Using Gemini in Google Sheets to build everything from formulas to mini-apps
Gemini in Google Sheets has developed in four stages: from simple Q&A, to generating formulas, pivots and charts in April 2026, Korean-language support in June, and Sheets Canvas (mini-app generation) in August. With 4,800 rows of sales and cost data, instead of writing formulas yourself you only describe the names and meanings of the metrics, and Gemini creates the formulas and applies them to seven new columns at once; for cells with errors, a single Fix button identifies the cause and even proposes a fix. What matters are instructions such as having it build a separate analysis tab that must use the derived columns, while making it aware that the August data is partial to prevent misanalysis. The executive-summary charts first came out with shoddy formatting and the layout had to be requested again, but Sheets Canvas generates even an interactive dashboard with filters and KPI cards and a Kanban-board mini-app from prompts alone. Canvas is currently supported only when the language setting is English, so instructions have to be written in English with only the labels set in Korean; it can use data from a single tab only, and there are usage limits.
Key points
- Describe just the metric names and meanings, and it writes formulas and applies them to several columns at once
- For error cells, the Fix button automatically finds the cause and proposes a fix
- Sheets Canvas generates dashboards with filters and KPI cards, and a Kanban mini-app
- Canvas limits: English language setting only, single-tab data, usage caps
This is a note: my own write-up after reading several sources. It has no source link; events checked against a source are kept as records.