Formatting Spreadsheets for Use in Grow

Spreadsheets are typically either automated exports or updated manually. Generally, an automated export of your data will be formatted correctly in Grow; however, if you are manually entering data you may need to do some prep work.

This applies to spreadsheets in Dropbox, Box, File Uploads, Google Spreadsheets, or FTP connections.

Here are a few basic principles to formatting spreadsheets:

1. Google Sheets cannot have a colon in the name of the spreadsheet. This will return the error "totalRowCount Undefined."
2. Column headers belong in the top row (row 1).
3. All column headers need to be unique.
4. Remove any empty rows or columns.
5. Dates should be in YYYY-MM-DD format. (If you need to convert the date format in Grow, use the Format Dates transform.)
6. Currencies and percentages should just be number values. Don’t include special characters like $, £, €, %, etc.
7. Remove any commas from numbers.
8. Categories and values need to be consistent. For example, if you have a column of states, make sure they are all using the same spellings or abbreviations.
9. Keep the font consistent, the data should attract attention, not the font or colors.
10. Do not include a "Total" row. 

Here is an example of a spreadsheet before and after applying these guidelines:

Cleaning Up A Spreadsheet

This video will go through the process of fixing up the most common formatting issues that could cause issues in Grow: