Spreadsheets Guide

Feature overview

How it works

1. Add a spreadsheet to your hangout. Choose a template or start blank.
2. Collaborate—everyone with access can view or edit (you control permissions).
3. Share the link—guests see the sheet without creating an account.

What you can use spreadsheets for

Spreadsheets are flexible enough to handle almost any group coordination task that needs rows, columns, and free-form data. Here are the most common uses:

• Guest lists: Track RSVPs, meal choices, dietary restrictions, plus-ones, and contact info. Perfect for weddings, birthday parties, and dinner events.
• Budgets: Log planned vs. actual spending for trips, events, or group projects. Pair with the expense tracker for a complete financial picture.
• Packing lists: Group trips benefit from a shared packing checklist. Mark items as packed, note who is responsible for shared gear, and avoid bringing three hair dryers.
• Seating charts: Map out tables, assign guests, and track meal selections. Essential for weddings and formal dinners.
• Tournament brackets: Track standings, scores, and matchups for game nights or sports leagues.

If you have data to import from another source, you can bring it into a Brunchie spreadsheet directly.

Potluck sign-ups: use a checklist instead

If you are running a potluck, a checklist is the right tool—not a spreadsheet.

Claim a dish before someone else brings a third bag of chips.

What it is: Brunchie's checklist lets every guest see who has claimed what and tap to take a slot. One screen, no back-and-forth in the group chat.

Why it beats a spreadsheet here: A spreadsheet with editable cells works great when you need free-form data. For potluck sign-ups, you actually want the opposite—a locked list where each item disappears from the "available" view once someone claims it. Checklists do exactly that. A spreadsheet will have two people bringing lasagne by midnight.

So what changes for you: Open the Checklists tab on your hangout, create a checklist called "Potluck Sign-Up," add one item per dish slot, and share the hangout. Guests tap to claim. You get live visibility into who still owes you a side dish. No pivot table required.

Personal note: we built the checklist path after watching a group trip fall apart over a shared Google Sheet that three people were editing simultaneously on mobile. The merge conflicts were real. The duplicate desserts were also real.

Common spreadsheet templates

Brunchie includes pre-built templates so you do not have to start from scratch:

• Guest List: Columns for Name, Email, RSVP Status, Meal Choice, Dietary Notes, Plus-One. Great for any event with formal invitations.
• Budget Tracker: Columns for Date, Category, Description, Amount, Paid By, Status. Use it alongside the expense tracker for full visibility.
• Packing List: Columns for Item, Category, Assigned To, Packed. Shared across the group so everyone knows what is covered.
• Seating Chart: Columns for Table, Seat, Guest Name, Meal, Notes. Works for weddings, galas, and any seated event.

Templates are fully editable. Add columns, rename headers, or rearrange rows to fit your needs.

For real-world examples of wedding budget tracking, see our wedding budget spreadsheet blog post.

Who can see and edit each one

Every spreadsheet, checklist, and seating chart carries its own visibility setting, so you decide — per item — who sees it and who can change it. There are three audience states, each shown by a badge on the resource card:

• Hosts only — hidden from guests entirely. Use it for the budget, the vendor tracker, anything with numbers guests shouldn't see. Guests don't see a locked sheet; they don't see it at all. Only the host team knows it's there.
• View only — everyone invited sees it, read-only. Use it for the seating chart guests need to find their table, or a schedule they shouldn't edit.
• Editable — everyone invited can add and change rows. Use it for the packing list or the potluck checklist where people claim their own line.

The badge shows each one's current state at a glance, so you never have to wonder whether the budget is exposed. Change it any time by tapping the badge — the new setting applies live to everyone viewing.

A couple of specifics worth knowing:

• Seating charts always stay at least guest-viewable, because guests need to find their seat — so the hosts-only option is off for seating.
• If a guest or vendor uploads something and marks it Hosts only, they keep access to their own item; its badge reads "Me and the host only."

Guests who open the hangout via a shared link see exactly what these settings allow — no account needed to view what's been shared with them. Set one sheet to Editable (the packing list) and another to Hosts only (the budget) on the same hangout; each is independent. The full who-sees-what model — the five badges, the host/vendor/guest matrix, and the composer audience picker — is in the privacy settings guide.

Use cases

• Seating charts: Table, Guest, Meal, Notes
• Trip budgets: Date, Category, Amount, Paid By
• Tournament standings: Rank, Player, Wins, Points
• Wedding planning: Vendor contacts, timeline, music requests
• Potluck sign-ups: use the Checklists tab — see section above

Tips

• Templates come pre-configured for common use cases.
• Use view-only for guests who just need to see their assignment.
• Start with a template even if you plan to customize heavily. It is faster to delete columns you do not need than to build from scratch.
• Keep one spreadsheet per purpose. A single sheet trying to track the budget, guest list, and seating chart gets cluttered fast.
• Name your spreadsheets clearly (e.g., "Trip Budget" not "Sheet 1") so group members know where to look.
• For anything where guests need to "claim" a slot rather than just read data, reach for a checklist. Spreadsheets are for data; checklists are for coordination.

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