How to Create a Report in Google Sheets with ChatGPT

Building a report in Google Sheets often feels like a memory test for complex formulas or an endless series of clicks to create the right pivot table. But using ChatGPT can turn that tedious process into a simple conversation, letting you generate insights and summaries in a fraction of the time. This article will show you exactly how to combine the power of ChatGPT with your Google Sheets data to create reports, without needing to be a spreadsheet expert.

Why Use ChatGPT with Google Sheets?

You’re already collecting data in Google Sheets, whether it's from marketing campaigns, sales figures, website analytics exports, or project management trackers. The challenge comes when you need to turn that raw data into a useful report. Instead of wrestling with VLOOKUPs and SUMIFs, you can use ChatGPT as your on-demand data analyst. It helps translate your simple English questions into the complex operations needed for a meaningful report.

Here are a few key advantages:

Forget Complicated Formulas: Instead of searching for the right formula syntax, just describe what you want to calculate. Ask, “How do I calculate the cost per conversion for each row?” and ChatGPT will provide the exact formula, ready to copy and paste.
Get Instant Analysis: Upload a CSV from your Google Sheet and ask ChatGPT for insights. It can spot trends, identify top performers, or summarize thousands of rows of data into a few key takeaways automatically.
Brainstorm Reporting Angles: Not sure what to look for? You can ask, "Based on this sales data, what are three interesting questions I could ask?" This helps you discover patterns you may not have thought to look for.
Save Time: The biggest benefit is speed. Repetitive tasks that used to take an hour - like cleaning data, creating summary tables, and visualizing results - can now be done in minutes.

Getting Your Reporting Workflow Ready

Before you jump in, you only need a few things to get started. The setup is simple and ensures you can move smoothly between Google Sheets and ChatGPT.

A Google Account: You'll need this to access and use Google Sheets.
An OpenAI Account: The free version of ChatGPT is great for generating formulas, but a ChatGPT Plus subscription is highly recommended. The Plus plan gives you access to the 'Advanced Data Analysis' feature (formerly known as Code Interpreter), which allows you to upload files like CSVs directly for analysis.
Clean Data: This is the most crucial part. ChatGPT is powerful, but it works best with data that's well-organized. Spend a few minutes making sure your Google Sheet is tidy before you begin. "Garbage in, garbage out" is especially true here.

Step 1: Prepare Your Data in Google Sheets

A clean dataset is the foundation of any good report. Before you can ask ChatGPT for insights, take a moment to prep your Google Sheet. It will save you from getting confusing or inaccurate results.

Let's use a simple marketing campaign dataset as an example. Imagine your sheet looks like this, with columns for Campaign Name, Date, Clicks, Spend, and Conversions.

Organize Your Data Structure

First, ensure your data is in a simple tabular format. This means:

Use Clear Column Headers: Make sure the first row contains a clear, simple title for each column (e.g., "Campaign," "Daily Spend," "Conversions"). Avoid merged cells or complex headers.
One Row Per Record: Each row should represent a single data entry. For example, one day's performance for one campaign.

Clean Any Inconsistencies

Next, scan your data for minor errors that can trip up an analysis.

Standardize Text: Look for variations in campaign names, like "Facebook Campaign" vs. "facebook campaign." Pick one format and stick to it. The "Find and Replace" feature in Sheets is perfect for this.
Check for Extra Spaces: Use the TRIM function in a new column to remove leading or trailing spaces from your text. For example, in a blank column, type =TRIM(A2) and drag the formula down to clean up your campaign names in column A.
Ensure Consistent Formats: Make sure all dates are in the same format (e.g., MM/DD/YYYY) and all numbers are formatted as numbers or currency, not text.

Export Your Data as a CSV

Once your sheet is clean and organized, the easiest way to give ChatGPT context is to upload the data. To do this, you'll need to export it.

In Google Sheets, go to File > Download.
Select Comma Separated Values (.csv).

Your browser will download a CSV file of the active sheet, which you're now ready to use with ChatGPT.

Step 2: Generate Report Summaries with ChatGPT

This is where the magic happens. With your CSV file ready, you can now use ChatGPT's Advanced Data Analysis feature to do the heavy lifting. This approach is best when you want insights, summaries, and visualizations without writing a single formula yourself.

