Tag: Apps Script

Three Ways To Use AI Tools With Google Sheets

AI course for Google Sheets

Although AI has been around for decades, it’s only really been available to the public in its current form for the past year or so. And with the rise of these generative AI tools, like ChatGPT and Google Bard, AI is more accessible than ever.

But where does AI fit with Google Sheets?

And how do we use AI tools with Google Sheets?

The AI Playbook for Google Sheets💡 Add AI to your Google Sheets toolboxLearn how to use AI effectively with Google Sheets in my new online course: The AI Playbook for Google Sheets

In this post we’re going to look at how to use the most popular AI tools with Google Sheets. You’ll see how easy it is get started and learn that AI isn’t rocket science. It’s simply another useful tool that can save you time when you work with Google Sheets.

Specifically, we’ll look at three ways to use AI tools with Google Sheets:

  1. Chatbots like ChatGPT or Bard
  2. Google Sheets Add-Ons
  3. Via the API and Apps Script (advanced)

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What AI Can Do For You As A Google Sheets User. Is The Hype Justified?

The AI Playbook for Google Sheets💡 Add AI to your Google Sheets toolboxLearn how to use AI effectively with Google Sheets in my new online course: The AI Playbook for Google Sheets

In this post, we’re going to take a 40,000 ft view of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape and see how you can use it alongside Google Sheets to boost your productivity.

And, at the end of the post, I’ll answer the question about whether I think the AI hype is justified.

Before looking at what AI can do with Google Sheets though, let’s start with a quick AI 101 to ensure we’re up to speed with the lingo.

Green Tea Image generated by Dall-E
Image generated by Dall-E, a deep learning model, using the prompt “a cup of tea with a green potion inside with thin swirling vapors rising out of it”

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How To Track Link Clicks With Apps Script And Google Sheets

In this post, we’ll explore an easy way to track link clicks on a website using Google Sheets and Apps Script.

This setup is simple and not comparable to the sophisticated event tracking configurations in dedicated analytics software. However, it’s a nice, lightweight alternative that could be useful in limited scenarios. If nothing else, it’s a nice example showing how to create a webhook with Apps Script and Google Sheets to log data.

In this image you can see that when a link is clicked, it’s logged in a Google Sheet with information about the link:

Track link clicks with Apps Script

It uses the rather obscure “ping” attribute of an HTML anchor link, to send a POST request to a listening webhook set up using a Google Sheet and Apps Script.
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How To Get Fathom Analytics Data Into Google Sheets, Using Apps Script

In this post, we’re going to create a tool that calls the Fathom Analytics API and pastes website traffic data into Google Sheets:

Get Fathom Site Data

But first, a quick backstory:

Earlier this year (2022), Google announced the sunsetting of the old implementation of Google Analytics, in favor of GA4.

At the time I was running the old Google Analytics software, implemented through Google Tag Manager (along with Facebook’s pixel tracker).

It was time for me to update my web analytics software.

But I didn’t want to just shove GA4 into my existing tag manager setup. From what I’d heard, GA4 was difficult to use and way overblown for my needs.

Also, I really wanted to remove the dependency on Tag Manager from my site, because it’s too complex for my use case and I’m not particularly familiar with it. Plus, it’s been years since I’ve used the Facebook analytics pixel so I wanted to get rid of that too. I wanted to improve my site speed, and removing all this javascript would help with that goal.

So I cast around for alternative analytics software and landed on Fathom.

Fathom Analytics is a lightweight, easy-to-use, privacy-focused analytics software that is perfect for my website.

It was ridiculously easy to set up and I’ve been delighted with how easy it is to use. I jump in and can quickly see everything I need to know for my website:

Fathom Analytics Dashboard

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How To Connect To The Teachable API With Apps Script

This post explores how to connect to the Teachable API using Apps Script. You can use this setup to return data about your online courses and show it in Google Sheets.

For example, here’s a running 30-day window into the enrollment, engagement, and completion rates of my online courses:

Teachable Data In A Google Sheet

As a creator, it’s super useful to see these sorts of insights. They inform your future strategy and help identify areas of the business to improve. The standard Teachable dashboard is very limited and doesn’t show you this kind of information.

So let’s see how to connect to the Teachable API and create custom data reports.
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