What is Google Apps Script . . .
Google Apps Script is a scripting platform developed by Google for light-weight application development in the Google Workspace platform. Google Apps Script was initially developed by Mike Harm as a side project whilst working as a developer on Google Sheets. It is based on JavaScript 1.6, but also includes some portions of 1.7 and 1.8 and a subset of the ECMAScript 5 API. Apps Script projects run server-side on Google’s infrastructure. App Script is the tool that powers the add- ons for Google products such as Google Sheets, Docs, Slides.
Mainly 2 type of scripts are there,
Standalone Scripts
A standalone script is any script that is not bound to a Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, or Forms file or Google Sites. These scripts appear among your files in Google Drive. It can be accessed either by visiting script.google.com or by navigating through New > More > Google Apps Script from Google Drive.
Container-bound Scripts
A script is bound to a Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, or Forms file if it was created from that document rather than as a standalone script. The file a bound script is attached to is referred to as a “container”. Bound scripts generally behave like standalone scripts except that they do not appear in Google Drive, they cannot be detached from the file they are bound to, and they gain a few special privileges over the parent file. It can be opened by clicking Tools > Script editor > Google Apps Script from any of the google products such as Sheets, Docs etc.
What it can do . . .
- Add custom menus, dialogs, and sidebars to Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms.
- Write custom functions and macros for Google Sheets.
- Publish web apps – either standalone or embedded in Google Sites.
- Interact with other Google services, including Analytics, Calendar, Drive, Gmail, and Maps.
- Build add-ons to extend Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms, and publish them to the Add-on store.
- Convert an Android app into an Android add-on so that it can exchange data with a user’s Google Doc or Sheet on a mobile device.
- Streamline Google Chat workflows by building a chat bot.
Simply, Apps Script provides easy ways to automate tasks across Google products and third party services.
Advantages . . .
- Based on JavaScript 1.6 and a selection of JavaScript 1.7 and 1.8
- Cloud based debugger for debugging App Scripts in the web browser.
- It can be used to create simple tools for an organisation’s internal consumption.
- It can be used to perform simple system administration tasks.
- Community-based support model.