Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.

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Summary: ◀▼

Use Google Sheets actions in action flows to connect your account, create or update spreadsheets, and log ticket data in automated workflows. You can append, insert, read, search, and update rows, making it easier to track tickets, share details with your team, and report on trends, impact, and volume.

By connecting the Action builder to external systems, such as Google Sheets, admins can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows, improving collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.
Note: The steps associated with external systems in action flows are referred to collectively as external actions.
This article contains the following topics:
  • Connecting Google Sheets to action builder
  • Using Google Sheets actions in action flows
  • Recipe: Logging new Zendesk tickets in a Google Sheet

Connecting Google Sheets to action builder

Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.

When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:
  • All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external system.
  • All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.
  • When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.
To connect action builder to Google Sheets
  1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action flows.
  2. Create or edit an action flow.
  3. Open the step sidebar.
  4. Under External actions, click Google Sheets.
  5. Click Connect.
  6. Follow Google's prompts to authenticate and complete the connection.

    You'll log into a Google Workspace or Gmail account, and admin approval might be required in managed environments.

    Note: All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the external system. Therefore, it is a best practice to use a dedicated service account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external system.

After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available for Google Sheets.

Using Google Sheets actions in action flows

Google Sheets action steps can be used to create spreadsheets and add data, such as an AI-generated ticket summary, to the sheet, which can then be shared with other users.

The following Google Sheet actions are available:
  • Create spreadsheet
  • List spreadsheets
  • Create a new sheet
  • Append row
  • Search rows
  • Update row
  • Insert row in sheet
  • Read a row

Creating a new Google spreadsheet

Use the Create spreadsheet action to create a spreadsheet.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs spreadsheet_title
Output spreadsheet_id, sheet_title

Listing your Google spreadsheets

Use the List spreadsheet action to return a list of all spreadsheets in the account. This step makes it possible to reference and act on spreadsheets created outside of the action flow.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs none
Output spreadsheet_id and sheet_title for each spreadsheet

Creating a new sheet in a Google spreadsheet

Use the Create sheet action to add a sheet to an existing spreadsheet. You have the option to specify column headings and an initial row of data.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs spreadsheet_id, sheet_title
Output spreadsheet_id, sheet_title

Appending a row to a Google spreadsheet

Use the Append row action to add a row to a sheet.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs spreadsheet_id, sheet_title, values
Output spreadsheet_id, sheet_title, values

Searching rows in a Google spreadsheet

Use the Search rows action to search the first 1,000 rows of a sheet for rows matching one or more filter conditions. The result indicates when the search limit is reached.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs spreadsheet, sheet, Does the first row contain headers?, filter conditions
Output Array of matching rows with row numbers and values, match count, truncation indicator, and HTTP status code.

Updating a row in a Google spreadsheet

Use the Update row action to update one or more cells on a specific row in a sheet.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs Required: spreadsheet, sheet, Does the first row contain headers?, row number

Optional: Column fields (dynamically generated based on sheet headers)
Output Spreadsheet ID, sheet title, row number, updated columns list, and HTTP status code.

Inserting a row in a Google spreadsheet

Use the Insert row in sheet action to insert a new row into the sheet, setting one or more cells by column. Leave the row number blank to append after the last row with data, or set it to insert at that position and shift existing rows down.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs Required: spreadsheet, sheet, Does the first row contain headers?, row number, row values (dynamically generated column fields based on sheet headers).

Optional: Column fields (dynamically generated based on sheet headers)
Output Spreadsheet ID, sheet title, row number, updated columns list, and HTTP status code.

Reading a row in a Google spreadsheet

Use the Read a row action to read the contents of a specific row in a sheet.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:

  Variables
Inputs Required: spreadsheet, sheet, Does the first row contain headers?, row number

Optional: Column fields (dynamically generated based on sheet headers)
Output Spreadsheet ID, sheet title, row number, row values as object with column names as keys, and HTTP status code.

Recipe: Logging new Zendesk tickets in a Google Sheet

The following example action flow adds data to a centralized ticket log in Google Sheets. Each time a Zendesk ticket submitted, the action flow automatically adds a new row to the spreadsheet with the full details. This allows the team to automate the tracking of trends, analization of impact, and reporting on volume.

Such an action flow would consist of the following steps:
  1. Add an action flow trigger with the following details:
    1. Click Add trigger.
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk, click Tickets.
    3. Click Lifecycle and select Ticket created.
  2. Add a step to look up ticket details:
    1. In the action builder, beneath the action flow trigger, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up ticket.
    3. Under Ticket ID, click into the field and then click Select a variable instead.
    4. Within the variable menu, select Ticket created as the step that output the variable you want to use, and then select Ticket ID.
  3. Add a step to look up user details about the ticket requester:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up user.
    3. Under User ID type, select Zendesk user ID.
    4. For User ID, click Add variable.
    5. Within the variable menu, select Look up ticket as the step that outputs the variale you want to use, and then select Requester ID.
  4. Add a step to lookup details about the ticket requester's organization:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up organization.
    3. Under Organization ID type, select Zendesk organization ID.
    4. For Organization ID, click Add variable.
    5. Within the variable menu, select Look up user as the step that outputs the variale you want to use, and then select Organization ID.
  5. Add a step to look up user details about the ticket assignee:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under Zendesk actions, click Look up user.
    3. Under User ID type, select Zendesk user ID.
    4. For User ID, click Add variable.
    5. Within the variable menu, select Look up ticket as the step that outputs the variale you want to use, and then select Assignee ID.
  6. Add a step that adds a row to a Google Sheets spreadsheet with the information you collected for the ticket, requester, organization, and assignee:
    1. In the action builder, click the Add step icon ().
    2. In the step sidebar, under External actions, click Google Sheets and then select Append row to sheet.
    3. Select an existing Spreadsheet or click Create new and enter a Spreadsheet title.
    4. Select the Sheet to which the row is being added.
    5. Under Row values, use variables from the previous steps to capture the details you want about the ticket, requester, organization, and assignee associated with the ticket. Enter the data in the order the columns appear in the sheet, separating each column's value by a comma.

      For example, this might include the ticket's ID, subject, and date created; the ticket requester's name; the organization's name, and more.

  7. Click Save.
  8. Click Test to test the action flow.
  9. Click the options menu () and select Activate to begin using the action flow to automatically log incident tickets in your Google Sheets spreadsheet.
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