Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Spreadsheet Tips: What Are Tabs?

Spreadsheet Tips: What Are Tabs?

If you have ever opened a spreadsheet you may or may not have noticed the tabs at the bottom. Below the rows you will notice what looks kind of like the tabs on file folders. Like file folder tabs, these tabs organize a different set of records.

Organized

One of the beauties of spreadsheets is the ability to utilize tabs to keep your information very organized. Typically my first tab would be a class roster. Another tab might track classroom participation. Another tab might show a seating chart. If we are taking a field trip, another tab would list who has brought in the permission slip.

Make a New Tab

In Google Spreadsheet click on the plus button in the bottom left of the spreadsheet to create a new tab. You can rename the tab by double clicking on the tab.

List All The Tabs

In my Epic Rubric template I have over 30 tabs, they are not all visible at once. If you have more than a handful of tabs you can access the other tabs in a couple of ways. In Google Spreadsheet, next to to the plus icon at the bottom, is an icon with 4 lines. This is a list of the tabs, click on it to choose a new tab. You can scroll in the list as well.

There are also right and left arrows to right of the visible tabs that can help you to view more tabs.

Look for Tabs

Tabs really are a key element of spreadsheets, very likely a spreadsheet that is shared with you has multiple tabs. When you get a new spreadsheet, make a point of observing the tabs and clicking on them.

Google Spreadsheet Tip

One nice feature of Google Spreadsheet is the ability to link directly to a tab and not just the spreadsheet. Copying the URL while on a particular tab gives you a unique URL to that TAB. The full spreadsheet is available through the link, but the initial landing page will be the tab you were on when you copied the URL.

Google Docs have notoriously ugly URL’s. Here is one URL from a spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiqrAI5UxSJNdHdkZjY3NlE1a3JERE9aeFNVYmtNdUE

Each spreadsheet has the same start:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=

After the key= is the unique code for that spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiqrAI5UxSJNdHdkZjY3NlE1a3JERE9aeFNVYmtNdUE

Following the spreadsheet key can be the TAB ID NUMBER. This tab code starts with the pound key and gid= followed by the number of the tab. Even if you reorder the tabs, the tab number does not change.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiqrAI5UxSJNdHdkZjY3NlE1a3JERE9aeFNVYmtNdUE#gid=4 

Linking

When I am sending an email and I want to bring the recipients attention to different tabs I will oftentimes link to each tab rather than simply direct the person to click on a certain tab. This helps to make sure there is not any confusion about what a tab is or what is the right tab. Thus if I need the person to look at 3 tabs I will link to each of the 3 tabs. I find this particularly helpful for when I am communicating information to students, giving them the direct link to the tab we are working on reduces the amount of time I have to spend making sure everyone is on the same page.

5 Easy Steps for Teaching with Digital Tools

Introducing digital tools into your teaching can seem challenging at first. There are many tools out there, and it might feel like there’s a lot to learn. But with easy steps for teaching with digital tools, you can start simply and gradually. There’s no need to dive in all at once – just take it one step at a time. Taking easy steps for teaching with digital tools starts with trying something!

Read More »
Students Prepare to Present

Help Your Students Prepare to Present

Maximize student success in presentations with ‘Speaker Notes by AliceKeeler,’ the ideal Google Slides add-on. Enhance how students prepare to present with easy transfer of speaker notes to Google Docs, promoting effective communication skills. Dive into the world of engaging, technology-aided presentations and empower students to shine in their academic endeavors. Discover the key to transforming student presentations into interactive, skill-building experiences.

Read More »

Infographic 7 Basic Steps for a Google Form

New to using Google Forms? This tool is essential for teachers to not only save time but to be adaptive to student needs. Use Forms to survey students, play games, personalize instruction, and assessment. This infographic on the 7 basic steps for a Google Form will help you get started.

Read More »

Online Workshop: Get Your Add-on Published

How can you make Google Workspace (Docs/Sheets/Slides) even better? You can create custom Add-ons with Google Apps Script. Wondering How to Get Your Google Workspace Add-on Published? Join Alice Keeler, Google Developer Expert, to learn the steps to get your Add-on officially published.

Read More »

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d