I was fortunate to receive an invitation to test Google Spreadsheets. So how does it stack up against a desktop spreadsheet application –can I do everything that I can do in Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice? I am particularly interested in:

1. Formatting cells
2. Creating and editing formulas
3. Loading and saving
4. Importing an Excel spreadsheets
5. Creating multiple sheets
6. Reference cells from multiple sheets
7. Cutting, dragging, and pasting
8. Advanced stuff (e.g. pivot tables, macros)

So here are some screenshots in action (click on thumbs to enlarge):

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Above: Renaming a spreadsheet

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Above: Selecting a column

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Above: Formatting cells

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Above: Reference cells from another sheet

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Above: Simple formula editing

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Above: Saving the spreadsheet

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Above: Opening an existing spreadsheet (saved from Google Spreadsheets)

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Above: Exporting the spreadsheet to Microsoft Excel

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Above: Importing an Excel spreadsheet from my hard disk

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Above: The imported Excel spreadsheet from my hard disk

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Above: Uh oh… Trying to open a complicated spreadsheet with macros and pivot tables

Note: tested on Windows XP w./ Firefox.

Overall, it is great. It should suit most computational needs. Most of the common actions, such as keystroke commands in Excel/OpenOffice, are applicable in Google Spreadsheets. The only things that I see are missing are support for macros (ugh!), pivot tables, and of course, charts.