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Anthropic's announcement of Claude Whiteboards and Claude Sheets in beta and of Claude Dashboards becoming generally available as Claude Data, describing shared boards, spreadsheets Claude builds and edits, and data stories teams can keep editing inside Claude. The article is free to read; access to the features depends on the Claude plan.
Google's own free documentation for Apps Script, the JavaScript-based scripting language built into Google Workspace. You write code in a browser editor at script.google.com and automate Sheets, Docs, Gmail, Drive, Forms and Calendar — for example pulling job-application data into a Sheet, sending a templated follow-up email, or generating a document from a form response. The docs include quickstarts, per-service reference, triggers (time-based and event-based), and web app deployment. No install, no server, no card needed: a free personal Google account is enough. Daily quotas apply (for example a limited number of emails and script runtime per day) and a few features are Workspace-account only.
Why I recommend it: The cheapest real programming win for most people I coach: if you already live in Sheets and Gmail, Apps Script lets you automate the repetitive part of a job hunt or a small business without paying for Zapier or hosting anything. Start with a quickstart, not the reference. Two honest limits — the free quotas are generous for personal use but will stop a high-volume mailing, and scripts you copy from the web can read your whole Drive and inbox, so read the permission screen before you click Allow.
Downloadable workbook with 50 practical Excel techniques, each demonstrated in a guided worksheet you can work through at your own pace.
Why I recommend it: Spreadsheet fluency still quietly decides who gets handed the interesting work. Pick five hacks and actually use them this month.
