This article is for:
- Those with Owner permissions
Document, spreadsheet, and presentation Owners can create automations using the Automations right-hand panel.
Create an automation
To create an automation:
- Click the plus sign in the panel and give your automation a meaningful name.
- Select a trigger from the dropdown menu to display the related filters. For example, you can select Outline label changes to create an automation that will run based on changes to outline labels.
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Fill out the trigger filters. For example, select the sections you want the automation to target and which outline labels and collaborators to watch for.
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Select a compatible action and fill out the action details.
- For example, you can select Send email notification and the collaborators you want to send the email to.
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Or you can select Set section lock editing and select Locked or Unlocked if you want to lock or unlock the sections specified in the trigger filters.
- For example, you can select Send email notification and the collaborators you want to send the email to.
Let your automation run
Once you successfully create and save an automation, your automation will watch for the trigger and will automatically run your action once the trigger conditions are met.
For example, if Collaborator A changes an outline label for Section 1 to Waiting, then this automation will automatically send an email notification to Collaborator B. |
In the example of section lock editing, if Collaborator A changes an outline label for Section 1 to Waiting, then this automation will automatically lock Section 1 to prevent further edits. |
Or, if Collaborator A changes the outline label for Section 1 to In Progress, then this automation will automatically unlock Section 1 to accept edits. |
Available actions and their compatible triggers
If you have a specific action in mind that you want to automate, see the table below for a list of currently available actions and their compatible triggers. If none of them fit your needs, tell us more about the kind of automation you’d like to see.
Action | Compatible trigger | Description | Availability |
Send email notifications | Outline label changes | Send email notifications when an outline label changes for a section. | General audience |
Set section lock editing | Outline label changes | Lock or unlock a section when an outline label changes for that section. | General audience |
Set section input mode | Outline label changes | Set input mode to on or off for a section when an outline label changes for that section. | A Data Collection feature |
Execute script | Manual Execution | Manually run a specific script. | Only available as part of an Early Adopter Program |