Google Drive makes it easy to share and store important data in spreadsheets and CSV. Grow allows you to make the most of the data in your Google Drive files by transforming it into clear, powerful visualizations. This article will give you an overview of the Google Drive integration.
Connecting to Google Drive
- Click on the Data tab at the top left of the global navigation. You will be brought to your Data Connections.
- Click on the blue Connect button and search for Google Drive.
- Click on the Google Drive logo.
- A Google window will pop up to log in with your Google credentials. After entering your credentials you will see a green confirmation message that the connection has been made.
If you didn't see a window to enter your credentials but you still got a green success message, then that means you were already logged in with your Google account (likely in another tab) and Grow used that account to connect.
Warehousing Your Data
-
For a new account:
Log in and authenticate your credentials from the Connections page. Then Create Warehouse Table using available Files; images.
-
For a new data source:
Select Google Drive. It displays the OAuth modal. Choose an Email, then select Allow. This will close the OAuth page and display the Connection Successful message. Here, select Add File to create a warehouse table, or select X to close the Manage Connections page.
Endpoints
Google Sheets is a little different from other custom integrations. Instead of having set endpoints to build from, you can build metrics from the files and spreadsheets that you have access to in your Google Drive account. Please note you will need to follow the file path to access any files or spreadsheets you have access to since shortcuts do not appear in the Google Drive connection within Grow.
FAQs + Tips and Tricks
Why can't I find files in Grow that are shared with me?
If you have Google Sheets that are shared with you but you can't see them in Grow, make sure that you have added them to your own Drive. You can do this from the "Shared with me" folder in Google Drive and selecting the file you want to add to your Drive, or by opening the file and clicking the Google Drive button next to the file name and star at the top.
How do I access shared sheets?
If a sheet is shared with your account, you can still access it in Grow. You don't have to be the creator to be able to use that data.
One use of this that we've seen is setting up a specific Google Sheets account to connect to Grow, and only sharing those sheets with that account. That way only the data that you need to use in Grow will be accessible.
Can I limit the Grow connection to only specific Shared/Team Drives?
When you connect your Google Drive to Grow, you give Grow access to all shared drives that account has access to. There is not a way to limit access to a specific shared drive. However, if this is needed, it can be done by creating a new Google account, sharing only that drive with that new account, then using that account to form the connection in Grow with Google Drive.
How can I make sure my data is secure?
We have several controls in place to keep your data safe. Check out our security article to see what steps you can take to ensure your data is secure.
How do I prepare my spreadsheets to use in Grow?
It's important to make sure your spreadsheets are formatted appropriately so you can easily use them in Grow. We strongly recommend you consult this help article for tips to prepare your spreadsheets.
What are the file size limits?
Up to 10 million cells or 18,278 columns (column ZZZ) for spreadsheets that are created in or converted to Google Sheets.
Up to 10 million cells or 18,278 columns for spreadsheets imported from Microsoft Excel. The limits are the same for Excel and CSV imports.
When you convert a document from Excel to Google Sheets, any cell with more than 50,000 characters will be removed in Sheets.
As an example for size in bytes, an excel file with 10 million cells is around 40MB.
For more information, you can go to Google Drive File Size help.
Are there any character restrictions for spreadsheet titles?
You can use the symbols like colon (:), semi-colon (;) and forward slash (/)in your spreadsheet title. They do not show errors. Other symbols might return a "totalRowCount Undefined" error.
How do I set dynamics dates in Google Sheets?
Google Sheets has some functions that can help you make your sheets more dynamic.
Start of Week (Sunday)
If you want to return a date that sets Sunday as the beginning of the week, enter the following function into your spreadsheet:
- =today()-WEEKDAY(today(),2) will give you the Sunday of the current week.
- =A1-WEEKDAY(A1;3) will return the Sunday from two weeks ago, assuming you entered the previous function into cell A1.
In regular person English, today() returns the current date as a date value, and WEEKDAY(date,type) tells Google to number the days either starting on Sunday or Monday. If you want to read up a bit more on this function, Google has a help article here that explains a bit more about it.
Start and End of the Month
If you want a cell to return the beginning of the month:
- =EOMONTH(today();-1)+1 will give you the first day of the current month.
- =EOMONTH(today(),-2)+1 will give you the first day of last month.
- =EOMONTH(today();0) will show you the last date of the current month.
Let's unpack some of that jargon: the function syntax is EOMONTH(start_date, months). Telling the cell to start at today's date, and leaving with a 0 actually returns the last day of the month, but a -1 inside the parenthesis takes you back one month, and the +1 outside of the parentheses takes you forward one day to the first day of the current month. You can alter these numbers to tell the cell to return any month you want to, relative to today's date.
For the extra inquisitive, Google has another helpful article here about the EOMONTH function.
What happens if I rename a tab or sheet?
Depending on the action, one of the following situations may happen:
- When you Rename/Delete Sheet: Metrics show the following error, "Error: The Google Sheet you are trying to pull is no longer available. Check in Google Sheets to ensure xxSheetNamexx hasn't been deleted."
- When you Rename/Delete File: The metrics work as they are expected to, when you open them.