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How to create a single Google Doc from a Google Spreadsheet

I want to create a Google Doc from a Google Sheet and have it update the Google Doc every time I add a row, in essence, creating a new page on the same document each time a row is added. 

I tried using Google Sheet to Google Doc Template yesterday, but found that it creates an individual Google document for each row in the spreadsheet. I could also only get it to recognize one column. 

The spreadsheet I want to convert has over 90 rows. I don’t want 90+ Google Docs 

Is there a way to create one document from a Google Sheet with each row being represented on a page? 

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20 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @MaggeA 

Good question.

Have you tried this Zap action: GDoc - Append Text to Doc

 

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
M
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I have, but I always hit a wall when I get to the point where I choose the doc folder. I choose Root and then it goes to Documents Name and I get - No choices available. I’ve tried clicking other folders just to see what happens and I always get the same message when I hit Document Name. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, so I haven’t been able to test it.  

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@MaggeA 

Best to post detailed screenshots with how your Zap steps are configured in order for us to have proper context.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
M
Userlevel 1
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Okay, here is a screen shot of the steps I’m taking for the Append Text Document. Thank you for your help! 

 

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@MaggeA 

Those screenshots don’t show the Zap step #s so it’s unclear the order of the Zap steps.

 

Help article for using the ‘custom’ option for mapping variables between Zap steps: https://zapier.com/help/create/basics/set-up-your-zap-action#set-up-your-action

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
M
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This post has been edited by a moderator to remove personal information. Please remember that this is a public forum and to remove any sensitive information prior to posting.

Sorry, I wasn’t sure exactly how much information you wanted. Please see below for screens shots of each step I take until I hit a dead end. 

This is where I selected the spreadsheet I wanted to transfer data from. The list was too long to see the one I selected. 

This is the trigger I selected. 

And this is the dead end I hit. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. 

Thanks again for your help. 

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@MaggeA 

Try using the Zap Editor to configure the Zap instead of the Zap Wizard.

Click: zap.new

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
M
Userlevel 1
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Thank you. I will try this out and let you know if it works. 

M
Userlevel 1
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Okay, here’s my step by step of using the editor. It think I’m hitting a wall in the same place, although I’ll admit there is one area where I’m really unsure was to what I am supposed to select. I will note that step when I get to the image. 

This where I am not sure what to select under Document Name (below image). In the dropdown menu, under Document Name it says there are no options available (sorry, it would not let me screen shot this) and under Custom it gives me the names of the different columns. I selected one of those columns - Article Title. 

Aaannnnd, I just don’t know what I am doing wrong. 

Thank you for your help. 

MohSwellam
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

@MaggeA one of the things you should consider is if the Google Docs account you have configured has the right permissions or is the google doc already there in the same account. 

Founder of GeekyAir.com
M
Userlevel 1
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I think there might be where I’m getting confused. So, I do have a template in my google drive, and it is not a shared doc. It is not in a folder, so as I understand it that means it is in root. But I’m not sure besides that what I need to be doing. 

 

MohSwellam
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

You are correct, this is the root. 

 

Click on this document and click on the Share button on the top, you would see who is the owner and what your permissions are. You need to be the Owner of the document (I think?) to be able to do that. 

Founder of GeekyAir.com
M
Userlevel 1
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Okay, I went into the document and I am the owner. The document was on private so I changed it to public, anyone with a link - but I still get this. Should I be seeing the document I want to append here? Or am I looking at this all wrong? 

 

 

MohSwellam
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Hmmmm, the only explanation is that its not the same google account 😅 can you check that both are the same google account? 

 

If they are, try another step which is Create a Google Doc and see what happens, you should be able to see it in your Google Doc afterwards

Founder of GeekyAir.com
M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Okay, I signed out of all google accounts and signed back in to only the one that correlates to the Zapier account. Alas, still not showing any available documents when I hit 

 

By Create a Google Docs, do you mean try the Zap called Create a Google Doc from Text or Create a Google Doc from a Template? If so, I believe those both create a different document for each row in the spreadsheet and I need a single document with all rows included. 

Apologies if I am misunderstanding. 

Thanks! 

 

M
Userlevel 1
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Okay, I did it again just to see what happened and I finally got the document name to show up! 

MohSwellam
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Awesome @MaggeA ! What was the issue exactly? Hope that I was able to help in any way :)

Founder of GeekyAir.com
M
Userlevel 1
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So, we were able to transfer over the data from each row to one single document (yay). I switched to Editor mode instead of Wizard. And I also signed out of all google accounts except the one that is associated with the account. After doing that I created a new test document. And that’s when it finally went through. 

The only problem is it transferred over as one giant mass of text - each row was a block. I had added the Row names with {{ }} around them to create a template as advised in several YouTube videos I watched on the subject, but that did not automatically separate them into the rows. 

My client is going to look into seeing if there is any HTML she can add to make the text divide better, but at least we got the information to transfer over to a Google Doc. 

If you know if anyway to do this, please let me know. 

Thank you for all of your help! 

Danvers
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @MaggeA!

I think I can see the problem here, one that explains why you couldn’t see your document in the drop down box and why the Zap is not working the way that you need it to. 

 

The Append Text to Document will add text to the end of a Google document. That’s why you couldn’t see the anything in the document drop down they were all templates not documents. 

The action Create Document from Template will add text that you specify into the relevant fields in a template. 

 

When you set up the Create Document from Template step in the Zap editor, you should see all of the fields that you’ve set up in the Google Doc template and can add each piece of information that you want from the Google sheet into those fields. 

 

Try switching the Google Docs action to Create Document from Template instead of Append Text to Document and let us know how you get on :) 

M
Userlevel 1
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The Create Document from Template was creating a new document for each row - i.e. if we had six rows, it was creating six individual documents. We needed all of the information from the spreadsheet in one document.

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