Tip #2: 10 simple functions that will save you time

Tip #2: 10 simple functions that will save you time



Functions are an integral part of a spreadsheet. With more than 350 functions available in Zoho Sheet, you might find it difficult to find ones that are useful to you. That's why we're here with a small list of simple functions that everybody can use in their day-to-day work. 

1. SUM
SUM is used to find the total of the given numerical values. You can save more time with the Autosum shortcut Alt+= after selecting the desired cells.

2. AVERAGE
AVERAGE is used to find the mean of the given values. That is, it gives the result of the sum of selected values divided by the number of values. You can use AVERAGE to find results, like the average monthly expense in a year, or the average count of a product sold over a period.

3. COUNT
COUNT is used to find the number of numerical values in a given range. It can be used in combination with other functions such as IF, and AND. 

4. COUNTA
 COUNTA is used to find the number of non-empty cells in a given range. Similar to COUNT, it can be used in combination with other functions. For example, you can use it to find the total number of entries in a non-contiguous data region or table.

5. COUNTBLANK
Similar to COUNT and COUNTA, COUNTBLANK is used to find the number of blank cells in a given range. You can use it to find the number of values missing in a given table/range.

6. TODAY
TODAY is used to get the current date in the resultant cell. For example, you can use this function in invoice or calendar templates where the current date is required. Similarly, you can use NOW to get the current date and time in a single cell.

7. IF
IF is used to obtain a result based on logical conditions. Nested IFs i.e. IF condition placed within another IF condition, can be used to test more conditions. For example, IF can be used to display test results and grades using predefined conditions. 

8. LEN
LEN is used to find the count of characters in a given text. If you're a content marketer, you'll be familiar with character limits for titles, descriptions, or even tweets. While also keeping a record of changes, make sure your content stays in the required size with LEN.

9. CONCATENATE
CONCATENATE is used to append the content of two given cell ranges or a cell range and a text. For example, you can use it to combine the first and last names from two given columns.

10. MAX & MIN
MAX & MIN are used to find the highest and lowest values respectively, from a given set of values. They can be used in combination with other functions such as IF, AND, SUM, AVERAGE etc. For example, you can use MAX to find the product with the highest sales in a month.

Here's a bonus tip:  every time you have to fill many cells in a column with a particular formula, just enter the formula in the first cell of the table and double click on the bottom right of the selection to fill it (This works only when there is data in the cell range to the left/right).

Hope you all found this useful! Here's a list of all functions in Zoho Sheet.

Which simple functions do you use often? Tell us in the comments below.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #20 - Three things you probably didn't know you can do with picklists

      Hello Zoho Sheet users! We’re back with another quick tip to help you make your spreadsheets smarter. Picklists are a great tool to maintain consistency in your spreadsheet. Manually entering data is time-consuming and often leaves typos and irregular

    • Tip #18: 6 Trendlines and when to use them in your spreadsheet data?

      Charts are a great tool for visualizing and interpreting large chunks of data in spreadsheets. Zoho Sheet offers you 35+ chart options, along with AI-powered chart recommendations based on the data set you select. There are various chart elements that

    • Tip #17: Easily share spreadsheets with non-Zoho account users

      With efficient, collaboration-friendly options, Zoho Sheet is a popular choice among users. Sheet's external share links help you collaborate more effectively by sharing your spreadsheets with anyone outside your organization, including users who do not

    • Tip #16: Ask Zia your data-related questions and get powerful insights

      Zoho Sheet provides a variety of tools and functionalities to help you analyze your data from end to end. But what if you could analyze all your data sets with a single AI-powered tool? Meet Zia, our smart virtual assistant who will answer all your data-related

    • Tip #7: Four things you didn't know you can do with Conditional Formatting

      Conditional formatting helps you highlight and visualize data in your spreadsheet based on provided rules. Zoho Sheet offers three types of conditional formatting: Classic, Color Scales, and Icon Sets. If you're already familiar with how Conditional Formatting works, here are some bonus tips for Classic formats: Customize rules with formulas Zoho Sheet allows you to create personalized rules based on formulas. For example, in a task list you can use customized formulas to highlight tasks which are

      • Recent Topics

      • Fix the speed

        It takes ages to load on every step even though my dataset is quite small.

