Automation Examples

Practical Google Sheets and Drive automations you can set up in under two minutes with FileDrop. Each one solves a real workflow problem.

SIGN UP HERE TO START YOUR AUTOMATION

New data automations

1. Notify sales the moment a new lead comes in

A Google Form or FileDrop form feeds responses into a Sheet. The instant a new row lands, email your sales team with the full lead details — name, company, message — so nothing sits unread.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (form responses tab)
Trigger New row added
Action Email
To sales@yourcompany.com
Subject New lead: {column:A} from {column:B}
Body Name: {column:A}\nCompany: {column:B}\nEmail: {column:C}\nMessage: {column:D}\n\nView sheet: {sheet_url}

2. Auto-reply to whoever submitted

New row contains the submitter’s own email address. Send them a personalised confirmation automatically — no manual follow-up needed.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger New row added
Condition Column Email is not empty
Action Email
To {column:Email}
Subject We received your submission, {column:Name}
Body Hi {column:Name},\n\nThanks for getting in touch. We'll review your submission and be in touch within 1 business day.

3. Slack your team when a high-value deal is added

Filter on deal size so only high-value leads hit the channel — not every row.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (CRM or pipeline tab)
Trigger New row added
Condition Column Value greater than 10000
Action Slack
Webhook #deals channel webhook
Message 🚀 New deal: *{column:Company}* — ${column:Value}\nOwner: {column:Owner}\n{sheet_url}

4. Copy new rows to a separate tracker — skip duplicates

When a sales rep logs a lead in the main sheet, copy it to the team tracker. If the same email already exists in the tracker, the copy is skipped automatically — no duplicates.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (main leads tab)
Trigger New row added
Action Copy row
Target spreadsheet Team tracker spreadsheet
Sheet tab Leads
Skip duplicates — key column Email

5. Copy a row preserving its formulas and formatting

Your pipeline sheet has colour-coded priority rows and formula-driven totals. When a new row is added, copy it to the reporting sheet — formulas, formatting, and notes intact.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger New row added
Action Copy row
Target spreadsheet Reporting spreadsheet
Preserve formulas ✓
Preserve formatting ✓
Preserve notes ✓

6. Create a client folder the moment a client is added

When a new client row hits your CRM sheet, automatically create a named Drive folder for them and write the folder link back into the row. The link appears in the sheet within seconds.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (CRM tab)
Trigger New row added
Condition Column Name is not empty
Action Create Drive folder
Folder name {column:Name} — {column:Company}
Parent folder Your “Clients” Drive folder
Write folder URL back to column FolderLink

Status change automations

7. Approval flow — notify + timestamp in one step

When someone marks a row Approved, email the requester and write the approval date back into the sheet automatically.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger Cell change — Column: Status, Value: Approved
Action 1 Email to {column:RequestorEmail}
Subject Your request has been approved
Body Hi {column:Name},\n\nYour request ({column:RequestID}) was approved on {triggered_at}.\n\nNo further action needed.
Action 2 Update sheet row — Column ApprovedAt, Value {triggered_at}

8. Move a completed order out of the active sheet

When an order’s status is set to “Shipped”, move the entire row from the active orders sheet into the archive — no manual cutting and pasting, and the active list stays short.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (active orders tab)
Trigger Cell change — Column: Status, Value: Shipped
Action Move row
Target spreadsheet Same spreadsheet (or a separate archive)
Sheet tab Archive
Skip duplicates — key column OrderID

Note: “Move row” copies the row to the destination then permanently deletes it from the source.

9. Route rows to different sheets based on region

When a new sale is logged, copy it into the right region’s spreadsheet based on the Region column — EU deals go to the EU sheet, US deals to the US sheet.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (all sales tab)
Trigger New row added
Action Copy row
Target spreadsheet {column:DestSpreadsheetID} (store the spreadsheet ID in a hidden column)
Sheet tab {column:Region}
Skip duplicates — key column OrderID

10. Escalate overdue items to a manager

When a row is marked Overdue, post immediately to the right channel so nothing slips.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (project tracker or invoices tab)
Trigger Cell change — Column: Status, Value: Overdue
Action Google Chat
Webhook Your management space webhook
Message ⚠️ Overdue: *{column:A}* — assigned to {column:Owner}\nDue: {column:DueDate}\n{sheet_url}

11. Trigger your own API when a row is updated

When a payment, order, or ticket row changes status, POST the full row data to your internal API so your system stays in sync — no polling, no delay.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger Cell change — Column: Status
Action Webhook
URL https://your-api.com/webhooks/sheet-update
Payload FileDrop sends { row_number, column, old_value, new_value, row_data: {...} }

Drive folder automations

12. Get notified when a client delivers files

A client uploads contract documents, design files, or deliverables to a shared Drive folder. Email your team the instant the file lands — with a direct link to open it.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder
Trigger New file in folder
Action Email
To projects@yourcompany.com
Subject New file from client: {file_name}
Body A new file has been uploaded to {folder_name}.\n\nFile: {file_name}\nOpen: {file_url}\nTime: {triggered_at}

13. Archive only PDFs — ignore everything else

Files of all types land in a shared uploads folder. Copy only the PDFs to the archive folder; thumbnails, temp files, and anything else are ignored.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder (shared uploads)
Trigger New file in folder
Condition Column mime_type equals application/pdf
Action Copy/move file — Copy
Destination folder Your PDF archive folder

14. Route files to the right team folder based on name

Incoming files are prefixed by department — LEGAL_contract.pdf, HR_onboarding.pdf. Copy each file to the correct team folder based on a name prefix.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder (incoming drop zone)
Trigger New file in folder
Condition Column name starts with LEGAL_
Action Copy/move file — Move
Destination folder Legal team Drive folder

Repeat with separate automations for each department prefix.

