6 reasons why Google Sheets is better than Excel for students

Both Excel and Google Sheets are excellent apps for number-crunching. However, their functionality isn’t limited to just that. There are several cool ways to use Excel or Sheets beyond plain mathematics. You can track your workouts, plan a vacation, or even play games on Excel when you’re bored! Regardless of your use case, though, you might be wondering if you should use Excel or Google Sheets as a student. Although both platforms offer the same functionality, there are several differences in terms of the UI, features, and overall user experience.

Microsoft Excel caters to professional users and businesses, whereas Google Sheets is easier to use and navigate. This is a big reason why I believe Google Sheets is the way to go for students and beginners. Apart from the simpler UI, there are several elements on Google Sheets that make it a no-brainer for students who want to use an application to process calculations, make tables, track expenses, or do any sort of accounting work. Let’s go over a few of them.

6

Completely free to use

No subscriptions or payments

One of my biggest pet peeves with Microsoft 365 is its subscription model. As a student, you want to save as much money as possible. But, with a monthly or yearly subscription to Microsoft’s Office suite, you will end up splurging a few hundred bucks that you can easily save by switching to Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a part of Google’s online apps suite and is completely free to use as long as you have a Google account.

No recurring payments, no credit card information, and no hassle of being locked out of your spreadsheet once your subscription expires. Having a free app also means you can share files easily with your friends and classmates without them needing to have a particular app to open them. For example, if you have a copy of Microsoft Excel, but your friends don’t, it would be inconvenient for them to access an Excel file you sent them. Because it’s free for everyone, Google Sheets solves this problem.

5

Simple to use and navigate

Less intimidating UI

Personally, the biggest reason I avoid using Excel unless I’m working with complex data is the intimidating UI. There are way too many options, features, and toggles on Excel that may scare students and beginners. I’ve spent hours looking for the most basic button on Excel, only to find it buried somewhere among the plethora of icons. Sometimes, it’s right there, but you can’t see it due to the clutter.

Google Sheets, on the other hand, has a UI that’s a lot simpler to use and navigate through. Most functions are segregated into multiple drop-down menus. There’s just a single toolbar displaying only the basic useful features that you may need to access quickly. The drop-down menus ensure complex features are visible on the screen only when you specifically need to access them. For instance, if I’m only perusing through a few calculations, why do I need table settings lingering around? It just confuses me and puts me off.

However, I do believe Google’s approach isn’t perfect either and can sometimes be slightly oversimplified. You may have to dig through too many menus to find what you’re looking for at times. Thankfully, the Search the menus tool within the Help section works like a charm in such instances.

4

Convenient collaboration

Start a meeting with a single click

I mentioned earlier how it’s easy for friends in a group to open spreadsheets made via Google Sheets in case some of them don’t have access to Excel. As an extension to that, collaborating with multiple people on Sheets is easily one of the best features when working in a group. There are instances where several hands may be required to edit or make changes to a spreadsheet. Google Sheets allows you to do that by simply sharing the link of the sheet with whoever you want to collaborate with.

If I send a link to someone, all they have to do is click on it and start working on the relevant section simultaneously. All the while, I continued to work on the section assigned to me without any interference. This is the single biggest selling point of Google Sheets for students, in my opinion. Once you’ve finished working on the sheet, you can use the same collaboration feature to send it to your professor for evaluation. The professor can then use the comments feature to leave feedback, which will be visible to all the collaborators.

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The entire collaboration ecosystem has been designed in a fantastic manner. Moreover, Google also allows you to share a sheet with just about anyone on the internet. So, if you’ve built a cool template that you wish to share with the world via your blog, all you have to do is attach the link to the sheet, and anyone who clicks on it can access it without downloading a file.

Rounding off this feature is a rather convenient Google Meet button that is persistent on every sheet. If you want to get on a quick call with your colleagues to discuss a change or collaborate and work together, clicking the Meet button automatically starts a meeting and even shares your screen with the sheet, so it’s easy to work on in a group.

3

Automatic syncing to your university account

Unlimited storage space

Unlike Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets is a cloud-based service that does not store any data on your computer’s internal drive. Unless, of course, you choose to export a file onto a drive. As a result, every single change you make to a sheet is automatically saved to the cloud. There are a couple of advantages to this. For starters, you minimize the risk of losing any progress when working on a spreadsheet. I’ve had instances where my PC shut down randomly while working on a document. If it were to happen on Google Sheets, all my progress would be auto-saved in real time.

Another significant advantage is that all your files are directly stored in your university Google account. If you didn’t know, university Google accounts have a storage space of 100TB, which is pretty much unlimited. So, you don’t have to worry about accumulating too many files or your project and homework files eating up valuable storage space in your personal Google account.

2

Access from any device

All you need is a network

In continuation of the previous point, syncing all your files to the cloud is an extremely underrated perk. You can access all your spreadsheets from anywhere in the world, regardless of your device. The Google Sheets app is also available on Android and iOS so that you can view and edit sheets straight from a handheld device like a smartphone or tablet. Of course, Excel on mobile is also available and quite functional, but you can only access local files or the ones you’ve synced to Microsoft OneDrive.

Even on devices without the official Google Sheets app, all you need is a web browser to access the site and view your files. The downside to this is that you always need an internet connection to use Sheets. Then again, when are we ever away from the internet in today’s world? With 5G connectivity and public Wi-Fi, staying online isn’t a significant barrier.

1

Integrated extensions

Make your job easier

Microsoft Excel has several macros you can use to automate your workflow. While that’s certainly beneficial, Google hits right back with Extensions on Google Sheets. Think of it as Chrome’s Web Store but for Sheets. Using this tool, you can add extra functionality to Google Sheets that massively improves the experience of using the service. From ChatGPT integration to a no-code module that can help build mobile apps inside Sheets, there are a plethora of awesome additions that will blow your mind.

You can add a to-do list or a timer to track your progress when working or integrate Gmail with Sheets to import your emails. The sky is the limit with these extensions. Macros support is also available if you plan to migrate from Excel to Google Sheets. If these powerful features haven’t impressed you already, Google Apps Script takes things to the next level by allowing you to automate actions in your spreadsheet. Unlike popular belief, these tools make Google Sheets an effective replacement for Excel, even for power users.

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Say goodbye to subscriptions

Save money and switch to Google Sheets now if you’re a student or just want to familiarize yourself with spreadsheets and workbooks. You won’t miss out on much, and you’ll find it much simpler to navigate. Easy collaboration is also an added advantage when working in a group, and the (almost) unlimited storage with a university account makes it even more enticing.

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Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a simpler alternative to Microsoft Excel that’s completely free to use and has a good set of features.