      • Consolidated Department-wise Payroll Cost Summary Report

        Hello Zoho Payroll Team and Community, I am writing to discuss a reporting requirement regarding department-level expense tracking within Zoho Payroll. As we scale and manage salary distribution for employees across multiple departments, such as Accounts,

      • Write-Off multiple invoices and tax calculation

        Good evening, I have many invoices which are long overdue and I do not expect them to be paid. I believe I should write them off. I did some tests and I have some questions:  - I cannot find a way to write off several invoices together. How can I do that,

      • What's new in Zoho Sheet: Simplify data entry and collaboration

        Hello, Zoho Sheet community! Last year, our team was focused on research and development so we could deliver updates that enhance your spreadsheet experience. This year, we’re excited to deliver those enhancements—but we'll be rolling them out incrementally

      • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

        Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

      • Easier onboarding for new users with stage descriptions

        Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a recent enhancement we've made to Bigin. You can now add descriptions to the stages in your pipeline. Previously, when creating a pipeline, you could only add stages. With this update,

      • Ability to Edit Ticket Subject when Splitting a Ticket

        Often someone will make an additional or new request within an existing ticket that requires we split the ticket. The annoying part is that the new ticket maintains the subject of the original ticket after the split so when the new ticket email notification

      • How to remove chat icon from knowledge base?

        I have set up a knowledge base to hold FAQs and documentation. It is currently standalone, and not integrated into our website. On every page there is a chat button in the bottom left corner that says "We're offline, please leave a message." How can I

      • [ZohoDesk] Improve Status View with a new editeble kanban view

        A kanban view with more information about the ticket and the contact who created the ticket would be valueble. I would like to edit the fields with the ones i like to see at one glance. Like in CRM where you can edit the canvas view, i would like to edit

      • Automated Dismissal of Specific Notifications and Centralized Control of Toast Notification Settings

        Dear Zoho Team, I hope this message finds you well. We would like to request two enhancements related to notification handling within Zoho Desk: Automatic Dismissal of Specific Notifications: Currently, when certain actions are taken in the ticket list

      • Knowledgebase SEO

        We have a custom-domain mapped help center that is not restricted via login. I have some questions: a) will a robots.txt file still allow us to control indexing? b) do we have the ability to edit the sitemap? c) do category URLs get indexed by search

      • Create case via email

        Good Afternoon, I have just registered and am taking a look around the system. Is it possible to create a case via email.  I.e. an employee/client/supplier emails a certain address and that auto generates the case which then prompts a member of staff

      • Show field in spreadsheet view depending on other field value

        Hello. Not sure if this is possible but let's say i have spreadsheet view in Creator with four different fields Field A, B, C and D Then i have a field named Response which for one record could contain only one of the pre-definde choices below A, B, C

      • Improved Contact Sync flow in Google Integration with Zoho CRM

        Hello Everyone, Your contact sync in Google integration just got revamped! We have redesigned the sync process to give users more control over what data flows into Google and ensure that this data flows effortlessly between Zoho CRM and Google. With this

      • Introducing Assemblies and Kits in Zoho Inventory

        Hello customers, We’re excited to share a major revamp to Zoho Inventory that brings both clarity and flexibility to your inventory management experience! Presenting Assemblies and Kits We’re thrilled to introduce Assemblies and Kits, which replaces the

      • Intergrating multi location Square account with Zoho Books

        Hi, I have one Square account but has multiple locations. I would like to integrate that account and show aggregated sales in zoho books. How can I do that? thanks.

      • Zoho Learn Zapier Integration

        Hello all, Is there any plan to integrate Zoho Learn with Zapier? It seems almost all Zoho products are in Zapier, with the exception of Learn and Marketing Automation.

      • Notice: SalesIQ integration paused on Zoho Sites

        I have this notice on my Zoho Sites in the SalesIQ integration setup. Can someone assist? "This integration has been temporarily paused for users. Reconnecting SalesIQ after disconnection will not be possible until we provide further updates." thank

      • Differences between Zoho Books and Zoho Billing

        Without a long drawn out process to compare these. If you were looking at these Books and Billing, what made you opt for one and not the other. Thanks

      • New Feature : Copying tickets with all the contents such as conversations/history/attachments etc

        Sometimes our customers and distributors do create tickets (or send emails) which contain more than one incident in them and then also some of the further conversations which are either created by incorrect new tickets or replies to old tickets are being created as combined tickets. In such cases we require to "COPY" the contents of the tickets into separate tickets and merge them into their corresponding original tickets. The "CLONE" feature doesn't copy the contents (especially the conversations

      • Como se agregan los empleados

        Necesito saber si para agregar empleados los mismos necesitan tener licencias

      • Deluge Error Code 1002 - "Resource does not exist."

