Google Spreadsheets finally gets charts
We've been kvetching about Google's lack of charting in its spreadsheet application for a while, so we're happy to see this addition. Even if it is barebones.
Last week, Google quietly upgraded its online spreadsheet application, Docs and Spreadsheets with a charting function. Like almost everything else about Google's online apps suite, the charting tool is barebones yet useful, and benefits from being part of a suite in which collaboration is easy.
Creating a chart is easy. Just select a range of data, click on the little chart icon, and choose your chart type and a few options. You can't change colors or typefaces, or modify most of things people take for granted in a typical spreadsheet like Excel.
The new charting function is useful to help you visualize basic data, and it's a necessary precursor to Google's upcoming presentation app. But people looking to go beyond the basic representation of data--those wanting to fine-tune their visuals a bit--will find the feature lacking.
With this update to its spreadsheet app, Google made some other enhancements, which are covered in this official Google blog post.