On this page
- Create a project plan in Sheets
- Add descriptions to columns
- Add options or checkboxes
- Focus on tasks using filters
Create a project plan in Sheets
- In Google Drive, click New
Google Sheets
- Click Untitled spreadsheet and enter a title for your project plan.
- Add columns. For example, you might add columns for tasks, task owners, due dates, status, and comments.
- Add content to track the tasks in your project.
Add descriptions to columns
If your column heading needs a bit of explanation, you can add a descriptive note.
- In your spreadsheet, select the column or cells where you want to add a note.
- Select Insert
- Enter your description.
- Click anywhere outside the note to close it.
Add options or checkboxes
You can specify options for the cells in a column. For example, a task status column might have the options Not started, In progress, or Complete. You can assign a color to each option so you can see overall progress at a glance. Or, you can use checkboxes to show that a task is complete.
Add a list of options
- In Google Sheets, highlight the cell or range of cells where you want to add a list of options.
- Click Data
- Click Add rule.
- Under Criteria, select Dropdown.
- Enter your options.
- (Optional) To assign color, at left, choose a color for each option.
- (Optional) To add more options, click Add another item.
- Click Done.
Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center
Add checkboxes
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Select the cells you want to have checkboxes.
- In the menu at the top, click Insert
Checkbox.
- To remove checkboxes, select the checkboxes you want to remove and press Delete.
Checkbox.Focus on tasks using filters
Important: When you add a filter, anyone with access to your spreadsheet will find the filter too. Anyone with permission to edit your spreadsheet will be able to change the filter.
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- To create a filter, select an option:
- Select a range of cells, then click Data
Create a filter.
- Right click on a cell or a range of cells, then click Create a filter.
- Select a range of cells, then click Data
- To find the filter options, go to the top of the range and click Filter
.
- Filter by condition: Choose conditions or write your own custom formulas.
Custom formula examplesFind unique values within a data range
- Select Custom formula is
- Type
=COUNTIF(data_range, data_range)=1
- Select Custom formula is
- Type
=OR(REGEXMATCH(data_range, "Good"), REGEXMATCH(data_range, "Great"))
- Filter by values: To hide data points, uncheck the box next to the data point and click OK.
- To create a filter and filter by cell value, right click on a cell then click Filter by cell value.
- Search: Search for data points by typing in the search box.
- Filter by color: Choose which text or fill color to filter by. You can filter by conditional formatting colors, but not alternating colors.
- Filter by condition: Choose conditions or write your own custom formulas.
- To remove the filter, select an option:
- Click Data
- Right click on any cell then click Remove filter.
- Click Data
Create a filter. 
.
Once filtered, at the bottom right users can find the number of rows being displayed out of the total rows in the table.
Share a filter view
- On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Apply the filter view
.
- Copy the URL.
- Share the filter view link.
Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center
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