Searching for a Term in Sheets

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated November 28, 2013)

When adding or reviewing information in Sheets, there have been many times that I've needed to get additional information about a topic or search for supporting documentation. The normal way I do that is to open a new browser tab and use the Google toolbar to enter the term or keyword I need to research. If I get ambitious and don't want to suffer the humiliation of mistyping something, I'll often even copy the term from the spreadsheet and paste it into the toolbar.

That's all good, but Sheets provides an even faster way to find information, right within the spreadsheet itself. The next time you need to do your research, follow these steps:

  1. Select the term or keyword, just as you would if you were getting ready to copy it. (Don't just select a cell; you need to select the term or keyword within the cell.)
  2. Right-click on the term or keyword you selected. You'll see a Context menu appear.
  3. Choose the option that starts out "Search Google for". (The option is followed by whatever you selected in step 1.)

At this point, Sheets opens a new browser tab and displays a Google search result page for the term or keyword.

Pretty slick, huh? And it is much faster than my traditional approach of manually opening a browser tab and searching.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting a Cross-Reference to Text

Cross-referencing is a great feature of Word that allows you to add references to text in various places of your ...

Discover More

Blocking the First Sentence from File Info

When you save a file, the information from the start of the file is saved in the properties for the document and can be ...

Discover More

Inserting a Watermark Behind Merged Cells

If you have a group of merged cells into which you want a user to enter information, you may want some sort of ...

Discover More
More DriveTips

Adding Stock Information

Adding stock information to a spreadsheet is a common need. Rather than enter information manually, why not let Sheets ...

Discover More

Changing Vertical Cell Alignment

If you have a large row height, you may want to adjust how the information in a cell is aligned vertically. Sheets allows ...

Discover More

Determining the Name of the Day of the Week

What day of the week is that date? Sheets can let you know by using the TEXT function to return a weekday name for a ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight minus 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.