Google Spreadsheets is a popular, free platform used for creating and maintaining spreadsheets.
It’s popularity has also resulted in Google Spreadsheets becoming a commonly accepted means of sharing data between systems.
One of the easiest ways to automate your process is to connect your form data entries to a Google Spreadsheet.
For example, if a time-sheet form is captured, it would be helpful to have that information appear in a time-sheet spreadsheet automatically.
This is where the Google Spreadsheet Connector for Forms comes in.
NOTE: Google Spreadsheets currently have a limit of 2,000,000 cells per spreadsheet.
If your expected output will grow beyond this limit, you will either need to create a new Spreadsheet (and update the Spreadsheet name in your connector) or consider an alternative connector option.
For more information refer to Google’s help center here:
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/37603
Before you add a Connector, you must ensure that you have a valid Google connection set up on your organisation.
Adding a Google Connection
To add a connection, go to the Connections page which is accessed via Menu -> Connections.
You must be an Administrator level user to see this option.
1. In the Connections page, click the “Add Connection” button and choose Google.
2. The page will refresh, showing a new Google connection row.
3. Click the Authorise button.
This will take you to the Google accounts page where you must log in with your desired Google account.
Make sure you log in with the right account – this is the account that all Google Connectors will use.
Grant the access requested – this is so that our Connectors can create and update entries on your Google account.
4. After granting access, you should be returned back to the Connections page.
Your connection will be verified automatically – you will see a green tick if everything is working.
Adding a Google Connector to your Form
Once you have a valid connection, you can add as many Connectors as you like to a Form.
This is done via the Form Connectors page.
The Form Connectors page can be accessed from your Form design, settings or from the Screens listing if you mouse over the Form row in question.
Once you are in the Connectors page, setting up a Google Spreadsheet Connector is easy:
1. Click on the “Add Connector” button to see a list of the available Connectors.
Then click the Google Spreadsheet option.
2. This will refresh the page and display your Connector, ready for configuration.
Note that at this stage nothing has been saved – you must click the Save button to save your Connector after you’ve finished setting it up.
3. Specify the name of the spreadsheet that our system will create and keep updated as form entries are received from the app.
4. At this stage, your Connector is ready to go.
Hit the Save button to save your changes and activate the Connector.
Add a Run Condition
Sometimes you may have a Connector that you only want to fire in the event that the Form entry has a given answer value.
For example, you may have an Audit Form, which has a risk rating question with options like “Low”, “Medium” and “High”.
If the user answers the risk rating as “High”, then you want an email to be sent to a supervisor for followup and action.
This is where a Run Condition comes in.
Run Conditions are defined by creating a true/false formula.
The Connector will only run if the formula you define in the Run Condition has a true result.
So in the example above, the Run Condition formula would be something like:
{{riskRating}} = ‘High’
When you hover over the Run Condition field, you will see a hammer icon appear.
Clicking the hammer will take you into the Formula Builder, which helps you to put together the formula you desire.
See the Creating a Forumula page to learn more about form formulae.