Quickly copy or move existing files into folders within Google drive via a Google Sheet.
Quickly copy or move existing files into folders via a Google Sheet
The following Google Apps Script tool allows you to quickly copy or move existing files into existing folders within Google/Shared drive. This is quite a niche tool so it is anticipated you would already have a Google Sheet of file IDs/URLs, though there is the option to select an existing Drive folder of files and automatically bring them into this tool.
You can continue to append further rows to the Google Sheet as existing ones will be skipped once the ‘Status’ column has automatically been marked as ‘Completed’. Alternatively you can clear the Sheet each time for a fresh start.
I use Google Apps Script to support staff and students in my job. I enjoy dabbling with creating tools to help with automation and I freely share my learning experiences on my blog, where I also have a number of useful Google Add-ons: www.pbainbridge.co.uk
Chanel Greco is back with Episode 12 of the Google Workspace Developer News. An exciting update is that Google Sheets now supports smart chips for link previews to third-party resources. This now allows developers to create Google Workspace Add-ons that can pull information from their app directly into Sheets.
Other updates include:
The Chat API can now create announcement spaces and read/update space permissions.
New widgets for card-based Chat app interfaces are generally available.
Chat API Space & Membership management with App Authentication is available for Developer Preview Program members.
The Chat API can manage custom emoji when enabled for a Workspace organization.
The Meet Add-ons SDK can now retrieve the meetingCode property of an ongoing meeting.
More details including links to the documentation are included in the YouTube description.
Google recently announced an open beta of the new Policy API. This new API now means developers can read a number of Google Workspace Admin settings programmatically, including those applied at an OU and group level.
This API provides access to the settings that are part of the recommendations published in CISA’s Google Workspace secure configuration baseline, with plans to increase the coverage and functionality of the API.
Additionally, GAM7, the recent merge of GAM and GAM-ADV, has been updated with the ability to read policy data, further streamlining policy management tasks.
Automate publication of your script from development to production easier.
This post by Stéphane Giron provides a CI/CD solution for Google Apps Script, which makes it easy for you to automate the deployment of Apps Script code from a development version to production. The solution uses the Apps Script API to manage versions and streamline the code copying process.
Stéphane has previously created a backup solution for Google Apps Script code, but it lacked version control and multi-file support. This new CI/CD solution addresses these limitations by using the Apps Script API to handle version management and the publication process.
The post includes the necessary code and configuration for implementing this solution. To use this solution you will need to enable the Apps Script API and as well as setting up your project with a standard Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Project.
As a bonus the solution also allows you the option of restoring previous versions of your deployed script, providing a rollback mechanism in case of errors or issues. This solution is lighter weight than other CI/CD setups featured in Pulse, but is easier to set up, providing a practical approach to implementing CI/CD for Google Apps Script projects and enhancing code management and deployment processes.
Recently, I worked on a project with a client who needed to parse XML files and convert them to JSON. Simple enough, right? The catch? These XML files were massive — each containing hundreds or even thousands of trades. Naturally, the first thing I thought of was Google Apps Script’s built-in XMLService. It’s reliable, widely used, and integrates smoothly into Apps Script. But when I ran it on a file with 1,000 trades, the parsing took 45 seconds! That’s painfully slow for an automation process.
[Editor: In a recent blog post, Dmitry Kostyuk has shared a valuable tip for developers working with Google Apps Script. When faced with the task of parsing large XML files, he discovered that the built-in XMLService was causing significant slowdowns. For files containing thousands of records, the parsing process could take an agonizing 45 seconds.
Dmitry’s solution? Using his Apps Script Engine (ASE) and the xml-js NPM library. By making this switch, he was able to achieve a remarkable 10x increase in parsing speed, reducing the 45-second process to only 4 seconds.
If you’re working with Google Apps Script and large XML files, click the source post link to find out how you can give ASE and xml-js a try!]
Google Apps Script offers Document service for basic document tasks and Google Docs API for advanced control, requiring more technical expertise. This report bridges the gap with sample scripts to unlock the API’s potential.
Kanshi Tanaike’s latest blog post, “Unlocking Power: Leverage the Google Docs API Beyond Apps Script’s Document Service,” is a great read for Google Workspace developers. It offers a goldmine of code snippets that will supercharge your Google Docs projects. Tanaike highlights the advantages of using the Google Docs API for more advanced features and flexibility compared to the standard Apps Script DocumentApp Service. Even though the API requires a bit more technical know-how, Tanaike provides clear, practical examples to get you started.
