How to Connect Salesforce to Google Sheets

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October 27, 2023

When we discuss work with data for any business, we all think about the same. The pivotal moment here is the simplicity of data integration, transfer, or any other scenario you use in your daily routine, not depending on your company’s direction and clients. You just have to open your laptop or tablet (it doesn’t matter), enter the necessary data, and receive the answers quickly.

That’s why we’re talking about Salesforce and Google Sheets integration.

These platforms are robust enough, but let’s see why they both, being so cool, need this friendship.

Why Connect Salesforce to Google Sheets?

Salesforce is good in data configuration, with options and parameters for analyzing and reporting data. However, the reporting while using the solution is inconvenient, and the customization abilities are limited here. The pre-built Salesforce-Google Sheets templates are ok but not as flexible as needed.

The additional bottleneck is the disability to update all fields simultaneously via Salesforce UI. A more formulaic approach to updates may also be not so easy to use.

So, connecting with Google Sheets, in this case, is the solution to simplify your life with dashboards, reports, diagrams, and other analyses. It allows merging the information, creating reports, and utilizing the functions with intuitive UI.

Methods to Connect Salesforce to Google Sheets

You may connect Salesforce and Google Sheets in several ways, like using a native Salesforce Data Loader, Google Cloud Connector for Salesforce, or a third-party tool like Skyvia. Each of them has its own benefits and drawbacks.

In this article, we’ll go closer to the most valuable methods and solutions and discover both sides of the coin for each of them.

Manual Data Loading via CSV

Manual export of Salesforce objects and reports as CSV, XLXS, or XLS files and importing them into Google Sheets is often used for precise data management and analysis. But it’s essential to choose a suitable tool for these processes.

Salesforce Data Loader

You may use Salesforce Data Loader – the native solution that’s helpful in routine work with bulk data, like inserting, editing, updating, exporting, and deleting. It reads, extracts, and loads data from CSV or DB for Import and outputs CSV for Export.

There are two different ways to use it:

Via UI – The user has to set CSV files and configuration options for import/export and specify the mapping for the field names between the import file and Salesforce.
Via command line (for Windows only) – The user has to set up configuration, data sources, mappings, and actions in files to automate the work processing.

But the solution has a few limitations:

There is no automatic schedule for data synchronization, so you have to export data manually.
Extensive file support is absent here. The limit is about 5 million records per sync.
There’s no cloud version. You have to install the tool on your PC.
It’s not the end user’s tool. It solves the technical tasks in data sync between Salesforce and Google Sheets, but you must be an expert to work with it.

Skyvia Salesforce Data Loader

You can select a third-party solution like Skyvia Salesforce Data Loader to simplify the working process. This cloud-based tool doesn’t need installation and coding to set the export/import data as CSV files. You just may open your laptop, connect, and start the work.

Let’s show it in a real-life example. Suppose you need to export your Account data as a CSV file from Salesforce to Google Sheets. You may use it to simplify data management and sharing to avoid mistakes.

To do it:

Click +NEW in the upper screen menu.
Click Export in the Integration column.
Select Source (Salesforce) and Target (CSV Download manually).
Click Add new in the Task Editor.
Select the Object (Account) in the Source Definition tab and click Next step.
Select the data for export in the Object filter, specify the Target File Name, and click Next step.
Check the data in the Output Columns tab and click Save.

Click Create and Save to finish the component creation. Now, the component is ready to run by the schedule, or you can run it manually. Click Run in the upper right section of the screen to do it.

NOTE: You may download the component manually as CSV and insert it into Google Sheets or send it to file storage, from which you can open it again in Google Sheets.

NOTE: Set your schedule in the upper left menu.

When you finish the creation, please pay attention to the Model, Monitor, and Log tabs in the middle of the toolbar.

Model allows editing the existing connections and tasks, adding new ones, and editing the schedule.
Monitor allows reviewing the current component’s status and the five most recent components run.
Log displays the run log.

Except for the review and edit, you can download the exported file manually using the Monitor and Log tabs.

To do it:

Select the Monitor or Log tab.
Click the component for downloading.
In the History Details view, under Result, click the records number to download.

NOTE: You may download the Salesforce export file within seven days of the component run. The exported data will be lost later.

So, we’ve just reviewed one of the manual data transfers between Salesforce and Google Sheets scenarios in detail, as the common request, but if it’s still not your working story, let’s look at other methods.

Data Transfer via Add-ons

Salesforce Connector Add-on

Salesforce Connector Add-on is a popular tool for data transferring between Salesforce and Google Sheets. It’s free for Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, or Developer Salesforce subscriptions. For the Professional one, you will need API access for an extra fee.

With this tool, you can create, read, update, and delete Google Sheets data in Salesforce and import the reports on a schedule.

But there are cons as well:

The schedule options are cut a bit. The recurring syncs are limited to 4, 8, 12, or 24 hours. And the schedule must be one for all the reports.
The solution isn’t ready to be customized and flexible for free. Of course, you may do it. But for additional costs.
Data volume limitation. The datasets with 2000+ rows might be a problem here.
The Salesforce connect only. If you need to connect other data sources, select separate add-ons.

To start working with this connector, just download it at Workspace Marketplace with a few simple steps.

Step one:

Go to your Google Sheets.
Select Add-ons in the top menu bar.
Click Get add-ons.

