Google Sheets Updates & Release Notes

Announcement

OAuth 2.0 clients calling the Google Sheets Model Context Protocol (MCP) server are required to have Use this client for an AI-powered agent selected in Google Auth Platform > Clients.

Starting November 11, 2026, Google Workspace MCP servers will reject requests from any app or integration whose OAuth client is not marked as agentic by selecting Use this client for an AI-powered agent. OAuth clients that are not marked as agentic by November 12, 2026 will remain non-agentic and can't call Google Workspace MCP servers. To use MCP after this date, you will need to create a new OAuth client marked as agentic and update your app to use it.

Apps and integrations that are not AI agents, like those that only call Google Workspace REST APIs, are not affected by this change. If an existing OAuth client is used for both AI agent and non-agent features, create a separate OAuth client for the AI agent and mark only that client as agentic. Keep the existing client for your non-agent features.

The Google Sheets MCP server is available as part of the Developer Preview Program. For instructions on configuring an OAuth 2.0 client for the Google Sheets MCP server, see Set up the Google Sheets MCP server and Manage OAuth Clients.

Google Sheets now supports new types of stock charts, making it easier to visualize price movement over time. Stock charts condense several price points for each time period into a single marker, so you can read a security's full trading range at a glance rather than interpreting separate line series. Users can create and customize the following stock chart types:

• High-Low-Close (HLC): plots the highest price, lowest price, and closing price for each period, showing both the trading range and where the period settled
• Open-High-Low-Close (OHLC): adds the opening price, so you can see the full session in one marker and immediately tell whether the period closed up or down

Both types are built for the workflows financial analysts already run in Sheets, from tracking equities and commodities to building valuation models on historical price data.

Sheets stock chart support also comes with enhanced Microsoft Excel import compatibility. Previously, importing Excel files containing stock charts into Sheets would result in these charts being dropped entirely, forcing analysts to rebuild them manually. Now, HLC and OHLC stock charts are accurately preserved when moving files between Excel and Sheets.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding and editing a chart in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 5, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 22, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Add & edit a chart or graph

Feature

Developer Preview: The

Google Sheets Model Context Protocol (MCP) server now supports reading and managing spreadsheet comments:

Include comments when retrieving a spreadsheet by setting the optional commentsIncluded field on the

get_spreadsheet

tool.

Create, reply to, resolve or reopen, update, and delete comments and replies using the

update_spreadsheet

tool with the insertComment, addCommentReply, updateCommentPost, deleteComment, and deleteCommentReply operations.

To learn more, see Configure the Sheets MCP server and the Sheets MCP tool reference.

Feature

Developer Preview: The

Google Sheets Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and its reference documentation include the following updates:

Added the optional fields (field mask) and ranges (A1 or R1C1 notation) parameters to

get_spreadsheet.

Added the optional writeControl (WriteControl with requiredRevisionId) parameter to

update_spreadsheet,

along with inline request schemas in tool descriptions across the Sheets MCP reference pages.

Expanded the Tool Annotations section across tool reference pages with definitions of readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, and openWorldHint.

To learn more, see Configure the Sheets MCP server and the Sheets MCP tool reference.

Feature

Generally Available: You can now programmatically read, create, and manage comments in Google Sheets with the Google Sheets API. This includes:

• Reading comment threads and anchors by setting commentsViewMode in spreadsheets.get or spreadsheets.getByDataFilter.
• Creating comment threads and replying to comment threads using InsertCommentRequest and AddCommentReplyRequest.
• Modifying existing comment and reply posts using UpdateCommentPostRequest.
• Deleting comments and replies using DeleteCommentRequest and DeleteCommentReplyRequest.

For more information, see Manage comments.

