Google Sheets

The Google Sheets integration adds each response to a spreadsheet as a row, with one tab for each workflow that writes to it. When the AI analysis arrives, someone corrects it or the status changes, Usertick rewrites that response’s row. Google Sheets is available on the Starter plan and above.

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Connect Google Sheets

Connecting doesn’t choose a spreadsheet, because each workflow step selects its own. To connect while you edit a workflow instead, select Connect next to Google Sheets’ Add the response to a Google Sheet under Add a step.

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What Usertick can access

Usertick requests one Google permission, drive.file. With it, Usertick can access only the spreadsheets it creates and the ones you select in Google Drive, and none of the other files in your Drive.

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Connect more than one Google account

An organization can connect several Google accounts. A new Google Sheets step starts with the connection the organization used last, or the default connection, and each step can use another one under Connection.

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Add the step

In a workflow, add Google Sheets’ Add the response to a Google Sheet step and fill in its panel. The workflow’s trigger sets when the step runs, and its Only if conditions and If / else steps decide which responses reach it.

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Create a new spreadsheet

Create a new spreadsheet is selected for a new step. The Spreadsheet name starts as “Usertick responses:” followed by the survey’s name and can be up to 200 characters. Selecting Create spreadsheet creates the file immediately in the connected account’s Google Drive, with one tab named after the survey. Because the file is created at that point and not when the workflow is published, the file stays in your Drive if you delete the step.

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Select a spreadsheet from Google Drive

To use an existing spreadsheet, select Select from Google Drive, then select Open Google Drive. Google’s file picker opens with the title “Select a spreadsheet” and lists your spreadsheets, including those in shared drives. After you select a file, Usertick can open that file and no other. The connected Google account writes the rows, so it needs edit access to the spreadsheet. After the step has a spreadsheet, its name appears as a link that opens it. To create or select a different one, select Change.

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Use a spreadsheet selected with another account

Usertick opens a file through the connection that created or selected it. If the step’s connection can’t open the file, for example because a teammate selected it with their own Google account, the step shows “This connection can’t open the spreadsheet. To give Usertick access, select the spreadsheet in Google Drive.” Select Select it in Google Drive, and Google’s file picker opens on that one file. After you select the file, the step can write to it.

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How the tab is set up

Each workflow writes to a tab of its own. If Tab name is empty, the tab is named after the survey. Usertick removes the characters a tab name can’t contain, such as / and :, and keeps the first 100 characters. If another tab already has the name, the new tab gets a number, such as “Checkout feedback (2)”. The empty tab of a spreadsheet Usertick just created for the survey is used as it is. Usertick sets up the tab when it writes the first row. Row 1 is the header, in bold and frozen. Renaming the tab in Google Sheets is safe, because Usertick finds the tab by its ID. Changing the step’s spreadsheet or tab name starts a new tab. The old tab keeps its rows and receives no new ones.

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Columns

Every row starts with the response ID and the time, and every question gets a column. The other columns come in four groups, selected under Columns. The columns appear in this order: All four groups are selected by default. With no group selected, each row contains Response ID, Received (UTC) and one column per question. The welcome screen asks nothing, so it gets no column. Usertick writes values exactly as they are. An answer that starts with = stays text and never runs as a formula. Received (UTC) is always in UTC, whatever time zone the spreadsheet uses. The cell holds a real date and time, so you can sort, filter and chart by it.

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When the survey changes

After a column is added to the tab, it keeps its position. Changes to the survey reach the tab with the next row Usertick writes:

• A new question gets a new column at the end of the tab, and so does a group selected later.
• A deleted question keeps its column, and new rows leave it empty. A group that is no longer selected keeps its columns the same way.
• A renamed question gets its header cell rewritten.

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Keep rows up to date

Keep rows up to date is on by default. Usertick then rewrites the response’s row in these cases:

• The AI analysis arrives, in a workflow that starts When a response is submitted, when the step includes the AI analysis columns.
• Someone corrects the AI’s type, urgency, theme or category, when the row includes the AI analysis columns.
• The status changes, when the row includes the status and assignee columns.

