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, Google Sheets, Box, File Uploads, 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. The spreadsheet should be set up so the dates are in a column. This way you can filter for specific date ranges and select the data to display much easier.
3. Column headers belong in the top row (row 1).
4. All column headers need to be unique.
5. Remove any empty rows or columns.
6. Dates should be in YYYY-MM-DD format.
7. Currencies and percentages should just be number values. Don’t include special characters like $, £, €, %, etc.
8. Remove any commas from numbers.
9. Categories and values need to be consistent. For example, if you have a column of states or cities, make sure they are all using the same spellings or abbreviations.
10. Do not include a "Total" row. 

Here are two examples of spreadsheets 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: