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Introduction to Google Sheets Automation

Welcome to your Spreadsheet Automation workspace! This tool turns your static Google Sheets into a live, event-driven workflow engine. Instead of manually updating statuses, sending emails, or calculating tracking values, you can design automatic rules that run instantly behind the scenes whenever changes happen in your spreadsheet.

⚙️ Understanding the Automation Lifecycle​

Every automation rule you build follows a simple, strict three-step blueprint: Trigger → Condition → Action.

  1. The Trigger (When): The event that wakes the automation engine up to inspect your sheet.
  2. The Condition (If): The filtering gate that checks if the modified data matches your specific rules.
  3. The Action (Then): The automated task executed by the engine if all conditions pass.

⚡ Step 1: Triggers (The "When")​

The automation engine relies on an On Edit (ON_EDIT) core trigger. This means the system constantly monitors your spreadsheet data grid and springs into action the moment a cell is updated.

Supported Column Configurations​

You do not need to create individual rules for every single column. The Target Sheet Column / Range input field lets you define exact coordinates using smart range notation:

  • Single Column: Enter A or E to track edits made only in that specific vertical lane.
  • Explicit Lists: Enter A,C,G (separated by commas) to monitor modifications across multiple separate columns.
  • Range Groups: Enter A-C (separated by a hyphen) to automatically watch columns A, B, and C.
  • Complex Multi-Ranges: Enter mixed sets like A-C,M,O to monitor several ranges under a single rule.

🔍 Step 2: Conditions (The "If")​

Once a monitored column is edited, the engine isolates that row and passes its data through your Condition Matching Gate. This ensures actions only fire when specific criteria are met.

The engine evaluates your cell data against your chosen rule using four distinct constraint categories:

Supported Condition Operators​

📋 General Rules​

  • Always True: Skips validation filters entirely. The action will run every single time the monitored column is edited, regardless of what text is inside the cell.
  • Is Empty: Runs the action only if the cell was cleared, deleted, or left blank.
  • Is Not Empty: Runs the action as long as the cell has any data inside it.

✍️ Text Rules​

  • Is Equal To (=): Checks if the cell text matches your target keyword exactly.
  • Is Not Equal To (≠): Fires only if the cell text does not match your target keyword.
  • Contains Text: Matches if your phrase is hidden anywhere inside the cell (e.g., cell "Project Approved" contains "Approved").
  • Does Not Contain: Fires if your specified keyword is entirely missing from the cell.
  • Starts With: Checks if the cell data begins with your specific characters.
  • Ends With: Checks if the cell data finishes with your specific characters.
  • Is One Of (List): Evaluates against multiple comma-separated keywords (e.g., true if the cell reads "High", "Medium", or "Low").
  • Is Not One Of (List): Passes only if the cell content does not match any items in your comma-separated list.

🔢 Numeric Rules​

  • Is More Than (>): Checks if the cell number is strictly greater than your value.
  • Is Less Than (<): Checks if the cell number is strictly smaller than your value.
  • Is At Least (≥): Checks if the cell number is greater than or equal to your value.
  • Is At Most (≤): Checks if the cell number is less than or equal to your value.

📅 Date Rules​

  • Is After (Date): Evaluates a calendar timeline to check if a cell date falls past your target date.
  • Is Before (Date): Checks if a cell date occurs before your target deadline date.

🚀 Step 3: Detailed Action Configurations​

If your row data passes all condition criteria, the system runs your configured updates. You can chain multiple actions together to execute inside a single rule block.

Our pipeline supports three specialized configuration subforms:

✏️ 1. Update Row (Target Column Value Mappings)​

This updates specific cells on the active row coordinates using a custom column stamp map grid. For each column you target, you can choose exactly what type of data to inject:

  • String Text: Places a static, custom text message or phrase directly into the cell.
  • Formula (=): Automatically injects a live Google Sheets function (e.g., =SUM(A2:B2) or =VLOOKUP(...)) into the cell to run native calculations.
  • now(): Records a live, high-precision timestamp tracking exactly when the automation fired (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS).
  • today(): Injects a clean calendar date tracking stamp without timestamp data (YYYY-MM-DD).
  • {user_email}: Tracks accountability by grabbing and logging the email address of the team member who physically typed into the spreadsheet.
  • Copy Column: Copies data across cells on the same row. Specify a source column (e.g., A), and the engine will duplicate its raw data over to your target cell instantly, preserving properties like checkmarks or number formats.

