Basic reading

The Google Sheets API allows you to read values from cells, ranges, sets of ranges, and entire sheets. The examples on this page illustrate some common read operations with the spreadsheets.values resource. You can also read cell values using the spreadsheets.get method, but usually spreadsheets.values.get or spreadsheets.values.batchGet is easier.

These examples are presented in the form of HTTP requests to be language neutral. To learn how to implement reads in different languages using the Google API client libraries, see Read & write cell values.

In these examples, the placeholder SPREADSHEET_ID indicates where you would provide the spreadsheet ID, which can be discovered from the spreadsheet URL. The ranges to read from are specified using A1 notation in the request URL. An example range is Sheet1!A1:D5.

Source data

For these examples, assume the spreadsheet being read has the following source data in its first sheet ("Sheet1"). The strings in the first row are labels for the individual columns. To view examples of how to read from other sheets in your spreadsheet, see A1 notation.

	A	B	C	D
1	Item	Cost	Stocked	Ship Date
2	Wheel	$20.50	4	3/1/2016
3	Door	$15	2	3/15/2016
4	Engine	$100	1	3/20/2016
5	Totals	$135.5	7	3/20/2016

Read a single range

The following spreadsheets.values.get code sample shows how to read the values from the range Sheet1!A1:D5 and returns them in the response. Empty trailing rows and columns are omitted.

The request protocol is shown below.

GET https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/SPREADSHEET_ID/values/Sheet1!A1:D5

The response consists of a ValueRange object that describes the range values. The majorDimension field indicates that the arrays are lists of values organized by rows.

{
  "range": "Sheet1!A1:D5",
  "majorDimension": "ROWS",
  "values": [
    ["Item", "Cost", "Stocked", "Ship Date"],
    ["Wheel", "$20.50", "4", "3/1/2016"],
    ["Door", "$15", "2", "3/15/2016"],
    ["Engine", "$100", "1", "30/20/2016"],
    ["Totals", "$135.5", "7", "3/20/2016"]
  ],
}

Read a single range grouped by column

The following spreadsheets.values.get code sample shows how to read the values from the range Sheet1!A1:D3 and returns them in the response, but grouped by column. Empty trailing rows and columns are omitted.

The request protocol is shown below.

GET https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/SPREADSHEET_ID/values/Sheet1!A1:D3?majorDimension=COLUMNS

The response consists of a ValueRange object that describes the range values. The majorDimension field indicates that the arrays are lists of values organized by columns.

{
  "range": "Sheet1!A1:D3",
  "majorDimension": "COLUMNS",
  "values": [
    ["Item", "Wheel", "Door"],
    ["Cost", "$20.50", "$15"],
    ["Stocked", "4", "2"],
    ["Ship Date", "3/1/2016", "3/15/2016"]
  ],
}

Read a single range with rendering options

The following spreadsheets.values.get code sample shows how to read the values from the range Sheet1!A1:D5 and returns them in the response, but uses rendering options to manage how that information is returned. The ValueRenderOption setting of FORMULA indicates that formulas are to be returned instead of the calculated value, and the DateTimeRenderOption setting of SERIAL_NUMBER indicates that dates are to be returned as numbers. Other settings are possible as well. Empty trailing rows and columns are omitted.

The request protocol is shown below.

GET https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/SPREADSHEET_ID/values/Sheet1!A1:D5?
            valueRenderOption=FORMULA&dateTimeRenderOption=SERIAL_NUMBER

The response consists of a ValueRange object that describes the range values. The majorDimension field indicates that the arrays are lists of values organized by rows.

{
  "range": "Sheet1!A1:D5",
  "majorDimension": "ROWS",
  "values": [
    ["Item", "Cost", "Stocked", "Ship Date"],
    ["Wheel", "$20.50", "4", "42430"],
    ["Door", "$15", "2", "42444"],
    ["Engine", "$100", "1", "42449"],
    ["Totals", "=SUM(B2:B4)", "=SUM(C2:C4)", "=MAX(D2:D4)"]
  ],
}

Read multiple ranges

The following spreadsheets.values.batchGet code sample shows how to read values from ranges Sheet1!B:B and Sheet1!D:D and returns them in the response. The ValueRenderOption setting of UNFORMATTED_VALUE indicates that values are calculated, but not formatted in the response. Empty trailing rows and columns are omitted.

The request protocol is shown below.

GET https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/SPREADSHEET_ID/values:batchGet?
            ranges=Sheet1!B:B&ranges=Sheet1!D:D&valueRenderOption=UNFORMATTED_VALUE?majorDimension=COLUMNS

The response to this method call consists of an object with the spreadsheet ID and an array of ValueRange objects corresponding to each requested range, listed in the order they were requested. The majorDimension field indicates that the arrays are lists of values organized by columns. For example:

{
  "spreadsheetId": SPREADSHEET_ID,
  "valueRanges": [
    {
      "range": "Sheet1!B1:B1000",
      "majorDimension": "COLUMNS",
      "values": [
        ["Cost",20.5,15,100,135.5]
      ]
    },
    {
      "range": "Sheet1!D1:D1000",
      "majorDimension": "COLUMNS",
      "values": [
        ["Ship Date",42430,42444,42449,42449]
      ]
    }
  ]
}