6 Google Sheets automation ideas to organize your business

There's no doubt about it: Google Sheets is the king of spreadsheets when it comes to real-time collaboration and flexibility. Whether your sales team is using it as a CRM to track and manage leads, or your department uses it to record projects and complete tasks, Google Sheets can be a source of truth for all your business data. 

But spreadsheets can get messy, especially if you're manually updating each and every spreadsheet with data from other apps. That's why  you should think about connecting Google Sheets to the rest of your tech stack to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

Here's how to use Zapier's automated workflows—called Zaps—to automate Google Sheets and streamline the way you store data.

Skip ahead

• Get notifications for changes to a Google Sheet

• Manage projects and tasks

• Collect leads

• Analyze survey and form results in one place

• Store emails

• Manage sales and events in real time

Get notifications for changes to a Google Sheet

One of Google Sheets' best features is the ability to collaborate on a spreadsheet. If you're guilty of breaking formulas like I am, it's handy to have a colleague jump into the same sheet to help.

When you have multiple people collaborating on a spreadsheet, it's inevitable that someone will be quicker about updating than others. And that one straggler can be a blocker for you completing your work.

If you find yourself waiting on others more than you'd like, or checking on that spreadsheet throughout the day, try a Zap that will update you when there's a new or updated row in Google Sheets. You can choose where you'd like to receive your alert—perhaps the chat app you use at work or SMS.

What if you need to send specific spreadsheet updates to another person? Though it's easy to share a link to a Google Sheet, it can be easier—and less confusing—to share specific information from a few rows or columns, especially if your spreadsheet is monstrous.

Stop copying and pasting cell information. Instead, use one of these Zaps to share updates to specific columns or rows.

Manage projects and tasks

A spreadsheet can be a quick and dirty way to organize information, but it's not always the best place to manage a project.

For example, maybe you're putting together a project plan in a Google Sheet because it's easier for you to visualize the project. The team you're working with, however, uses Asana to manage projects.

To avoid duplicating work, you can use a Zap to automatically create Asana tasks, or other items in your favorite project management app whenever there's a new row in a Google Sheet.

You can also push updates for new rows into a task management app if you find yourself forgetting to take a specific action. For example, if your marketing team uses Google Sheets to manage your editorial calendar, you can use a Zap to connect it to a task management app like Google Tasks or Any.do so you don't miss an assignment.

Collect leads

Social media has become a hot spot for businesses to get leads. Facebook and LinkedIn have platforms just for this purpose—Facebook Lead Ads and LinkedIn Lead Gen. Lead data is collated into campaign reports so you can track performance, and there's an option to download your data. The problem, however, is that you don't really own that data until you export it to a CSV file.

You can work around this by using an automatic workflow to link Facebook Lead Ads or LinkedIn Lead Gen to Google Sheets. The spreadsheet will add new rows with your prospects' information as it comes in, so you always have a backup and those valuable details don't get lost in campaign reports.

Alternatively, if you collect leads in another system that doesn't connect to Zapier (like your website or a custom app), you can use webhooks. Webhooks let your apps speak with each other—sending detailed information back and forth whenever new items occur in the first app. 

This Zap, for example, will catch payloads inside your app, which Zapier's webhooks will catch. Zapier then automatically enters that data into a new spreadsheet row for you.

Analyze your survey and form results in one place

Surveys are a great way to check the pulse of customers, clients, and even your colleagues. Some survey apps will display submissions in a report, showing cumulative results. If you need to analyze individual survey submissions in a spreadsheet form, many apps will allow you to export a CSV file.

However, exporting takes time. And when you open a CSV file, you may have to clean up the file first to make the information look more presentable.

Cut out the administrative step by using a Zap to connect your favorite survey app to Google Sheets. You and your colleagues can analyze submissions as they come in.

Need a way to analyze your survey responses—without the manual effort of sifting through dozens or hundreds of forms? Fortunately, you can use AI (think ChatGPT) to categorize each customer response into specific segments or topics for you. This Zap will take your form data, send it to ChatGPT, then send the analysis straight to Google Sheets. Job done. 

Store emails

Your email inbox is a mess. There, I said it. I'm not here to judge—I too have thousands of messages sitting in my inbox because "I might need it one day."

You could use folders, emails, and filters to organize your inbox, but that usually requires a bit of effort to set up and maintain. Even with such a system, you can't easily scan your messages to find what you're looking for.

When it comes to email, I prefer zero effort. You can create a scannable backup by using a workflow that will store your emails in a Google Sheet automatically. You could even add an AI step to extract key information and add it to your sheet.

You can choose to set up your Zap to store email information according to certain traits, a specific search string, or a label. Now you have a copy of the messages you want to hang onto, and you're free to clear your inbox.

Manage sales and events in real time

Whether you run an eCommerce store and want to track sales or you're hosting an event and need to collect attendees, there will always be other kinds of data that you'll need to organize, analyze, and act on quickly.

A great way to do that is by storing that business-critical information in Google Sheets—automatically. With these Zaps, you can automatically send order information (like new Stripe payments) and event attendees (like new Eventbrite registrants) directly to Google Sheets. That way, you and your team can stay on top of your business in real time. 

Take your spreadsheets to the next level

This is just the start of all that you can do with Google Sheets and Zapier. Zapier supports thousands of apps, so you automate almost any task at work. Start building your Zap now and see what you can create.

This article was originally published in July 2020 and was most recently updated in November 2024 by Elena Alston.