Upload Your CSV File

Open a new chat in ChatGPT (again, this requires a Plus subscription). Look for the small paperclip icon in the message box and click it. Select the CSV file you just downloaded from your Google Sheet.

Ask for Analysis with a Clear Prompt

Once your file is attached, tell ChatGPT what you want it to do. You can start broad and get more specific. For example, start by asking for some basic calculations to be added to your dataset:

"Analyze this marketing campaign data. First, calculate two new metrics for each campaign: Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Then, show me a summary table of the results for all campaigns."

ChatGPT will process the file, perform the calculations, and generate a new summary table for you right in the chat window, explaining its work along the way.

Refine Your Report with Follow-Up Questions

The first response is often just the beginning. The real power of ChatGPT is its conversational nature. You can ask follow-up questions to drill down deeper into the data without starting over.

Here are a few examples of follow-up prompts:

"This is helpful. Now, which campaign had the lowest CPA?"
"Create a bar chart visualizing the number of conversions for each campaign."
"Can you reformat the table to show the campaigns with the highest number of conversions at the top?"

As you chat, ChatGPT will remember the context of your previous questions and continue to build on the analysis.

Export the Final Table for Google Sheets

Once you are happy with the summary table or analysis that ChatGPT has created, you can ask for it in a format that's easy to paste back into your finished report.

Try this prompt: "Give me the final summary table in a format I can copy and paste directly into Google Sheets."

ChatGPT will typically provide the data in a clean, delimiter-separated format. Just copy the table, go back to a new tab in your Google Sheet, and paste it. All your calculated metrics and summaries will appear neatly in the cells.

Alternative: Using ChatGPT to Generate Formulas Directly

What if you don't have a ChatGPT Plus subscription, or you want the calculations to be live and dynamic within your Google Sheet? You can use ChatGPT as a formula expert. This method involves describing your data structure and goal, and letting ChatGPT write the formulas for you.

Describe Your Data and Your Goal

Instead of uploading a file, you'll describe your sheet to ChatGPT. Being precise here is key.

For example: "I have a Google Sheet with marketing data. Column C contains 'Spend' and column E contains 'Conversions'. Starting in row 2, I need a formula for column F that calculates the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) for each row. What formula should I put in cell F2?"

Copy and Paste the Formula

ChatGPT will analyze your request and provide the exact formula you need. It might also explain why it structured the formula a certain way, such as including an IFERROR function to avoid #DIV/0! errors for campaigns with zero conversions.

It will likely return something like this:

=IFERROR(C2/E2, 0)

Apply the Formula in Google Sheets

Go to your Google Sheet, click on cell F2, paste the formula, and press Enter. Then, click the small blue square (the fill handle) at the bottom-right corner of the cell and drag it down to apply the formula to the rest of the column. Every calculation will happen right inside your sheet.

Pro Tips for Better ChatGPT Prompts

How you ask matters. Even "lizard brain prompts" - short, simple queries - can work, but a little detail goes a long way. Here are a few tips for getting the best results when requesting reports.

Provide Context: Start by explaining your role and objective. For example, "I am a sales manager creating a Q3 performance report for my team. The goal is to identify our top salesperson by revenue."
Be Specific About Calculations: Don't assume ChatGPT knows your specific business logic. If Profit is not a column in your data, explain how to calculate it: "Calculate profit for each row, which is (Revenue * 0.4) - Ad Spend."
Ask for a Specific Format: If you know what you want the output to look like, ask for it. "Show the summary as a markdown table with currency formatted to two decimal places."
Iterate: Don't try to get everything in one perfect prompt. Start simple, see what works, and add complexity with follow-up questions. Your report is built through a conversation.

Final Thoughts

Pairing ChatGPT with Google Sheets automates the most time-consuming parts of data analysis and reporting. Whether you’re having it summarize entire datasets or just write complex formulas on your behalf, this workflow transforms hours of manual effort into a simple, efficient conversation, making you far more productive.

The only remaining friction in this process is the manual export and upload of CSV files, which creates static reports from a single point in time. As a better alternative for live data, we built Graphed to connect directly to all of your accounts - like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Shopify, and Salesforce - and automatically keep the data fresh. You can ask for reports and dashboards in plain English and get interactive visuals that are always up to date, eliminating the need to ever download a CSV for reporting again.