# Google Sheets: Build a Job Tracker That Totals Itself

> A beginner Google Sheets walkthrough on real screens: freeze the header, make Status a drop-down, total each status with SUMIF, highlight…

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/google-sheets-job-tracker · Updated 2026-10-23 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/google-sheets-job-tracker)

[Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/google-workspace-for-work/1)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Google Sheets. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 15 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/google-sheets-job-tracker)

Free · Live now · Google Workspace · Google Sheets · ~15 min · 36 steps · Beginner

Updated October 23, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

A beginner Google Sheets walkthrough on real screens: freeze the header, make Status a drop-down, total each status with [SUMIF](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/sumif), highlight finished-but-unbilled jobs and save a filter view for each crew. Free Google account.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | A beginner Google Sheets walkthrough on real screens: freeze the header, make Status a drop-down, total each status with SUMIF, highlight finished-but-unbilled jobs and save a filter view for each crew. Free Google account. |
| Tools | Google Sheets |
| Time | About 15 minutes, 36 steps in 7 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/google-sheets-job-tracker) |

### The 7 parts, in short

1. Name the sheet and add the jobs: Rename the spreadsheet, Name it Jobs, October, Paste the eight jobs.
2. Freeze the header row: Select row 1, Open the View menu, Point at Freeze, Freeze 1 row.
3. Make Status a drop-down: Use the Name box, Select D2:D100, Open the Data menu, Data validation, and 5 more steps.
4. Totals by status with SUMIF: Label the totals, Type the SUMIF, Enter it and copy it down, Read the totals.
5. Highlight done-but-not-billed: Select the job rows, Open the Format menu, Conditional formatting, Change the condition, and 5 more steps.
6. A filter view for each crew: Open the Data menu again, Create filter view, Read the tip, Filter Crew, then save, and 1 more step.
7. Share it safely: Open Share, Check general access.

## What you'll build

Maria (made up) runs a six-person cleaning company. Jobs get finished every day, but [invoices](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/invoice) go out late because nobody can see which jobs are done and not billed. In this lesson you build her tracker in Google Sheets: eight jobs, a Status drop-down, SUMIF totals for each status, a yellow highlight on every job that is done but not invoiced, and a filter view for Crew A. Every screen is a real Google Sheets screen.

You froze the header, made Status a drop-down, totalled each status with SUMIF (Done: $435 finished but not billed), turned those rows yellow with a custom formula, saved a Crew A filter view and checked that sharing is Restricted. Now build it in your own Google account: the lesson page has the checklist.

- Tools: Google Sheets
- Time: about 15 minutes, 36 steps in 7 chapters
- Level: beginner, no coding needed
- Price: free

## Practice first, then build it for real

Practice copy built from real Google Sheets screens (free Google account, captured 22 October 2026). Nothing here touches your Google account. The cleaning company and the jobs are made up. To build it for real you need your own Google Sheets account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Google Sheets, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Google Sheets: Build a Job Tracker That Totals Itself”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/google-sheets-job-tracker)

## Step by step: Google Sheets: Build a Job Tracker That Totals Itself

All 36 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. Name the sheet and add the jobs

1. **Rename the spreadsheet.** You opened a blank sheet (type **sheets.new** in the address bar). Sheets saves as you go, but "Untitled spreadsheet" is hard to find later. Click the **title**.
   This is a new, blank Google Sheet.
2. **Name it Jobs, October.** Type **Jobs, October** and press Enter.
3. **Paste the eight jobs.** Click cell **A1** and paste the job list: headers in row 1, eight jobs in rows 2 to 9. Leave **Status** blank for now. Sheets splits the tab-separated text into columns.
   Leave Status blank for now.
   ```text
   Date	Client	Crew	Status	Amount
   Oct 6	Lopez Dental	A		420
   Oct 6	Park Ave Condo	B		310
   Oct 7	Greene Law	A		275
   Oct 7	Maple Café	B		190
   Oct 8	Lopez Dental	A		420
   Oct 8	Rivera Home	B		160
   Oct 9	Greene Law	A		275
   Oct 9	Park Ave Condo	B		310
   ```

### 2. Freeze the header row

4. **Select row 1.** Click the row number **1** to select the [header row](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/header-row).
5. **Open the View menu.** Click **View**.
6. **Point at Freeze.** Click **Freeze**.
7. **Freeze 1 row.** Click **1 row**. A thick grey line now sits under the headers, and they stay put when you scroll.
   The headers now stay put when you scroll.

