How to send website form submissions to Google Sheets automatically

This post is part of our How to series on getting more from your htmlhost site. Every feature it mentions is documented in the docs.

Lots of small businesses run on a spreadsheet: a shared sheet where every enquiry lands, with columns for "Called back" or "Quote sent". With htmlhost Pro, your form messages can go there automatically.

There are two ways. Both are in your site's Forms tab → Integrations → Google Sheets, and neither asks you to connect your Google account to htmlhost.

Instant (recommended): a new row for every message

This takes about three minutes, once.

1. Create a new sheet at sheets.new, then open Extensions → Apps Script.
2. In htmlhost, click Copy script. Back in Apps Script, select everything that's there, paste over it and save. The script contains your private signing secret, so don't share it.
3. Click Deploy → New deployment. Choose the type Web app, set Execute as to Me and Who has access to Anyone, then click Deploy and allow the access Google asks for.
4. Copy the Web app URL Google shows you, paste it into htmlhost and click Connect & send test.

A test row appears in your sheet. From now on, each message becomes a new row within seconds.

A few things happen for you along the way:

• New fields become new columns, so adding a "Phone" field to your form later just works.
• Rows are only ever added, never moved or rewritten. Notes you type in your own columns beside them stay where they are.
• It's safe. Each request is signed, and the script ignores anything not signed by htmlhost. A visitor typing something like =IMPORTXML(...) into your form can't turn it into a formula in your sheet.

"Anyone" in step 3 only means htmlhost's servers can deliver to the script. Nobody can read your sheet through it.

Hourly link: no Apps Script at all

Prefer not to touch Apps Script? Click Create Google Sheets link and paste the formula it gives you into cell A1 of a sheet:

=IMPORTDATA("https://htmlhost.co/api/forms/feed/…")

Google refreshes it roughly once an hour. It's a read-only mirror of your dashboard, oldest message first, so new messages appear at the bottom. The link works like a password: it's shown once, and you can make a new one (or turn it off) any time.

Which should I use?

• Instant if you want messages in the sheet straight away, or want to add your own columns and notes.
• Hourly link if you just want a view you can sort, filter and chart, with nothing to set up.

Full details are in the Google Sheets docs. Not on Pro yet? See what's included.