Gemini lets you command Google Sheets with natural language prompts

Let’s be honest, for many of us, opening a complex spreadsheet can feel a bit like being asked to decipher an foreign language. Finding the right formulas, cleaning up messy data, or trying to build a sensible chart can quickly turn into a frustrating task. If you’re like me and don’t live and breathe spreadsheets every day, you know the struggle. But Google is rolling out an update that might just make us all feel a bit more like spreadsheet wizards: Gemini is now supercharging Google Sheets with advanced actions, all triggered by simple, natural language.

Announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog, this new capability means you can now just tell Gemini what you want to do with your data, and it will help you get it done. No more hunting through menus for “pivot table” or trying to remember the exact syntax for that VLOOKUP.

Imagine typing something like, “Clean up this sheet by removing duplicate rows and make sure all the dates are in MM/DD/YYYY format.” Or how about, “Find the top 10 customers by total purchase amount and create a bar chart”? Gemini in Sheets is now equipped to handle these sorts of “advanced data actions,” including things like:

• Create dropdowns: Need to ensure consistent data entry? You can ask Gemini to “create a dropdown for product categories in column B.”
• Apply conditional formatting: Want to make key data pop? Try telling it to “highlight sales above $1000 in green.”
• Generate pivot tables: If you need to summarize and analyze large datasets, a prompt like “create a pivot table showing total sales by region” can get that done.
• Apply filters: Need to focus on specific information? You can ask Gemini to “filter the sheet to only show orders placed in April.”
• Sort data: Want to organize your data for clearer analysis? Use commands like “sort the sheet by revenue, highest to lowest.”

For folks who aren’t deeply versed in spreadsheet functions, this is huge. It’s like finally having an expert sitting next to you, ready to translate your plain English requests into spreadsheet magic. Instead of needing to know how to perform a complex task, you just need to know what you want to achieve. This dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for getting real value out of your data, and is the kind of AI integration that feels genuinely useful and time-saving.

This feature is rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and will follow for Scheduled Release domains in a few weeks. You’ll need to have a Gemini for Google Workspace add-on (like Gemini Enterprise, Business, or Education) or be a Google One AI Premium subscriber. It’s also available for users aged 18 and older.