AI for Excel and Google Sheets Jump Start
What you’ll be able to do: After this jump start you can do the spreadsheet work first and then let AI do the slow parts: build a budget in Excel for the web that totals itself and turns overspending red, rank your customers from a raw sales export with a PivotTable, build a Google Sheets job tracker with a status drop-down and SUMIF totals, upload a 1,200-row CSV to ChatGPT and get a cleaned file, a revenue-by-month table, a chart and three takeaways, put three vendor quotes on the same basis in one table and check the math, fill a research column in Google Sheets with Gemini and open the source behind each cell, and have Claude's Excel skill turn a messy export into a workbook with a Data tab, a Summary tab and a chart.
- Who it’s for
- Office staff, bookkeepers, owners and anyone who adds up exports by hand or wants to know what ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude can safely do with a spreadsheet. Free Excel for the web and Google Sheets; no coding.
- Time needed
- About 73 minutes of hands-on practice: 7 modules of 4 to 15 minutes each.
- Cost
- Free. No credit card, no trial, and no sign-up needed to start.
- Level
- Beginner to Intermediate
- Prerequisites
- None for the practice: a web browser on a desktop or laptop. To repeat the modules in your own tools: a free Microsoft account, a free Google account and a ChatGPT account.
- Format
- Self-paced and online. Each module runs in a practice copy of the real tool that checks every step, then a checklist walks you through doing it for real.
- Tools you practice in
- Excel, Google Sheets, ChatGPT and Claude.
Why this course
Most office AI questions are spreadsheet questions: can ChatGPT read my export, will it get the totals right, how do I check it. The honest answer is that AI is good at the slow parts (cleaning duplicates, summarizing, charting, comparing) and you still need to know the spreadsheet well enough to check it. So this jump start does both. Modules 1 to 3 are the spreadsheet jobs themselves, on real Excel for the web and Google Sheets screens. Modules 4 to 7 put ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude on the same kind of files, with a check step in every one.
The modules follow made-up small businesses: a bakery's budget, an office-supply shop's Q3 sales, a six-person cleaning company's job tracker, a garden center's six months of orders, a painting company's three laptop quotes, a recruiter's list of target employers and a plant shop's messy sales export. Every screen is a practice copy that checks each step, nothing touches your files, and each module ends with a checklist for your own spreadsheet.
What you’ll build
- Module 1: A workbook called "Bakery budget, October": five budget lines formatted as an Excel table, a Difference column (=C2-B2) that fills itself down, a Total Row, a red highlight on every line that went over budget and Currency formatting.
- Module 2: A workbook called "Q3 sales export": the 12 orders on Sheet1 with the duplicate removed, and a PivotTable on Sheet2 with one row per customer, sorted biggest first and formatted as currency.
- Module 3: A Google Sheet called "Jobs, October" with eight jobs, a frozen header, a Status drop-down (Booked, Done, Invoiced, Paid), SUMIF totals for each status, a yellow highlight on every job that is done but not invoiced, and a saved "Crew A" filter view.
- Module 4: A sales review for Maple Hollow Garden Center, a made-up small business with six months of sales in one CSV file: 1,248 orders across 7 columns (order_id, date, category, product, channel, units, revenue).
- Module 5: One table comparing three made-up laptop quotes for Brightline Painting on the same basis: 6 laptops, with setup and a 3-year warranty, over 3 years. Totals $6,774, $6,798 and $6,805, with the math under the table and a bar chart.
- Module 1 · Excel · Beginner · ~15 min
Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet
You’ll be able to: Format a budget as an Excel table with a Difference column, a Total Row, currency formatting and a red highlight on every line over budget, in the free Excel for the web.
- Module 2 · Excel · Beginner · ~12 min
Excel for the Web: Find Your Top Customers in a Sales Export
You’ll be able to: Remove a duplicate order from a sales export, then build a PivotTable that ranks customers by sales, biggest first, and format it as currency.
- Module 3 · Google Sheets · Beginner · ~15 min
Google Sheets: Build a Job Tracker That Totals Itself
You’ll be able to: Build a job tracker in Google Sheets with a frozen header, a Status drop-down, SUMIF totals per status, a yellow highlight on jobs done but not invoiced and a filter view for one crew.
