标签：#googleappsscript

Abstract Executing autonomous AI agent payloads in Google Workspace via the Apps Script...

Hey dev community! 👋 As developers, our inboxes often turn into a graveyard of job alerts (LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter) and tech newsletters we subscribe to with the intention of "reading later" but never actually open. The result? Important emails get lost, and we get the dreaded "Account storage is almost full" notification. Recently, I hit that wall. I had thousands of accumulated emails. While Gmail allows you to create filters for incoming mail, it doesn't have a native feature to say: "Delete this email automatically after 7 days" . So, I decided to solve it the way we solve everything: by writing some code. 🛠️ The Solution: Google Apps Script + JavaScript Since the Google Workspace ecosystem runs on a JavaScript-based environment, I put together a custom script. Fun fact: a simple loop originally failed due to Google's strict 6-minute execution limit. To fix this, I optimized the code to process emails in batches of 100 , preventing the server from timing out. Here is the final production-ready script: function cleanSpamTsunami() { // 1. Loop to delete ALL Job Board emails in batches of 100 var continueJobSearch = true; while (continueJobSearch) { var jobThreads = GmailApp.search('computrabajo OR indeed OR linkedin OR OCC OR neuvoo OR talent.com OR jooble', 0, 100); if (jobThreads.length > 0) { Logger.log('Deleting a batch of ' + jobThreads.length + ' job alert emails...'); GmailApp.moveThreadsToTrash(jobThreads); } else { Logger.log('No more job alerts found!'); continueJobSearch = false; // Break the loop } } // 2. Loop to delete old Newsletters (older than 7 days) in batches of 100 var continueNewsletters = true; while (continueNewsletters) { var newsletterThreads = GmailApp.search('unsubscribe OR "cancelar suscripción" older_than:7d', 0, 100); if (newsletterThreads.length > 0) { Logger.log('Deleting a batch of ' + newsletterThreads.length + ' old newsletters...'); GmailApp.moveThreadsToTrash(newsletterThreads); } else { Logger.log('No more old newslett

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I want to enable the V8 runtime on an existing Apps Script project so I can use modern JavaScript, but I am worried about breaking things that are already working. // appsscript.json — set runtimeVersion to enable V8 // Rollback: change V8 back to DEPRECATED_ES5 { " timeZone " : " America/New_York " , " dependencies " : {}, " exceptionLogging " : " STACKDRIVER " , " runtimeVersion " : " V8 " } // Code.gs — safe V8-compatible replacement for a common Rhino pattern // Rhino allowed: for each (var item in collection) {} // V8 requires standard for...of instead function listSheetNames () { var ss = SpreadsheetApp . getActiveSpreadsheet (); var names = []; var sheets = ss . getSheets (); for ( var i = 0 ; i < sheets . length ; i ++ ) { names . push ( sheets [ i ]. getName ()); } Logger . log ( names . join ( ' , ' )); } The one-line change and why it is a project-wide bomb Open the Apps Script editor, click Project Settings (the gear icon), and check "Show appsscript.json manifest file in editor." Then open that file and change "runtimeVersion": "DEPRECATED_ES5" to "runtimeVersion": "V8" . Save. That is the entire migration from a settings standpoint. What catches people off guard is the failure mode. V8 parses every .gs file in the project as a unit before running anything. One Rhino-only statement — a for each loop, a __iterator__ method, a Date.prototype.getYear call in an otherwise untouched utility file — causes a syntax or runtime error that prevents the whole script from initializing. Not just the file that contains the bad line. Every function, every trigger, the entire project goes dark. The first time I hit this it took me twenty minutes to figure out why a completely unrelated trigger had stopped firing. The error message pointed at the Rhino syntax in a helper file I had not touched in two years. V8 does not isolate the damage; it fails at parse time, before any executi

