Limitations of Google Sheets app in HubSpot marketplace
If you are familiar with the workflow tools provided by HubSpot, you may have used the following integration app “Google Sheets” listed in the HubSpot App Marketplace.
As our jobs need to deal with various tasks related to marketing and sales activities, we have first hand experience in using the above Google Sheets app from the HubSpot marketplace.
While this app has nice integrations with the HubSpot, we realize that there are two main limitations.
Limitation 1:
This app can write data only up to 20 columns in each execution.
If you want to export data with more than 20 columns, then you need to add an extra step in the workflow to “update” the previous row by appending extra columns.
This leads to serious synchronization issues in our data automation process.
Imagine this setting. Two programs running periodically.
Program 1: Send data from HubSpot to Google Sheets by HubSpot workflow whenever there is a new data set.
Program 2: Send data from Google Sheets to ERP every 5 minutes.
Let’s think about the situation when this app is writing the first set of data to row 1 from column 1 to column 20 in Google Sheets.
Then, the HubSpot workflow needs to pause for a couple of seconds before updating the data from column 21 to column 30. ( If you design the HubSpot workflow without this pause, then the data in Google sheet may be messed up by placing the same data record in Two Differen Rows. What a hassle! )
During this pause, the Program 2 happens to fetch the data from Google sheet to ERP and grabs only the first 20 columns to ERP.
By the time when the HubSpot workflow adds the extra data from column 21 to column 30, then it is already overdue for Program 2 to synchronize with ERP.
Under this setting, it is critical to export 30 columns in one shot rather than breaking them into two steps.
Limitation 2:
Another limitation of HubSpot app is its integration with other online platforms.
While there are apps in HubSpot marketplace to offer basic integration with other online platforms, the available functionalities are not sufficient to cope with ever changing business requirements.
An Alternative to Export HubSpot Data to Google Sheets
Based upon the limitations described earlier in this article, we decided to leverage the automation tools provided by Make.com.
We will illustrate a simple example in exporting the HubSpot Companies data to Google Sheets using the tools of Make.com.
Suppose we have the following HubSpot Companies data to be exported automatically.
Creating the Automation Scenario in Make.com
Step 1: Register a free account and Create a new Scenario
Register your free account in link below:
Create a New Scenario
After setting up a free account at Make.com, just log into it and you will see the webpage similar to the screenshot below:
Step 2: Add HubSpot module & Set up the Connection
After clicking the button “Create a new scenario”, enter “HubSpot” in the search box as shown in the following screen.
Click on the link “Show more” in the module selection window to reach tne next screen.
For this tutorial, we will select “Search for CRM Objects” for HubSpot CRM module in the preceding screen. Then, we need to set up the HubSpot Connection.
Read the detailed instructions on setting up the HubSpot Connection at this link:
https://dashz.substack.com/p/set-up-hubspot-connection-in-makecom
Step 3: Choose Companies and Output All Properties
After setting up the HubSpot connection, we need to select “Companies” for the Object Type to Search as we are trying to export the Companies data.
Then, tick on “Select All” in the Output Properties as shown below.
Step 4: Add Google Sheets module and Set up Google Connection
Add another module and type Google Sheets in the search box just like below.
Click on the item “Add a Row” under Google Sheets module.
In configuring the Google Sheet module, we have to set up the Google Connection. Read the detailed instructions on setting up the Google Connection at the link below:
https://dashz.substack.com/p/set-up-google-connection-in-makecom
Step 5: Select the file and worksheet “Sheet1” in Google Sheets
After selecting the file in the Google Sheets module for our data destination, we can configure what properties from HubSpot we want to export.
In this tutorial, we select “ID”, “Company name”, and “Phone Number” as shown below.
Step 6: Save the scenario and Run Once
After going through all previous steps, click on the purple button “Run once” to launch this automation scenario, then the following screen will appear.
Bravo! We have achieved to create an automation scenario to automatically export HubSpot data to a Google Sheet.
The final results can be seen here.
Two more things
If you would like this scenario to run periodically, then check out the article below for instructions:
Schedule the run time for a scenario in Make.com
Suppose you only need the latest data without exporting old data. Then, you could leverage the “filter” in HubSpot module.
For example:
Schedule the scenario to run every day.
Use the Filter in the HubSpot module to fetch the data created yesterday before the running time.