Spreadsheet Automation

Overview

Google Sheets isn't just for budgets and lists. With the right formulas, Apps Script, and integrations, it becomes a database, CRM, project tracker, analytics dashboard, and workflow engine — all in one free tool. This playbook shows you how to build production-grade systems in Sheets that replace $50-500/month SaaS tools.

Step 1: Identify What to Automate in Sheets

Not every workflow belongs in Sheets. Here's when Sheets is the right tool.

Good use cases for Sheets automation:

• Data collection from multiple sources (form responses, API data, manual input) → centralize in one place
• Lightweight databases (customer lists, inventory, project tracker) → under 10K rows, basic relationships
• Dashboards and reporting (pull data from other tools, visualize, share)
• Workflow triggers (when row added/updated → send email, create task, update another sheet)
• Data transformation (clean, format, enrich data from messy sources)

Bad use cases (use a real database or tool instead):