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I'm running a script that processes a large spreadsheet and it keeps dying with "Exceeded maximum execution time" before it finishes. // Checkpoint-resume pattern for long-running sheet jobs function processInBatches () { var props = PropertiesService . getScriptProperties (); var startRow = parseInt ( props . getProperty ( ' lastRow ' ) || ' 2 ' , 10 ); var sheet = SpreadsheetApp . getActiveSpreadsheet (). getActiveSheet (); var lastDataRow = sheet . getLastRow (); var BATCH = 200 ; var SAFE_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000 ; var started = Date . now (); var endRow = Math . min ( startRow + BATCH - 1 , lastDataRow ); var data = sheet . getRange ( startRow , 1 , endRow - startRow + 1 , 5 ). getValues (); for ( var i = 0 ; i < data . length ; i ++ ) { if ( Date . now () - started > SAFE_MS ) { props . setProperty ( ' lastRow ' , String ( startRow + i )); return ; } // process data[i] here } if ( endRow >= lastDataRow ) { props . deleteProperty ( ' lastRow ' ); deleteTrigger_ (); } else { props . setProperty ( ' lastRow ' , String ( endRow + 1 )); } } The 6-minute wall is per-execution, not per-task Apps Script enforces a hard 6-minute execution time limit per run, regardless of whether you're on a free account or a Workspace account (which bumps the limit to 30 minutes, but the same cliff exists). The error doesn't mean your logic is wrong; it means one continuous call to your function took too long. The fix is to stop thinking of your job as a single execution and start thinking of it as a pipeline of short runs. The first time I hit this, I wasted an afternoon trying to speed up the loop. Marginal gains didn't move the needle because the data volume was the real problem — 4,000 rows at one Sheets API call per row will always breach 6 minutes. The correct frame is: how do I save where I stopped and pick up there next run? Saving and restoring a cursor with PropertiesService PropertiesServic

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I want to programmatically combine several Google Docs into one file without losing tables or list formatting. // Merges all source docs into destDocId, in order. // Run from the Apps Script editor; no triggers needed. function mergeDocs () { var sourceIds = [ ' DOC_ID_ONE ' , ' DOC_ID_TWO ' , ' DOC_ID_THREE ' ]; var dest = DocumentApp . openById ( ' DEST_DOC_ID ' ). getBody (); for ( var i = 0 ; i < sourceIds . length ; i ++ ) { var srcBody = DocumentApp . openById ( sourceIds [ i ]). getBody (); var total = srcBody . getNumChildren (); for ( var j = 0 ; j < total ; j ++ ) { var el = srcBody . getChild ( j ); var type = el . getType (); if ( type === DocumentApp . ElementType . PARAGRAPH ) { dest . appendParagraph ( el . asParagraph (). copy ()); } else if ( type === DocumentApp . ElementType . TABLE ) { dest . appendTable ( el . asTable (). copy ()); } else if ( type === DocumentApp . ElementType . LIST_ITEM ) { dest . appendListItem ( el . asListItem (). copy ()); } } } } Why there is no single appendElement call The Document service in Apps Script does not expose a generic appendElement method on Body . Every element type has its own typed append method: appendParagraph , appendTable , appendListItem , and so on. That means a merge loop that ignores element types will throw TypeError: el.copy is not a function the moment it hits a table, because you would be passing an Element where the API expects a Table . The fix is to call getType() on each child element and switch on DocumentApp.ElementType . The type enum values are strings like PARAGRAPH , TABLE , LIST_ITEM , INLINE_IMAGE , and HORIZONTAL_RULE . In practice the first three account for almost all real document content. The code above handles those three and silently skips anything else (images, rules) rather than crashing the entire merge. Getting the doc IDs and running the script The ID for any Google Doc is the lo

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I want to pull live JSON data from an API endpoint directly into a Google Sheet without installing an add-on. // Fetch JSON from an API and write it to the active sheet // Adjust API_URL and the field list to match your endpoint function importJsonFromApi () { var API_URL = ' https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users ' ; var sheet = SpreadsheetApp . getActiveSpreadsheet (). getActiveSheet (); var response = UrlFetchApp . fetch ( API_URL ); var raw = response . getContentText (); var data = JSON . parse ( raw ); var headers = [ ' id ' , ' name ' , ' username ' , ' email ' , ' phone ' ]; var rows = data . map ( function ( obj ) { return headers . map ( function ( key ) { return obj [ key ] || '' ; }); }); sheet . clearContents (); sheet . getRange ( 1 , 1 , 1 , headers . length ). setValues ([ headers ]); sheet . getRange ( 2 , 1 , rows . length , headers . length ). setValues ( rows ); } Why getContentText() comes before JSON.parse UrlFetchApp.fetch() returns an HTTPResponse object, not a string. The first time I skipped getContentText() and passed the response object directly to JSON.parse(), it silently parsed to null and the sheet wrote nothing. You need raw = response.getContentText() to get the actual body as a string, then JSON.parse(raw) turns it into a JavaScript object or array. The URL must be publicly accessible or accept an API key via a query parameter or Authorization header. Add headers like this: UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, { headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer ' + token } }). Apps Script's UrlFetchApp quota is 20,000 calls per day on a free Google account, 100,000 on Workspace. The rectangular array constraint — why setValues fails without mapping setValues() is strict: it requires a 2D array where every row has the same number of columns. If you hand it an array of plain JSON objects, it throws 'The number of rows or columns in the range does not match the number of

