Since their debut nearly 40 years ago, spreadsheets have been a central function in helping companies do their jobs. From analyzing quarterly revenue to updating product inventory, spreadsheets are central to gathering and sharing data to justify faster decisions - and if they're also in the cloud, what more can they offer?

For this reason, Google has focused on improving Google Sheets. To that end, they recently added new features to help teams analyze and visualize their data. New updates were recently added, including the ability to record macros in the cloud to automate repetitive tasks, as well as more formatting options. Try it out.

Record macros in Google Sheets, avoid tedious tasks

G Suite wants to help companies automate tasks, and to that end, it approaches macros in a different way: it prioritizes your work in the cloud. You can now record macros in Spreadsheets. Suppose you need to format new imported data or perform the same chart on several quarterly data sheets. Repeating the same steps manually can take hours of work, but the Spreadsheets macro recorder lets you record those actions and play them back on demand without you having to write any code.

Here's how it works: When you record a macro, Spreadsheets will automatically convert the macro's actions into Apps Script. If you want to update the macro, simply edit the script, instead of re-recording a completely new macro. In addition, you can write your own Apps Script functions and then import them as new macros.

The best part about Spreadsheets macros is that they were created for use in cloud-based files, which means that teams can run macros while other people are working on the spreadsheet without interrupting them. For example, a finance team in a budget meeting can run macros while reviewing the same spreadsheet. This also means that neither co-workers nor clients will be forced to download confidential files to use your macros. Because your Spreadsheets files are in the cloud, you can more tightly control who can see and share your data.