Nearly nine months have passed since Google introduced its cutting-edge Gemini AI into Google Sheets. Known for handling text and charts, Gemini AI has now branched out and taken on formulas, thriving amidst the unpredictable havoc of a wedding planning spreadsheet.
Now when you’re confronted by a wall of data and need to figure out how best to sift through it, Gemini is here to help. Its chatbot sits on the right-hand side of Sheets, ready to respond to your queries about data manipulation. It offers you a selection of potential formulas, explains precisely how to use them, and helps you understand why they might not work as expected.
But the assistance from Gemini doesn’t stop at rectifying errors. Google’s innovative AI also presents you with an array of options if more than one formula can solve your problem. This means you’re not just blindly following instructions but also learning about the dynamics and flexibility of data management.
Putting Gemini to the Test
I decided to put Gemini’s newfound capability to the test. So, I opened up my messy wedding guest spreadsheet – a monstrosity filled with names, email addresses, categories, and checkboxes. This spreadsheet was a result of my partner and I’s attempt to meticulously categorize an ever-expanding list of guests for our big day.
Though the mathematical requirements for my guest list seemed relatively straightforward, I was eager to see if Gemini could really simplify my life by taming such unorganised data.
I started by asking Gemini to propose a formula for counting guests who RSVP’d ‘Yes’. The AI swiftly suggested a formula that used the COUNTIF function in the RSVP column. Normally, I would have needed a couple of Google searches to recall which function to use when tallying items that satisfy specific conditions. Yet, with Gemini’s help, the solution was right at my fingertips.
However, upon applying the formula, I was caught off guard as it informed me that not a single person had responded ‘Yes’ to my invitation. This, of course, couldn’t have been the case, since my wedding day was a joyous occasion filled with the presence of loved ones. Turns out, I had not been tracking RSVPs in my spreadsheet. Instead, all the accepted invitations were recorded on our wedding website.
Navigating the Advanced Territory
After this minor blunder, I moved onto a more convenient task: calculating the collective travel distance of my guests to the wedding venue. Considering the far-flung places from which our family and friends would be arriving, I anticipated a staggering result.
While Gemini claimed not to be capable of directly calculating distances within a spreadsheet, it certainly didn’t leave me out in the cold. Instead, it suggested two ways I could manually tackle this task—either by implementing a custom script in Google Sheets or by using a formula for straight-line distances.
Calculating driving distances required me to dabble with the Google Maps API, something both unfamiliar and intimidating to most users. The easier option was the Haversine formula, which calculates as-the-crow-flies distances using latitudes and longitudes. Although this approach is less accurate for road travel, it was certainly more approachable than dealing with APIs.
Nonetheless, the quest to calculate travel distances dampened my enthusiasm quickly, primarily because I wasn’t keen on finding the coordinates of each guest’s address. Still, it was reassuring to know that I certainly could unravel complex analytical tasks with some assistance from Gemini.
Google’s Gemini AI has undoubtedly added a layer of convenience to Google Sheets. While formulas might still be a hurdle for many, the journey to mastering them has become considerably less treacherous, thanks to this helpful chatbot.
