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How to sync media files from Google Sheets to Library

See how Sked Social's sync of Google Sheets files to your Library works, and how to set it up.

How media file sync works

When you connect Google Sheets, one of the things Sked can do is import a list of media files from a spreadsheet into a content collection in your Sked Library.

It reads your spreadsheet as a list of file links, one file per row, and pulls each file into the collection you choose. It does not attach media to ideas, and it does not read images or files pasted or embedded inside the spreadsheet. It only follows direct file links in a column.

Use this when you keep a spreadsheet of asset URLs, for example links to images or videos in cloud storage, and want those files in your Sked Library.

What your spreadsheet needs

A link column. Sked looks for a column whose header is one of:

  • url
  • link
  • file
  • media
  • asset

The match ignores capitals, and the first matching column wins. Each row in that column should hold one direct link to a file: a URL that points straight at the file itself, with the file name and its extension at the end of the address.

An optional name column. If you also have a column headed name, title, filename or file name, Sked uses its value to name the imported file. Without it, the file keeps its own name from the link.

Any other column is ignored by this import. There is no column mapping to configure.

What imports, and what does not

Images and video import. Everything else does not.

Sked works out the file type from the extension on the end of the file name, and that extension has to be an image or a video format: jpg, jpeg, jfif, png, gif, webp, heic, heif, avif, bmp, tif, tiff, svg, mp4, m4v, mov, webm, avi, mkv, mpeg, mpg, 3gp or wmv.

Audio files and PDFs do not import, even though they are ordinary file links. They are dropped on arrival and the sync still reports success, so nothing tells you they are missing. If your spreadsheet mixes them in with images, expect those rows to be absent from the collection.

Google Drive share links do not import. A link likehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/.../view has no file name on the end, so there is no extension to read and the row is skipped before Sked tries to fetch it. Sharing permissions make no difference. Use a link with the file's own name and extension in it.

A token on the end is fine. Anything after a ? or a # is ignored, so a signed link such as https://example.com/photos/spring.jpg?token=abc123imports normally. What matters is the file name just before the ?.

The link is fetched without any sign-in, so it has to be publicly downloadable. A file behind a login will not arrive.

Sked also skips these without saying so: a row whose link cell is blank, a tab with no link column at all, and a tab with fewer than two rows.

Where the files land

Every valid file link is imported into the content collection you pickwhen you set up the import. New rows you add to the spreadsheet are picked up on the next sync, which runs about every hour.

The same link listed twice, whether on one tab or across several, imports once.

Setting it up

  1. In Sked, go to Settings, then Integrations, and open your Google Sheets connection.
  2. Find Import media files from a spreadsheet URL list.
  3. Pick the spreadsheet to read.
  4. Pick the target collection the files should land in.
  5. Press Save & sync. The first sync imports every valid link; later syncs pick up new rows.

Every tab of the spreadsheet you pick is read. There is no way to choose tabs, so a tab you do not want imported must have no link column.

Changing your spreadsheet

Sked recognises a file by its link. That makes this import much more forgiving than the ideas import on the same connection:

  • Renaming a tab, reordering tabs, reordering rows, inserting rows and deleting rows above another row all change nothing.
  • Deleting a row does not remove the file from your collection. Once a file is in the Library it stays there, and you remove it in Sked.
  • Changing a link imports the file at the new link as a new item. The old one stays.
  • Changing only the name column re-imports the file under a new version of the same Library item.

Removing a spreadsheet from this import stops it being read and keeps everything it has already imported.

Troubleshooting: when something looks wrong

The sync shows counts and, on a failure, the links that failed. A row that was skipped is not reported: if a file is missing from your collection, work through the list above rather than looking for an error.

The usual causes, in order:

  1. The link has no file name and extension in it, most often a Google Drive share link.
  2. The file is audio or a PDF, which do not import.
  3. The link is not publicly downloadable.
  4. The tab has no url, link, file, media or asset column, so the whole tab was skipped.

Use Sync now on the connection to fetch the latest straight away instead of waiting for the next hourly sync. It runs every import configured on the connection, including the ideas import.

Frequently asked questions

Does this attach the images to my ideas?
No. This import puts files into a content collection in your Library. It is separate from importing ideas from a Google Sheet, which turns each row into an idea.

My images are pasted into cells. Will those import?
No. This import follows direct file links in a column, not images embedded in the spreadsheet. Put a direct link to each file in a url, link, file, media or asset column.

Can one spreadsheet feed both the ideas import and this one?
Yes, and it is worth knowing what happens. If a tab has both a proper header row and a url column, and you have configured both imports on that spreadsheet, that tab feeds both: one idea per row and one Library file per row. Keep them in separate spreadsheets unless you want that.