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I have a spreadsheet of names and email addresses and I want to send each person a personalized message from my Gmail account without copy-pasting or using a paid tool. // Mail merge: Sheet cols A=Name, B=Email, C=Sent // Run from Apps Script; authorize Gmail + Sheets scopes function sendMerge () { var sheet = SpreadsheetApp . getActiveSheet (); var rows = sheet . getDataRange (). getValues (); var quota = MailApp . getRemainingDailyQuota (); var sent = 0 ; for ( var i = 1 ; i < rows . length ; i ++ ) { if ( rows [ i ][ 2 ] === ' Sent ' ) continue ; if ( sent >= quota ) { Logger . log ( ' Quota reached at row ' + ( i + 1 )); break ; } var name = rows [ i ][ 0 ]; var email = rows [ i ][ 1 ]; var subject = ' Hey ' + name + ' , here is your update ' ; var body = ' Hi ' + name + ' , \n\n Your personalized content goes here. \n\n Thanks ' ; MailApp . sendEmail ( email , subject , body ); sheet . getRange ( i + 1 , 3 ). setValue ( ' Sent ' ); sent ++ ; } } Set up your sheet and open the script editor Put names in column A, email addresses in column B, and leave column C blank — the script writes 'Sent' there as it goes. Header row in row 1 is assumed; the loop starts at index 1 (row 2) to skip it. Open the script editor from Extensions > Apps Script, paste the function, and save. The first time you run sendMerge() Google will ask you to authorize two scopes: Sheets (read/write the active spreadsheet) and Gmail (send mail on your behalf). Both are required. If you only see a Sheets prompt, delete the file and re-paste — a cached partial authorization sometimes skips the Gmail scope on older script files. Why the Sent column is the whole point Consumer Google accounts cap at roughly 100 outgoing recipients per 24-hour rolling window via MailApp. If your list has 200 rows and you run the script at 11 pm, it will send 100 and log 'Quota reached at row 101'. Without the Sent check, a sec

Originally written for bulldo.gs — republished here with the canonical link pointing home. I have a Google Sheet with duplicate rows and I want to remove them programmatically, either on demand or on a schedule, without destroying the rest of my data. // removeDuplicates.gs — dedup active sheet, keep first occurrence // Run from Extensions > Apps Script, or bind to a trigger. function removeDuplicateRows () { var sheet = SpreadsheetApp . getActiveSheet (); var data = sheet . getDataRange (). getValues (); var seen = new Set (); var unique = []; for ( var i = 0 ; i < data . length ; i ++ ) { var key = data [ i ]. join ( ' | ' ); if ( ! seen . has ( key )) { seen . add ( key ); unique . push ( data [ i ]); } } sheet . clearContents (); sheet . getRange ( 1 , 1 , unique . length , unique [ 0 ]. length ). setValues ( unique ); } Why rewrite instead of delete The instinct when deduplicating is to loop through the sheet and call deleteRow on each duplicate. That works, but it has a sharp edge: every call to deleteRow shifts all rows below it up by one. If you delete row 3, what was row 4 is now row 3, and your loop index is already pointing at the new row 4. The safe workaround people reach for is iterating bottom-to-top, which works but means holding the full duplicate set in memory anyway, making one API call per deleted row. The approach here sidesteps the problem entirely. Read everything once with getDataRange().getValues() — a single API call that returns a 2D array. Build the deduplicated array in JavaScript using a Set to track which row fingerprints you have already seen. Then clear the sheet and write the result back with one setValues call. Two API calls total, regardless of how many duplicates you had. For a 10,000-row sheet, this is the difference between a script that finishes in two seconds and one that times out at the six-minute Apps Script execution limit. The row key is built with data[i].join('|'). The pipe character works as a separator in practice; i