Hey everyone! I’m trying to figure out how to make my Google Sheets do something automatically, but I’m not a coder. Here’s what I want:
I’ve got this sheet with a dropdown menu for picking campaign names. When I choose one, two graphs update with info from another sheet. Cool, right?
But here’s the tricky part. I want to make it:
- Pick the first option in the dropdown
- Wait 15 seconds for the graphs to update
- Print the page
- Move to the next option
- Repeat until it’s gone through all the options
Is this even possible? I heard Google Sheets uses some JavaScript thing called Google Apps Script. Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some tips to get started? Thanks a bunch!
I’ve actually tackled a similar challenge with Google Sheets before. While it’s not the easiest task for a non-coder, it’s definitely doable with Google Apps Script. Here’s a high-level approach that worked for me:
- Create a custom menu item in your sheet to trigger the script.
- Write a function that loops through all dropdown options.
- For each option, use SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getRange() to set the dropdown value.
- Use Utilities.sleep(15000) for the 15-second wait.
- Use SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName().getRange() to capture the graph area.
- Use UrlFetchApp.fetch() to send the range to Google’s Cloud Print service.
The trickiest part was setting up Cloud Print, but once that’s done, it works like a charm. If you’re interested, I can share some code snippets to get you started. Just remember to test thoroughly - it took me a few tries to get the timing right!
yo, this is totally doable! ive messed around with google sheets scripts before. u can use a loop to go thru the dropdown options, change em with setvalue(), wait with utilities.sleep(), and maybe use the sheets api to grab a pdf for printing. its a bit tricky but u can probs figure it out. good luck!
Having worked extensively with Google Sheets automation, I can confirm that your requirement is achievable using Google Apps Script. The key is to leverage the SpreadsheetApp class for manipulating the sheet and Utilities.sleep() for timing control. One approach is to create a custom function that iterates through your dropdown options, updates the selection, waits, then triggers a print action. For the printing step, you might need to explore options like generating a PDF or using third-party APIs, as direct printing from scripts can be challenging. Keep in mind that executing this script may take considerable time, especially with many options. I’d recommend starting with a small subset to test and refine your approach before scaling up.