Smart Chips are dynamic previews of information inserted into Google Sheets cells. They can represent people, files, dates, events, and other items.
The added benefit of using Smart Chips is that you can extract extra data from them, such as an email address from a People Smart Chip or the creator of a YouTube video for a YouTube Smart Chip.
Contents
Different Types of Smart Chips
This table shows the different types of Chips, their appearance, and the additional data they can store.
| Type | Source | Appearance | Data Extractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Google Calendar |  | Summary URL Description Start date End date Organizer Attendees Location |
| File | Google Drive |  | File name MIME Type URL Creation Time Last Modified By Last Modified Time Owner |
| Finance | Google Finance |  | Extractions are not available. Use the GOOGLEFINANCE function. |
| People | Google Contacts |  | Name Phone Title Location |
| Place | Google Maps |  | Location URL |
| YouTube | YouTube |  | Video URL |
How to Create Smart Chips
Using the @ Symbol
To quickly add Smart Chips in Google Sheets, simply type the “@” symbol followed by the chip’s content. For example, to insert a Place Smart Chip, you would type “@” followed by the location. As you type, a list of suggestions will appear. Select the desired chip to insert it into the cell.
The example above is a Place Chip. Start with the @ sign, then type the place’s name, which in this case is the New York Stock Exchange. After Google Sheets correctly auto-fills the place, press enter. Google Sheets converts the location into a Smart Chip. You can tell because Google Sheets places a grey pill-shaped background behind the text.
Now, if you hover the mouse over the Place Chip, you will get a preview of the location provided by Google Maps.
These previews, unique to each type of Smart Chip, provide a glimpse of extra information available. In this case, the Google Sheets sidebar will provide directions once you give it a starting point.
Although a Place Chip adds extra functionality, it still allows the data to be used in other ways. For example, a list of starting and ending Place Chips would still work in our TripTally add-on for calculating driving distance and times.
⚠️ The YouTube Smart Chip is not available from the @ menu. To insert one, you must convert existing video URLs using the technique discussed below.
Convert Existing Data
Cells can also be converted to Smart Chips after the data is entered. However, you can only convert certain types of data. For example, an address must be a Google Maps link. Following is a list of data eligible for conversion to a Smart Chip.
| Smart Chip Type | Data |
|---|---|
| People | Email address |
| File | Google Drive file link |
| Event | Google Calendar event link |
| Place | Google Maps link |
| Finance | Google Finance entity (i.e. ticker symbol) |
| YouTube | YouTube video link |
Using Place Chips as an example, start with a Google Maps links. Go to maps.google.com, click on a location, and click the share button to get the link. The share button brings up a window with the link ready to be copied.
Once you have these links in your spreadsheet, you can convert them to Place Chips by hovering over them with the mouse pointer and clicking “Chip.”
Your Google Maps link is a now Place Chip instead of a plain text string.
Benefits of Using Smart Chips
Smart Chips offer several benefits, including:
- Increased accuracy: Smart Chips are a form of data validation. The Google Service only suggests valid matches as you type. For example, you won’t misspell the name of a contact if a Person Smart Chip matches it to an existing entry in Google Contacts.
- Improved efficiency: Smart Chips store multiple points of data in one cell. It provides a cleaner interface with fewer columns.
- Extended functionality: Smart Chips hold additional information that can be pulled from the Chip with special notation or the menus. Read more about data extraction.
Conclusion
Smart Chips are a powerful tool that can help you improve the accuracy, efficiency, and functionality of your work in Google Sheets. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to use them in your spreadsheets.