Find and update spreadsheet rows in Google Sheets on Zapier

You can update a row dynamically in Google Sheets by adding two actions to your Zap:

• A Lookup Spreadsheet Row search action to find the correct row.
• An Update Spreadsheet Row action to update the row found.

This tutorial will show you how to look up and update a spreadsheet row within the same sheet.

1. Set up the Lookup Spreadsheet Row action

After you’ve set up your trigger:

• Click the plus + icon to add an action step.
• Search for and select Google Sheets.
• Connect or select to your Google Sheet account.
• Click the Event dropdown menu and select Lookup Spreadsheet Row.
• In the Spreadsheet dropdown menu, select the spreadsheet.
• In the Worksheet dropdown menu, select the sheet.
• In the Lookup Column dropdown field, select the column in your spreadsheet you want the Zap to search.
• In the Lookup Value dropdown field, select the value that the Zap should search for. You can select information from a previous step.

Optional settings:

• Supporting Lookup Column and Supporting Lookup Value: You can set up another column and value to search. This ensures your Zap only finds rows that match both conditions. 
• Bottom-Up: By default, the Zap will search the search at the bottom of the sheet. This will only return the first row it finds, regardless of the direction of the search. 
  • To search from the top, select False. 
• Should this step be considered a “success” when nothing is found?: Choose what action the Zap takes if no row is found:
  • Select Yes to continue subsequent steps.
  • Select No to skip subsequent steps.
• Create Google Sheets Spreadsheet row if it doesn’t exist yet?: Select the checkbox if you want to create a new row.

2. Set up the Update Spreadsheet Row action

• Click the plus + icon to add an action step.
• Search for and select Google Sheets.
• Select your Google Sheets account.
• Click the Event dropdown menu and select Lookup Spreadsheet Row.
• In the Spreadsheet dropdown menu, select the spreadsheet. This should be the same as in the previous step.
• In the Worksheet dropdown menu, select the sheet. This should be the same as in the previous step.
• Click the Row dropdown menu and select the Custom tab.
• In the search box, search for the ID field from your previous Lookup Spreadsheet Row action step. 

• In your column fields, map the information from the trigger step or another action step, and the Zap will update the selected row.
• Click Continue. 

After setting up your Update Spreadsheet Row action, you can continue adding more actions or publish the Zap.

Note

The Update Spreadsheet Row action step can only update one row per Zap run.

Tip

Whilst this workflow applies to looking up and updating a spreadsheet row within one sheet, you can apply similar logic to lookups between different sheets. To do so, you’d need to add another Lookup Spreadsheet Row action to locate the row ID for the corresponding row in Sheet 2.