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Every 5 minutes

Get a Telegram message when an Excel sheet changes

You hear on Telegram whenever rows are added, changed or removed in a shared Excel sheet.

Runs
Every 5 minutes
Apps
Microsoft Excel, Telegram
AI
Not needed
Access
Files.Read; bot token

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 5 minutes, check the Orders sheet in my OneDrive workbook and message me on Telegram with any rows that were added, changed or deleted.

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 shared workbook is often the real system behind a small team: orders, stock counts, a rota. Changes made by colleagues or customers go unnoticed until something goes wrong, and Excel's own notifications are easy to miss.

A short Telegram message for each change tells you straight away when an order is added or a stock count is edited, so you can react without keeping the workbook open all day.

What you get out of it

  • Know when something changes

    A message arrives within minutes of an edit. You don't need to keep checking the file.

  • See exactly what changed

    Each message shows the row that was added, the before and after of an edit, or the row that was removed.

  • Catch mistakes early

    An accidental deletion or a wrong figure is noticed while it's easy to fix.

  • Works on your phone

    Telegram is quick to read anywhere, even on a slow connection.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 5 minutes it reads the sheet from your workbook on OneDrive.

  2. It compares each row with the copy it saved last time, using the first column as the row's ID.

  3. Rows that were added, changed or deleted are listed in a Telegram message.

  4. The new copy of the sheet is saved for the next comparison. The first run only saves a copy and sends nothing.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Microsoft Excel
  • Connect Telegram

What you get

RunsEvery 5 minutes
Get a Telegram message when an Excel sheet changestoday, 9:00Succeeded
Telegram · Orders botOrders sheet changed: ✏️ 1042: Acme | 20 | Pending → Acme | 20 | Shipped

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 Microsoft Excel and Telegram 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.
telegram_alert_when_an_excel_sheet_changes.pyexample
GRAPH = "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0"
TG = "https://api.telegram.org"
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, state

SHEET = "/me/drive/root:/Shared/orders.xlsx:/workbook/worksheets/Orders/usedRange"
CHAT_ID = 123456789

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    h = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('microsoft', 'work')}"}
    values = http.get(f"{GRAPH}{SHEET}", headers=h, params={"$select": "values"}).json()["values"]
    now = {str(r[0]): [str(c) for c in r] for r in values[1:] if r and r[0] != ""}
    before = state.get("rows")
    state.set("rows", now)
    if before is None:
        return {"summary": "First snapshot saved"}
    lines = [f"➕ {' | '.join(now[k])}" for k in now if k not in before]
    lines += [f"✏️ {k}: {' | '.join(before[k])} → {' | '.join(now[k])}" for k in now if k in before and now[k] != before[k]]
    lines += [f"➖ {' | '.join(before[k])}" for k in before if k not in now]
    if lines:
        text = "Orders sheet changed:\n" + "\n".join(lines[:30])
        http.post(f"{TG}/bot{credentials.secret('TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN')}/sendMessage", json={"chat_id": CHAT_ID, "text": text})
    return {"changes": len(lines)}

FAQ

Common questions

How does it tell rows apart?
It uses the first column as the row's ID, such as an order number. Give each row a unique value there.
Will it message me for every small edit?
Yes, every changed row is reported. You can limit it to certain columns, such as status or quantity.
Can it alert a group?
Yes. Add the bot to a Telegram group and use the group's chat ID.
What permissions does it need?
Files.Read; bot token. 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 “Get a Telegram message when an Excel sheet changes” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.