AppSheet is a popular no-code platform that enables users to build custom mobile applications. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, AppSheet has become a favorite among businesses and organizations looking to create applications quickly and easily. In this article, we’ll explore two ways to power up your AppSheet apps through automation.
1. Built-In AppSheet Automation
One of the powerful features of AppSheet is automation, which allows you to automate simple tasks and workflows within your application.
How to get started with the Automation in AppSheet
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- Login to your AppSheet account and open the app you want to create automation for.
- Click on the Automation tab in the left-hand menu.
- Click on the “New Automation” button to create a new automation.
- Choose the trigger for your automation. This can be a time-based trigger or a data change trigger.
- Select the action you want to take when the trigger is activated. This could be sending an email, notification, or SMS; updating a database, generating conditional branches, adding a waiting time for the next step, or performing any other necessary action.
- Configure any additional settings for your automation, such as the bot reusability, icon, and others.
- Click on the “Save” button to launch your automation.
AppSheet Automation benefits
Here are some ways automation can help you in AppSheet:
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- Save time: Automation can help you save time by automating repetitive tasks, such as sending emails or managing data.
- Reduce errors: Automating repetitive tasks can help reduce errors in tasks more prone to mistakes, such as data entry.
- Improve efficiency: Automation can help improve efficiency by streamlining processes and making them faster and more accurate.
- Increase productivity: Automation increases productivity by freeing up time for more critical tasks.
AppSheet Automation examples
Here are some examples of tasks that you can automate with the Automation feature in AppSheet:
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- Email notifications. You can set up an automation that sends email notifications to users when certain events occur. For instance, such as when a new form is submitted or when a certain threshold is reached.
- Data entry: You can implement automation that populates certain fields in your app based on data from other sources, such as a spreadsheet or a database.
- Report generation: It’s possible to set up an automation that automatically generates and sends reports based on data in your app, such as weekly or monthly reports.
- SMS notifications. You can set up an automation that sends SMS notifications to users when certain events occur, such as when a new order is placed or when an appointment is scheduled.
Find more automation examples here.
Integration with Other Apps
Another built-in way to power up your AppSheet apps is through integrations with other apps. For example, AppSheet supports a wide range of integrations with popular tools such as Zapier, Slack, Twilio, and Google Maps. Integrations enable you to extend the functionality of your AppSheet apps by connecting them to other systems and automating data transfer between apps.
For example, you could create an integration between your Slack and Appsheet apps, enabling you to automatically create a new record in AppSheet whenever a new channel is created inside your Slack.
Integrations can be created using the Integrations tab in your Account Settings. Learn more about how to set up AppSheet integrations here.
2. Automate your AppSheet backend processes with zenphi
AppSheet is undoubtedly a great platform for building custom intuitive applications with simple workflow automations. However, it can be challenging to create complex workflows that run seamlessly in the background without writing scripts. That’s where zenphi comes in. Zenphi is a powerful process automation platform for Google Workspace that can be integrated with AppSheet to automate various tasks and processes, beyond what is possible within AppSheet alone. In addition, zenphi covers integration with the most popular Google Apps like Forms, Sheets, Docs, Slides, and more. Moreover, you can connect to other third-party business platforms like Jira, Asana, Trello, HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.
How to get started with zenphi automation
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- Sign up for a free zenphi account.
- Create a new Space. A Space is a container for all the assets related to your automation.
- Create a new Flow. A Flow is an automated workflow consisting of a Trigger – an event that initiates the process execution, and Actions – the following steps of the flow.
- Choose and set up a Trigger. It can be anything like Google Form or Typeform submission, Email arrival in Gmail, File uploaded to Google Drive, Scheduled Trigger, or others.
- Drag and drop actions to your workflow. There are dozens of pre-built actions available on the left side panel of your Flow Designer. For example, you can manage users in Google Directory, organize Google Drive folders, generate documents and slides from the Google Sheet data, and more. In addition, some actions can add logical branches to your Flow, like “If condition”, or format data. With the AppSheet actions, you can automatically create, update, and delete records.
- Test and Publish your Flow.
Zenphi Automation benefits
Automating AppSheet with zenphi offers several benefits. Here are some of the key advantages:
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- Time-saving: Automating repetitive, time-consuming, and complex processes in AppSheet with zenphi can help you save a significant amount of time. By automating workflows, you can reduce the need for manual data entry, approvals, document generation, and other tasks, allowing you to focus on higher-level activities.
- Streamlined processes: Zenphi can help you streamline operations by automating tasks that involve multiple platforms. For example, you can set up a workflow that automatically saves file attachments from Gmail to a Google Drive folder or sends notifications to a Slack channel when new records are added to AppSheet.
- Improved collaboration: Zenphi can improve collaboration by allowing you to create automated workflows that involve multiple stakeholders or teams. For example, you can set up an approval workflow that notifies multiple stakeholders when a new record is added to AppSheet, streamlining the approval process and improving communication.
- Scalability: Automating AppSheet with zenphi can help you scale your processes as your business grows. By automating workflows, you can handle more tasks and processes without needing to hire additional staff, allowing you to scale your operations while keeping costs low.
Zenphi Automation examples
1. Document Generation
Suppose you want to allow your AppSheet apps users to generate unique documents inside the application. In that case, you can use zenphi to automate the process of taking the data from the database and put into the customized document. For example, you can set up a zenphi workflow that automatically creates Employment Verification letters for employees and sends them directly to the requester’s inbox.
2. Automate approval processes
If your AppSheet app includes workflows that require approvals, you can use zenphi to automate it. For example, you can set up a zenphi workflow that sends an email notification to a designated approver when a new record is added to the app. The approver can then approve or reject the record directly from the email, and the zenphi workflow will automatically update the record in AppSheet accordingly.
3. Integrate with other apps and services
Zenphi integrates with a wide range of other apps and services outside the Google Workspace ecosystem, including Jira Automation, Asana, Trello, HubSpot, Salesforce, DocuSign, Slack, and more. It means you can use zenphi to automate workflows that involve multiple platforms: automate records and tasks management, streamline the eSignature processes, and more. For example, you can set up a zenphi workflow that automatically creates a task in Trello when a new record is added to AppSheet or sends an SMS notification to a user when a specific field in AppSheet is updated.
There are various automation scenarios you can implement with zenphi. Check out our webinar recordings for inspiration and to learn how to automate processes end-to-end.
Conclusion
AppSheet is a powerful no-code platform that enables users to build custom mobile applications quickly and easily. By leveraging automation, you can power up your AppSheet apps and automate repetitive tasks, integrate with other systems, save time, increase efficiency, and streamline your business processes. If you’re looking to automate processes or workflows beyond what’s possible with AppSheet’s built-in automation, zenphi is a great option for workflows of any complexity.