        I am using the following script in a Custom Button on a Sales Return. Basically, the function takes the information in the sales return (plus the arguments that are entered by the user when the button is pushed) and creates a return shipping label via

      • Adding multiple Attendee email addresses when adding a Zoho Calendar event in Zoho Flow

        I am trying to integrate Notion and Zoho Calendar via Zoho Flow. However, the Attendee email address supported by Zoho Calendar - Create event only supports one email address, so I am having difficulty implementing automation to automatically register

      • Deprecation of SMS-based multi-factor authentication (MFA) mode

        Overview of SMS-based OTP MFA mode The SMS-based OTP MFA method involves the delivery of a one-time password to a user's mobile phone via SMS. The user receives the OTP on their mobile phone and enters it to sign into their account. SMS-based OTPs offer

      • Books & Desk. Client mapping

        Hi, I’ve been using Zoho Books for several years and am now looking to improve my customer service. I'm experimenting with Zoho Desk and want to sync and map my client data from Zoho Books. However, it seems that mapping requires both contacts to have

      • Graceful Handling of Exceeded Option Limits

        Hi Zoho SalesIQ team. I would like to submit a feature request to deal with a bug in salesIQ Current Behavior (Bug): When a dynamic list passed to the Single Select Option Card contains more than 20 options, the Zobot stops responding (freezes/hangs)

      • System default SLA descriptions can't be modified

        The system default SLAs have identical descriptions for all SLA levels, but their settings differ. However, I am facing an issue where I cannot modify these descriptions and save the changes. The content of the description box can be edited but the changes

      • Adding non-Indian billing address for my Zoho subscription

        Hey Need help with adding a non-Indian billing address for my Zoho subscription, trying to edit the address to my Singapore registered company. Won't let me change the country. Would appreciate the help. Regards, Rishabh

      • Zoho Desk - Zoho FSM Integration issue on Mobile and iPad

        Hello Team, I am trying to create a Work Order (WO) using the Zoho FSM integration (Add-on Service) that is integrated with Zoho Desk. The issue is that the integration is not working on mobile devices and iPads. While I am able to create the WO, Request,

      • How to create one ZohoCRM organisation out of a multi-organization?

        Hi, we have a multi-org including two different Zoho CRM organizations for two companies using respectively EUR and USD as default currency. I was wondering if there is any easy way to merge the two organizations into just one, so that users may access

      • Increase the "Maximum Saved Entries per User" Options Limit

        Hi, You can create lots of saved entries, yet the Limit when you apply one is 25, we may often expect 32 to be in draft, and therefore want to enforce that, can we increase the limit of this field from 25 to 100 (As you can just turn it off and have more

      • Gray screen while signing documents

        We are all getting a "gray" screen when trying to sign documents in Zoho sign. Anyone else having issues?

      • Reassign Partially Saved Entries

        Hi, I would like to be able to go to Partially Saved Entries and like the option to delete them I would like the option to multi-select and be able to reassign them to another user to complete (Such as when a user has left the company). Thanks Dan

      • Improved Integration Failure Information (And Notification Options)

        Hi, When an attachment service for example fails, you just get "Field x - Error", I can check the field it is failing on and find nothing wrong, same file size, type, dimensions, etc. so more information as to the actual issue would be helpful. And an

      • Set Frozen Cells in the Report Settings

        Hi, It would be nice to be able to set the frozen cells in the report Settings, and have an option if this is fixed or can be changed after loading (On the next load it still goes back to the Settings). Thanks Dan

      • Link Purchase Order to Deal

        Zoho Books directly syncs with contacts, vendors and products in Zoho CRM including field mapping. Is there any way to associate vendor purchase orders with deals, so that we can calculate our profit margin for each deal with connected sales invoices

      • Projects custom colors replaced by default orange

        Since yesterday, projects uploaded to Zoho, to which I had assigned a custom color, have lost the customization and reverted to the default color (orange). Has anyone else had the same problem? If so, how did you resolve it?

      • Interview booked through Invite but no Notifications

        We have a workflow that was developed through a developer/partner that was tested and worked. Today, we pushed a candidate through the process and invited them to an in-office interview. They were sent the booking link (as usual and as tested before successfully)

      • Improve WhatsApp Module in Zoho CRM

        The current WhatsApp module UI in Zoho CRM feels cluttered and complex, especially when handling high volumes of conversations. It would be great to enhance the WhatsApp module UI/UX by adopting a clean and simplified interface similar to Bigin CRM’s

      • Automatiser la gestion des SLA dans Zoho Desk avec Zoho Contracts

        Les équipes du service client s’efforcent d’assurer un support rapide, régulier et fiable pour garantir la satisfaction de chaque client. Les accords de niveau de service (SLA) permettent de clarifier les engagements en définissant les termes et conditions

      • Next Page