How to Create a Report in Google Sheets with AI
Staring at a wall of raw data in a Google Sheet and knowing there's a valuable report hiding in there somewhere is a familiar feeling for many. Manually building that report - with pivot tables, VLOOKUPs, and complex SUMIF formulas - can feel like a major project. Luckily, AI can now act as your data assistant, turning that tedious process into a simple conversation. This guide will walk you through how to use artificial intelligence directly within Google Sheets to create insightful reports in a fraction of the time.
Why Bother with AI in Google Sheets?
Before jumping into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Relying on AI to build your reports isn't just a gimmick, it fundamentally changes how you work with data. The manual reporting process is often a time-suck that prevents you from focusing on strategy. This is where AI makes a real difference.
Consider the typical weekly marketing report. The process usually involves:
Downloading multiple CSV files from platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Shopify.
Copying and pasting that data into one massive Google Sheet.
Cleaning and standardizing the data (e.g., making sure "facebook" and "Facebook" are treated the same).
Writing formulas and building pivot tables to summarize everything.
Finally, creating charts to visualize the performance.
This entire workflow can easily consume half a day. AI helps you cut that time by automating the most tedious parts of analysis and visualization. It lets you skip the formula-writing and pivot table-building so you can get straight to the insights.
Method 1: Using Google’s Built-In AI ("Explore")
Google has a lightweight, built-in AI feature right inside Sheets called “Explore.” It’s designed for quick analysis and is surprisingly powerful for getting fast answers without leaving your document. Think of it as a helpful assistant that anticipates your questions.
What is the Explore Feature?
The Explore feature lives in the bottom-right corner of your Google Sheet. When you have a dataset selected, it automatically analyzes the information and "explores" it for you. It suggests relevant charts, calculates key metrics, and even lets you ask questions about your data in plain English. It’s the perfect starting point for anyone new to AI-powered reporting.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Report with Explore
Let’s walk through building a quick marketing report using a simple dataset. Imagine you have a sheet with your advertising campaign data that looks something like this:
Campaign Name | Source | Spend | Clicks | Conversions
Simple, right? Now, let's turn this into a report.
Step 1: Get Your Data Ready
AI is smart, but it's not a mind-reader. A clean dataset is the most important ingredient for success. Make sure your data:
Has a clear header row (like the example above).
Avoids merged cells within the data range.
Uses consistent formatting for numbers, dates, and text.
Step 2: Open the Explore Panel
Highlight your data range - from the top-left cell of the header to the bottom-right cell of your data. Once highlighted, click the “Explore” icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It looks like a small square with a star in it. A new panel will slide out on the right.
Step 3: Ask Questions in Plain English
This is where the magic happens. At the top of the Explore panel, you’ll find a text box that says, "Ask a question about this data." You can type questions just like you would ask a coworker.
Using our example dataset, you could ask:
"What is the total spend by source?"
"Bar chart of conversions for each campaign name."
"Which campaign had the highest number of clicks?"
"Average spend per conversion a.k.a. Cost per Conversion."
As you type, Explore will instantly understand your request and generate a pivot table or chart to answer it. There's no need to know the right formulas or how to build a pivot table yourself.
Step 4: Use the Suggested Visualizations
If you scroll down in the Explore panel, you'll see a section called “Answers.” Here, Google’s AI has already created several visualizations it thinks you’ll find useful based on your data. You’ll likely see charts like a pie chart of spend by source or a bar chart comparing campaign performance.
You can hover over any of these charts and click the "Insert chart" icon to add it directly to your sheet. Within minutes, you can pull in several key visuals, arrange them on a fresh tab in your sheet, and build a visually appealing dashboard for your weekly meeting.
Method 2: Supercharging Your Reports with AI Add-ons
The built-in Explore feature is fantastic for high-level overviews, but sometimes you need more power and flexibility. That's where AI-powered add-ons come in. These are third-party tools you can install from the Google Workspace Marketplace that give you GPT-4 or other advanced AI models directly inside your cells.
When Do You Need an Add-on?
Move on from Explore and look into an add-on when you need to:
Generate complex summaries or text-based insights.
Automatically clean or categorize large amounts of messy data.
Extract specific information from blocks of text.
Write complicated formulas for you based on a plain-English request.
Step-by-Step: Using a GPT-for-Sheets Add-on
While there are several excellent AI add-ons available, most follow a similar process. For this example, we’ll use the popular "GPT for Sheets" type of extension, but the principles apply to others.
Step 1: Install the Add-on
Navigate to "Extensions" > "Add-ons" > "Get add-ons" in the Google Sheets menu. This opens the Google Workspace Marketplace. Search for an AI or GPT-related add-on and install it by following the on-screen prompts. You may need to connect it to an OpenAI account and add an API key.
Step 2: Use an AI Formula to Summarize Data
These add-ons give you new formulas to use in any cell, like =GPT(). Imagine you want a simple, written summary of your campaign performance. Find an empty cell and type a formula like this:
In this formula, you give the AI a clear instruction and then provide the data range it needs to analyze. Hit enter, and within a few seconds, the AI will write out a clear summary for you. This is perfect for adding commentary to your reports without having to type it all out manually.
Step 3: Clean and Categorize Data Smartly
A huge time-waster in reporting is cleaning inconsistent data. Let’s say you have a list of traffic sources that looks messy: “google,” “Google / cpc,” “bing,” “Facebook Ads,” and “FB.”
With an AI formula, you can standardize these in seconds. In a new column, use a formula like this next to your first item:
Drag that formula down the column, and it will correctly categorize everything for you instantly. This is infinitely faster than using nested IF statements or manually finding and replacing.
Best Practices for AI-Powered Reporting in Sheets
While AI can feel a bit magical, following a few best practices will ensure you get accurate, useful results every time.
Start with Clean Data: This is the golden rule of any data analysis, AI-powered or not. Garbage in, garbage out. Ensure your headers are clear, formats are consistent, and there aren't any odd merged cells or blank rows throwing off the analysis.
Be Specific with Your Prompts: The quality of your output is directly related to the quality of your input. Instead of asking, "Show me revenue," ask, "Create a column chart of total revenue by campaign name for the past 30 days." Include context like chart types, date ranges, and specific metrics whenever possible.
Don't Trust - Verify: AI models are incredibly powerful, but they can sometimes misunderstand context or hallucinate. Always give your charts and numbers a quick sanity check. Does the total revenue make sense? Is the chart showing the right trend? Use AI as an intelligent assistant, not an infallible oracle.
Understand Sheets’ Limitations: While these techniques are great, remember that you're still working within a Google Sheet. The data is static. If your underlying Google Analytics or Shopify data changes, you'll need to manually update your sheet and rerun your report. It’s not a true real-time dashboard.
Final Thoughts
Harnessing AI within Google Sheets turns reporting from a chore into a fast, dynamic process. Using built-in features like Explore or powerful add-ons allows you to skip tedious formula writing and get straight to building insightful reports that anyone on your team can understand.
While AI can dramatically improve how you work within Google Sheets, a core challenge remains: getting all your data out of its original sources and into the spreadsheet in the first place. We built Graphed because we believe you shouldn’t have to manually pull, clean, and link your data at all. Instead of forcing data into spreadsheets, we connect directly to your tools like Google Analytics, Shopify, Facebook Ads, and HubSpot to create live dashboards for you, becoming simple straight from the data. It’s like having an AI analyst on your team who takes care of the entire reporting workflow, giving you back hours to focus on growing your business.