Managing tasks and reminders through Google Apps Script: Stakes and Opportunities for Developers

(This is a guest post from Romain Vialard | a Google Apps Script Top Contributor.). let us read him.!

There are many tools available to help you manage a task list and Google Apps comes with its own simple Tasks app. But sometimes it is more convenient and collaborative to simply manage your task list in a shared spreadsheet. This spreadsheet can be a simple personal task list or a project-management interface that requires team-wide coordination.

Google Spreadsheets come with a set of notification rules that might come in handy. For example, you can be notified each time someone adds a new task to the list or each time the status of a task is updated. Furthermore, it is very easy add to add basic reminders through Apps Script with just a few lines of code:

function remindMe() {

  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheets()[0];

  var data = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();

  for(var i = 1; i < data.length; i++){

    if(data[i][2] > new Date()){

      MailApp.sendEmail(message);

    }

  }

}

The simple remindMe function performs a standard JavaScript-based date comparison on every row and sends an email for tasks that are due. You can then schedule the remindMe function via a programmable trigger based on the settings.

This script is already available in the Script Gallery today. Try it out for yourself!

Once you have installed the script, you get a new menu option in the spreadsheet that opens a simple user interface to set the options you want. As a developer, you can extend this interface further to provide more options and capabilities.