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What are some important features of an electronic spreadsheet?

In short, different features will become important depending on the objective for the spreadsheet. Electronic spread sheets are useful tools for organizing and assessing many kinds of information. In a spreadsheet, data, or pieces of information, are organized in such a way that they can be analyzed together. Spreadsheets allow us to organize data in such a way that we can use either human or computer-based tools to perform that analysis. 


The most important parts of a spreadsheet generally relate back to the organizational structure of the data. We want the information in a spreadsheet to be organized in a way that allows for streamlined analysis. At the very least, we want the data's organization to be consistent so that every piece of data is recorded in the same way.


Depending on what we want to do with the information, various analytical features of the spreadsheet may become important. For example, one tool that receives high use in computer-based spreadsheets is the SUM formula feature, which adds up the values in a range of cells. Other high-use features include the ability to summon values from various cell locations within the spreadsheet. This feature makes spreadsheet data responsive: a change that affects one cell will ripple through other cells that are also affected. This feature saves time and increases accuracy, as fewer manual changes are required throughout the spreadsheet.

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