Only the AI and status cells change. The answers and the rest of the row stay as they were written. Usertick reads the status and the assignees as they are at the moment of the update. If a step includes neither the AI analysis nor the status columns, its rows never change after they are added. The Assignee cell has no update of its own. It changes with the next status change or AI update for that response. A row update runs only the workflow’s Google Sheets steps, so the workflow’s other steps don’t send again. These updates appear in the workflow’s activity as “Row update after the AI analysis”, “Row update after a correction” and “Row update after a status change”. If the response has no row in the tab, the update is skipped with “The response has no row in the sheet, so there was nothing to update.” This happens for responses received before the workflow was published, and for responses that an If / else step kept out of the sheet.

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When rows are added

In a workflow that starts When a response is submitted, the row is added immediately, and its AI cells fill when the analysis arrives. A response is analyzed when it has a written answer or two or more answers, and other responses keep their AI cells empty. If Keep rows up to date is off in such a workflow, the AI columns stay empty. To add rows only after they have the AI analysis, start the workflow After AI analysis. A workflow adds the responses that arrive after it is published, and responses received before that aren’t added.

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Test the step

During a workflow’s Test run, the Google Sheets step prepares the tab without adding a row. If the tab or its header row doesn’t exist yet, Usertick creates them, which confirms that Usertick can write to the file. See Test a workflow.

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Limits

• Google’s rate limits. Usertick stays under the limits Google sets: at most 55 reads and 55 writes a minute for each Google account, and one write a second for each spreadsheet. Every Usertick connection that uses the same Google account shares this budget. Usertick also stays under the limit Google sets for the Usertick app as a whole, which all Usertick customers share. When responses arrive faster, rows wait their turn and are added a little later, and waiting never counts as a failure. When Google asks Usertick to slow down, every request for that Google account pauses for as long as Google asks.
• 20 million cells per spreadsheet. Google sets this limit, counting every tab. When a spreadsheet is full, runs fail with “The spreadsheet is full. Google Sheets holds up to 20 million cells. Choose a new spreadsheet in the step.”
• 50,000 characters per cell. Google sets this limit too. A longer answer is cut and ends with “(truncated)”.

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Disconnect Google Sheets

Disconnect in the connection’s menu removes the connection. Workflow steps that use it stop adding rows until another connection is assigned to them. Usertick also removes its access in the Google account, unless another Usertick connection still uses that account. Your spreadsheets and their rows stay in Google Drive.

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Troubleshooting

• “This connection can’t open the spreadsheet.” In the workflow’s activity, runs show “Usertick can no longer open this spreadsheet. Choose it again in the step.” The step’s connection has no access to the file, for example because someone selected it with another Google account. Select Select it in Google Drive, or select Change and then Select from Google Drive, and select the file again. The connected account also needs edit access to the file.
• A tab was deleted. Usertick creates the tab again, with its header, when it writes the next row. The rows the tab had are gone, so later changes to older responses are skipped as not in the sheet.
• “This spreadsheet is in the trash. Restore it in Google Drive or select another one.” Meanwhile, runs fail with “The spreadsheet is in the trash. Restore it in Google Drive or choose another spreadsheet in the step.” After you restore the file in Google Drive, the step writes to it again, and Retry in the workflow’s activity resends a failed run.
• “The spreadsheet was deleted. Choose another spreadsheet in the step.” The file is permanently deleted. Create or select another spreadsheet in the step, then publish the workflow.
• Your Google Workspace admin blocks Usertick. Connecting stops with “Your Google Workspace admin has not allowed Usertick. Ask them to allow it in the Google Admin console under Security > Access and data control > API controls.” Runs of a connection that worked before fail with “Your Google Workspace admin blocks Usertick. Ask them to allow Usertick under API controls in the Google Admin console.” See Allow Usertick in Google Workspace.
• “Google didn’t give Usertick access to files, so workflows can’t add rows. Reconnect and allow access.” The connection doesn’t have the drive.file permission. Select Reconnect and allow access.
• “Google no longer accepts this connection. Connect Google Sheets again.” Usertick’s access was removed in the Google account, or Google ended it, and the connection shows Revoked. Select Reconnect in the connection’s menu.
• “The spreadsheet is full.” The spreadsheet reached Google’s limit of 20 million cells. Create a new spreadsheet in the step, then publish the workflow.

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Allow Usertick in Google Workspace

A Google Workspace admin can block apps that aren’t on the organization’s list. In that case, an admin allows Usertick once for everyone in the Google Admin console: After the admin allows Usertick, select Continue with Google Sheets again, or Reconnect on a revoked connection.