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.
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!
Time for an occasional update on the shared BigQuery dataset all about the Apps Script ecosystem on Github, with reports available on Looker Studio.
Bruce Mcpherson has created an October 2024 update report on Gassypedia, a shared dataset that tracks the Google Apps Script ecosystem on Github. The data is publicly available on BigQuery and Looker Studio if you want to explore yourself, but Bruce has also provided this report on trends in Apps Script usage.
Key findings from the October 2024 update include:
Growth in shared code and developers: There has been a 7% increase in the number of developers detected and a 6% increase in the number of repos and manifests shared.
Rise of Sheets Add-ons: A 10% increase in total Add-ons shared, with Sheets overtaking Gmail as the most popular type.
Increased advanced service usage: Drive remains the most popular advanced service, with an 11% increase in usage.
Library usage insights: The most popular library is oauth2, with 235 distinct users. Identifying library creators is challenging and current methods are not 100% reliable.
The report also includes detailed breakdowns of developer profiles, geographic locations, repo contents, manifest profiles, OAuth scope usage, and library usage. Overall, the data suggests that Apps Script usage on Github is growing, with more developers sharing their code and creating add-ons, web apps, and data studio connectors.
Click through to read more and see who, where and what some of the Apps Script community have been up to…
Today is a special milestone for Google Apps Script, as it marks its 15th year anniversary of its release back on August 19th, 2009! 🎉 🥂Since its release back in the day when Google Workspace was still known as Google Apps, Apps Script has been regularly leveraged by literally millions of users ranging from standard end users to professional developers and everything in between to automate and customize solutions to make their work (and play) better. 👩💻
To note the occasion, Google Technical Writer (and renown Apps Script expert & biggest fan 😍) Kara Ireland and I [Charles Maxson] put out a little YouTube Short video that we’d love to get trending to let folks see how Apps Script is still appreciated after all those years, so give it a ‘like’ and share it along if you will please 🙂
It’s that time of year again when we celebrate the launch of Google Apps Script. As well as this YouTube short from Kara Ireland and Charles Maxson there is an accompanying LinkedIn post worth checking out, particularly the comments section which has attracted responses from the great and the good, as well as some Apps Script ‘archive’ materials.
In my early days of Apps Scripting I would often be asked, would the product survive. In many ways not only has Apps Script survived but in many ways thrived. That’s not to say it’s the perfect product. There are a number of areas where I’m sure myself and others would like to see Apps Script developed.
However, I still see many positive signs that Apps Script will be supported as a product. The advent of GenAI solutions like Gemini for Workspace have opened Apps Script up to a whole new audience, not only to people who are ‘gen creators’ and able to create script solutions mainly by prompts, but also developments in GenAI solutions to write and execute code.
So Happy Birthday Apps Script and here’s to many more!
Gassypedia is a bigquery datatset and Google Looker report for analyzing on the Google Apps Script developer ecosystem on Github
The Apps Script developer ecosystem is an exciting and growing space. Bruce McPherson recently published a blog post that analyzes trends in this ecosystem using publicly available GitHub data which has been added to a BigQuery dataset.
Key findings of the post include that the number of Apps Script repositories and developers on GitHub is on the rise. There is a wide variety of Apps Script projects, including add-ons, web apps, and LookerStudio connectors. The report highlights popular OAuth scopes, advanced services, and libraries utilised by developers. It also offers insights into the geographical distribution of developers and the prevalence of tools like clasp.
Bruce acknowledges that the data is limited to public GitHub repositories, which may not be fully representative of the entire Apps Script ecosystem, but it’s nevertheless a great jumping off point if you are interested in exploring Apps Script solutions. You can access the full report via the source link.
To wrap up the first half of season 5, the Totally Unscripted crew will go back to basics and talk about the perhaps the best-kept secret in the Google Workspace universe, and that’s of course Google Apps Script! While many of our regular viewers surely know how powerful Apps Script can be, we wanted to ask the rest of the Workspace world “Why aren’t you Apps Scripting?!?”
Join us for a fun and whimsical exploration of Google Apps Script, where we’ll uncover why Apps Script is the ultimate productivity sidekick, ready to rescue you from repetitive chores and unleash your creative superpowers. No coding experience? No problem! We’ll break it down in a way that’s easy to understand, even if you’re a tech newbie.
It’s time to unlock the full potential of Google Workspace and join the Apps Script revolution. Let’s spread the word and empower everyone to automate their way to a more productive and joyful work life!
AI is changing everything and AppSheet is no exception! In this episode, we will welcome Engineering Lead Mike Procopio from the Google AppSheet team to hear how AI is driving innovation, enabling assisted app development, automated insights, smart workflows, and more! So whether you are no-code, low-code or “what’s code?”, join us to find out what the future holds for AppSheet for building powerful, intelligent apps with Google Workspace
In the next episode of Totally Unscripted*, we will welcome Engineering Lead Mike Procopio from the Google AppSheet team. Mike has in-depth knowledge of Google Workspace, you can thank Mike for simpler file upload in Google Drive launched in 2011.
As part of the session we will be asking Mike about implementing lightweight governance strategies using AppSheet policies, ensuring security and control while enabling creativity and fostering a thriving citizen development culture.
We’ll also take a look at some of the new features that are coming soon to AppSheet, including a new admin console which will be available to Core and Enterprise customers for monitoring app usage, manage user roles, and refine governance policies, as well as AppSheet’s new Google Forms integration which will soon be in public preview.
Finally, and not least, we will explore how you can harness the power of AI in AppSheet, looking at the latest AI features, including AI-assisted app creation and the “extract” capability with Gemini, to streamline development and enhance functionality.
You can join the live stream on YouTube and ask your own questions for Mike during the session. If you miss the live event, you can always watch the recording on the same link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3Rl7DTekMM
Join this community of over 53,600 data analysts and Google Sheets aficionados and get an actionable Google Sheets tip every Monday
With a weekly subscription of over 50K we probably don’t need to flag a ‘Monday morning espresso’ of Google Sheets tips from Ben Collins as you are probably already subscribed. However, given Ben recently published the 300th issue it’s a milestone worth celebrating and a chance to say ‘thank you’ to Ben for this invaluable publication.
As eloquently demonstrated on a recent episode of Totally Unscripted, Ben is the Google Sheets “King of Functions”. Ben’s expertise isn’t limited to solving Google Sheet challenges, he’s also a master at explaining his thinking and helping other people learn. If you haven’t subscribed to Ben’s newsletter follow the source link (it’s free!) and check out Ben’s website for loads of great tips and resources.
All the Google Apps Script related github activity is now on Google Bigquery and Google Looker. Here’s how it was done.
Bruce Mcpherson has recently revisited his work on the visual Google Apps Script explorer tool, scrviz. Bruce has been working diligently to address limitations with the Github API and overcome quota restrictions. This new iteration still allows users to explore Google Apps Script projects and creators, but this time through a shared Looker Studio dashboard. The underlying dataset has also been made available on BigQuery if you would like to do your own analysis.
Follow the source link to find out more and explore the data!
Join the TU team* as we delve into the world of custom generative AI solutions for Google Workspace using Apps Script. Discover how developers are seamlessly integrating Gemini’s large language models to revolutionize productivity and automation. We’ll explore real-world examples demonstrating how AI can supercharge your Workspace experience. Imagine having Gemini as your Apps Script coding assistant, intelligently naming untitled documents, crafting next-generation mail merges, and so much more.
Get ready to learn, be inspired, and unlock the full potential of intelligent automation within Google Workspace.
