Google Apps Script is the most under-used automation tool in small businesses: it is free, runs inside Google Workspace, and can trigger on schedules or on edits. Apex Automation Team uses it constantly alongside bigger bots. Ten automations we deploy most often:
- Lead intake to Sheet: parse inbound emails or form submissions into a clean Sheet with dedupe.
- Daily KPI email: pull numbers from a Sheet and send a formatted summary every morning.
- Outreach mail-merge: personalised Gmail drafts or sends from a Sheet with throttling and reply tracking.
- Invoice/receipt filing: save Gmail attachments into Drive folders by client and month.
- Sheet-to-Calendar sync: create or update events from a schedule sheet.
- Data validation and alerts: flag rows with missing fields and notify the owner.
- Scheduled scraping (light): fetch public JSON/CSV endpoints into a Sheet for price or stock tracking.
- Client reporting: generate Docs/Slides from templates with Sheet data.
- Document lifecycle: per-engagement folders, templated docs and tiered access, created automatically.
- CRM hygiene: push updated rows to HubSpot, ClickUp or Zapier webhooks.
When Apps Script is not enough
It cannot drive a browser through logins and dynamic pages, it has execution-time quotas, and it struggles with large volumes. That is where a headless browser bot or a custom scraper takes over, with Apps Script still handling the Workspace side.
Apex Automation Team builds Apps Script automations from $50. Tell us the repetitive task and we will suggest the cheapest route.
Quick checklist
- Start with the task your team repeats daily
- Keep source data in one Sheet with clean headers
- Use time-based triggers for reports, on-edit triggers for validation
- Log every run to a 'Logs' sheet for debugging
- Move heavy scraping or browser work to a bot
Frequently asked
Is Apps Script really free?
Yes for normal Workspace use; quotas apply to execution time and email sends, which is why heavy jobs move to a server-side bot.
Can Apps Script push data into HubSpot or ClickUp?
Yes via their APIs or Zapier/Make webhooks — we build these connectors regularly.