Most Google Sheets users use SUM and AVERAGE and stop. Below are the ten formulas that move you from beginner to "actually useful at work."
1. VLOOKUP / XLOOKUP
Look up a value in one column, return a value from another column. =XLOOKUP(B2, Sheet2!A:A, Sheet2!C:C). XLOOKUP is the modern replacement for VLOOKUP — use it.
2. IF / IFS
Conditional logic. =IFS(A2>100, "high", A2>50, "medium", TRUE, "low"). IFS handles multiple conditions cleaner than nested IFs.
3. SUMIF / COUNTIF / AVERAGEIF
Sum, count, or average rows that meet a condition. =SUMIF(A:A, "Pakistan", B:B) sums column B where column A equals "Pakistan."
4. ARRAYFORMULA
Apply a formula to an entire column without dragging. =ARRAYFORMULA(A2:A * B2:B) computes the product of every row in one cell. Massively reduces formula bloat.
5. SPLIT
Break a cell on a delimiter. =SPLIT(A2, " ") turns "John Smith" into "John" and "Smith" in adjacent cells.
6. CONCATENATE / JOIN
Glue values together. =A2 & " " & B2 or =JOIN(", ", A2:A10).
7. UNIQUE
Get distinct values from a range. =UNIQUE(A2:A100). Combine with COUNTIF to count occurrences of each.
8. SORT and FILTER
=SORT(A2:C100, 3, FALSE) sorts a range by column 3 descending. =FILTER(A2:C100, B2:B100 = "active") returns only matching rows.
9. GOOGLEFINANCE
Live financial data. =GOOGLEFINANCE("USDPKR") returns the current USD-to-PKR rate.
10. IMPORTRANGE
Pull data from one Google Sheet into another. =IMPORTRANGE("sheet_url", "Sheet1!A:Z"). Powerful for splitting team data across multiple Sheets.
Master these ten and you cover roughly 90% of real spreadsheet work in offices and freelance contexts.