🎨 2. Format Row (Styles & Highlights)​

Enables automatic conditional row styling and visualization highlights. You can modify the active row layout using these aesthetic controls:

  • Background Fill Color: Choose standard visual presets (White, Success Light Green, Alert Light Red, Warning Light Yellow, Info Light Blue) or pick a completely personalized tone using the native color hex picker. You can also select Clear Background Color to reset fill styles.
  • Font Color: Highlight rows with preset text colors (Default Black, Dark Red, Dark Green, Dark Blue) or use custom hex codes.
  • Font Weight: Switch between Normal Text and Bold Emphasis.
  • Horizontal Alignment: Format text positioning dynamically with Left Align, Center Align, or Right Align inputs.
  • Vertical Alignment: Ensure text fits your grid limits vertically with Top Align, Middle Align, or Bottom Align.

📊 3. Sort Sheet​

Automatically keeps your records organized by re-sorting a target tab's structure when changes occur:

  • Target Sheet: Select any available sheet layout tab inside your workbook container.
  • Sort Anchor Column: Specify the precise target column letter (e.g., A) to anchor your sorting rules.
  • Sort Order: Choose between Ascending (A ➔ Z) Low to High or Descending (Z ➔ A) High to Low.
  • Header Safety Filter: Toggle the Sheet has a header row checkbox to ensure your primary labels and column descriptions are locked safely at the top and never sorted down into the data array.

🔕 4. Instant Zero-Configuration Actions​

These structural actions run instantly behind the scenes on the specific row context that tripped your triggers—requiring absolutely zero extra setup configurations:

  • 🗑️ Delete Modified Row: Instantly purges the edited row layout from your active data grid sheet completely if conditions match.
  • 👁️ Hide Modified Row: Automatically applies a programmatic row visibility filter to hide the active line out of sight without erasing its underlying record.

🔄 Automation Variables & Templates

You can inject dynamic, real-time contextual information into your workbook automation outputs using Double Curly Brace {{ Variable Name }} Tokens. When your rule triggers, the automation engine scans your customized layout strings, extracts the variables, and updates them with live spreadsheet context on the fly.

Supported Engine Context

As of right now, template variables are exclusively supported inside rule Actions (such as the Update Row payload builder). Variables cannot be evaluated inside the Workflow Conditions block yet—this capability will be rolled out in a future platform release.

📋 Standard Variable Reference Registry​

The engine natively normalizes spacing and structural capitalization variations automatically. You can write them as {{ Spreadsheet Name }} or {{spreadsheetName}} seamlessly.

Variable TagData Extracted & Output Generation Behavior
{{ Spreadsheet Name }}The plain-text name string of the current spreadsheet file workbook.
{{ Spreadsheet Id }}The unique alphabetic alphanumeric string tracking sequence ID of the current spreadsheet.
{{ Sheet Name }}The string title of the specific tab worksheet that the rule is actively processing.
{{ Sheet Id }}Generates the unique numerical string tracking identifier of the Active Sheet Tab.
{{ Row Number }}The integer row position scale index location of the current triggered cell.
{{ Row Values }}An aggregated, comma-separated array string dump containing all current row values.
{{ Editor Email }}The email registration profile string of the specific operator who triggered the edit.
{{ New Cell Value }}The fresh cell data payload string populated right after the user hit submit.
{{ Old Cell Value }}The historic cellular evaluation string value that existed before the trigger event sequence.

⚡ Dynamic Column Context Refencences​

In addition to static global platform trackers, you can extract neighboring column parameters dynamically relative to the active target processing row tracking index block.

Syntax Rules​

  • Format: {{ column_[LETTER] }}
  • Requirement: Must be referenced within standard String/Text Type target action properties.
Dynamic Usage Examples
* {{ column_A }}  -> Pulls live runtime text records out of Column A (Column Index 1)
* {{ column_B }}  -> Pulls live runtime text records out of Column B (Column Index 2)
* {{ column_AB }} -> Pulls live runtime text records out of Column AB (Column Index 28)