How to connect your chart or table to Google Sheets

With Datawrapper, you can connect your charts, tables, and choropleth maps to a Google Sheet.

The up-to-date numbers will be pulled from the Google Sheets spreadsheet every time you open the visualization in Datawrapper. 

👉 Note that you need to publish your visualization again to make the changes appear in the embedded visualization. To create charts and tables that update automatically every time the dataset changes, read our article "How to create a live-updating chart or table".

Connecting your visualization to a Google Sheet is useful to clearly separate the data editing and the data visualization process. For example, an editor in your organization could update the numbers, while the graphics team prepares the visualization. 

This article explains how to connect your chart or table to Google Sheet.

1

First, create a chart or table with Datawrapper.
To do so, go to app.datawrapper.de/create/chart. This will bring you immediately into step 1: Upload data of the chart/table creating process.

2

Here you'll see the four options to upload data: Copy & paste the data table, XLS/CSV upload, Connect Google Sheet, and Link external dataset. Choose Connect Google Sheet. 

3

Now, Datawrapper asks you to enter the link to your Google Sheets spreadsheet. To enter a valid link, you need to activate Link sharing in your spreadsheet. To do so, go to your Google Sheet and click on the big green Share button in the top right: Alternatively, If you want to keep your Google Sheet private, you can share your Google Sheet only with Datawrapper. In that case, go to Share with people and groups then add data@datawrapper.de. Read details here. 

Once that's done, you can also simply copy the URL. That's especially useful if you've created multiple sheets: The URL will always link to your currently selected sheet.

A pop-up window will open. Here, select Change to anyone with the link at the bottom, and copy the link.

4

Paste the URL to your Google Sheet into the text field. If you followed these instructions, you should see a green checkmark: 

Click Proceed to go to step 2: Check & Describe. There you'll see your data appear in the table to the right:

To see the changes in this step 2: Check & Describe or later when editing a chart or table in step 3: Visualize after you update the Google Sheet, you might need to refresh the browser page that runs Datawrapper.

4

And that's it! Now you can proceed to step 3: Visualize and continue with customizing the colors, title, annotations, etc. of your chart or table.