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Every 15 minutes

Create calendar events from rows in a sheet

Every row you add to your Events sheet becomes a Google Calendar event, and the event ID is written back so it is never created twice.

Runs
Every 15 minutes
Apps
Google Calendar, Google Sheets
AI
Not needed
Access
Sheet edit; Calendar write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: create a calendar event for every row in my Events sheet that doesn't have an event ID yet, and write the ID back to the row.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A training company plans its courses for the term in a spreadsheet: dates, times, rooms and trainers. Someone then copies each row into Google Calendar by hand, which takes an afternoon and always produces a few typos in dates or times.

Keeping the sheet as the plan and letting the calendar follow means you edit one place and the events appear on their own. Schools, event organisers, clubs and training teams use it to publish a full schedule without retyping it.

What you get out of it

  • Plan in a sheet, publish to a calendar

    Spreadsheets are easier for planning a whole term or season. The calendar fills itself from your plan.

  • No double entries

    Each row gets its event ID written back, so it is created once even if the sheet is checked many times.

  • Fewer typing mistakes

    Dates, times and locations are copied exactly from the sheet, instead of being retyped into a calendar form.

  • Add events whenever you like

    New rows added later are picked up on the next check, so the calendar keeps up as the plan grows.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every few minutes ClickRuntime reads your Events sheet.

  2. It picks out rows that do not have an event ID yet, so rows already handled are skipped.

  3. A calendar event is created for each of those rows with its title, times and location.

  4. The new event's ID is written back into the row.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Calendar
  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use

What you get

RunsEvery 15 minutes
Create calendar events from rows in a sheettoday, 9:00Succeeded
Google Calendar · CoursesExcel basics, Room 2, Mon 4 Nov 09:30-12:30, created from row 14

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Calendar and Google Sheets steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
bulk_create_calendar_events_from_a_sheet.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, report_fetched

SHEET_ID, CALENDAR_ID, TZ = "your-spreadsheet-id", "primary", "Europe/London"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    creds = Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work"))
    sheets = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets()
    rows = sheets.values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Events!A2:E").execute().get("values", [])
    new = [(i + 2, r) for i, r in enumerate(rows) if len(r) >= 3 and (len(r) < 5 or not r[4])]
    report_fetched(len(new))
    if not new:
        return {"summary": "Nothing new"}
    cal = build("calendar", "v3", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False)
    for row_no, r in new:
        ev = cal.events().insert(calendarId=CALENDAR_ID, body={"summary": r[0], "location": r[3] if len(r) > 3 else "",
            "start": {"dateTime": r[1], "timeZone": TZ}, "end": {"dateTime": r[2], "timeZone": TZ}}).execute()
        sheets.values().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"Events!E{row_no}", valueInputOption="RAW",
                               body={"values": [[ev["id"]]]}).execute()
    return {"created": len(new)}

FAQ

Common questions

Which columns does the sheet need?
A title, a start date and time, an end date and time, and an empty column for the event ID. Location, description and guests can be added as extra columns.
What happens if I change a row after the event is created?
Rows with an event ID are left alone. To change an event, edit it in the calendar, or clear the ID in the sheet so a new event is created.
Can events go to a shared calendar?
Yes. Choose any calendar you can edit, such as a team or room calendar, and the events are added there.
What permissions does it need?
Sheet edit; Calendar write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Create calendar events from rows in a sheet” from your assistant

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