Some of the sample snippets include:
Changing page orientation (portrait to landscape and vice versa)
Kanshi Tanaike’s post serves as a valuable resource for developers looking to expand their Google Docs capabilities. Hopefully with these sample scripts, you can start unlocking new levels of automation and customization in your Google Doc projects.
To delve deeper into the world of Google Docs API, follow the source link post.
We’re all used to dealing with iterables such as Arrays, Maps and Sets. Creating a collection of input items, transforming then outputting is what we do all the time. However, sometimes that’s not possible – for example, where we have a potentially large input data set of unknown size that would be too big to fit in memory, or perhaps an output method with rate limits. Dealing with items 1 by 1, despite being by far the simplest to code, is often the least efficient to execute – so we use a paging method to get an input chunk at a time, and a bulk method to flush out the transformed results.
All of that can get a bit tricky, especially if you add asynchronicity into the mix.The use of iterators and generators can make coding as simple as 1 in -> 1 out, while handling chunking and bulking automagically. In this article, we’ll look at how to implement these.
In this blog post, Bruce Mcpherson explores the use of iterators and generators in JavaScript and how these can be used in Google Apps Script. A generator is a special type of function that can be paused and resumed at any point, yielding values one at a time. This is unlike regular functions that return all their results at once. Generators can be useful for handling large datasets efficiently by processing items in chunks and outputting results in bulk, even when dealing with asynchronous operations.
While Apps Script doesn’t natively support generators, Bruce has found a handy converter published by Facebook to make them compatible. As part of the post Bruce includes some Apps Script samples you can test and modify, demonstrating how to apply these techniques in real-world scenarios, even within the limitations of the platform. Bruce provides clear explanations of these concepts, illustrated with practical examples like finding breweries near specific locations and well worth spending the time to digest.
Steven Bazyl, Head of Google Workspace Developer Relations, recently distributed a survey aimed at getting feedback on the Google Workspace platform. This is your chance to influence the future of the platform.
The survey is short and focuses on key areas like:
Overall satisfaction with Workspace Platform as a development environment
Your experiences with specific Workspace components (Meet, Chat, Gmail, Drive, Editors)
The biggest challenges you face in Workspace development
Your suggestions for improvements
By sharing your insights you have an opportunity to help shape the platform to better meet your needs and make your development workflows more efficient. I would encourage you to complete the survey (it only takes a few minutes) and share with other Google Workspace developers.
Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard as this is the final week that the survey is open!
Quickly append new permissions to existing files within Google Drive. Insert email addresses using a comma-space format with optional notifications.
Quickly append new file permissions via a Google Sheet
The following Google Apps Script tool allows you to quickly append new permissions to existing files within Google/Shared drive. This is quite a niche tool so it is anticipated you would already have a Google Sheet of file IDs/URLs, though there is the option to select an existing Drive folder of files and automatically bring them into this tool.
By inserting email addresses using a comma-and-space format you can optionally select to send a notification email to the new user(s)
You can continue to append further rows to the Google Sheet as existing ones will be skipped once the ‘Status’ column has automatically been marked as ‘Completed’. Alternatively you can clear the Sheet each time for a fresh start.
I use Google Apps Script to support staff and students in my job. I enjoy dabbling with creating tools to help with automation and I freely share my learning experiences on my blog, where I also have a number of useful Google Add-ons: www.pbainbridge.co.uk
Learn how to easily export your WooCommerce customers email, name and address to Google Sheets using Google Apps Script. The script will create a new tab in your Google Sheet and copy the data from the WooCommerce customers table.
If you are a WooCommerce store owner you might be interested in this solution by Amit Agarwal who provides a step-by-step guide on how to export WooCommerce customer data (email, name, address) to Google Sheets using Google Apps Script.
No more manual CSV exports or complex integrations, simply copy the provided script and follow the setup instructions. With this solution you can enhance your workflows, gain insights, and enhance your customer outreach. If you are not an existing WooCommerce user a solution for developers to keep in mind if you are seeking to optimise your Google Workspace add-ons customer experience.
