Is Google Sheets' New Structured Tables Feature Any Good?

Microsoft Excel has had structured tables for well over a decade and Google Sheets is not just catching up. Let's check out the basics and a few drawbacks of Google Sheets Structure Tables feature.

[@HashAliNZ]

It's brand new, so let me know what questions you've got and what we should try out ↓↓↓

[@godsontc243]

I was watching almost tutorials channel of Google sheets features but our Ali ' s choosing the topic and way he explained Is really amazing 😍

[@maxcelebrity2]

Greatly

[@gabrielmaranca558]

I have started using, like the functionality but I've encountered some apparent bugs. I created formulas using the Table[column] references and noticed at times they are changed to absolute cell references. and when sorting that causes trouble, for example I have Table1[Amount] in a formula and mysteriously gets changed to Sheet1!$P$134 and then if I sort the table it does not change the reference to the new position of the row due to the $ before the row number. Expectation is it should not revert to cell references. Also I've had some challenges with filters, for some reason when I visit the table it shows a column filtered in a strange way and I have to reset the filter (which btw does not match what is truly filtered). Good stuff but I think it is still a little buggy.

[@HashAliNZ]

Wow those are pretty big issues! I'll try recreate them in my sheets and report back if I can replicate the problems. Over time it will get better - they've already made one update where we can go back to the table options instead of just seeing the filter actions, so they are keeping an eye on things.

[@gabrielmaranca558]

@@HashAliNZ thanks. Also there are some controls that don't seem to work when accessing from tablets or cell phones. Slicers dont work for example. I think I will have to write apps with google apps scripts. I am curious whether we can access the tables and columns with some new functions. Something like getSheetByName - I guess a getTableByName would be handy.

[@HashAliNZ]

Yeah those would be good additions. Unfortunately we can't activate scripts from mobile devices. There are a couple ways around this, like using onEdit scripts triggered by things like checkboxes. Another is to trigger scripts using Google Form triggers. Lots of workarounds but would be nice to just be able to have it more accessible

[@Jess-T]

If you duplicate a sheet with a table [name], the table in the second sheet is designated [name_2] and it won't let you rename it to the same as sheet 1. You also can't change the font colour. I feel these are very basic functions so I asked Google to change them.

[@HashAliNZ]

I'm working on a video with the current limitations of Structured Tables I've discovered so far. I'll add this to the list, making it 12. Thanks!

[@HashAliNZ]

Hey Jess, I played around with the issue you're having. I think not renaming it to the same as in Sheet1 makes sense. Each table within the workbook needs to be uniquely identifiable so we can still use them in formulas. As for the font colour, we can't change the placeholder font colours but we can change the font colour of the inputs. It would be nice if we could - I like to have my placeholders a lighter gray, and it'd be good to be able to conditionally format them too.

[@cravingspopcorn]

Can it replace Airtable?

[@HashAliNZ]

It could be used for that kind of thing, but it doesn't have features like drag and drop chips. It also takes some effort to setup an whole workflow system. If you already have Airtable or Notion or similar thing setup, I wouldn't switch to Sheets for your business needs. Those are database systems, Sheets is still just a spreadsheet system. Hopefully Google will release their other product, Google Tables, sometime in the next couple of years that should be able to match the capabilities of Airtable but it's been a long time coming already.

[@AdamLundquist]

Can we embed a table in a doc?

[@HashAliNZ]

Absolutely. It doesn't have quite the same features, but it works pretty well. One thing I thought I was losing my mind over was the Update button in Docs. It only shows when a change is made in the original Table, but yeah it's there.

[@Elliott_tee05]

I just want to create a normal table. What do I do?

[@HashAliNZ]

Headers at the top, then put in your data. If you want it as a structured table, click somewhere in the data and go to Format > Convert to Table