Troubleshoot Google Sheets errors in Workflow Builder

If you’re having trouble adding or using a Google Sheets workflow step, read on to learn more about what may be going wrong and how to troubleshoot.

Can't find the spreadsheet you need

If you don’t see the spreadsheet you want to use in the dropdown menu after adding a Google Sheets step, try the following steps to ensure the right permissions are set:

  1. Open Slack in a Chrome Incognito window: https://my.slack.com.
  2. Open your Google account (https://myaccount.google.com/permissions) and remove Slack’s access.
  3. From your in progress workflow, add a new Google Sheets step.
  4. Next to your connected account, click Change, then click Change Account.
  5. From the authorization prompt in your browser, ensure that See and download all your Google Drive files and See, edit, create, and delete all your Google Sheets spreadsheets are checked, then click Continue.
  6. Return to Workflow Builder to continue creating your workflow.
  7. If you’re still having trouble, contact our Support team for help.


Spreadsheet data not loading

If the spreadsheet you’ve selected for your step doesn’t include column names, you’ll see a We had a problem loading your spreadsheet error message. This happens because it’s not possible for Slack to send data to a spreadsheet without them. Here’s how to fix this issue:

  1. Open your spreadsheet and add column names.
  2. Return to Workflow Builder and select the step you were editing.
  3. Below the dropdown menus, you should see Columns and Value fields.


Incorrect permissions

If your workflow includes steps to send information to a spreadsheet with restricted permissions, you and the people using your workflow may receive error messages via a direct message (DM) from Slackbot. To fix the problem, you have two options:

  • Update spreadsheet permissions
    Open your spreadsheet and update the permissions so the right people have access.
  • Switch your Google account
    If your spreadsheet needs to stay private or restricted to certain people, you can change the Google account used by the workflow to your own. Then, anyone who uses the workflow will be able to complete steps that send data to the spreadsheet via your account.

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