AppsScriptPulse

Solutions, Sheets, Beginner

Repeatable Task [in Google Sheets]: To Script Or Not To Script, That Is The Question

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Image credit: benlcollins.com

A framework for thinking about whether you should automate a repeatable task in Google Sheets with scripts or not

Ben Collins provides some great advice on when you should think about automating tasks in Google Sheets. Click through the source link at the bottom for the full post for some great tips.

A graphic that stood out for me was the XKCD comic strip below.


… the math didn’t quite add up in my head so I double checked

Based on CC-BY-NC https://xkcd.com/1205/

Source: Repeatable Task: To Script Or Not To Script, That Is The Question

Add-on, Solutions, Drive, Beginner

Bulk rename files in Google Workspace/Drive with this new Add-on

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Google Add-on to bulk rename Google Drive files quickly and easily in a given folder. You define exactly what you want to search for in the file name and the text to replace it with. Includes instructions and demo video.

Bulk Rename Files Add-on Interface

Bulk Rename Files Add-on Interface

Source: The Gift of Script: Bulk Rename Files Add-on

Official News, Beginner, Sheets

Learn how to improve Google Sheets performance

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Image credit: Google

You can improve the performance of Google Sheets and speed up calculations.

Via Sourabh Choraria (@schoraria911) we picked up this tweet from
Michael Avrukin who is working on the Google Sheets help center documentation:

The page includes a number of useful tips to speed up Google Sheet calculations and whilst not specifically Google Apps Script related provides useful information on some things you can look out for when your Google Sheet starts getting slow.

Source: Learn how to improve Sheets performance

Solutions, Sheets, Beginner

Archive Sheet data using tickboxes and Google Apps Script

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Automatically move a row of data from one Google Sheet tab to another when a tickbox is selected.

Archive a row of data by ticking a box

Archive a row of data by ticking a box

The following Google Apps Script is designed to move a row of data from one Google Sheet tab to another when a tickbox has been selected in a given column. The tool was developed to help colleagues with automatically archiving data that had been actioned.

The tool uses an ‘onEdit(e) simple trigger’ to constantly monitor the Google Sheet for any changes in values. Is it specifically targeted at a tickbox-column only so that it does not archive rows of data on every edit of the Google Sheet.

Source: The Gift of Script: Archive Sheet data using tickboxes

Solutions, Sheets, Beginner

Adding STAT Reports [extracting .csv email attachments] to Google Sheets Using App Scripts

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Image credit: moz.com

The team at MacMillan Search has generated a lot of value by combining automated STAT reports with Google Sheets through the script they share in this post. From adding ranking details to other tool’s outputs to giving the content teams up-to-date “People Also Ask” reports, the end result has proven to be a great time-saver in our week-to-week SEO workflows by reducing manual work and providing standard outputs that easily integrate with any spreadsheet.

I always enjoy dipping into content from the SEO community as it has some really creative and innovative solutions. This example from MacMillian Search is a use case I’m familiar with, getting data out of a system as an email report with .CSV attachment and using Google Apps Script to do all the automation to update a Google Sheet. If you are not in SEO still worth a read as the pattern used here may come in handy.

Source: Adding STAT Reports to Google Sheets Using App Scripts

Snippet, Beginner, Sheets

How to pass Apps Script data directly into a HTML page

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The following Google Apps Script code is designed to create a HTML popup in a Google Sheet and pass some data directly into it so that the popup can display the information.

Display Apps Script code directly in a HTML popup

This was part of a larger project I was working on so I have stripped all of that away here and kept the bare minimum for demo purposes. I already knew how to get the HTML page to run a Function once it had loaded to then access static data from within the Google Sheet, but what was tripping me up here was if that data was coming directly from Apps Script itself – such as an error message from a try/catch.

Source: The Gift of Script: How to pass Apps Script data directly into a HTML page

Snippet, Beginner, Drive

Change file permissions from Editor to Viewer

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Google Drive Access Screen

How to change Google Drive file permissions from Editor to Viewer as said user.

The following Google Apps Script is designed to change the Google Drive file permissions of a specific user from Editor to Viewer. The function actually came about when needing to end a process where a user had been editing a Google Sheet on a Shared drive that they should only then have Viewer access to. To complicate matters the Apps Script code is running as said user when it needs to reduce their own permissions.

Source: The Gift of Script: Change file permissions from Editor to Viewer

Solutions, Forms, Beginner

Using Google Forms API with Google Apps Script

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The Google Forms API is currently in Open Beta. For Google Apps Script users the new Forms API is worth keeping an eye on as it enables functionality not currently included in the native FormsApp service. In this post from Kanshi Tanaike an example is looked at where the Forms API is used to insert an image to a question. If you are interested in trying this example out remember that you currently need to apply for access at the Early Adopter Program page.

Source: Using Google Forms API with Google Apps Script

Snippet, Solutions, Sheets, Beginner

Create a new Sheet tab and format a header row

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Create a new Sheet tab within an existing Google Sheet file and format a header row (font size, colour, alignment, etc) for appending data to.

Header row

Header row

The following Google Apps Script was developed as part of a larger tool for collating file information into a specifically formatted Google Sheet. As the tool was an Add-on I needed to setup the Google Sheet file in advance so that information could be later appended to it. This code:

  • Checks if a particular named Sheet (tab) already exists within the Google Sheet file. If it does then it will delete the existing Sheet and create a brand new one.
  • Reduce the overall number of columns within the Sheet.
  • Insert 1 row of data to use as the Header row.
  • Set the Header row font size, colour, weight (bold) and horizontal/vertical alignment.
  • Set the Header row background colour, height and column widths.

Source: The Gift of Script: Create a new Sheet tab and format a header row

Comment, Solutions, Gmail, Sheets, V8, Beginner

r/GMail – Has anybody here tried to improve Martin Hawksey’s free Mail Merge system? [adding custom attachments to mailing] 

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Has anybody here tried to improve Martin Hawksey’s free Mail Merge system? from GMail

I’m not really a reddit user but this question about adding custom attachments my Google Workspace Solutions Gallery – Mail Merge example landed in my inbox. The solution is, in Google Apps Script tradition, one line of code! The line is:

if(row['Attachment'] != '') emailTemplate.attachments.push(DriveApp.getFileById(row['Attachment']).getBlob());

The logic is:

  1. check if the row value in the column named Attachment 
  2. if true call Drive to open file with attachment id and push to the emailTemplate object.

The line is added just after:

const msgObj = fillInTemplateFromObject_(emailTemplate.message, row);

If you prefer you can also copy this sheet for a working example. To attach different files the Attachment row cell needs to include a Google Drive file id. There are a number of ways you can get Drive file id’s. For example, here is a Getting all files’ file-id from a folder in Google Drive snippet.

If you are interested in more of what is happening in this solution, the emailTemplate object is returned by getGmailTemplateFromDrafts_(). This function gets the Gmail draft message and as well as any attachments including inline images. If you are interested in handling attachments and inline images you can read more in Everything you ever wanted to know about Gmail draft inline images and Google Apps Script but were afraid to ask.