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Google Docs gets an API for task automation

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Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#41

Hmm in this demo the interface looks exactly like Zapier (automation service).. wonder what relationship they have: https://zapier.com

The demo is the Zapier interface.

From the article:

> Some of the companies that built solutions based on the new API during the preview period include Zapier, Netflix, Mailchimp and Final Draft.

Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#42
post #35

FYI the Python quickstart.py is broken on Ubuntu 18.04 (tried both python2 and python3). I've notified the eng in the video, and sent her here. By definition, credentials.json doesn't exist yet and this throws an error. Transcript below. creds = None if os.path.exists('token.pickle'): ... # If there are no (valid) credentials available, let the user log in. if not creds or not creds.valid: if creds and creds.expired…

You are missing a credentials.json file. This is not the code's fault but your own.

Read the document you linked: https://developers.google.com/docs/api/quickstart/python

Read directly above and below the giant blue "ENABLE THE GOOGLE DOCS API" button.

Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#44
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those of us who work in Docs on a daily basis, it sure does.

Same could be said about Office, yet I don't see posts about minor stuff like this for it.

Maybe people that work in Office all the time don't visit HN or the ones that do don't bother to submit articles.

Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#45
Oh cool. I've done a lot of similar projects in recent years with Apps Script [1]. With a script that's tied to a document (or even a standalone script that references Docs by ID), you can design your own API of sorts. Take in HTTP GET and PUT [2], run commands with DocumentApp [3], etc.

The upside to a system like that is, the authorization flow is abstracted completely out and handled by Google. You just pick from a dropdown as far as who you want to have access to the Web App URL, and you don't have to deal at all with setting up an OAuth flow.

1. https://developers.google.com/apps-script/

2. https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/web

3. https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/docs

Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe? But what's the average life expectancy of a particular workflow? As long as the feature outlives my workflow, I'm a happy camper.

I can’t speak to workflow longevity. My assumption, based on enterprise work experience, is that corporations using Office 365 and MS Flow are going to prefer that workflow over Google Docs (and they’re probably already federated to Azure AD, making access control easy peasy). People want to derisk what they deliver, and want to keep their jobs. Microsoft delivers on that, Google does not. This isn’t about emotion, i…

No doubt there are enduring legacy effects of enterprise Office use. There's a very long tail there. However, I think Google is approaching this from the End User standpoint. They're making it possible for people with just a little tech skill to start making magical things, no engineer required. The paradigm is shifting as we speak.

Re: Google Docs gets an API for task automation

#47

They will have a lot of catchup to do to get where Office is now. I'm frankly amazed by how good Microsoft Flow has been. So many dumb business processes rely on an Excel doc somewhere, or a stupid manual email somewhere else. But with Flow I've seen just a single smarty-pants able to fully streamline an entire department one rule at a time. They don't need to get permission to bring in a new logo - it's part of Offi…

Hahahaha. I stumbled upon Flow last year when I switched jobs. Our IT/procurement process is ridiculous, so I scrounged around our intranet resources for licenses and tools that I had access to by default or could get/request access to without triggering the Eye of Sauron to gaze down upon me from the tower of IT Security.

My team does analytics consulting work for large multi-agency marketing campaigns, and I used Flow and a shared mailbox to create sanity around managing the constant flood of daily/weekly/monthly data snapshots that get emailed and have to be synthesized and combined for end reporting/analysis.

I was also able to use Flow and PowerBI to duct tape together a "starter data lake" architecture for our marketing clients. It's been a wild success with clients, due in part because of it's price (in context to their expectations for traditional "data lake pitches") but even more so due to the fact that it gets rubber stamped through any IT review thanks to being all part of Microsoft. It fits most clients workflows and data volumes, and seamlessly transitions to a true data lake by pulling in Azure services as needs mature.

Most marketing departments are swimming in data but pretty lacking in their access to technical and process/operations resources to truly manage and leverage it. Flow has been a fantastic tool to introduce structured data management and automation for these clients, as it's low cost enough to slide under the radar, already implicitly allowed software as part of their Office 365 license, and gives them tangible results to show when asking for more budget to develop/mature it further. It's far from my favorite stack to use, but it's good enough to get the job done and breezes through all of the checks and objections and red tape that would make virtually any other stack dead on arrival.

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