Set Reminders in Google Sheets [Easiest Way in 2023]
There is no native reminder function in Google Sheets, however you can easily import your Google Sheet into a Lido spreadsheet and you can set up reminders emails in just a few clicks.
How to Set Reminder emails in Google Sheets Using Lido
1. Copy Link to Google Sheets
Make sure your Google Sheet is formatted like our sample sheet here. The data should be in a contiguous table, with no empty rows or columns. Column headers (Name, Email Address, etc.) should be in the first row and contain no special characters or line breaks.
Copy the URL for your Google Sheet. We'll need this to connect your spreadsheet to Lido.
2. Connect Google Sheet to Lido
If you don't have a Lido account, you'll need to create one for free at: https://www.lido.app/go/signup
Create a new file, then click on the green Connect Data button.
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Select Google Sheets, then paste your Google Sheet URL into the text box. You'll be asked to connect to your Google account if it's your first time connecting a Google Sheet to Lido.
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You will be asked to login to a Google Account that has access to the Google Sheet the first time you connect. Make sure to check this box to give Lido permission to access your Google Sheets.
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Next, select the columns that you want to add to connect to Lido. Then click Add Data.
Note that if you rename or delete these columns, the connection to Lido will break. If this happens, click on "Edit Data" and you can reselect the correct fields.
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3. Add Column to Calculate When to Send Reminder
Reminders are supposed to be sent ahead of the deadline. For our example, we will send reminders two days before the deadline. The formula is straightforward:
=deadline_date - 2
Where deadline_date is the reference to the cell containing the deadline. If the deadline is stored in column C, then the deadline of the first listed entry will be in C2. The formula becomes
```=C2-2```
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Hit enter to create a computed column. This is a special column type in Lido that will automatically apply the same formula to every row in the column. This is particularly useful if you add more records to your Google Sheet, since they will automatically get pulled into Lido and the formula will be applied to the new rows.
We can name this column Send Date
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4. Add the Subject and Body of the Reminder Email
We are now ready to add the subject and body of the reminder email.
Create email templates
First we will create templates using our table column names as variables by referring to them with [@Column] syntax.
Set up templates for email subject and body in a new worksheet like this:
Create Subject and Body referencing the templates
Now we need to combine these templates with our table in order to make the content dynamic. We'll do that by creating two new computed columns for both Subject and Body. We will use a formula called STRINGTEMPLATE() inside of a computed column to do this.
First, make a new computed column and name it Subject.
Add this formula to row 2 in the Subject column:
```=STRINGTEMPLATE(Sheet1!$B$1)```
In our example, Sheet1!$B$1 is the location of our subject email template. Make sure you replace this with your own cell location if it is different, otherwise the formula will not work. Also, remember to anchor the cell reference, as all rows will use the same template cell.
You should now have a subject column that looks like this. Notice how the payment deadline is dynamic.
Now repeat the same process for body. First, make another computed column. Then apply the formula below. Remember to change this too to suit your sheet.
```=STRINGTEMPLATE(Sheet1!$B$2)```
You now will have something that looks like this:
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5. Make a new column for the SENDGMAIL() formula
Unlike Google Sheets, Lido's spreadsheet has a special type of formula called Action formulas. These are formulas that can send data externally but need to be triggered to run. Action formulas don't evaluate immediately when you type them (as normal spreadsheet formulas do). You need to explicitly run them manually or with an automation. One action formula is SENDGMAIL, which lets you send an email directly from your spreadsheet.
SENDGMAIL works as follows:
=SENDGMAIL(sender, recipient, subject, body, [status_cell], [cc], [bcc], [attachments])
Where:
sender - the email address you are sending from. Can either be a reference to a cell or your email in quotes ("your@email.com"). Must be a Gmail account.
recipient - the email of the user that will receive the reminder
subject - the email subject
body - the email body
For our records, our core SENDGMAIL formula looks like:
```=SENDGMAIL("your@email.com", B2, E2, F2)```
Add your logic of when you want the email to be sent
If we want to have SENDGMAIL display only when today's date is the reminder send date, then we want to add an IF statement:
=IF(TODAY() = reminder_send_date, SENDGMAIL(sender, recipient, subject, body))
The formula works as follows:
If today's date is equal to the reminder_send_date, then display the SENDGMAIL formula, otherwise display FALSE.
Created a new Computed Column
Let's create a new computed column, and enter our formula below in row 2 (adjust the formula for your data). We can double click on the header cell, and rename the column to Send Reminder.
```=IF(TODAY() = D2, SENDGMAIL("your@email.com", B2, E2, F2))```
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As you can see, the SENDGMAIL formula is only visible for dates when Send Date = Today. For all other days it displays FALSE.
Send a test email
Right click on the SENDGMAIL formula and click "Run Action" to send the email. You will be asked to authenticate into your Gmail account the first time that you send an email from Lido.
6. Automate the Send Reminder column
Now, we can automate the running of the Send Reminder column. For rows where SENDGMAIL displays in the column, Lido can automatically run them once per day, even if the file is closed.
Click on your Send Reminder column menu and select Run column on a schedule.
Select what time of day you want your messages to send, then click save.
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Now, every day at 1:15PM (or whatever time you've selected), Lido will pull in the latest records from your Googlle sheet, automatically check and see if there are any reminder emails that need to be sent where TODAY = reminder_send_date, and if so, run the each SENDGMAIL formula and send the emails.
Impressed? Click here to get started with Lido!
FAQs
How to Send the Reminder a Week Before the Date?
Easy. In the Step 3 above, just change the number in the formula. For the example that we use, we have the following formula:
=C2-2
This will send the reminder two days before the deadline. To send the reminder a week before the deadline, just change the number to 7 (7 days):
=C2-7
If instead you want to send the reminder 3 days before the deadline, just change it to 3:
=C2-3
And so on.
How do you Check if your Formula Works First?
You can check if the formula works first before setting the automation settings. First, change the sender_email and recipient_email to the one you can open. Afterwards, click the cell containing the formula for sending reminder emails. Then, click right click on the SENDGMAIL formula and select Run action.
Lido will run the formula. If the formula has no errors, the message Action run successfully will appear on the lower-right corner of Lido.
How to Set Reminders Multiple Times for the Same User?
You can also send reminders a few times at different times to the same user. You just need to repeat the Steps 3 to 6, adding a set of columns for each instance.
How do you set a reminder in google sheets?
To set a reminder in google sheets, simply add a SENDGMAIL formula to your sheet and set the time and date you want your email reminder to send. It's that simple to create a google sheets reminder!
If you enjoyed this article, check out our article on how to set up bulk email from google sheets or send email based on a date in google sheets.