### 3. Make Status a drop-down

8. **Use the Name box.** To select the Status cells under the header, click the **Name box** at the top left (it says 1:1).
9. **Select D2:D100.** Type **D2:D100** and press Enter. That selects the Status cells for up to 99 jobs.
10. **Open the Data menu.** Click **Data**.
11. **Data validation.** Click **Data validation**. A panel opens on the right.
12. **Add a rule.** Click **+ Add rule**. It applies to **Sheet1!D2:D100** and the criteria already say **Dropdown**.
    The criteria already say Dropdown.
13. **Type the four options.** The boxes say **Option 1** and **Option 2**, and that is real text: select it before you type, or you get "Option 1Booked". Type **Booked**, then **Done** in the second box, then click **Add another item** for **Invoiced** and **Paid**.
    Booked, Done, Invoiced and Paid.
14. **Save the rule.** All four options are in. Click **Done**.
15. **Open a drop-down.** Every Status cell now has a drop-down chip. Click the arrow in **D2**.
    Every Status cell now has a drop-down.
16. **Pick Paid.** Lopez Dental on Oct 6 is paid. Click **Paid**. Then fill the rest the same way: Invoiced, Done, Paid, Booked, Done, Booked, Invoiced.
    Pick Paid. Then fill in the rest the same way.

### 4. Totals by status with SUMIF

17. **Label the totals.** Off to the side, in **G1** type **Status** and in **H1** **Total**. In G2 to G5 type **Booked**, **Done**, **Invoiced** and **Paid**, spelled exactly like the drop-down.
    In G1 type Status, and in H1, Total. Then the four statuses underneath.
18. **Type the SUMIF.** Click **H2** and type the formula. It reads: add up column E wherever column D matches the status in G2. The dollar signs keep the ranges fixed when you copy it down.
    In H2, type the SUMIF formula. Add up the amounts wherever the status matches G2.
19. **Enter it and copy it down.** Sheets already previews **695**. Press Enter, then copy H2 and paste it into **H3:H5**.
    It already shows six ninety five.
20. **Read the totals.** Booked **$695**, Done **$435**, Invoiced **$620**, Paid **$610**: $2,360 in all. The **$435** of Done is work finished but not billed yet. Click **435**.
    Done is four hundred thirty five dollars. That is finished work nobody has billed.

### 5. Highlight done-but-not-billed

21. **Select the job rows.** In the **Name box**, type **A2:E100** and press Enter, so the colour rule covers whole rows.
    In the Name box, type A2 colon E100.
22. **Open the Format menu.** Click **Format**.
23. **Conditional formatting.** Click **Conditional formatting**.
24. **Change the condition.** Sheets guessed **Is not empty** and paints every row green. Click that box to change it.
    It guessed Is not empty.
25. **Custom formula is.** At the bottom of the list, click **Custom formula is**.
26. **Type the rule.** Type **=$D2="Done"**. The $ before D locks the Status column, so each row checks its own status. Greene Law and Rivera Home light up at once.
    Equals, dollar D2, equals Done in quotes.
27. **Pick a fill colour.** Click the **fill colour** bucket under Formatting style.
28. **Choose yellow.** Click **yellow**.
29. **Save the rule.** The two Done rows are yellow. Click **Done**.

### 6. A filter view for each crew

30. **Open the Data menu again.** Close the panel and click any cell in the table. Now click **Data**.
31. **Create filter view.** Click **Create filter view**. (Older guides say Data > Filter views > Create new filter view; it is now one item.)
32. **Read the tip.** The new view is **temporary** and only you see it until you save it. Click **Dismiss**.
    This view is temporary until you save it.
33. **Filter Crew, then save.** Each header now has a filter icon. In your own sheet, click the icon on **Crew**, untick **B** and click **OK**. Then click **Save view**.
    Filter Crew to A.
34. **Name it Crew A.** Type **Crew A** over "Filter 1" and click **Save**. Crew A can open this view without changing what anyone else sees.
    Name it Crew A, and click Save.

### 7. Share it safely

35. **Open Share.** Click **Share**.
36. **Check general access.** Add your bookkeeper by email as an **Editor** (we did not send an invite here). Then check **General access**: it should say **Restricted**, so only people you added can open the link. Click **Restricted**.
    Add your bookkeeper as an editor. Then check that general access says Restricted.

## Screenshots

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/google-sheets-job-tracker)

## Free cheat sheet

Print it or save the PDF: the key steps and checks from this lesson on one page, free.

- [Google Sheets Job Tracker Cheat Sheet](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets/google-sheets-job-tracker): A free one-page Google Sheets cheat sheet: freeze the header, a Status drop-down, SUMIF totals, a highlight rule, filter views and safe sharing.

[All free printable cheat sheets](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[Data validation](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/data-validation) · [SUMIF](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/sumif) · [Conditional formatting](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/conditional-formatting) · [Header row](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/header-row)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

Want AI working like this in your business? Robert Breen, the instructor behind this lesson, helps small and mid-sized teams put AI assistants, agents and automations to work. [AI consulting for small teams](https://ynteractive.com/)