Files of all kinds land in a project folder. The legal team only needs to know about PDFs — not every image or spreadsheet that gets added.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder (project folder)
Trigger New file in folder
Condition Column mime_type equals application/pdf
Action Slack
Webhook #legal channel webhook
Message 📄 New contract to review: *{file_name}*\n{file_url}

A contract, SLA, or NDA lives in Drive. Any edit triggers an immediate notification to the team responsible for it.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder (contracts folder)
Trigger File modified
Action Slack
Webhook #legal channel webhook
Message 📝 Contract edited: *{file_name}*\nReview the changes: {file_url}

17. Log every uploaded file into a Google Sheet

When files land in a shared Drive folder, automatically append a row to a log sheet — file name, link, and timestamp — so you have a permanent audit trail without opening Drive.

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder
Trigger New file in folder
Action Write sheet row
Target spreadsheet Your audit log spreadsheet
Column A {file_name}
Column B {file_url}
Column C {triggered_at}
Column D {mime_type}

18. Create a project folder when a new project row is added, and file uploads into it

Two-automation setup: the first creates a Drive folder per project and writes the folder link back to the sheet. The second watches that folder and logs or forwards every file that arrives.

Automation 1 — Create the folder:

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (projects tab)
Trigger New row added
Action Create Drive folder
Folder name {column:ProjectName}
Parent folder Your “Projects” Drive folder
Write folder URL back to column FolderURL

Automation 2 — Watch the folder and notify: (Set up one automation per project folder, or use a single parent folder watch.)

Setting Value
Source Drive Folder (the project folder)
Trigger New file in folder
Action Email to {column:ProjectManager}
Subject New file in {folder_name}: {file_name}
Body {file_url}

Scheduled automations

19. Weekly backup to Drive every Monday morning

Keep a dated snapshot of a critical spreadsheet — pipeline, budget, inventory — that you can roll back to. Runs automatically before the week starts.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger Scheduled — Weekly, Monday at 8:00 AM
Timezone Your local timezone
Action Backup sheet
File name {sheet_name} — {date}
Format Google Sheet
Delivery Save to Drive folder

20. Email an Excel report to your manager every Friday

Export the week’s data as an Excel file and have it land in your manager’s inbox before the weekend — without touching the computer.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet
Trigger Scheduled — Weekly, Friday at 5:00 PM
Timezone Your local timezone
Action Backup sheet
File name Weekly report — {date}
Format Excel (.xlsx)
Delivery Email to up to 5 addresses

21. Keep a contacts sheet clean with weekly deduplication

A shared contacts or leads sheet accumulates duplicates over time. Run a dedup scan every week and let FileDrop remove them automatically.

Setting Value
Source Google Sheet (contacts or leads tab)
Trigger Scheduled — Weekly, Sunday at 2:00 AM
Timezone Your local timezone
Action Remove duplicates
Key column Email (or whichever column defines a unique record)
Keep First occurrence

Template variable reference

Sheet and general variables

Variable Available in Resolves to
{column:A} Sheet triggers Value in column A of the changed row
{column:Status} Sheet triggers Value in the column with header “Status”
{row_number} Sheet triggers Row number of the changed row (1-based)
{old_value} Cell change Previous cell value
{new_value} Cell change New cell value
{column_letter} Cell change Which column changed (e.g. B)
{sheet_url} Sheet triggers URL to open the source spreadsheet
{sheet_name} All Name of the spreadsheet
{sheet_tab} Sheet triggers Name of the specific sheet tab
{automation_name} All Name of this automation
{triggered_at} All ISO timestamp of when the run fired

Drive file variables

Variable Available in Resolves to
{file_name} Drive triggers Name of the new/modified file
{file_url} Drive triggers Direct Google Drive link to the file
{file_id} Drive triggers Google Drive file ID
{mime_type} Drive triggers MIME type (e.g. application/pdf, image/png)
{folder_name} Drive triggers Name of the monitored folder

Backup file name variables

Variable Resolves to
{date} Today’s date (YYYY-MM-DD)
{time} Current time (HH-MM)
{datetime} Date and time combined

Condition field reference for Drive folder triggers

When the source is a Drive folder, use these values in the Column field of a condition:

Column value Filters on
name File name — use contains, starts_with, or equals
mime_type MIME type — e.g. application/pdf, image/jpeg, application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet
file_url The Google Drive share link
file_id The Drive file ID

Common MIME types

File type MIME type
PDF application/pdf
JPEG image image/jpeg
PNG image image/png
Google Doc application/vnd.google-apps.document
Google Sheet application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet
Google Slides application/vnd.google-apps.presentation
Word document application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Excel spreadsheet application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
ZIP archive application/zip