Export workflow results to Google Sheets

CaptainBook can write the results of a workflow directly into a Google Sheet.

Any list produced by a workflow — bookings, customers, availabilities, transactions, and more — can be exported to a sheet, one row per item, using the columns you choose.

Typical uses include:

You connect your own Google account. The sheets are created in your Google Drive and belong to you.

Before you start

You need a Google account and the Google Sheets app installed from the CaptainBook App Store.

You do not need to configure anything in Google Cloud.

Go to the App Store in CaptainBook and open Google Sheets.

If it is not installed yet, install it first.

On the Google Sheets app page, click Connect Google.

CaptainBook will send you to Google’s sign-in and consent screen.

Sign in with the Google account whose Drive you want the sheets to be created in, then approve the request.

CaptainBook requests the drive.file permission.

This means:

If you cancel on Google’s screen, nothing is connected and you can start again later.

When you return to CaptainBook, you should see a green Connected as... message.

The Export to Google Sheet step is now available in Workflows.

In the Workflow builder, the Export to Google Sheet action appears under Integrations.

Before Google is connected, the step appears grayed out. Clicking it takes you to the Google Sheets connection page.

Once Google is connected, it becomes a normal workflow step.

The export works with a list, so it normally comes after a step such as:

To set it up:

Open the Export to Google Sheet step.

You can configure the source, destination, columns, write mode, and preview from this panel.

In Which list to export, select the list or record created by the earlier workflow step.

For example:

{bookings}

or

{booking}

Use Use variable to select it rather than typing it manually.

Choose the list or record itself, not one of its fields.

For example, select Bookings or Booking at the top level.

Do not select fields such as {booking.id} here. Individual fields are chosen later when you configure the columns.

Flat fields only

The export can directly use fields that exist on the selected row.

If you need information from a related record, add a Find step for that record first, or export its ID and match it later.

The destination section includes:

The easiest option is to let CaptainBook create the sheet.

Important

CaptainBook can currently write only to sheets that it created for you.

A Google Sheet that you created manually cannot simply be added by pasting its ID.

The Tab field controls which sheet tab receives the data. It defaults to Sheet1.

The Columns section controls what is written into each column of the Google Sheet.

Each column has:

The fastest way to configure this is Add all fields.

Once you have selected a source, click Add all fields and CaptainBook automatically creates a column for each available field.

You can then:

You can also use Add column to build the export manually.

Workflow functions can also be used in column values, such as counting, joining, or date-formatting functions.

Choose one of three write modes.

Adds the new rows to the end of the existing tab.

Use this when you want a growing log.

Clears the tab and rewrites it from the beginning on every run.

Use this when the sheet should always show the latest snapshot.

Creates a completely new Google Sheet on every workflow run.

Use this when you want to keep each export separately.

Be careful with Replace

Replace clears the selected tab before writing the new data. Do not use it on a tab where you keep other information manually.

Leave Write a header row enabled to put your column names in the first row.

Turn it off if you want the workflow to write only data rows.

Enable Notify me when it finishes to receive a CaptainBook notification with a link to the sheet after the export completes.

To avoid unnecessary notifications, this is sent at most once per day per workflow.

Click Preview to check your column mapping before anything is written to Google.

The preview resolves a sample row and shows what each column will contain.

You may see:

Fix any errors before relying on the workflow.

Run the workflow manually or wait for its normal trigger.

For Append or Replace, the rows are written into the selected tab.

For Create new, CaptainBook creates a new sheet and makes its link available in the workflow result.

If the workflow finds no results, nothing is written to the sheet and the workflow still counts as successful.

If the Google connection expires or access is removed from your Google account, exports pause.

CaptainBook shows a warning asking you to reconnect.

Click Reconnect Google and approve access again.

Your existing workflow settings remain in place.

To stop CaptainBook from writing to Google Drive, click Disconnect in the Google Sheets app.

Future exports will require the account to be connected again.

If you uninstall the Google Sheets app, CaptainBook also removes the stored Google connection.

Any sheets already created remain in your Google Drive.