As a Google Sheets user, you've probably already used the option to download the entire spreadsheet into an Excel file or a specific sheet/tab as a CSV/TSV file (under File > Download).
To use a Google Sheet as a data source in HootVid, we require a direct download link of a CSV file. There are currently two methods for doing so.
Publish to web (recommended)
Edit URL manually
Publish to Web
To make a spreadsheet available for a large audience to see, publish the file. For the purposes of HootVid, we will need access to the sheet in order to configure the URL. After you publish your file you can add your new URL as a data source in the HootVid platform.
Based on your account’s settings, when you publish a file, you can make it visible to everyone on the web, everyone in your organization, or a group of people in your organization. Be careful when publishing private or sensitive info.
For more information, please refer to Google’s Help Documentation:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/183965?hl=en&ref_topic=2818998&sjid=13834523542021907431-NA
In Google Sheets, open your file.
At the top of the sheet, click File > Share > Publish to web.
Choose a publishing option. The default is set to “Web page.” Change this to “Comma-separated values (.csv).”
Click “Publish.”
The updated URL will populate.
Copy the URL and add as a data source in HootVid.
Edit URL Manually
Doing so is fairly straightforward, you need to remove the section of the URL starting from /edit and replace it with /export with some additional text.
Example Starting Google Sheet URL:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Gztm9o8JEPibPWEDwH54qBG5kwj51ILDOk_dxK6uTSY/edit#gid=1330027783
- /edit#gid=1330027783
+ /export?format=csv&gid=1330027783
Downloadable Google Sheet URL (HootVid Data Source):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Gztm9o8JEPibPWEDwH54qBG5kwj51ILDOk_dxK6uTSY/export?format=csv&gid=1330027783
Notice that the difference is we included &gid=1330027783 to the URL. This is basically the "Sheet ID" and as you switch sheets/tabs in Google Sheets, you'll notice this value changes and you can basically just copy that ID and append it to the URL if you want that specific sheet exported.
