I’m about to leave Google Sheets because I keep very long spreadsheets about my life and everything I do and it refuses to open at anything but right at the top. So every time I have to scroll and scroll to get to the bottom. Does anyone have a fix for this? Last time I googled all I found was some dingleberry on a Google thread saying that’s how spreadsheets should open. I moved to Google Sheets from Excel online that did that right at least. I moved away from Excel online because it has requirements for small file sizes and the images I would paste in the spreadsheet filled them up to the limit too fast.
I only use Google Sheets
121–130 of 361 posts
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#122One thing I've learned: Never ( ever ) make yourself reliant/dependent on Google products. If you do get banned / locked out, it is the most AI-Kafkaesque process imaginable to regain access. And you could stay locked out for years. I use Google sheets myself from time to time, but I regularly do backups of the sheets I'm working on, or anything important I have access to. I've been in the hole before, for reasons I…
I assume you're talking about the free consumer tier? Nothing like that should happen if you're paying for even an individual Workspace plan. You get a phone number for customer support, and it works. Google shuts down free accounts when it believes they're being used for fraud/spam. And because scammers and spammers create them at virtually zero cost, and will fake activity to build account credibility until using t…
>You get a phone number for customer support, and it works.
I don't believe this after decades of past experience with them trying to find any human to contact. Have you seen the phone number yourself? Normally they just give you the runaround trying to navigate a maze of support pages.
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#123Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…
I would agree with you except the UI is so horrible.
Give me a spreadsheet with a world cksss user interface and then you’ll have something!
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I keep telling people to make backups of "cloud" services ever since Grooveshark died from one day to the next Maybe Spotify won't be taken down overnight, but they can lock me out for various reasons such as misdetecting an IP address (Google wouldn't let me log in at all when they thought I was in Russia, when I was at 31C3 in Hamburg, Germany, a conference where they afaik use some temporary IP space — I don't kno…
> I keep telling people to make backups of "cloud" services The usual rule when making backups is that you need 3 copies, one of them offsite. A cloud storage service counts as an offsite copy, but you still need two more, typically one on your computer and one in cold storage (ex: external hard drive). Treat cloud storage like you treat your hard drive, it can fail at any time. The failure modes are different: mecha…
I think applying these traditional schemes to SaaS environments (now called cloud) can be misleading
When people want off-site backups, the server owner can say they've already taken care of that. I'd say that having a copy under your own control is a separate checkbox we should include!
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I keep telling people to make backups of "cloud" services ever since Grooveshark died from one day to the next Maybe Spotify won't be taken down overnight, but they can lock me out for various reasons such as misdetecting an IP address (Google wouldn't let me log in at all when they thought I was in Russia, when I was at 31C3 in Hamburg, Germany, a conference where they afaik use some temporary IP space — I don't kno…
Yes and don't forget signal is rolling out free cloud backup for texts so it should be making the process of backups even easier for non techy users.
How do I get it out of their cloud? It works as a backup to my phone, but I'd still want another copy that I can access regardless of whether I've got access to that phone number right now. Sorting that out with the carrier can take a while
What's (to me) much more exciting to me is the incremental local backups they're working on. I've iirc looked into how to decode these big backup files, and copy them off my phone semi-regularly, but this being rsyncable will make the process much faster
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish there was a better way to make spreadsheets use a database as a backend. Most of what people do with a spreadsheet would be better done in a database - but a database needs a lot more training to use (if you don't have the training you will make something worse than spreadsheet with your database!)
Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? There's also Google's AppSheet, which may be that too.
>Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that?
No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. My first consulting gig was creating customized MS Access applications. Despite that experience, I use MS Excel today because I know that MS Access is too limiting.
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#127I feel this deeply. I only use Google Sheets, too.
It sounds crazy, but it’s the best tool for so many random things, and here’s why I stick with it:
It Just Works: There's zero fuss. I don't need to install anything, I don't need to save it, and I don't need to worry about the format. It's always there, and it saves automatically.
It's Simple to Share: If I need to show something to my spouse, a coworker, or anyone, I just send a link. No one needs to sign up or download some special app. Everyone can open it right away.
It's the Perfect Checklist: For managing my own stuff—like a budget, a travel plan, or even just tracking a personal project—a sheet is faster than any fancy app. I can make columns that say "Done," "To Do," or "Waiting," and that's all I need.
For most of my personal data and quick shared work, trying to use a dedicated software package is just overkill. Sheets is the easiest way to organize information in a clear, digital table. It's the ultimate low-tech solution to high-tech problems.
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#128Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…
The Google suite of Apps was born multiuser. They perform better then Microsoft's apps when multiple people, even dozens of them, are bashing on a single shared document. Document sharing is more powerful than sharing a window or a desktop. It changes the way people work together.
I would not have agreed readily with that statement until three years ago, when I actually started working in GS as part of my job. I couldn't have imagined how seemless and well-implemented collaborative editing had become IRL.
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Data > Protect sheets and ranges, choose Protect range or Protect sheet, and then click Set permissions to customize who can edit them. What Problem?
and they save versions every edit or every few minutes too. It's free version control that you cannot forget to turn on Huge contrast with MS approach to this
MS approach is the same these days actually, people even complain about it.
Re: I only use Google Sheets
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plenty of reports of people getting locked out of their Workspace accounts. Google even occasionally burns developers they have deals and working relationships with. Just don't use any Google services. Not free, not paid (why would you send them money???!?!). Not for personal stuff, not for work projects. Not for throwaway data, not for important data.
The Google rage on HN is immature. That's a feature of any SaaS. Adobe frequently shuts down ETLA customers due their own invoice processing failures. I can think of three significant government subdivisions that were unable to access any M365 service for 1-10 days as a result of a reseller change. The real lesson here is that you need to understand the failure domains of the technology your business depends on. Your…
Why would a government division (or any 20-person office) pay a reseller?