISpreadsheets #AISpreadsheetFormula #BI #BusinessIntelligence #DataAnalytics #DataScience #datascience #datacrunching
https://matasoft.hr/qtrendcontrol/index.php/un-perplexed-spready/un-perplexed-spready-various-articles/140-un-perplexed-spready-ai-driven-spreadsheets-revoulution

Behold, the groundbreaking revelation: a programmer discovers that #spreadsheets can have scripts! Witness the epic saga of someone who bravely redefines "accounting" by manually parsing their coffee and Amazon expenses—truly, a triumph of #Clojure over common sense.
https://www.scattered-thoughts.net/writing/the-program-is-the-database-is-the-interface/ #programming #accounting #expenses #innovation #HackerNews #ngated

I wrote a blog post about creating a custom formula function in Google Sheets that lets me ask an "AI", about data in the spreadsheet. [1] eg:

`=spits("get the website and primary phone number for each of the following organization names: ", A1:A300)`

Where cells A1:A300 contains a list of organizations I want the website and primary phone number for.

There are other uses cases for B2B Lead Gen, Data Quality, etc and personal use cases like getting ideas for stock portfolio and personal budgeting.

#GoogleSheets #GoogleGemini #AI #LLM #Spreadsheets

[1] https://www.isaacwyatt.com/posts/2025-03-07/