Reading and writing cell values in Google Sheets - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are an office assistant managing a small inventory list.

📋 Request: Your manager wants you to update the stock quantities and check the current price of items quickly.

📊 Data: You have a table with item names, their current stock quantity, and price per unit.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a simple sheet where you can read the price of any item by typing its name and update the stock quantity for items.

Sample Data

Item	Stock	Price
Pen	100	1.20
Notebook	50	2.50
Eraser	75	0.80
Marker	40	1.50
Ruler	60	1.00

1

Step 1: Create a new sheet named 'Inventory'. Enter the sample data starting from cell A1 with headers: Item, Stock, Price.

Manually enter data as shown in sample_data.

Expected Result

Table with 5 items and their stock and price is visible in columns A, B, and C.

2

Step 2: In cell E1, type 'Enter Item Name'. In cell E2, type the name of an item to check its price, for example, 'Pen'.

Manually type 'Enter Item Name' in E1 and 'Pen' in E2.

Expected Result

Cell E2 contains the item name 'Pen' to look up.

3

Step 3: In cell F1, type 'Price'. In cell F2, write a formula to find the price of the item typed in E2 by searching the 'Item' column.

=VLOOKUP(E2, A2:C6, 3, FALSE)

Expected Result

Cell F2 shows 1.20, the price of 'Pen'.

4

Step 4: In cell G1, type 'Update Stock'. In cell G2, enter a new stock quantity for the item typed in E2, for example, 120.

Manually type 120 in G2.

Expected Result

Cell G2 contains the new stock quantity 120.

5

Step 5: To update the stock quantity in the table, select the stock cell corresponding to the item typed in E2 (for example, B2 for Pen) and type the new value from G2 manually or copy-paste it.

Manually replace the stock cell value with 120.

Expected Result

Stock for Pen in the table updates to 120.

6

Step 6: Test by changing the item name in E2 to 'Notebook' and observe the price in F2 updates automatically.

Change E2 to 'Notebook'. The formula in F2 remains =VLOOKUP(E2, A2:C6, 3, FALSE).

Expected Result

F2 shows 2.50, the price of Notebook.

Final Result

Inventory Sheet

| Item     | Stock | Price |
|----------|-------|-------|
| Pen      | 120   | 1.20  |
| Notebook | 50    | 2.50  |
| Eraser   | 75    | 0.80  |
| Marker   | 40    | 1.50  |
| Ruler    | 60    | 1.00  |

Lookup Section:
Enter Item Name: Pen
Price: 1.20
Update Stock: 120

✓You can read a cell value by typing the item name and using VLOOKUP to find its price.

✓You can write or update a cell value by typing a new stock number and manually updating the table.

✓This simple method helps quickly check prices and update stock in a small inventory.

Bonus Challenge

Create a formula that automatically updates the stock quantity in the table when you enter a new stock number without manual copy-pasting.

Show Hint

Use Google Sheets Apps Script or explore the FILTER and ARRAYFORMULA functions for dynamic updates.