Quick start: Build your automation using Gmail

This is a beta release of building automations using Gmail events. See Track and manage feature releases. Preview offerings are intended for use in test environments only. This feature is not recommended for use in production apps. For questions or assistance with this feature, contact AppSheet Support.

You must be a Google Workspace user to build AppSheet automations with Gmail. See Add AppSheet to Google Workspace.

If you are using your Google Workspace account, the Google Workspace Terms of Service govern your use of Gmail. Otherwise, refer to the Google Terms of Service.

In this Quick start, you'll build a new automation flow that is triggered when a label is manually added to an email. You'll then save content from the email message to a table in your app.

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To create your first automation using Gmail, perform the following steps:

1. Create an app from a template.
2. Build an automation based on a Gmail event.
3. Test your automation.

Create an app from a template

To create an app from the IT Ticketing template, do the following:

1. Open the Project Tracker template.
2. Click Copy and Customize.
   The Clone your app dialog opens.
3. Click Copy app.
   Your app is created from the template and opened in the app editor. By default, the Learning Center is displayed.

4. Go to Data  .
   The Data pane is displayed and the first table in the primary navigation is opened in the editor.
   
   
   
   Notice that there are four tables, Notes, People, Tracker, and Workstreams. The Tracker table has table slices defined to access workstreams based on the status of the project.

5. Click View data source in the top navigation to open the Google Sheet data source used by the app.
   
   

The Tracker Sheet is opened in a separate tab. Leave the spreadsheet open -- you'll refer back to it later when testing your automation.

Next you'll add a Gmail event automation that triggers an automation when a label is added to a project email message in your Gmail. You'll then capture the project information from the email message in the Tracker spreadsheet.

Build an automation based on a Gmail event 

To build an automation based on a Gmail event:

1. Return to the AppSheet editor tab.
2. Go to Automation  > Bots.
   
   
   
   Currently, the app has an automation defined to send an email to task owners for incomplete tasks that are due today. The bot shows a warning because the app isn't deployed. This message can be ignored for now. 
3. Click + in the top header of the Bots panel.
   
   
   
   The Add a new bot dialog is opened.
4. In the Add a new bot dialog, click Create a new bot.
   
   
   
   A new empty bot is created and displayed in the center pane of the app editor.
5. To edit the name of the bot, do the following:
   1. Position your cursor over the New Bot in the left navigation pane.
   2. Select More  > Rename.
      
      
   3. Replace the text with Urgent project and press Enter.
6. In the new bot flow in the center pane, click Configure event.
   
   
7. For event name, enter Urgent project received and click Create a new event.
   
   
   
   The Settings pane opens in the right side of the app editor.
8. In the Settings pane, configure the event as follows: 
   1. In the Event source drop-down, select Gmail (Beta).
   2. To connect your Gmail account as a data source, click Authorize.
      The Add a new data source dialog displays.
   3. Click Gmail (beta).
      
      
      
      The Choose an account dialog displays.
   4. Click your Gmail account and then respond to the remaining prompts to add your Gmail account as a data source and connect it to the app. 
   5. In the Gmail account drop-down, select the account you just added.
   6. In the Label to watch drop-down, select Starred.
      Note: For simplicity, you're using one of the default Gmail labels. Typically, you'll create a custom label for use with your automation. See Create labels to organize Gmail and Create rules to filter your emails.
   7. Select the following trigger actions:
      • Added label to email
      • Removed label from email
9. In the bot flow in the center pane, click + Add a step.
   
   
10. In the Step name field, enter Save project details and click Create a new step.
    
    
11. Click the Save project details step in the center pane and select Run a data action in the drop-down.
    
    
    
    The Settings pane is updated.
12. In the Settings pane, configure the step as follows:
    1. Leave Add new rows selected as the data action.
    2. In the Add row to this table drop-down, select Tracker.
       You'll add a new row to the Tracker spreadsheet using the values defined in the next step.
    3. Under With these values, follow these steps to add the following values:

       Value	Steps
       Workstream	Select Workstream in the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. In the expression text box, enter: "0.3399913417" Include the surrounding quotes. This ID corresponds to the ProjectA workstream in the Workstreams spreadsheet. Let's assume that this workstream tracks urgent projects. Click Save. The Expression Assistant is closed.
       Task	Click Add. Select Task in the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. Click the Examples tab and then click Columns. Locate the row with [Subject] in the Example column and click Insert. Click Save. The Expression Assistant is closed.
       Description	Click Add. Select Description in the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. In the Examples tab, click Columns. Locate the row with [Body] in the Example column and click Insert. Click Save.
       Owner	Click Add. Select Owner in the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. In the text box, enter: "[e-mail]" Include the surrounding quotes. Click Save.
       Due	Click Add. Select Due in the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. In the text box, enter: TODAY()+1 Due to its urgent nature, you're indicating that the project needs to be resolved in 24 hours. Click Save.
       Status	Click Add. Select Status from the drop-down. Click in the value field to open the Expression Assistant. In the text box, enter: "Not Started" Include the surrounding quotes and match the capitalization. Click Save.

      The Settings pane appears as follows:
    
    
13. Click Save to save the app.
    
    

Next, you'll test your automation.

Test your automation

To test the automation:

1. Go to your Gmail account.
2. Compose an email with the following content and send it to the yourself:
   • Email Subject: Issue #5555555
   • Email body: Monitor removal from conference room C
3. Check your inbox for the message.
4. Click the star icon adjacent to the message to trigger the automation.
   
   
5. Navigate back to the browser tab with the Tracker sheet.
6. Make sure that the Tracker spreadsheet tab is selected and confirm that a new row has been added to track the project:
   
   

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Congratulations! You have built your first app and automation using Gmail. 

What's next? You can access more quick starts to learn about other AppSheet features.