Get Data from Google Sheet

This article explains the Get Data from Google Sheet block that can be used to design an app.

‍Use this feature to pull data from your existing Google Sheets into your Clappia apps. You can then use workflows to automate apps based on the pulled data, create live dashboards, and even send automated reports.

Help Video

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Editing the Block

Click on the ‘Get Data from Google Sheet’ block and start editing on the panel that appears on the right side.

Label

This is what appears as the label for the dropdown that shows the list of the items from the Google Sheet to be selected. Usually admins provide labels like "Select the customer/project/item".

Description

This is used to give a short description for the field, usually as a help reference for input for users. The description appears at the bottom of the field.

Select Google Account

If you do not have any Google Accounts synced in your Clappia workplace, then click on Connect with Google Drive. Only Workplace admins will be able to connect to a Google Account.

On clicking the ‘Connect with Google Drive’ button, a window will appear where you can select the Google account to connect to Clappia with. It will then show the type of access Clappia will have to the Google Account, click on Allow.

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Once you have connected a Google Account, click on the Select Google Account dropdown, where you can select the connected account that appears.

You can also select this option immediately if you already have existing Google accounts synced with Clappia and skip the option ‘Connect with Google Drive’.

Enter Sheet URL or Sheet ID

Once you have selected the Google account, a new option appears called Enter Sheet URL or Sheet ID. You can link a specific Google Sheet by entering its URL or Sheet ID. To do this:

• Open the desired Google Sheet.
• Copy the URL from the browser's address bar.
• In Clappia, paste this URL into the "Enter Sheet URL or Sheet ID" field.

This action will establish a connection between your app and the selected Google Sheet.

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Once the Spreadsheet link is entered in the Clappia app, additional options will appear to configure.

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Select Subsheet

If the connected Google Sheet contains multiple subsheets (tabs), you can now choose which specific sheet to connect to.

After connecting your Google account and entering the desired Google Sheet url or id, a dropdown will appear showing all available subsheets within that file.

From this list, select the subsheet that contains the data you want to use in your app.
Once a subsheet is selected, the corresponding columns will be available for mapping in the next step.

Note:

• Make sure the selected subsheet contains a header row so that the column names can be correctly identified.
• Only one subsheet/Google sheet can be connected per block.

Select Columns

The columns listed are from the connected spreadsheet. Select the columns in which users can type in data from to search and select data.

In this example, ‘Sales Rep’ and ‘Contacted’ columns are selected.

Pulled columns based on the selection

Based on the searched criteria by the user, select columns from the spreadsheet whose data need to appear in the Clappia app.

In this example, all the columns are selected to fetch information from the spreadsheet.

Once the columns are selected, the fields representing the columns will automatically appear in the app.

Required

Enable this option if the user has to mandatorily use this field before submission. By enabling this option, users will not be able to make submissions without entering the data of the required field.

No Record Message

Enter a text in this option to display it when no data is available to fetch from the spreadsheet based on the search criteria of the user. By default, it will say ‘No data found’.

Advanced Options

Advanced Label

The Advanced Label option allows you to change the label of a field dynamically based on a condition you define. Instead of always showing the same fixed label under the ‘Basic’ tab, the field can display different labels depending on requirements of the form. Use spreadsheet-like functions such as IF, AND, OR, etc. and make use of other field variables to set your conditions. Type @ and select the field.

This is useful when the meaning of a field changes based on context, business logic, or user choices.

For example:
If you have a dropdown called Sheet Mode with options “Pricing Lookup” and “Inventory Lookup”.
The label should reflect the type of lookup.

So:
– If Pricing Lookup, show “Get Pricing Info”
– If Inventory Lookup, show “Get Inventory Info”

Formula:

IF({sheet_mode} = "Pricing Lookup", "Get Pricing Info", "Get Inventory Info")

This allows the same field to adapt its displayed purpose without needing multiple separate fields.

Advanced Description

The Advanced Description option works exactly like Advanced Label, but it changes the description text instead. This is useful when guidance or instructions for a field need to change depending on earlier answers.

