A More Upbeat Version

It was revealed in early December 2013 that a new version of Google Sheets, a Chrome app for creating spreadsheets in Google Drive, is now available with offline support. That means just like Docs and Slides, the remaining apps that make up Google's productivity suite, you can now edit your documents offline and know that they'll be synced with Google Drive as soon as you regain connectivity.

The updated Google Sheets app is also reportedly faster than ever before, with brisk scrolling, load times and in-app calculations. Google used the update to add a new feature called filter views, which lets you share different versions of your spreadsheet with other people. That means you can share a spreadsheet with your boss and focus on one particular area, without affecting how it will look to other colleagues who are still viewing or editing the document.

Here is a list of new features in the latest version of Google Sheets:

• Offline: Create and edit spreadsheets without an internet connection after setting up offline access in Chrome.
• Speed: New spreadsheets load and scroll much faster, removing many of the limits for formula complexity and spreadsheet size.
• Improved formula editing: Check out our new function editing tools to help you build complex formulas.
• New spreadsheet functions: Now you can use highly requested new functions such as SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, and AVERAGEIF.
• Filter views: Create, save, and apply multiple filter views without changing what your collaborators see.
• Advanced conditional formatting improvements: Apply formatting to your spreadsheet based on cell contents or formulas.
• And many more, including colored sheet tabs, paste transpose, improved find and replace, and lots of new number formatting options.

Making the new features mentioned above accessible to everyone is important. You'll notice that brand new features, such as filter views and the new number formatting dialogs, are accessible using screen readers.

Text also flows into nearby empty cells now automatically, and there is a new function help tool for guiding spreadsheet newbies. The new and improved Sheets isn't available by default though; you'll need to make sure the 'Try the new Google Sheet's box is checked in your Google Drive settings first.