Library Subject Guides
Want the Google apps to do more?
Google Apps Script is a coding language based on JavaScript that allows you to extend and manipulate Google apps like Drive, Sheets, Docs, and Gmail.
If you're new to Apps Script, would like to learn some key features, or have had a go but would like some structured guidance, we now have a self-directed online course you can work through, Essential Apps Script. You don't need any prior coding knowledge to get started with it.
Explore the Essential Apps Script course:
Apps Script is a coding language designed so you can do more with Google applications like Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Gmail, and more. It is based on JavaScript and runs in the cloud rather than on your device.
It is helpful for automating things you might do in Google apps or finding creative solutions to problems.
JavaScript is a coding language for web development, which is a fancy way of saying making web pages. It tends to be used to add interactivity and functionality to web pages, which are built using HTML and CSS to give them structure and style.
JavaScript is a scripting language, which means it creates scripts that can be run when particular 'events' or 'triggers' tell the code to run. Apps Script works the same, but instead of being based on a web page, it is based on Google Drive and can be 'bound' to particular Google files like Sheets or just exist on Google Drive as an 'unbound' script file.
It is useful to know some JavaScript concepts to work with Apps Script, as there's some features you'll need to use with Apps Script. Check out our JavaScript and jQuery page for introductory resources on JavaScript.
Apps Script works by accessing different 'apps' within your code so that you can work with Google applications and their respective features. For example, you use the SpreadsheetApp to work with features of spreadsheets and the DriveApp to work with features of Google Drive.
So, what can you do with Apps Script? How do you go about planning an Apps Script project?
If you've used Google Workspace apps, you've probably got some ideas about what you wish they could do or have processes it would be good to automate. You might want to be able to create a lot of files or folders in one go, automate things that happen from a form submission, or extend Google Sheets.
One important thing to consider is scale. For most users, Apps Script is very good for small scale solutions, but if your project would either be used more widely than just you, or would be used for larger scale or business critical processes, you might need to take extra things into consideration. If you're at the University of York, get in touch with IT via itsupport@york.ac.uk to discuss any Apps Script projects you might be looking into doing and get advice.
For more on using Google apps and what they can already do, see our Google Workspace guidance:
If you're at the University, we've created some useful tools based on Apps Script, that can be used without any coding knowledge. Check there's not already a tool out there for what you're looking to do:
If you're learning Apps Script and want some inspiration for what you could do, here's some things that are possible with Apps Script (caution: some of these might be trickier than others to create!):
If you want to have a go at writing some Apps Script, try following this first livecoding walkthrough from the Essential Apps Script course, which focuses on writing your first script to read a cell in a spreadsheet.