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Import data from Google Sheets - tests fine, but doesn't run

  • July 14, 2024
  • 7 replies
  • 136 views
Linda_Bonder
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I have several automations with the trigger of "new row created in Google sheets". The action is for the data from Sheets to create a new record in AT. "Test automation" works fine. But then the automation works SOMETIMES! It wasn't running at all. Then all of a sudden, it will pull in a record. Yesterday it pulled in every record I created. Now it's doing almost nothing. I have tried it with Google Form submission as a trigger also - same problem.

I really can't pay for another service to do this. I had this working last year, now can't figure out where I'm going wrong. Thank you for your help!

Best answer by ScottWorld

Hi @Linda_Bonder ,

If your data is coming from a Google Form, then that is infinitely easier, because you can just use Make’s Google Forms automations  to monitor your form submissions and submit them to Airtable. No Chrome extension required.

Of course, I should mention that you would probably be much better served by moving away from Google Forms and switching to Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable instead.

As soon as a form is submitted in Fillout, you can immediately send the data to BOTH Airtable AND Google Sheets (and many other apps).

Fillout is 100% free, and it offers hundreds of features that neither Airtable nor Google offer with their forms, such as the ability to update Airtable records using a form, create custom PDF files from a form submission, accept payments on forms, pre-fetch dynamic data from an Airtable record, customize the style and branding of your form, customize a theme for your form, display Airtable lookup fields on forms, create new linked records on a form, add a login page to your form, perform math or other live calculations on your forms, collect signatures on a form, create multi-page forms with conditional paths, connect a single form to dozens of external apps simultaneously, add CAPTCHAs to your form, and much more.

I show how to use a few of the advanced features of Fillout on these 2 Airtable podcast episodes:

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

7 replies

TheTimeSavingCo
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I'd suggest opening a ticket with Airtable support directly to see if they can shed any light!

Adam, Airtable Consultant - thetimesaving.company
ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • 9808 replies
  • July 15, 2024

@Linda_Bonder 

I would report the problem to support@airtable.com.

In the meantime, you mentioned that you can’t pay for another service to do this, but Make is free for up to 1,000 operations per month.

Make’s Google Sheets trigger works reliably 100% of the time because it requires Google Chrome and it works by leveraging their custom Google Chrome extension.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

— ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant 

Linda_Bonder
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  • Linda_Bonder
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  • 22 replies
  • July 15, 2024

@Linda_Bonder 

I would report the problem to support@airtable.com.

In the meantime, you mentioned that you can’t pay for another service to do this, but Make is free for up to 1,000 operations per month.

Make’s Google Sheets trigger works reliably 100% of the time because it requires Google Chrome and it works by leveraging their custom Google Chrome extension.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

— ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant 


Thanks, Scott, that's helpful. I'm trying it. In what way does it require Google Chrome? Do I need to be using Chrome when I set it up? or ?

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • 9808 replies
  • July 15, 2024

Yes, when you’re setting it up and when you’re using Google Sheets. Here are their instructions on it:

https://www.make.com/en/help/app/google-sheets

Linda_Bonder
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  • Linda_Bonder
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  • 22 replies
  • July 17, 2024

@Linda_Bonder 

I would report the problem to support@airtable.com.

In the meantime, you mentioned that you can’t pay for another service to do this, but Make is free for up to 1,000 operations per month.

Make’s Google Sheets trigger works reliably 100% of the time because it requires Google Chrome and it works by leveraging their custom Google Chrome extension.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

— ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant 


Thanks, Scott. Unfortunately, according to the Make page, it explicitly does not work if the records are coming from a Google form. I did submit a ticket to Airtable support. So far, their suggestions have all assumed that I’m putting data directly into the Google sheet, but I’m still trying with them. 

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • 9808 replies
  • Answer
  • July 18, 2024

Hi @Linda_Bonder ,

If your data is coming from a Google Form, then that is infinitely easier, because you can just use Make’s Google Forms automations  to monitor your form submissions and submit them to Airtable. No Chrome extension required.

Of course, I should mention that you would probably be much better served by moving away from Google Forms and switching to Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable instead.

As soon as a form is submitted in Fillout, you can immediately send the data to BOTH Airtable AND Google Sheets (and many other apps).

Fillout is 100% free, and it offers hundreds of features that neither Airtable nor Google offer with their forms, such as the ability to update Airtable records using a form, create custom PDF files from a form submission, accept payments on forms, pre-fetch dynamic data from an Airtable record, customize the style and branding of your form, customize a theme for your form, display Airtable lookup fields on forms, create new linked records on a form, add a login page to your form, perform math or other live calculations on your forms, collect signatures on a form, create multi-page forms with conditional paths, connect a single form to dozens of external apps simultaneously, add CAPTCHAs to your form, and much more.

I show how to use a few of the advanced features of Fillout on these 2 Airtable podcast episodes:

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

Linda_Bonder
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  • Linda_Bonder
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  • Known Participant
  • 22 replies
  • July 18, 2024

Hi @Linda_Bonder ,

If your data is coming from a Google Form, then that is infinitely easier, because you can just use Make’s Google Forms automations  to monitor your form submissions and submit them to Airtable. No Chrome extension required.

Of course, I should mention that you would probably be much better served by moving away from Google Forms and switching to Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable instead.

As soon as a form is submitted in Fillout, you can immediately send the data to BOTH Airtable AND Google Sheets (and many other apps).

Additionally, Fillout is 100% free and offers hundreds of features that Google Forms and Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records from a form, display Airtable lookup fields & Airtable rollup fields & Airtable attachments & formulas on forms, dynamically & conditionally filter linked record fields by any values that you would like, perform math or other live calculations on your forms, accept payments on forms, create multi-page forms with conditional paths, create new linked records on a form, display as many fields as you want to see in a linked record selection list (including attachments), connect a single form to dozens of external apps simultaneously, limit the number of linked records that can be chosen, upload an unlimited amount of attachments simultaneously, add CAPTCHAs to your form, add choice matrixes to your forms, direct integration with hundreds of apps like Calendly & Google Maps on your forms, and so much more.

.Hope this helps! I’m not currently taking on any new clients, but in 2025 or later, if you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld.


Wow, Fillout seems to just work. And it even imported my form from G-Forms. I had tried Fillout before for accepting payments, and ran into a bug (their support was able to see the problem but had no fix), so I had abandoned it. Found a different way to accept payments. But for our registration forms, it may be the solution.  Just did a tiny test so far, but it already works better than the AT automation for G-forms. Thank you so much!!


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