Google just made it easier to create formatted tables in Google Sheets, here is how it works

Creating a good Excel sheet is a skill that is still much respected in the corporate world. And formatting a table with large data in Google Sheets can take a good amount of time and effort. However, thanks to Google, that will not be the case. The tech giant has introduced a new feature that makes it possible for users to create a fully formatted table in just one click via Google Sheets.

The company wrote on a support page, "We know it can be time consuming to perform repetitive tasks like updating data in a spreadsheet. In addition, maintaining the structure and format of the data can be difficult when there are multiple people updating the document.

"To help solve for this, we’re excited to announce tables in Google Sheets. With tables, you can simplify and accelerate spreadsheet building by bringing format and structure to unorganised ranges. By selecting your data range and going to Format > Convert to table, Sheets now does the heavy lifting to format and organize data with a polished design including column types, filters, color coding, dropdown menus and more.

This new functionality is designed to transform blocks of data into structured tables with filters and sorting rules quickly and easily. Depending on your position in Google's rollout schedule, you might already have access to this feature or will get it soon.

For those who have been managing shared budgets or any form of structured data in Google Sheets, this update is a welcome addition. It eliminates the need to manually set up filters and sorting options piece by piece. Many users have been requesting such a feature for years, and it seems Google has finally delivered.

This new feature appears to be inspired by AI-generated tables showcased at Google's recent I/O developer conference, though it is more focused on power users and does not require Gemini integration. If the feature is available in your account, you can use it by selecting your data block and navigating to Format > Convert to table.

Upon converting, Sheets will automatically apply filters to each column and add visual row separators, sparing you from the tedious task of manually adjusting row formats. The tables come with pre-formatted column types, filters, and simplified drop-down menu creation.