Create and manage spreadsheets

This document explains how to create and manage spreadsheets in Google Sheets using the Google Sheets API.

Create a spreadsheet

To create a file in Sheets, use the create method on the spreadsheets resource with no parameters.

When you create the file, the method returns a spreadsheets resource. The returned resource contains a spreadsheetId, properties, a list of sheets, and a spreadsheetUrl.

The following code sample shows how to create a blank spreadsheet with a specified title.

Apps Script

sheets/api/spreadsheet_snippets.gs
/**
 * Creates a new sheet using the sheets advanced services
 * @param {string} title the name of the sheet to be created
 * @returns {string} the spreadsheet ID
 */
Snippets.prototype.create = (title) => {
  // This code uses the Sheets Advanced Service, but for most use cases
  // the built-in method SpreadsheetApp.create() is more appropriate.
  try {
    const sheet = Sheets.newSpreadsheet();
    sheet.properties = Sheets.newSpreadsheetProperties();
    sheet.properties.title = title;
    const spreadsheet = Sheets.Spreadsheets.create(sheet);

    return spreadsheet.spreadsheetId;
  } catch (err) {
    // TODO (developer) - Handle exception
    console.log("Failed with error %s", err.message);
  }
};

Java

sheets/snippets/src/main/java/Create.java
import com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer;
import com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport;
import com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory;
import com.google.api.services.sheets.v4.Sheets;
import com.google.api.services.sheets.v4.SheetsScopes;
import com.google.api.services.sheets.v4.model.Spreadsheet;
import com.google.api.services.sheets.v4.model.SpreadsheetProperties;
import com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter;
import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Collections;

/* Class to demonstrate the use of Spreadsheet Create API */
public class Create {
  /**
   * Create a new spreadsheet.
   *
   * @param title - the name of the sheet to be created.
   * @return newly created spreadsheet id
   * @throws IOException - if credentials file not found.
   */
  public static String createSpreadsheet(String title) throws IOException {
        /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
           TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for
            guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */
    GoogleCredentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault()
        .createScoped(Collections.singleton(SheetsScopes.SPREADSHEETS));
    HttpRequestInitializer requestInitializer = new HttpCredentialsAdapter(
        credentials);

    // Create the sheets API client
    Sheets service = new Sheets.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(),
        GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),
        requestInitializer)
        .setApplicationName("Sheets samples")
        .build();

    // Create new spreadsheet with a title
    Spreadsheet spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet()
        .setProperties(new SpreadsheetProperties()
            .setTitle(title));
    spreadsheet = service.spreadsheets().create(spreadsheet)
        .setFields("spreadsheetId")
        .execute();
    // Prints the new spreadsheet id
    System.out.println("Spreadsheet ID: " + spreadsheet.getSpreadsheetId());
    return spreadsheet.getSpreadsheetId();
  }
}

JavaScript

sheets/snippets/sheets_create.js
function create(title, callback) {
  try {
    gapi.client.sheets.spreadsheets.create({
      properties: {
        title: title,
      },
    }).then((response) => {
      if (callback) callback(response);
      console.log('Spreadsheet ID: ' + response.result.spreadsheetId);
    });
  } catch (err) {
    document.getElementById('content').innerText = err.message;
    return;
  }
}

Node.js

sheets/snippets/sheets_create.js
import {GoogleAuth} from 'google-auth-library';
import {google} from 'googleapis';

/**
 * Creates a new Google Spreadsheet.
 * @param {string} title The title of the new spreadsheet.
 * @return {string} The ID of the created spreadsheet.
 */
async function create(title) {
  // Authenticate with Google and get an authorized client.
  const auth = new GoogleAuth({
    scopes: 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets',
  });

  // Create a new Sheets API client.
  const service = google.sheets({version: 'v4', auth});

  // The resource body for creating a new spreadsheet.
  const resource = {
    properties: {
      title,
    },
  };

  // Create the new spreadsheet.
  const spreadsheet = await service.spreadsheets.create({
    resource,
    fields: 'spreadsheetId',
  });

  // Log the ID of the new spreadsheet.
  console.log(`Spreadsheet ID: ${spreadsheet.data.spreadsheetId}`);
  return spreadsheet.data.spreadsheetId;
}

PHP

sheets/snippets/src/SpreadsheetCreate.php
<?php
use Google\Client;
use Google\Service\Drive;
use Google\Service\Sheets\SpreadSheet;

