Sheetgo

How to import specific columns to Google Sheets?

Written by
Valentine Schelstraete

Managing large amounts of data becomes a lot easier when using great spreadsheet tools, such as Google Sheets. Although Google Sheets has many features that help us to manage and analyze our data, there still isn’t a feature to select or filter specific columns to import to another spreadsheet. Currently, the only way to import specific columns to Google Sheets is to import the entire spreadsheet of data and then manually delete the columns we don’t need.

This can take up hours of your time. So what’s a more efficient way?

You can automatically import specific columns into Google Sheets using the Filter feature in Sheetgo’s web app.

This is a great tool to use within business operations where you’re dealing with vast amounts of data that you want to filter and transfer to other files. For example, let’s say you have a spreadsheet full of all the sales records in the latest quarter. Not only are there hundreds of rows of data but also numerous columns.

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You may want to only extract certain columns in order to focus on a specific field of analysis. For example, you may want to extract only the location data in order to gain more specific insights into which products are more popular and where in the last 4 months, for geography-based marketing purposes.

In this article, we will explore how the filter function works in Sheetgo, and how you can use its features to import specific columns of data to Google Sheets!

How to import specific columns to Google Sheets

The Sheetgo web app has different types of filter features depending on how much you want to filter your data. Let’s go through the steps on how to import entire columns, and how to import more specific data within columns, all within the Sheetgo web app.

How to import entire columns to Google Sheets – Query feature

Using the example mentioned at the beginning of the post, let’s import columns C, I J & K from our Sales records sheet into a new Google Sheets file.

Step 1: Install Sheetgo

Open the Sheetgo web application by clicking the button below. Sign up with your Google, Microsoft, or Dropbox account.

Step 2: Create workflow

In the Sheetgo web app, click Create a new workflow to begin your project (make sure you label this project clearly). Add your spreadsheet full of data into the Source file section and select the tab where your data is located.

Once finished, press Continue.

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Step 3: Filter your data

Next, Sheetgo will ask you to choose a next step. Under the Process section, select Filter.

Now, select the Query feature. This is the easiest function to use to filter our data by entire columns.

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Step 4: Use the Query editor

As you can already see, Sheetgo has made this process easier by already starting your query.

Simply click on the columns that you want to filter. Once completed, press Continue.

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Step 5: Select destination file

It’s time to import your columns to your new sheet. Under the Send to section, choose whether to import your data into a single spreadsheet or multiple files. Then, customize your file settings to your needs.

In this example, let’s create a new file in Google Sheets for our columns. Once finished, press Finish and save.

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Step 6: View filtered data

You’ve successfully imported your specific columns to Google Sheets. Your new file should now show these chosen columns.

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How to import specific data within columns to Google Sheets – Condition feature

Let’s say you want to import data relating to a specific product within our spreadsheet. In this case, you would use the Condition feature.

Depending on how many aspects you want to filter, you can use either the single condition or the multiple condition.

  • Single condition (OR)

    • Let’s say you want to filter our data relating to only Product 3. Simply follow the steps listed above, but this time, select the Condition feature. Then click the Simple condition (OR) option.

    Now filter your data by selecting the product column (column C), choose the criteria Text is exactly, and write the name of the product (Product 3).

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Once the process is finished, the specific data will be filtered and imported to a new sheet, like this:
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  • Multiple condition (AND)

    • Suppose that you want to filter this data more, specifically importing data relating to Product 3 that was also purchased in Indonesia.

    This time, choose the Multiple condition (AND) option. First, filter your data by selecting the product column (column C), choose the criteria Text is exactly, and write the name of the product (Product 3).

    Then, press Add condition. To filter our location, select the city column (Column K), choose Text is exactly, and enter your location (Indonesia).

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As a result, Sheetgo will filter your data to only show the data relating to Product 3 that was purchased in Indonesia.
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The Filter feature in Sheetgo

In the steps above, we have covered two of the filter features within the Sheetgo web app. There are 3 different filter features within Sheetgo, each designed to manage specific types of data or to fulfill different objectives.

For a better understanding of each filter feature and when to use them, let’s explore each in more detail and what they can do.

1. Filter by Query

Sheetgo’s Filter by Query feature uses query syntax similar to SQL that acts as an instruction for your spreadsheets.

With a simple SELECT* query, you can filter down specific columns to import into your spreadsheet.

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2. Filter by condition

The Filter by condition feature in Sheetgo allows you to filter your spreadsheet data in more detail.

You can choose to filter by a single condition (OR), or multiple conditions (AND), the latter allowing you to filter your data with multiple requisites.

  • Single condition (OR) – filter a column of data with a single condition. The data in the column either fulfills the condition or doesn’t. Those that do will be imported to your spreadsheet.
  • Multiple condition (AND) – filter a column of data with multiple conditions. The data in the column must fulfill all of these conditions in order to be imported to your spreadsheet.
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3. Filter by color

The Filter by color feature allows you to filter a column whose data is categorized using cell colors. You can choose to import a specific cell color into your spreadsheets.

For example, we could filter our stock level column by only importing the data with the green cell color (denoting ‘high’ stock levels).

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Filter specific columns in Google Sheets

And there you have it! Sheetgo’s filter feature has multiple functions that can automatically import specific columns or specific data within columns to Google Sheets in just a few clicks.

If you would like to learn more about the cell color filter function, take a look at our article on How to filter by color in Google Sheets.

You can also discover more posts on how to solve with Sheetgo below!

Editor’s note: This is a revised version of a previous post that has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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