How to Use Google Sheets to Streamline Publishing Content
Google Sheets is a fantastic productivity app, almost as powerful as MS Excel in Windows, only free! It’s a spreadsheet program part of Google's web-based Google Docs Editor's suite. It’s freely available as a desktop app on Chrome OS and as a mobile app on iOS, Windows, BlackBerry, and Android devices.
Shareability to Streamline Publishing
One of the most vital features of Google Sheets is sharing real-time data/information. Its shareability is a prime example of how organizations would appreciate it as a content publishing tool as they can now edit the content collaboratively.
Working from the same document means writers, publishers, posting teams, and websites can all work on the same spreadsheet. This process makes it a breeze to keep track of payments and streamlines all stages of the publishing chain.
Using Functions In Google Sheets
Google Sheets, just like MS Excel, works to create and manipulate data in spreadsheets. As you know, spreadsheets are amazingly flexible. They can monitor massive amounts of data.
Sometimes, that data becomes so large and hard to manipulate using conventional means. What do you do in such a situation? Use Google Sheets’ built-in functions, of course.
Using The IF Function to Streamline Content Creation
Google has incorporated several functions for advanced calculations and manipulations, one of the most popular being the IF function. Let’s look into how to use IF function in Google Sheets to streamline publishing content.
The IF function is used when running logical tests within other Google Sheets formulas. It is responsible for indicating whether a test is TRUE or FALSE, based on how you’ve used the formula. If whatever condition you're checking is 'TRUE,' then the program can;
Return numbers or a text string
Perform calculations
Run another formula
If the result is ‘FALSE, the program performs something completely different.
So, how can you use this to streamline your publishing? There are a few different ways.
The IF function can simply help in publishing content by simply showing whether or not submitted content reaches a minimum threshold before publishing.
In the above example, we used the syntax of
=IF(C2>B2, “NO”, “YES”)
This means that IF C2 is greater than B2, display “NO”. Otherwise, display “YES”
With such a small data set, it’s easy to see whether or not the submitted content is over the threshold, but you can imagine how much easier this would make things for sites publishers with huge amounts of documents coming through.
A second way the IF function can streamline content publishing is to indicate whether or not articles are past their due date for delivery. Again big publishers can benefit from this, but even freelance writers could benefit from using such a system.
In the above example, we have used the syntax:
=IF(B2>TODAY(), “NO”, “YES”)
To translate that into simple terms, it means IF the date in cell B2 is greater than TODAY’s date display “NO” Otherwise display “YES”
Staying on top of deadlines can be one of the hardest things about freelancing. With no boss to keep you in line, sometimes the due-by dates slip past without you noticing. Using the IF function like in the sample above will make it easy to identify if you’ve been slack with an automatically updating function.
If you have your full workload loaded into a spreadsheet, it makes it easy to stay on top of it.
You could even use different syntax to show when you’re close to a deadline rather than once it’s passed. This could be especially useful for publishers with many writers working underneath them. They could identify in bulk when deadlines are close and whether or not their writers have submitted their first drafts yet.
IF Function Alternatives To Streamline Publishing Content
Using the IF function may be a little complex for some users. You can simply use the SUM function to tell whether or not content is overdue for publishing too. Take a look at the example below.
We have used the same dates as the IF function example above but have used a different formula to get a numerical answer instead. For this screenshot, we used the syntax of:
=SUM(B4-TODAY())
That formula tells Google Sheets to calculate the difference between the due date and today’s date. So, in cell C2 above, you can see that the answer is -9 that means the article was due nine days ago. The next one is seven days late, the following has one day left, and the last has 27 days before it’s due.
Just a Taste
These have been just a few small examples of how Google Sheets can streamline the content publishing process. Sheets is a massive and complex program that can increase productivity no matter what industry you write for.