Google Sheets now supports custom sorting and manual reordering in pivot tables. Users can now drag and drop rows and columns on a pivot table to match specific presentation needs and custom business hierarchies, rather than being restricted to standard ascending or descending alphanumeric order. This launch includes the following capabilities:

• On-grid drag-and-drop: Directly grab and move individual row or column headers with clear drop-zone indicators
• Multi-item reordering: Select and reposition multiple rows or columns simultaneously
• Hierarchical preservation: Automatically move nested child items alongside parent fields, maintaining structure across expand and collapse actions
• Persistent sort states: Preserve custom arrangements across browser sessions, data refreshes, filtering, and layout adjustments

This update also delivers significant improvements for Microsoft Excel file interoperability. Previously, when importing Microsoft Excel workbooks containing pivot tables with manual or custom sort orders, Google Sheets defaulted back to ascending or descending order. Now, imported spreadsheets retain their pivot tables with the exact custom sort order preserved. Furthermore, exporting workbooks back to Microsoft Excel retains these sorted orders for seamless roundtrip compatibility.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing pivot tables in Google Sheets or creating and using pivot tables in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 22, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 5, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Create & use pivot tables
• Google Docs Editors Help: Customize pivot tables

We’re introducing a new manual calculation setting in Google Sheets to give you precise control over when formulas and other references update. The new manual calculation setting allows editors of complex or data-dense spreadsheets to pause automatic recalculation, batch their edits, and trigger a sheet-wide update at the exact moment they are ready to review the results.

Manual calculation offers users of especially complex Sheets a more streamlined, uninterrupted workspace for advanced analytical workflows. This feature is particularly useful for things like:

• Uninterrupted high-volume updates: When pasting or modifying large blocks of data in spreadsheets containing extensive formula networks (such as multi-sheet lookups and aggregations), you can enter all updates smoothly without intermediate recalculations running after every action.
• Structured scenario modeling: When adjusting multiple assumption drivers in financial or forecasting models, you can input your variables sequentially and recalculate once. This ensures you only view the complete, final state of the scenario rather than partial, intermediate calculations.
• Stabilizing volatile simulations: For spreadsheets utilizing volatile functions (such as random generators or live timestamps), manual calculation lets you freeze the data state so your numbers remain stable while you analyze results or present insights to key stakeholders.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user by navigating to File > Settings > Calculation Settings in their Sheet. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 21, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers

Resources

• Google Help: Set a spreadsheet’s location & calculation settings

Workday for Google Sheets

Workday for Google Sheets is a new add-on available in the Google Workspace Marketplace that connects Workday Adaptive Planning directly to Google Sheets and Slides. Deeply integrated with the AI-powered “Ask Workday” feature in Adaptive Planning, this add-on eliminates the need for manual CSV downloads. Financial analysts and business leaders can build dynamic reports, perform ad-hoc variance analysis, and maintain complete data integrity without leaving Google Sheets. Shorten planning cycles and surface strategic insights faster with key AI-driven features including:

• Natural language summaries and variance analysis: Ask questions or use suggested prompts to get instant summaries, compare plan versions against actuals, and break down performance drivers across time periods and custom dimensions.
• Automated anomaly detection: Automatically identify unexpected data points, outliers, and trend shifts across account hierarchies to quickly focus attention on critical variances.
• Smart visualizations: View AI-generated charts and tables based on custom queries, switch visualization formats on the fly, copy findings into new spreadsheet tabs for further ad-hoc work, or export directly into Google Slides.
• Dynamic ad-hoc reporting: Pull live Adaptive Planning accounts, dimensions, and time periods into Google Sheets, with the flexibility to rearrange elements and refresh reports at any time to reflect the latest model updates.

Getting started

• Admins: Workday admins need to enable Workday for Google Sheets and Ask Workday for Adaptive Planning access in Adaptive Planning under Administration > Permission Sets, then confirm SSO and Tenant settings. Once complete, Google Workspace admins will go to the Google Workspace Marketplace and click on install for the appropriate users, groups, or organizational units. Visit the Help Center to learn more about installing marketplace apps for your organization.
• End users: Once installed by their administrators, users can open any Google Sheet and click on Extensions > Workday for Google Sheets > Workday to sign in. Read any onboarding instructions from your Workday and Google administrators before building your first Adaptive Planning Report in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts (Workday Adaptive Planning license required)

Resources

• Workday: Unified Planning AI Capabilities
• Workday: Install Workday for Google Sheets
• Workday: Build Adaptive Planning Reports in Google Sheets
• Workday: Use “Ask Workday” in Google Sheets
• Google Workspace Marketplace: Workday for Google Sheets
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Installing Marketplace Apps for your organization

We’re committed to continuously improving Sheets to ensure it is a powerful, responsive, and scalable spreadsheet tool for your needs. To that end, we’ve increased the cell limit in Google Sheets from up to 10 million cells to up to 20 million cells. This limit applies to new, existing, and imported files.

