Simple notification script for Google Sheets

UPDATED: May 19, 2017
I changed the script to be more user-friendly and the ability to include HTML in the email body. I also found that Google moved a few things in the menus, so I modified the instructions as appropriate.

Google Sheets has a nice feature to notify yourself if something has changed, but every person who wants to be notified must add a notification for themselves. With a simple script, you can send notifications to people of your choosing.

In this example, I've written a script to send an email when 1 or more rows are added.

Get started.

1. Go to the sheet
2. Find a cell in the sheet that wont ever be over-written.
1. Enter the value of the current total number of rows in the sheet.
2. Note the cell for use in your script. I used G2.
3. Go to Tools > Script editor...

Write your script.

Add this script in the script editor. Change as required to meet your needs.

function check4NewLines() {

      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////
  // /////////////// Cell to track last row //////////////// //
      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////

  var theLastRow = "G2";
  // Remember to put the number of rows, i.e. last row, in your spreadsheet into the cell you've referenced here.

        // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////
  // /////////// End cell to track last row /////////////// //
      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////


  // get the spreadsheet object
  var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  // set the first sheet as active
  SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(spreadsheet.getSheets()[0]);
  // fetch this sheet
  var sheet = spreadsheet.getActiveSheet();
  // fetch sheet name
  var sheetName = spreadsheet.getName();
  // figure out what the last row is
  var lastRow = sheet.getLastRow();
  // cell used to track last row we checked. See the Get started section in this post.
  var lastRowChecked = sheet.getRange(theLastRow).getValue();
  // The number of new lines on the sheet.
  var newLines = lastRow - lastRowChecked;


      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////
  // /////////////// Customized variables //////////////// //
      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////

  // These variables that can be used in your subject or message:
  // 1. newLines : the number of new rows added to the sheet
  // 2. theSheetURL : the URL to the Google sheet
  // 3. sheetName : the name of the Google sheet

    // Update with appropriate email address(es). Multiple addresses should be comma delimited.
  var theEmailDistro = "my-email-address@foo.com";

    // Set email subject
  var theSubject = "My email subject";

    // The URL specific to your Google Sheet. This variable can be used in the email body.
  var theSheetURL = "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/my-super-sheet";

    // The email message. The message must be quoted. If using HTML, be sure to only use single quotes in your HTML.
  var theEmailHtmlBody = "There is " + newLines + " or more new entries in the " + sheetName + " Google sheet."

      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////
  // ///////////// End customized variables /////////////// //
      // /////////////// //////////////// ////////////////


  if (newLines > 0) {
    // This is the message that will be emailed.  

    // 'newLines is
    MailApp.sendEmail({
      to: theEmailDistro ,
      subject: theSubject ,
      htmlBody: theEmailHtmlBody
   
    });
 
    // set new 'last row'
    sheet.getRange(theLastRow).setValue(lastRow);
  }
}

Go to the menu and select File > Save.

Test your script.

Testing is easy.

1. Make sure your email address is one of the notification email addresses.
2. Either change the value in the row tracking cell to lower than the number of rows OR add a new row.
3. Run the script.
1. Click the 'play' button -- find it left of the 'bug' button.
   OR
2. Click 'Run' from the menu and select the name of your function.
4. Wait for your email.

Deploying.

1. Clean up from your test.
1. Make sure your last row number (in G2 in my example) is correct.
2. Make sure the notification emails are correct.
3. Save the script again if you changed anything, such as the email address(es).
2. Select Edit > Current project triggers from the menu.
3. Select from the trigger options. For example you can have it check on the hour or once a day.

Need more help? Search Google of course.

Good luck!