How to Create Email Reminders Based on Dates from Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a convenient way to organize meetings, create tasks, sort invoices, and various other data. It’s lucid, feature-rich, and shareable with other users.

The only downside of this tool is that you don’t have a built-in function to send email reminders regarding the sheet to yourself or other users. This would make it much easier to keep track of all your tasks and data.

Fortunately, two methods allow you to send email date-based reminders. Read this article to find out more about them.

Sending Event Reminders – Combine Sheets and Calendar

If you want to send email reminders to yourself, the easiest way to do so is by mixing two different Google tools – Google Sheets and Google Calendar. This won’t require you to use any script. Instead, you’ll just need to export data from one app to the other.

The method consists of three steps – creating and exporting data from Sheets, importing them to Calendar, and enabling email reminders.

Step 1: Create and Export Data from Sheets

If you want to export data from Sheets, you’ll need to create an event sheet and save it as a CSV file. To make the file recognizable in Google Calendar, you should use a particular format.Just follow these steps:

1. Open your document in Sheets.
   
2. The values of your first row should follow this outline: A1: Subject, B1: Start Date, C1: End Date.
   
3. Under the ‘Subject’ header, you should input the title of your reminder. The starting and ending date should be in MM/DD/YYYY format.
   
4. Add as many events as you want, as well as their starting and ending dates.
   
5. Click the ‘File’ menu.
   
6. Hover your mouse over ‘Download.’ A new menu should appear.
   
7. Select ‘Comma-separated values.’
   
8. The CSV version of your Sheets file will be downloaded into your PC.
   

Note: The only mandatory headers are ‘Subject’ and ‘Start Date’ for the list to import successfully. If you want to add other headers, you can see the list of available options (recognizable by Calendar) and their order on the official Google support page.

Step 2: Import the Document to Calendar

Once the CSV event sheet is ready to be imported, it’s time to switch to Google Calendar.

1. Open Google Calendar.
   
2. Click the ‘Settings’ menu (gear icon).
   
3. Select ‘Settings.’
   
4. Select ‘Import & export’ from the menu to the left.
   
5. Choose ‘Select file from your computer’ under the ‘Import’ section.
   
6. Navigate to the saved CSV file and click on ‘Open.’
   
7. Finally, hit ‘Import’ to import the CSV file.
   

If you see a display saying that the events have been added to the Calendar – everything went smoothly. Now the only thing that remains is to set up email notifications for the events in question.

Step 3: Setting Up Notifications and Sharing

After you set up notifications, you’ll receive reminders for all the events you’ve exported from Google Sheets directly to your email. To make sure everything is set up properly, follow these instructions:

1. Hover your mouse over your name under the ‘My calendars’ section to the left of the Calendar screen.
   
2. Press the ‘more’ icon (three vertical dots) that appears next to your name.
   
3. Click ‘Settings and sharing.’
   
4. Check if your account is listed under ‘Share with specific people.’ If not, select ‘Add people’ and add your email.
   
5. Click the ‘Notification’ dropdown menu under the ‘Event notifications’ section.
   
6. Choose ‘Email’ instead.
   
7. Set up the time and date period between the reminder and the event.
   

Now your Calendar will send reminders of all events that you’ve listed on your Google Sheets. Keep in mind that you can add anything under the ‘Subject’ column. You can list specific tasks, birthdays, or other arrangements, not just events.

In addition, use ‘Share with specific people’ option mentioned above to include other emails on the list. These users will get the same reminders via email for those particular arrangements.

Use Add Reminders Add-On

The other way to send email reminders via Google Sheets is to use a specific Add-on. This method is somewhat easier and it just requires you to set up the extension which will do everything else automatically.

To set up the Add-on-do the following:

1. Click the ‘Add-ons’ tab at the top of the screen.
2. Select ‘Get add-ons.’
3. Type ‘Add Reminders’ in the search bar.
   
4. Click the ‘Add Reminders’ icon and select ‘Install.’ Allow permissions if prompted and wait for the app to install.
5. Go to the ‘Add-ons’ tab again and hover your cursor over the ‘Add Reminders’ menu.
6. Select ‘Set up/edit reminders.’
   

The extension will provide columns for Task, Assignee, CC (optional) and Deadline. Under ‘Task’ you can enter a brief instruction, the email goes under ‘Assignee’, while the date goes below ‘Deadline.’

If you want to send additional reminders for the deadline day, adjust it manually in the menu to the right.

Furthermore, if you need to add more content to your reminder, you can click the ‘Personalize the emails sent’ option and type that extra bit of information.

The extension will automatically send the emails when the time comes, and you can modify task descriptions, recipients, and dates on the go.

Be Careful with Add-On Reminders

Using the ‘Add reminder’ add-on is a more convenient and easier way than the ‘export/import’ method, but at the same time requires more attention.

Since the reminders are sent automatically, there’s a chance that you’ll send the wrong task to the wrong recipient before you have a chance to fix it. This is avoidable and usually harmless, but you should still pay attention to who receives what.

Which method do you consider better? Why? Share your views in the comments section below.