Google Sheets can now quickly convert cells into tables

Ben Schoon | May 16 2024 - 7:38 am PT

In an update provided this week, Google Sheets is now rolling out long-requested support for convert a block of cells into a table.

Spreadsheets can do a lot of things, but tables are a good way of creating self-contained blocks of data in a spreadsheet. This is something that Google Sheets has lacked for a long time. Users could create filters, but the formatting of a table needed to be done manually, a tedious process.

Google has now announced (after a mention at Cloud Next) that Sheets is rolling out support for the ability to convert a group of cells into a table with just one button. Under the “Format” menu, a new “Convert to table” button allows a block of highlighted cells to be turned into a table with filters and, equally importantly, formatting applied.

Google explains:

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 unorganized 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.

When converting cells to a table, Sheets will automatically apply basic formatting. This includes changing the color of the filter headers, alternating colors on rows, and alignment of the data in a cell. From there, you can adjust the type of each column to suit the data inside, as well as using new table references to interact with the data. A “Unified menu” will appear above any table with additional controls.

Google Sheets will also support the ability to group data to where it’s aggregated in the filtered column, and there will also be templates for pre-build tables that you can add your own data to.

This feature is rolling out to all users now – it started on May 8 – and will be available to all users over the course of May and June. Google Workspace admins cannot disable the feature.