Yesterday, I pointed to Marcin Borkowski’s tip for easily entering formulae in Org mode tables. For most of us, Org tables provide all the spreadsheet functionality we need. I don’t remember the last time I fired up an actual spreadsheet.
The other day, I found this cheat sheet for using Org tables as a spreadsheet. It by no means includes everything or replaces the manual but it’s handy to keep around while you’re learning the basics. If you work with tabular data and want to make some elementary calculations on it, a spreadsheet is the natural solution. But in most cases, using an Org table is a better solution. It’s better because you get all the advantages of Org mode, including plain text, powerful export functions, and the ability to work in a literate way.
I use this functionality all the time and without it, my workflow would be considerably less efficient. Try it and see. Once you start using Org tables as spreadsheets, you’ll keep finding new uses for them.