Step two: Type Data Connector for Salesforce in the Google Workspace Marketplace search bar and choose the add-on.

Step three: Click Allow on the terms of services list to finish the installation, and the Data Connector for Salesforce appears on the top right section of the screen. It’s ready to work after selecting the Salesforce environment and clicking Authorize.

Now, let’s choose a real-life example to see how it works. Suppose you need to import a

report data from Salesforce to Google Sheets.

To do it:

Go to the Data connector for Salesforce > Select an operation > Reports.

Let’s imagine that we need the recently run one. But you may do it on your own; the steps are similar.

Select the Import to active sheet to import your report data.

When your report is ready, it may look similar to this one.

Despite the Add-on offering pretty basic options, it doesn’t provide user-friendly UI and fits more for admins and technical users. It also doesn’t support data import from other systems, like Google Analytics, MySQL, Looker, etc., and requires creating a time-triggered script for snapshotting. So, selecting an alternative add-on is a good option if you’d like to use this functionality.

Let’s review some more options in the market.

Skyvia Query Google Sheets Add-on

Skyvia Query Add-on is the tool for doing smooth data transfer to Google Sheets reports. With it, you can import data from various cloud applications and relational DBs to Google Sheets through Skyvia Query. The add-on is cloud-based, has no code, and is easy to use even for non-tech people, allowing them to create and run Queries with SQL.

Let’s see how it works in three steps.

Register on a Skyvia account without any payment to connect Salesforce and Google Sheets.
Query the Salesforce.
Make your Google Sheets report to share with company members.

The key features here are:

An ability to create queries without SQL knowledge.
An ability to refresh data in a few clicks.
An ability to store queries for use in the future.

To know more about it, go here.

NOTE: You can use the Query Galery for the queries to reuse. Add the connection reference while saving to the Galery to do this.

Direct Data Integration and Synchronization

In contrast to the Salesforce native approach, Skyvia allows you to integrate Salesforce and Google Sheets data without any limitations on data and file size. As a bonus, it’s intuitive, so you don’t need additional technical knowledge.

To start the work, create your Skyvia account for free or select a two-week free trial for the paid plan you wish.

To create a Skyvia connection to Salesforce and Google Sheets:

Go to your Skyvia account.
Click +NEW and Connection.
Select the appropriate connectors.

NOTE: To connect with Google Sheets, please sign in with your Gmail account to receive the access token, which is generated automatically.

NOTE: Select the Authentication Type and Environment and set the appropriate parameters. to connect to Salesforce.

Let’s discover how to sync data between Salesforce and Google Sheets as one of the most common and smooth scenarios.

Data Import example from Salesforce to Google Sheets

For the next real-life example, let’s imagine importing Salesforce account data to Google Sheets is necessary. We might need it for various reasons, like reporting, analysis, or integration with other systems.

To do it:

Click +NEW, select Import in the Integration section, and set the component name instead of Untitled.
Choose a Source Type (database or cloud app).
Choose the connection (Salesforce).
Choose the Target (Google Sheets). You may also set a list of options here.
On the upper right side of the screen, click Add new to open the Task Editor and set up the import component task.

Select the Source (Account) in the Source Definition tab, state the filter, and click Next Step.
Select the Target and operation type in the Target Definition tab, and click Next Step again.
Map the fields in the Mapping Definition tab and click Save.
Click Create and Save to finish the component creation. You can run it manually by clicking Run in the upper right corner of the screen or automatically by the Schedule.

NOTE: In contrast to the CSV method via Skyvia that we showed above, now we display the direct synchronization of Salesforce and Google Sheets. Skyvia allows you to do a one-way sync, which we have shown before. The other scenario is to create a separate import package for the other side or use a more robust data pipeline – Data Flow / Control Flow.

NOTE: By default, the parameters like State, Recurrence, and Run every, the Schedule runs daily. Make changes if needed by clicking the Schedule in the upper left side. Set the execution start time (Time parameter) and click Save.

After the Import is complete, check the error logs and fix the necessary issues.

Advantages of Skyvia Solutions for Salesforce

Sure, Skyvia is a third-party tool, but thanks to the harmonious combination of three key benefits, it is the optimal choice for any business, from SMBs to Enterprises.

Simplicity: being user-friendly is a cool advantage for such a solution, and it’s about Skyvia. You don’t have to think about script creation or other shaman games here. The platform is transparent and convenient, even for non-tech ones.
Pricing: the pay-as-you-go pricing saves costs according to your business requirements. So, you’ll never spend more than you really need.
Functionality: generally, Skyvia supports an impressive set of integration scenarios of any complexity, like ETL, ELT, reverse ETL, data migration, one-way and bi-directional data sync, workflow automation, data sharing via REST API, backups for cloud apps, etc. Of course, you’ll not need all of them for Salesforce and Google Sheets integration, but you may use any option from the list for other business scenarios. Except for it, the platform supports 170+ CRMs, databases, and cloud apps for successful connections and further work.

Conclusion

So, we’ve looked at various options to “make friends” on Salesforce and Google Sheets. Each business may select its own in this list according to the opportunities and expectations. We’d recommend trying Skyvia for free and ensure its functionality completely covers your company’s needs.

How to Connect Salesforce to Google Sheets

Table of Contents

Why Connect Salesforce to Google Sheets?