Google Sheets makes it easy to share and store important data in spreadsheets. Grow allows you to make the most of the data in your Google Sheets files by transforming it into clear, powerful visualizations. This article will give you an overview of the Google Sheets integration.
If you are creating a new data connection to Grow, we'd recommend using the Google Drive integration instead. With that, you'll have access to all of your CSV and Excel files stored in Google Drive, as well as your Sheets.
In this article, we will cover:
Connecting to Google Sheets
- 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 Sheets.
- Click on the Google Sheets logo.
- A 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.
Endpoints
Google Sheets is a little bit different from other custom integrations. Instead of having set endpoints to build from, you can build metrics from the spreadsheets that you have access to in your Google Sheets account.
FAQs + Tips and Tricks
Is the Google Sheets connector the same as Google Drive?
In short, no. Using the Google Sheets connector, you'll have access to all of your Google Sheets, but not to any other files saved in Google Drive. We have a different connector for Google Drive which you can read about here.
If you have other spreadsheet files you want to use, you can create a new connection using our Google Drive integration or convert those files to the Google Sheet format , see option in Google Drive to Open with Google Sheets.
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 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.
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?
Google imposes size limits on spreadsheets. If you are getting close to any of these limits, you'll get a warning at the top of your spreadsheet (in Google Sheets) telling you which limit you are about to reach. The sheets can have a total of 10M cells across all sheets (within one spreadsheet), 18,278 columns per sheet, 1,000 cells containing GoogleFinance formulas, 200 sheets per workbook, and a Maximum string length of 50,000 characters.
Are there any character restrictions for spreadsheet titles?
There shouldn't be any colons in your spreadsheet titles. If you try to pull the sheet into Grow, the app will 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?
Changing the name of either the Google Sheet itself or any of its tabs will not break the metric or the connection.