Get your Google key for Google Sheets

LessonQ writes to your spreadsheets as a service account: a robot user that lives in your own Google Cloud project. You make it once, download its key (a small JSON file), and give that file to LessonQ. It’s free, and needs no card.

In this video · 2:46

1. 0:00Where to start
2. 0:26A Google Cloud project
3. 1:07Turn on the APIs
4. 1:27A service account
5. 2:03Its key

Read the narration

1. 0:05To send records to Google Sheets, LessonQ needs a key from your own Google account. It is free.
2. 0:13In LessonQ, open Google Sheets under Settings. It says Not connected.
3. 0:19Click Setup guide. It lists every step in Google, each with a link to the right page.
4. 0:27Open Google Cloud, signed in with the Google account that will own your spreadsheets.
5. 0:33The first time, Google asks for your country and asks you to accept its terms.
6. 0:39If Google offers a free trial, you can dismiss it. Nothing here costs money.
7. 0:45Create a new project. Any name will do.
8. 1:00When it is ready, click Select Project in the notification. Your new project is now open.
9. 1:09Now the Google Sheets API. Click Enable. This is what lets LessonQ write rows.
10. 1:18The Google Drive API is optional. With it, you pick your sheet from a list instead of pasting its link.
11. 1:27Next, a service account: a robot user that LessonQ signs in as.
12. 1:34Click Create service account, and give it a name, like lessonq-sync.
13. 1:42Click Create and continue.
14. 1:45Google offers to give it a role. Skip this, and give it none.
15. 1:51With no role, it reaches only the spreadsheets you share with it, and nothing else in your account.
16. 1:58Click Done.
17. 2:03Open the service account, and go to its Keys tab.
18. 2:09Click Add key, then Create new key. Keep JSON, and click Create.
19. 2:18A file downloads to your computer. That file is your key.
20. 2:22Keep it like a password. Anyone with it can write to the sheets you share.
21. 2:29It must be a service account key. An OAuth client secret is a different file, and will not work.
22. 2:36More guides are at help.lessonq.com.

Before you start

• Use the Google account that will own your spreadsheets. The project, the service account and the spreadsheets all belong to it.
• Nothing here costs money. The Google Sheets and Drive APIs are free and need no billing account. If Google offers a free trial or asks for a card, you can skip it.
• It takes about five minutes, once.

Start from LessonQ

In LessonQ, open Settings → Google Sheets and click Setup guide. It lists the same steps as this page, each with a link straight to the right page in Google Cloud.

1. Open the project creator: each step has a link like this.

The first time you open Google Cloud, it asks for your Country and for you to accept its Terms of Service.

1. Create a project

1. Open New Project in Google Cloud (from the Setup guide’s link, or Select a project → New project).
2. Give it any name, such as LessonQ Sheets, and click Create.
3. When it’s ready, Google says so in a notification. Click Select Project there, so your new project is the one open.

1. Project name.
2. Create.

1. Select Project. Check the project’s name at the top afterwards.

2. Turn on the APIs

1. Open the Google Sheets API page and click Enable. This is what lets LessonQ write rows.
2. Optional: open the Google Drive API page and click Enable. With it, you pick your spreadsheet from a list in LessonQ instead of pasting its link.

1. Enable.

3. Create a service account, with no roles

1. Open IAM & Admin → Service Accounts and click Create service account.
2. Give it a name, such as lessonq-sync, and click Create and continue.
3. Google offers to give it a role (Permissions). Skip it: give it none, and click Continue.
4. Click Done.

1. Service account name.
2. Create and continue.

1. Select a role: leave it empty.

Note

Why no role? Access comes only from the spreadsheets you share with the service account. With no role, it can reach those and nothing else in your Google account, so even if the key were ever lost, nothing else is at risk.

4. Download its key

1. In the list, click the service account’s address to open it, then the Keys tab.
2. Click Add key → Create new key.
3. Keep JSON and click Create. A file downloads to your computer.

1. JSON.
2. Create.

1. Private key saved to your computer. That file is your key.

Caution

Keep the key like a password. Anyone with the file can write to the spreadsheets you share with it. Don’t email it around or put it in a shared folder. If it’s ever lost, delete the key on the Keys tab and make a new one.

Note

The wrong file. Google also makes OAuth client files (under APIs & Services → Credentials). They look alike, but won’t work: LessonQ needs the service account key from the Keys tab.

Now give the file to LessonQ: Connect Google Sheets to LessonQ.