Whether you are building a new spreadsheet from scratch, expanding an existing workbook, or importing large datasets from Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or CSV files, Google Sheets now supports up to 20 million cells per spreadsheet.

Coming soon, we also plan to increase the file byte size limit for imported spreadsheets, making it easier to bring extensive datasets from other spreadsheet formats directly into Google Sheets.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: There is no end-user setting for this feature. The expanded limit will apply automatically when creating, expanding, or importing spreadsheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 10, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 28, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Help Center: Files you can store in Google Drive
• Google Workspace Updates Blog: Faster performance and doubled cell limits in Google Sheets

We are introducing a new, dedicated formula editor dialog for creating and editing calculated fields within pivot tables in Google Sheets. This update streamlines how you build custom formulas and derived metrics, making data analysis faster and more accurate.

Specifically, this new update introduces:

• A dedicated formula editor dialog for creating and modifying custom calculations
• Field selection menus to insert column names without manual typing
• Real-time syntax and formula validation to catch errors before applying changes

Previously, creating calculated fields in Google Sheets required entering formulas into inline sidebar cards, which involved manual typing of exact field names and lacked live error checking. With this update, calculated fields can be created and managed with greater speed and accuracy, ensuring formulas remain consistent and easy to maintain across spreadsheets.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating and using pivot tables in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) started on September 8, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 21, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Create & use pivot tables

Google Sheets now supports the full Google Fonts web font library directly within charts. Users can now select “More fonts” from any font dropdown inside the chart editor sidebar to search, add, and apply custom web fonts across key chart text elements. This expanded font support is available for:

• Chart titles and subtitles
• Horizontal and vertical axis titles and labels
• Data labels
• Legend text

Additionally, this launch enhances import and export compatibility with Microsoft Excel to preserve a wider range of fonts across both platforms. Previously, importing Excel files containing charts with custom fonts would result in missing or fallback font substitutions. Now, custom fonts present in both platforms are seamlessly preserved during file import and export, ensuring visual consistency and brand fidelity when moving spreadsheets between Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding and editing a chart in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 1, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 21, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Add & edit a chart or graph

Google Sheets now supports grouped field persistence for pivot tables. When you create custom groupings or work with grouped date, time, or numeric fields, these fields are now retained directly in the pivot table editor sidebar as reusable source fields. This allows you to unassign grouped fields from your active table layout without losing their underlying configuration, making it easy to re-add or modify them at any time.

Additionally, this update improves interoperability with Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) files. Previously, when importing Microsoft Excel files containing pivot tables with grouped fields into Google Sheets, those custom groupings were dropped from the field list, requiring manual recreation. With this update, grouped field configurations are accurately preserved when importing/exporting spreadsheet files.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing pivot tables in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 25, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 14, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Create & use pivot tables
• Google Docs Editors Help: Customize pivot tables

We’re excited to launch Sheets canvas, a new Gemini-powered capability that transforms your spreadsheets into custom, interactive, read-write applications using simple natural language prompts. It acts as a dynamic visualization layered directly on top of your spreadsheet data, allowing you and your team to work in layouts that best fit your workflows.

Whether you need to coordinate cross-functional deliverables or present core insights from dense data to an executive team, Sheets canvas can deliver the visual tool for the job. Key capabilities include:

• End-to-end creation: Build an advanced visualization with a single natural language prompt without requiring coding, formulas, or third-party tools.
• Fully read-write: Changes made in the canvas, such as dragging task cards or adding new entries, instantly update your source sheet. Likewise, any updates to the source sheet reflect in your canvas in real time.
• Flexible adjustments: Continue to polish and refine your Sheets canvas by prompting Gemini to make edits to layout, design, functionality, and more.
• Familiar sharing tools: Because Sheets canvas is built directly inside Google Sheets, it inherits the same sharing settings as your spreadsheet, making it effortless to collaborate in real time.

