Applies to

Smartsheet
  • Pro
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Smartsheet Merge add-on for Google Docs

PLANS

  • Smartsheet
  • Pro
  • Business
  • Enterprise

These are the Smartsheet-Google Drive integration points available for installation from the Chrome Web Store:

  1. Smartsheet Merge: Strategically import Smartsheet data into your Google Document.

  2. Smartsheet Sync: Store responses to Google Forms in a new sheet in Smartsheet.

  3. Create new sheets from Google Drive: New sheets are stored in Smartsheet, but a link is also created in Drive so you can easily open them from there.

In addition, there are several integration points with Google that don't require any installation. See a full list here.

You must use the Chrome browser to install any Smartsheet app or add-on initially but after the installation, you are able to access the Google Drive-Smartsheet features in any browser.


Use the Smartsheet Merge Add-on

Smartsheet Merge is a Google Docs add-on that enables you to create invoices, form letters, envelopes, or other documents from your Smartsheet data. For example, you can use the names in your Client Name column in Smartsheet to customize a form letter created in Google Docs for each of your clients.

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Smartsheet Merge add-on for Google Docs

Only the first 100 columns in the sheet are available to select from the sidebar. You can create a Merge Field tag for any column manually by typing the column name surrounded by two sets of curly bracers - for example: {{Column Name}} - within the document.

If your column names or locations have changed since starting up the add-on, select Refresh Columns to update the list in the side bar.

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Smartsheet Merge add-on for Google Docs
  1. To get started, install Smartsheet Merge from the Chrome Web Store and grant Smartsheet Merge permission to access your Google Drive documents.

  2. Once installed, you are re-directed to a document in Google Docs. You can also choose to navigate to any other document you want to merge Smartsheet data into.

  3. Select Add-ons at the top and select Smartsheet Merge > Start. The Smartsheet Merge sidebar appears at the right of the document.

  4. Select the Connect to Smartsheet button and then follow the steps to authorize access between the app and your Smartsheet account.
    You may see an error message during this process if you're signed into multiple Google accounts. If this occurs, sign out of all Google accounts in all browser windows, close the browser, and sign back in to just one Google account.

  5. Once successfully logged in, the page updates and instructs you to close the window and return to your Google Doc with the Smartsheet Merge sidebar.

  6. You'll see that the Smartsheet Merge sidebar has updated. Click Select a Sheet and choose the sheet you want to use for the merge. Use the Search box just above your sheet list to quickly filter sheets to find the sheet you're looking for.
    Sheet Picker

  7. Click Select Rows from the Smartsheet Merge sidebar to choose rows to merge with the document. If you select multiple rows, Smartsheet Merge creates multiple copies of the Google document, each one merged with data from a selected row. You can select a maximum of 150 rows per merge.

  8. Select Insert Merge Fields from the Smartsheet Merge sidebar.

  9. Merge Fields are what Smartsheet Merge uses to place your Smartsheet data within the Google Doc. Place the cursor where you'd like the first tag to display in the document, then select a column name in the sidebar. This inserts a Merge Field tag that acts as a placeholder for data coming from Smartsheet. Repeat this process for each column of data you'd like to merge into the document.

  10. When finished setting up the document, select Run Merge in the Smartsheet Merge sidebar. Select whether you'd like to Create multiple Google Docs, Create multiple PDFs, and/or whether you'd like to Combine into one file. When this last option is selected, all of the merged documents are combined into a single Google Doc/PDF file for easy printing.
    Google only creates PDFs of documents less than 10MB in size.

  11. Customize the File Name Format. By default, the name of each file includes the data from the primary column in your sheet, but you can select Change next to File Name Format to modify this as desired.

  12. Configure Additional Options:

    • Share in Google Drive: Shares each merge document with the valid Gmail or Google Apps email address listed in the row. Requires one of the first 100 columns in the sheet to list the email address each row's document should be shared to.

    • Attach to row in Smartsheet: Attaches a link to the generated Google Doc or PDF back to the row in Smartsheet.

    • Upload to row in Smartsheet (PDF documents only): Uploads the generated PDF to Smartsheet and attaches it to the row.

    • Send via Email (PDF documents only): Sends each PDF document as an email attachment to the valid address found in the row. The emails are sent from whomever is running the add-on. Requires one of the first 100 columns in the sheet to list the email address each row's document should be sent to. Select Configure to customize the subject line and message body of the emails. You can type merge fields into the subject line and message body to include values from the row, just like using the merge fields within the Google Doc. For example:

  13. Select the Run Merge button at the bottom of the sidebar. The merge process runs, placing the new documents in a folder whose name is created from the name of the current document at the time the merge process began. 

If, at any time, you see an error that you can't use the integration as your domain has disabled third-party apps, this can be resolved by your Google domain admin using these instructions on Google's support site. Reach out to the admin of your Google account and ask if they'd be willing to change the settings and allow use of third-party apps such as ours.  


Uninstall apps and add-ons

Use the instructions on Google's Support site for uninstalling apps from Google Drive.

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