Spreadsheet Editor in Google Docs Gets Flexible Subtotal Function

Google Docs offers a solid set of apps for those that need something to get the job done, but the number of features built into each one has never been their strength. That said, Google is working on adding more features and functionality, to appeal to more use cases.

Google Apps' and by extension Google Docs' main selling point is simplicity and collaboration.

Everything works in a browser, no need to install anything, and everything is always accessible, as long as you have an internet connection, though even that won't be a necessity for long.

That said, there are more and more people using Docs and Google has to build features that cater to more advanced users or specific needs, if it wants to continue to grow.

Google's Eric Schmidt recently revealed that Apps has 40 million users and that 5,000 businesses are joining each day.

Granted, plenty of people use the regular version of Docs and it is possible that some Apps users don't need Docs, but the number gives you an idea of how many people Google has to satisfy.

But Google has always been the adept of small changes deployed frequently. The latest example of this is a new function in the spreadsheets editor.

"This week, we added the Subtotal function to our list of functions in Google spreadsheets," Google announced.

"One of the benefits of the Subtotal function is that it works well with AutoFilters by only using unfiltered data when performing calculations (other functions such as Sum include filtered data calculations)," it explained.

There are two big advantages to the Subtotal function, as Google notes. For one, it only takes into account data that has not been filtered, enabling you to quickly get results for various subsets of data.

The other advantage is that users can easily change the function within Subtotal, for example use AVERAGE instead of SUM. You can see a couple of examples of where Subtotal is useful in the blog post.