For example, if you’re a financial analyst working out of a budget spreadsheet, you can ask Gemini to “Build an interactive dashboard that helps me analyze how different cost drivers impact a quarterly budget.” If you’re an operations lead overseeing logistics, you can simply prompt Gemini to “Create a custom tracker to visualize regional field assignments.”

Users can build a wide variety of applications with Sheets canvas. Here are just a few examples:

Kanban board: Group tasks by workflow stage, and drag and drop cards to update progress in real time

Dashboard: Create a financial forecasting model with dynamic scenario planning

Whiteboard: Conduct a virtual brainstorming session with sticky notes

Note: This feature is currently only available on the web to accounts with language set to English.

Getting started

• Admins: This feature will be available by default to users with Gemini in Sheets enabled. Use our Help Center to learn more about managing access to Gemini features in Workspace services.
• End users: You must have Workspace smart features enabled to take advantage of these features. Eligible users will see the Gemini icon in the Sheets side panel. Simply describe the spreadsheet or edit you need to begin collaborating. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a Sheets canvas.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 10, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2026

Availability

• Business: Business Standard and Plus
• Enterprise: Enterprise Standard and Plus
• Consumer: Google AI Pro and Ultra Education
• Add-ons: Google AI Pro for Education AI Add-ons: AI Expanded Access

Note: Creating and editing Sheets canvases is subject to per-user usage limits. See the Help Center for more information.

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Create a Sheets canvas
• Google Admin Help: Set smart features & controls on or off for users

Google Workspace is introducing two usability enhancements to Connected Sheets to improve data presentation and give more flexibility when analyzing BigQuery data.

List parameters

When writing a query, users can reference multiple values in a single list parameter by selecting a grid range in a sheet. Each cell will function as a unique value in the list. This enables more flexible or robust querying based on values already in the sheet. For example, this feature allows data admins and power users to configure input sheets that allow collaborators or end users to easily select options via drop-down or in the sheet for advanced filtering without needing to modify the underlying query. As a result, more users can independently self-serve insights and interact with Connected Sheets.

Column aliasing

Users can create aliases for BigQuery column names directly within the Connected Sheet. Database column names can sometimes be unwieldy or lack contextual information for broader audience readability. Aliasing provides a way to substitute presentation-ready labels in the Connected Sheets interface without altering the underlying database reference. Users can continue to refer to columns by either the new alias or the original name in formulas and inputs.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using BigQuery data in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Rolling out now, with expected completion by August 15, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Get started with BigQuery data in Google Sheets

We’re introducing two key improvements in Google Sheets that preserve formatting and linked data when converting files from Microsoft Excel. First, Excel tables will now seamlessly import as Sheets tables. Second, Sheets now fully supports importing Excel pivot tables that are backed by table ranges.

Previously, when converting Excel files, Excel tables did not import as Sheets tables, causing users to miss out on the structural and formatting benefits of tables, and pivot tables linked to tables were replaced with static grids. These updates ensure your data structures remain intact and beautifully formatted upon import. Most importantly, your imported spreadsheets will be ready to use right away, no manual reconstruction needed.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for both features.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using tables in Google Sheets or using pivot tables in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

Table imports

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now

Linked pivot table imports

• Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 11, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Use tables in Google Sheets
• Google Docs Editors Help: Create & use pivot tables

Google Sheets now supports creating and editing scatter charts with multiple independent x-series. This update allows users to map separate data series to their own unique x-axis, rather than forcing all series in a single chart to share the same horizontal axis domain.

Additionally, this feature improves import and export compatibility with Microsoft Excel. Previously, importing Excel files with multiple x-series scatter charts into Google Sheets would drop the extra axes and revert to a single x-axis. Now, these configurations are accurately preserved when moving spreadsheets between platforms.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding and editing a chart in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 29, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 14, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Add & edit a chart or graph