For example, using the same scenario from Advanced Label:
If you have a dropdown called Sheet Mode with options like “Pricing Lookup” and “Inventory Lookup”, you may want the description of your Sheet Lookup field to guide the user differently depending on what they selected.

So:
– If the user selects Pricing Lookup, the description could say: “Retrieve pricing details from the linked sheet.”
– If the user selects Inventory Lookup, the description could say: “Retrieve inventory counts from the linked sheet.”

Formula:

IF({sheet_mode} = "Pricing Lookup", "Retrieve pricing details from the linked sheet.", "Retrieve inventory counts from the linked sheet.")

This helps users understand what is required from them without showing unnecessarily long or irrelevant instructions.

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Additional Examples (Apply to Both Advanced Label and Advanced Description)

1. Showing nothing until a selection is made

For example, if you have a dropdown field called Visit Category with options “Routine” and “Urgent”, you may want the label or description of a field to remain blank until the user first selects a category.

Once a selection is made:

• If the user chooses Routine, the field will display “Routine”.
• If the user chooses Urgent, the field will display “Urgent”.

Formula (can be used in either Advanced Label or Advanced Description):

{visit_category}The label/description stays empty until the dropdown has a selected value.
After the user picks an option, the selected text (Routine or Urgent) becomes the label or description.

2. Changing label/description based on language selection

For example, if your form includes a dropdown field called Select Language with options English, Spanish, and French, you can show the label or description in the selected language.

So:

• If the user selects English, show English text.
• If the user selects Spanish, show Spanish text.
• If the user selects French, show French text.

Formula (can be used in either Advanced Label or Advanced Description):

IF({select_language} = "English", "Enter details", IF({select_language} = "Spanish", "Ingrese detalles", "Entrez les détails"))The formula returns the text for the selected language.
Only one label/description is shown at a time, depending on what the user picks in the Select Language dropdown.

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Important Notes (applies to both Advanced Label and Advanced Description)

1. Variables do not change
When a field is created, its variable name is derived from the label you set in the Basic tab. That variable name is what you must use in formulas, workflows, and other logic. The visible label or description shown by Advanced Label / Advanced Description does not change the variable name.

2. Submissions tab: table view vs right panel
In the Submissions area, the table view always displays the labels from the Basic tab. When you open an individual submission, the right panel shows the labels and descriptions as they appear in the form (i.e., the Advanced Label and Advanced Description applied for that submission). This keeps the submission list consistent while letting reviewers see the context-aware labels and descriptions when viewing a record.

3. Bulk Edit shows Basic tab labels and descriptions
When you need to Bulk Edit submissions, the spreadsheet you download shows the labels and descriptions from the Basic tab only. Advanced Label and Advanced Description are not applied in Bulk Edit, so keep that in mind when preparing bulk updates.

4. Some fields cannot be used inside Advanced Label/Description formulas
Certain block types do not expose a variable that can be referenced in Advanced Label or Advanced Description. If a block does not expose a variable, you cannot use it inside the formula.

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Get Data from Google Sheets

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Display this field if

Use this option if you want to show or hide a field under certain conditions. It accepts the standard Clappia Formulae, similar to conditional sections.

Retain Value if Hidden

This option appears once a condition is set in the "Display this field if" option. Enable this setting if you want the field's value to be retained even when the field is hidden. This is useful for preserving user input in cases where the field may temporarily disappear based on conditions.

Example: If the field is hidden based on user selection but you still need to keep any hidden values for future reference or calculations, enable this option to ensure the data is retained.

Allow value to be changed after initial submission

Enable this to allow the field value to be changed after submission.

In the App Home, where the app is live and ready to use, the user will now be able to fetch data from Google Sheets.

Simply click on the field to get a dropdown list or type in the data to be fetched based on Search criteria configured.

The pulled fields will automatically pull data from the Google sheet.

Note: Once a submission has been made with the data from Google sheet, any changes made later to the sheet will not be reflected in the submission. If changes are to be made, they can be done in the Submissions tab. Click on a submission, and on the right panel, click the refresh button of the ‘Get data from Google Sheet’ field.