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Hi Reader,

Welcome (back) to the Google Sheets Tips newsletter, issue #392, your Monday morning espresso, in spreadsheet form!

Greetings from the East Coast of the US, where we've been under an Extreme Heat Warning for the past few days, with temperatures at a sweltering 100°F (feels like 114°F with humidity 🥵.)

This follows on from the heat wave in the UK a week ago (where I was visiting family) and another in Germany the week before that (where my wife and I traveled for a vacation). Phew, I'm ready for some cooler weather!

The travel was worth it, though. I got to take my wife and boys on two iconic hikes from my childhood — Hilbre Island and Moel Famau mountain — which were hugely meaningful. We also flew home on an A380 (biggest passenger plane in the world) which was a nice bit of nerdery for me and my oldest son.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter (a month ago), I'll soon be making changes to this newsletter to have a broader focus on AI tools instead of just Google Sheets. It'll also get a new name! 🤩

I want to help you keep your skills relevant as the work changes under our feet.

Today though, I'm sharing a neat use case for the new SHEET and SHEETS functions that were introduced earlier this year. Find it below the News and Sponsor sections.

➜ News

I.
Last month, Google announced that Apps Script is now a Google Workspace Core Service!

It means increased reliability, support, and safeguards in place. And we can be confident building with Apps Script, knowing that it's not going to disappear anytime in the future.

​Read more here >>​

II.
One-click formula fix in Google Sheets is a new Gemini capability in Sheets that diagnoses and fixes formulas with a single click.

​Read more here >>​

III.
​An interesting use case for the AI function: generating JSON formatted outputs for data.

​Read more here >>​

IV.
​I detest 3-D charts and they are widely known for being a misleading way to represent data.

But Google Sheets now supports the import of 3-D charts, rather than converting them into 2-D charts.

​Read more here >>​

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➜ Sheets Tip #392:

Earlier this year, Google added two new functions to Google Sheets: SHEET() and SHEETS()

Let's understand what they do and see a practical application.

SHEET([value]) is used to get the index number of a specified sheet name or reference. If you omit a sheet name or reference, it defaults to the index number of the current sheet. Hidden sheets are included when determining the order.

• SHEET("Sheetname") will give you the index number of the Sheetname sheet (its position in the list of sheets).
• SHEET() will give you the index of the current sheet where the formula exists.

SHEETS() is used to count total number of sheets in the Google Sheet file. It takes no argument.

Practical Use Case for SHEET() and SHEETS()

Although they're not the most useful of functions, there is one practical example that I think is worth knowing about: numbering your sheets with a label like this "Sheet 1 of 11".

For example, suppose you're using a Google Sheet to manage a project and you're sharing the Sheet with your client. It has four sheets to represent the four stages of the project:

1. Intake
2. Development
3. Testing
4. Delivery

Add this formula to the top of each sheet to show the step number out of the total number of steps:

(It's the same formula on the top of each sheet, no change needed.)

The output in your Sheet looks like this:

It adds a "Step [X] of [Y]" automatically to each sheet, and will display the index correctly even if you rearrange, add, or delete sheets.

What about you? Do you have any innovative use cases for the SHEET or SHEETS functions?

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend who might enjoy it.

Have a great week!

Cheers,
Ben

P.S. Mamma mia! Perfect timing.