/**
* create an empty spreadsheet
* 
*/

 function create($title)
    {   
        /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
           TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for
            guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */
        $client = new Google\Client();
        $client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();
        $client->addScope(Google\Service\Drive::DRIVE);
        $service = new Google_Service_Sheets($client);
        try{

            $spreadsheet = new Google_Service_Sheets_Spreadsheet([
                'properties' => [
                    'title' => $title
                    ]
                ]);
                $spreadsheet = $service->spreadsheets->create($spreadsheet, [
                    'fields' => 'spreadsheetId'
                ]);
                printf("Spreadsheet ID: %s\n", $spreadsheet->spreadsheetId);
                return $spreadsheet->spreadsheetId;
        }
        catch(Exception $e) {
            // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately
            echo 'Message: ' .$e->getMessage();
          }
    }

Python

sheets/snippets/sheets_create.py
import google.auth
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError


def create(title):
  """
  Creates the Sheet the user has access to.
  Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
  TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity
  for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application.
  """
  creds, _ = google.auth.default()
  # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member
  try:
    service = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=creds)
    spreadsheet = {"properties": {"title": title}}
    spreadsheet = (
        service.spreadsheets()
        .create(body=spreadsheet, fields="spreadsheetId")
        .execute()
    )
    print(f"Spreadsheet ID: {(spreadsheet.get('spreadsheetId'))}")
    return spreadsheet.get("spreadsheetId")
  except HttpError as error:
    print(f"An error occurred: {error}")
    return error


if __name__ == "__main__":
  # Pass: title
  create("mysheet1")

Ruby

sheets/snippets/lib/spreadsheet_snippets.rb
spreadsheet = {
  properties: {
    title: 'Sales Report'
  }
}
spreadsheet = service.create_spreadsheet(spreadsheet,
                                         fields: 'spreadsheetId')
puts "Spreadsheet ID: #{spreadsheet.spreadsheet_id}"

Organize spreadsheets in Google Drive folders

By default, the created spreadsheet is saved to the user's root folder on Google Drive.

If you want to save a spreadsheet to a specified Drive folder, use these methods:

For either alternative, you'll need to add the appropriate Drive API scopes to authorize the call.

If your app is using a Service Account, the Service Account owns the created spreadsheet. This file then resides in the Service Account's dedicated Drive storage. Files don't appear within other Drive storage accounts unless explicitly shared. For more information, see File ownership.

To move or create a file within a shared drive folder, refer to Implement shared drive support.

To learn more about cell and row limits in Google Sheets, see Files you can store in Google Drive.

Get a spreadsheet

To get a spreadsheet, use the get method on the spreadsheets resource with the spreadsheetId path parameter.

The method returns the file as an instance of a spreadsheets resource. By default, data within the spreadsheet isn't returned. The returned resource contains the structure and metadata of the spreadsheet, including the spreadsheet properties (such as title, locale, and time zone) and some detailed sheet information (such as formatting and protected ranges).

To include data within a spreadsheets resource, use these two methods:

  • Specify a field mask listing your selected fields by setting the fields system parameter.

  • Set the boolean includeGridData query parameter to true. If a field mask is set, the includeGridData parameter is ignored.

When you're working with large spreadsheets, we recommend that you query for only the specific spreadsheet fields that you need. The get method returns all the data associated with the spreadsheet, so general queries for large spreadsheets can be slow. For example, to read the number 100 from a cell, spreadsheets.get returns the cell value plus metadata (such as font name, size, etc.) resulting in large JSON payloads that are slow to parse. In comparison, a similar call to values.get returns only the specific cell value resulting in a much lighter, faster response.

For more information on the spreadsheets.values resource, including spreadsheets.values.get and spreadsheets.values.batchGet, see the following documents:

List spreadsheets

The Sheets API doesn't offer a method to list spreadsheets for authenticated users.

To retrieve a list of spreadsheets, you can use Drive API's list method on the files resource, specifying application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet as the mimeType:

HTTP

GET https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?q=mimeType='application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet'

cURL

curl -X GET "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?q=mimeType='application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet'" \
 -H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN" \
 -H "Accept: application/json"

Replace ACCESS_TOKEN with the access token that grants access to the API.

Using the files.list method to list a user's spreadsheets requires a restricted Drive API scope.

Here are a few next steps you might try: