Hey everyone,
My app relies heavily on virtual columns for some complex calculations. Right now, to run my reports, I’m manually clicking the native “Export this view to a CSV file” button on an AppSheet view, downloading the file, and importing it into a separate Google Sheets file that runs a bunch of pivot tables.
It works, but doing it manually is getting old fast. I don’t need real-time syncing, and pushing data row-by-row via an AppSheet bot doesn’t work for my use case. All I really need is the exact raw data export that the native CSV export gives me, but triggered by a single “Sync” button directly inside my Google Sheets report file.
Because I need those virtual column values, I can’t just use a simple =IMPORTRANGE() or =QUERY() between my backend Google Sheets files. I also know the native CSV export button is a client-side feature, so I can’t just trigger it with a standard automation.
I’ve never actually explored the AppSheet API feature before, so I wanted to see if this is even feasible:
Could I write a container-bound Google Apps Script in my reporting Google Sheets file that makes a Find request to the AppSheet API to grab the JSON data (including the VCs) and do a complete, bulk sync right into the spreadsheet in one click?
If so:
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Will this work on a free tier and what are the AppSheet API quota limits? Can I reliably pull this data via Apps Script while the app is still an unpaid prototype?
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How does data size impact the request timing? Since Google Apps Script has a hardcoded 6-minute runtime limit per execution, I’m worried a large dataset might time out if the API response is slow.
Lastly, are there other Google Workspace analytical tools? Is there another analytical or reporting tool within the Google Workspace ecosystem that natively integrates better with AppSheet for these kinds of purposes?
Would love any advice, reality checks, or workarounds you can offer. Thanks!