Pick your most haunted formula — the inherited one you've never understood — and paste it (just the formula) into your AI tool with: "Explain step by step in plain English, then tell me what would break it."
Read the explanation twice. That cold spot in the spreadsheet is now just... math, explained. Total time: three minutes, including the part where you realize it was never as complicated as it looked.
Prompt Pack: Spreadsheets
I'm in [EXCEL / GOOGLE SHEETS]. My layout: [DESCRIBE COLUMNS, e.g., 'A = dates, B = category names, C = amounts']. Give me a formula that [WHAT YOU WANT IN ENGLISH]. Tell me where to put it and explain it in one sentence.
Explain this inherited formula step by step in plain English, then list what would break it: [PASTE FORMULA]
This formula [PASTE] is returning [ERROR or WRONG RESULT]. The columns involved contain [DESCRIBE TYPES]. List the likely causes in order of probability and how to check each.
I have a messy sheet: [DESCRIBE PROBLEMS GENERICALLY, e.g., 'names formatted three different ways, blank rows, dates as text']. Without seeing the data, give me a step-by-step cleanup plan using built-in features, in the order that avoids creating new problems.
I need to present [WHAT THE DATA SHOWS, e.g., 'monthly spending across five categories over a year'] to [AUDIENCE]. Which chart type fits best and why? What's the most common mistake with that chart, and what should the title say if I want it to make a point?
Help me design a spreadsheet to track [GENERIC PURPOSE, e.g., 'office supply orders']: what columns, what formats, which totals or checks to build in, and one tip to keep it from degrading into a mess after six months.
Teach me [ONE CONCEPT, e.g., 'what VLOOKUP does'] like a patient colleague: plain English, a tiny example with made-up numbers, and a 'when you'd actually use this' line. Then quiz me with one practice question.