Book Tracker Dashboard Spreadsheet

About this template

This book tracker keeps your whole library in one tab and works out what to read next. It is for readers who follow series, set a yearly reading challenge and want to see how big the unread pile has quietly become.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Nothing on the dashboard is typed. Pick the full year or any month and the whole page follows.

• Five live cards for books, pages, hours, rating and challenge, each with month-by-month bars
• The reading year: pages read each month, with the books you finished on top
• Genres ranked by what you actually read, with each genre's share, and your top authors counted
• Currently reading: up to three books on the go, with your page and how far in you are
• Reading challenge: books read against your goal, how far ahead you are and what you need each week
• Ratings by stars, formats from paperback to audiobook, and challenge pace against your goal

One library, nine tabs reading it

The Library tab holds up to 400 books, each with title, author, series, pages, price, where it came from and a status. Nine other tabs read it, and nothing is typed twice.

• Series tracker: the lowest-numbered book you have not read is named for every series, and it says plainly when the next one is not on your shelf yet. It moves the moment you mark a book finished.
• Challenge: ahead or behind today, not on the 31st of December, with books a week, pages a day and the date you finish at your current pace
• TBR tracker: books waiting, counted and priced, so you see the money already sitting on the shelf. The demo has nineteen of them.
• By Genre: share measured in pages, with ratings and spend
• Reading log: optional daily pages and minutes, with pages an hour
• Monthly: finished, pages, hours and average rating
• Wishlist: the total against what is left in your book budget
• Days per book, calculated from the dates you already type

Light and dark editions

Every download includes a light edition and a dark mode template edition. Every tab is restyled, not only the dashboard, and both use the same formulas. Each comes filled with a worked example of 62 books, 41 read this year and three series on the go, and as a blank copy, in Excel and in Google Sheets. The file has no cover images and no ISBN lookup, which is why it needs no subscription.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016 or later, on Windows or Mac. There is no formula in it that Excel 2016 cannot read.
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros and no add-ins, so it behaves the same on Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365 and in LibreOffice
• No subscription

What you download

• Light edition: the Excel workbook filled with a worked example, and a blank one
• Dark edition: the same two files in the dark design
• The instruction guide, with one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (light and dark, filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work in Excel or Google Sheets?

Both. The Excel workbooks run on Excel 2016 or later on Windows or Mac with no Microsoft 365 needed, and the instruction guide has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions.

How does it know the next book in a series?

It finds the lowest-numbered book in each series that you have not read and names it. If that book is not in your library yet, it says so.

How does the reading challenge work?

Set a yearly goal and it compares what you have read with where you should be today, then shows the books a week and pages a day needed from here.

Does it show book covers?

No. There are no cover images and no ISBN lookup, which keeps it working without a subscription.

What is the difference between the light and dark editions?

Only the look. Both have the same tabs and formulas, and both come in every download.