Start Coding Now - google-apps-script

Logging in Google Apps Script

2023-08-25T00:00:00-07:00

I have some Google Apps Script code that archives emails. I can see if the code ran without errors in the execution log, but I would like to also see how many emails were archived on a run to know if it changed the state of my inbox.

We can use the execution log to do some simple logging.

function archiveInbox() {
    var threads = GmailApp.search('label:inbox from:(jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com) older_than:4d');
    for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
        console.log(
            'Moving thread to archive: "%s"',
            threads[i].getFirstMessageSubject()
        );
        threads[i].moveToArchive();
    }
}

In the snippet above, the console.log statement gets pushed directly to the execution log. This will leave a note whenever a thread gets archived with the subject of the thread.

To view the logs, check the execution log from the Executions sidebar menu.

Auto-Archive Emails in Gmail

2023-07-28T00:00:00-07:00

Goal

I'm looking for a job in software engineering and have signed up for job alerts from LinkedIn.

I still, however, have a personal training business to run, and these emails are muddying my inbox, making it easier to miss important emails from my clients.

Given these job alerts are time-sensitive, I am okay with archiving emails that have been in my inbox for three days.

A good alternative would be to check these emails right away, but hey, sometimes I get busy!

Starting Point

I'm starting with the following snippet from Amit Agarwal.

function cleanInbox() {

    var delayDays = 2;

    var maxDate = new Date();
    maxDate.setDate(maxDate.getDate()-delayDays);

    var threads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();

    for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
        if (threads[i].getLastMessageDate() function archiveInbox() {
            var threads = GmailApp.search('label:inbox is:read older_than:2d');
            for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
                threads[i].moveToArchive();
            }
    }

Google Apps Script Project Setup

Head to https://script.google.com
Make sure you're logged in with the account associated with the Gmail inbox you want to clean
Click on "+ New Project"
Click on the "+" button next to Services and add "Gmail" to give the script permission to use Gmail, an advanced service.

Your script will be written inside the code.gs file that automatically opens when creating a new project.

Search and Archive Script

Open up code.gs under Files and enter your script. Here's how I adjusted Amit's code to serve my purposes:

function archiveInbox() {
    var threads = GmailApp.search('label:inbox from:(jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com) older_than:3d');
    for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
        threads[i].moveToArchive();
    }
}

Read the documentation to learn more about the GmailApp. For example, you may want to skip archiving and move the thread straight to the trash.

A Note on Feature Design

When searching for the features I wanted, it was helpful to take a step back from the Gmail Service documentation and think about how I would accomplish this task using the standard Gmail graphical user interface.

For my situation, I would use search to filter emails by sender and date. I figured out who the sender was and used the date filtering similar to Amit's example.

Test Your Script

Once you think your code is correct, click on the "Save" button and then the "Run" button.

An Execution log should open at the bottom. If everything worked, you should see "Execution started" and "Execution completed".

You can add console.log("message") statements to tell you what's happening when the code is run.

Enable Time Trigger

As it stands, the script is actually done.

The issue is that it's not saving any time to have to open up Google Apps Script every time you want to archive a few emails.

To run this script automatically, click on "Triggers" with the time clock icon in the leftmost sidebar.

Then click "+ Add Trigger" and choose your settings. Mine were like this:

Choose which function to run on: archiveInbox
Choose which deployment should run: Head
Select event source: Time-driven
Select type of time based trigger: Day timer
Select time of day: Midnight to 1am
Failure notification settings: Notify me daily

If you changed the function name or you have multiple, they should show up in this dialog. You can customize the time to fit your needs.

Troubleshooting

When first running, Apps Script will tell you "Authorization required". You must review and allow permissions using Google Single Sign-On.

If you forgot to add the Gmail service, the execution log will tell you that "Execution started", but it will hit an error of "Script function not found".

If you haven't placed your script within a function, you will not be able to run it.

If the code appears to run correctly, but you do not notice the desired outcome in your Gmail inbox, double check that the project was created under the correct account.

Conclusion

I'm seeing the power of Google Apps Script as someone using many Google services. Perhaps we can start utilizing Google Sheets and Docs more?

Create Your Own YouTube Analytics Dashboard SUPER FAST with Google Apps Script

2021-04-20T00:00:00-07:00

In my day job as a personal trainer, I find myself doing a lot of repetitive tasks. When writing a training program, there’s SO MUCH clicking to format a Google Sheet well enough to make a professional product.

So I started playing around with macros and found it easy to augment a macro with Google Apps Script.

