Google Sheets may not have the same clout with businesses as Microsoft Excel, but Google Inc.’s spreadsheet software may have one-upped Microsoft Corp. today with the introduction of charts powered by machine learning.

Creating charts from spreadsheet data is relatively simple, but according to Google, creating a chart with the right data organized in the right way is a little more difficult, which is why the company is turning to machine learning. Google Sheets’ new feature allows users to ask questions in simple, human readable text rather than having to input complicated formulas or manually format data.

The machine learning tools are an extension of the existing Explore with Sheets feature, which already made it easy for users to get answers to questions like “what are average sales on Sundays.” Now users can build charts with Explore just by telling Sheets what they need to see.

“If you don’t see the chart you need, just ask,” Daniel Gundrum, a product manager for Google Sheets, said in a blog post. “Instead of manually building charts, ask Explore to do it by typing in ‘histogram of 2017 customer ratings’ or ‘bar chart for ice cream sales.’ Less time spent building charts means more time acting on new insights.”

Google also added a few feature other features today, including customizable keyboard shortcuts, improved printing options, a better chart interface and new formulas for data. Sheets also now lets users sync table data between with Google Docs and Google Slides, which should make building presentation from spreadsheets a little easier.

Gundrum said that all of the new features are rolling out to Sheets today.

Images: Google

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