Send an automated email from google spreadsheet?

Question

This code can only work when the run button is clicked.

// This constant is written in column C for rows for which an email
// has been sent successfully.
var EMAIL_SENT = "EMAIL_SENT";

function sendEmails2() {
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var startRow = 2;  // First row of data to process
  var numRows = sheet.getLastRow()-1;   // Number of rows to process
  var dataRange = sheet.getRange(startRow, 2, numRows, sheet.getLastColumn());
  // Fetch values for each row in the Range.
  var data = dataRange.getValues();
  for (var i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) {
    var row = data[i];
    var emailAddress = row[0];  // First column
    var message = row[1];       // Second column
    var emailSent = row[2];     // Third column
    if (emailSent != EMAIL_SENT) {  // Prevents sending duplicates
      var subject = "Sending emails from a Spreadsheet";
      MailApp.sendEmail(emailAddress, subject, message);
      sheet.getRange(startRow + i, 4).setValue(EMAIL_SENT);
      // Make sure the cell is updated right away in case the script is interrupted
      SpreadsheetApp.flush();
    }
  }
}

I expect is how to be able to send an email automatically whenever new messages without having to click the run button, if it can be done?

Answer 1

@cordova is correct, you can send an email automatically whenevernew messages without having to click the run button.

You can trigger it programmatically with the Script service . Call ScriptApp.newTrigger(functionName) which returns a TriggerBuilder

The following example shows how to create two time-driven triggers—one that fires every 6 hours and one that fires every Monday at 9 am (in the time zone that your script is set to).

function createTimeDrivenTriggers() {
  // Trigger every 6 hours.
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('myFunction')
      .timeBased()
      .everyHours(6)
      .create();

  // Trigger every Monday at 09:00.
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('myFunction')
      .timeBased()
      .onWeekDay(ScriptApp.WeekDay.MONDAY)
      .atHour(9)
      .create();
}