When recording a macro, the code is saved in the “Script Editor”.

Tools > Script editor will open the script editor.

The Google Apps Script Editor.

And I come to find out that this Script Editor can do a lot for us!

In this post, we’re going to make your own personal YouTube dashboard.

Table of Contents
Create a New Google Sheet
Find a YouTube Video ID
Write the Script
- Line By Line Code Analysis
Add the YouTube Service to the Script
Run the Script
Next Ideas

Create a New Google Sheet

We’ll need a place to store your YouTube data. Create a new sheet and give it three headings in the first columns:

Video ID
Title
Views

The first three cells have the headers “Video ID”, “Title”, and “Views”.

Find a YouTube Video ID

First, we’re going to need a video to analyze.

I went and grabbed one of my top performers: Elbow Pain During Push Ups. Let’s examine the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPwtBl6_KQ

That value after the ?v= is the ID of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=**2TPwtBl6_KQ**

So we’re going to copy that for our Google Sheet and paste it into cell A2.

The video ID has been pasted in cell A2.

Write the Script

The inspiration for this post came from another post by Wesley Chun on the Google Developers blog. It’s a few years old now, but the code mostly works. The user interface has changed a bit, though, so I’m going to walk your through it.

Open up the Script Editor from your Google Sheet: Tools > Script Editor.

And type in the following code:

function getVideoInfo() {
  let sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  let vid = sheet.getRange("A2").getValue();
  let data = YouTube.Videos.list('snippet, statistics', {id: vid});
  let item = data.items[0];
  let info = [item.snippet.title, item.statistics.viewCount];
  sheet.getRange("B2:C2").setValues([info]);
}

Wesley does a great job walking through the code in the post, but I’ll do so here for completeness.

Line By Line Code Analysis

function getVideoInfo() {

Here we’re declaring the function we’re going to run.

let sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();

This tells the script what sheet we’re working on and is tied to our current sheet

let vid = sheet.getRange("A2").getValue();

This selects the video ID we just pasted in. If we need it, we can use the vid variable.

let data = YouTube.Videos.list('snippet, statistics', {id: vid});

Here we’re using the YouTube Data API to grab info about our video.
We use the YouTube.Videos.list method.
- 'snippet, statistics' tells the API what we want it to give us.
- The snippet property contains the channelId, title, description, tags, and categoryId properties.
- The statistics property contains the viewCount, likeCount, dislikeCount, favoriteCount, and commentCount properties.
And we pass in the video ID from the vid variable we just set.

let item = data.items[0];

We’ve only asked for one video, so our response from the YouTube Data API has only given us one video in our array (at index 0).

let info = [item.snippet.title, item.statistics.viewCount];

Grab the title and view count from the JSON response data.

sheet.getRange("B2:C2").setValues([info]);

Select our B2:C2 range.
Add the two values from the info variable we just set.

Add the YouTube Service to the Script

This is where things start to look a little different from Wesley’s original article. Here’s how we do it in April 2021.

Click + in Services.

The plus button for adding a new service.

Scroll down and select the YouTube Data API.

The Add a Service dialog box. The YouTube Data API v3 contains a link to the documentation link and can be identified with “YouTube”.

Then click “Add” and you should see it in the left menu.

The YouTube service is showing.

Run the Script

Then we can “Run” the script.

The run button is towards the top of the window.

A dialog box will open asking for you to authenticate your Google Account.

You may also get a warning that executing the code from this sheet is not safe. Chrome likes to warn you by hiding the ability to go on and showing a blue “Back to Safety” button. I was able to bypass this by clicking “Advanced” and proceeding anyways.

Once you’ve done that, you might have to click “Run” one more time.

When it runs, the Execution Log should open at the bottom of the window.

Execution log shows execution started and completed.

And if all went well, you’ll see what I’ve pasted above.

Check the Google Sheet…

The video title has been placed in cell B2. The video view count has been placed in C2.

And there’s our data!

Next Ideas

Track your top ten videos and find their views.
Track your content marketing videos to see which perform best.
Test different methods of engagement to see which videos get the most comments, likes, and dislikes.
Send these stats to your Gmail.
Store a new file for every month with the highest performing videos of the month.
Grab data from a playlist you’ve created (perhaps a tutorial series?)
Retrieve the IDs for your most popular videos and get all the data you want about them.
Create visual tables and graphs inside your Google Sheet to better visualize your data.
Share your results with a friend to hold yourself accountable.

Any other ideas? How are you using Google Apps Script? Share in a comment below!