- Module 4 · ChatGPT · Beginner · ~10 min
Analyze a Spreadsheet
You’ll be able to: Upload a 1,200-order CSV to ChatGPT, have it remove duplicate orders and flag rows with no channel, then get revenue by month, growth by category, a line chart to download and three plain-English takeaways.
- Module 5 · ChatGPT · Beginner · ~9 min
Compare Vendor Quotes Side by Side using ChatGPT
You’ll be able to: Give ChatGPT three vendor quotes written three different ways, get one table on the same basis over three years, check the math yourself and send the vendor the question that matters.
- Module 6 · Google Sheets · Beginner · ~4 min
Google Sheets: Fill a Research Column with Gemini and Check Its Sources
You’ll be able to: Select six empty cells in Google Sheets, click Fill, tell Gemini what goes in them, then open one cell's web sources and mark the row checked.
- Module 7 · Claude · Intermediate · ~8 min
Use case: messy export to clean Excel workbook
You’ll be able to: Check that code execution and file creation is on, upload a messy sales export to Claude and get a workbook with a Data tab, a Summary tab with working formulas and a chart, then ask for one tweak and open it in Excel.
Prerequisites
- For the practice: a web browser. Each module runs in a copy of the real tool’s screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1.
- To do it for real: a free Microsoft account, a free Google account and a ChatGPT account. Each module says which one it uses.
Time to complete
About 1 hour of hands-on practice across 7 modules (156 steps in all). Modules take 4 to 15 minutes each, so you can do one in a sitting and come back for the next.
Take it with you
- Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start · The two Excel modules here plus a client update in Word for the web.
- Data and Dashboards for Beginners · The next step: charts and dashboards from the same kind of exports.
- Python for Spreadsheet Work Jump Start · When the export is too big for a spreadsheet: total and clean it in Google Colab, one line at a time.
Questions about this course
Is there a free course on using AI with Excel and Google Sheets?
Yes. AI for Excel and Google Sheets Jump Start on Stepthrough is free: 7 hands-on modules, about 73 minutes in all, on practice copies of real Excel for the web, Google Sheets, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude screens in your browser. No coding, no credit card and no sign-up needed to start.
Can ChatGPT analyze a spreadsheet?
Yes, when you upload the file. In module 4 you give ChatGPT a CSV of about 1,200 orders and it finds three duplicate orders and twelve rows with no sales channel, cleans the file, builds revenue-by-month and growth-by-category tables, draws a line chart you can download and writes three takeaways. The module also shows the check step: you confirm the totals before you trust them. File uploads and usage limits depend on your ChatGPT plan.
Can Gemini fill in cells in Google Sheets?
Yes. Module 6 uses Fill with Gemini: select the empty cells, click Fill, describe what goes in them, and Gemini fills up to 3,000 cells with the web source shown behind each one, so you can open the source and mark the row checked. It needs Google Workspace Business or Enterprise Standard or Plus, or Google AI Pro or Ultra; the practice needs no account.
Can Claude make an Excel file?
Yes. Module 7 uses Claude's built-in Excel skill: you turn on code execution and file creation, upload a messy sales export and ask for a Data tab, a Summary tab and a chart. Claude builds a real .xlsx with working formulas rather than typed-in numbers, tells you what it changed, and you open the file in Excel. File creation works on Claude's Free plan and up.
Do I need Microsoft 365 or a paid Google plan?
No. Modules 1 and 2 use the free Excel for the web with a Microsoft account, module 3 uses Google Sheets with a free Google account, and modules 4, 5 and 7 work on free ChatGPT and Claude accounts. Only module 6, Fill with Gemini, needs a paid Google Workspace or Google AI plan to repeat for real. The practice itself needs no account at all.
How long does the course take?
about 73 minutes of hands-on practice: 7 modules of 4 to 15 minutes each, so you can do one spreadsheet job per sitting. It is self-paced and free, with a certificate of completion for each module you finish.
Want help doing this for real? Book a 1:1 session with Robert ($85/hour) →