If you’re trying to export data from your SQL server to Google Sheets, here’s a simple way to do that in a few minutes and without needing any technical knowledge.

After you create your actiondesk account you are brought to a screen of your workflows. Click “New Workflow” in the upper right hand corner.

Actiondesk will then ask you what data you would like to import. Click the MySQL logo or PostgreSQL logo or type into the search bar “MySQL” or “PostgreSQL” and select.  You’ll need to input your database name, port, host number, username and password. If you have trouble, you can read about that here. Then submit.

Now that you’ve integrated MySQL or PostgreSQL, click the drop down arrow to the right of “Data Available” and select which set of data you’d like to access. In this example I’ll import the “dummy.customers” table. Now click “Import Data.” You can now choose which columns / attributes you’d like to import by clicking on “Select columns.” To import all of them, click on “Select All.” Then click "Confirm."

You’ll now be prompted with this screen again and you can click “Import Data.”  (You can also repeat the last step and import more data. It will be featured on a seperate “Sheet” just like the multiple tabs in excel or Google Sheets.”

You’ll now be presented with data you chose to import from your relational database in spreadsheet form.

You’re almost done! Now you need to open your Google Sheets and label the columns you want (so actiondesk knows where to put the data in Google Sheets).

Return to actiondesk and click “Program Actions” on the top. Choose Google Sheets (or the + button and add google sheets). You’ll be presented with 3 drop down menus. For the first choose “Create or Update existing row,” for the second choose the name of your google sheet (you’ll see a list of all your own google sheets) and next choose “Sheet 1” or whichever sheet its on in your own Google Sheet. Then click “Next.”

Almost the final step! You’ll now be presented with a screen with a few fields you’ll need to quickly fill. You can ignore the first field with the “Filter” box. For this example, I’m only interested in exporting the name of the instructor ID, customer ID,  and the Meeting ID.

I need to match up the corresponding fields so actiondesk puts the data in the correct column on my Google Sheets. For “Select Matching Key” I’ll type the name of my UNIQUE column heading in google sheets, which in this case is “Booking ID.” A meeting place, customer or instructor might be repeated more than once, but a Booking ID will not in this table.

You’ll see that actiondesk already suggests it for you. In the box to the right, type in the name of the corresponding column in actiondesk. In this case it would be “BookingId.”

For the fields below, you’ll then do a similar action. Enter the name of the next column heading on Google Sheets (in this case, I’ve called mine “customer”) and the corresponding field name in actiondesk “customerID” After entering that in, click the + button to the right of this field. I’ll also add the instructor ID and Meeting Place. Then click save.

You’re now at your final step! Press “Run Once” in the upper right hand corner of the screen on actiondesk and now head on over to your Google Sheets to see your data (you may need to refresh the page).

To have this data update (every hour, every day, every week, or whichever you choose), you’ll need to click to click “Schedule and Publish” in the upper right hand corner on actiondesk. Choose how often you want it updated, turn workflow “on,” and press “Save.”