How to create live-updating visualizations using Google Sheets

There are many ways to link external data source to your Datawrapper live-updating charts. One of the easiest way to do so is by using Google Sheets. This article explains how to do so and answers common questions. 

1

Go to step 1: Upload Data and select Link external dataset. Then choose Use Datawrapper server. If you select Serve data files directly, connecting Google Sheet for live-updating chart won't work. 

2

Enable sharing for your Google Sheet

There are two ways to do this. You can either share your Google Sheet with Anyone with the link which will make your sheet viewable by anyone with access to the URL, or you can keep your sheet private and share it only with Datawrapper (data@datawrapper.de). 

First, click on the Share button at the top right corner:

If you're ok with making your Google sheet viewable by anyone, you can simply click on Get link > Anyone with the link: 

If you don't want to make your Google sheet viewable by anyone but want to keep it private, you can also click on Share with people and groups and enter data@datawrapper.de. The sheet will only be shared with Datawrapper to live-update your visualizations.

3

Copy the Sheet URL and paste it into Datawrapper

Either simply click on  Copy link – or, if you have multiple sheets and want to upload data from one specific sheet, copy the URL of one specific sheet from the address bar:

I've published my Google Sheet. Why is it not working?

A. Publishing a Google Sheet won't automatically make it publicly accessible. You can still use the link to a published Google Sheet, but make sure to also activate sharing if you do. By default, a published Sheet will not be accessible by Datawrapper unless unless you permit sharing. So if you're using a link to a published Google Sheet, make sure to activate your sharing permissions.

I don't see the 'Anyone with the link' option.

A. If you're using your organization's email or Google Workspace, your Google Drive configuration may not allow sharing Sheets publicly. In that case, simply share your sheet with data@datawrapper.de.

What's the difference between the options Connect Google Sheets and Link external dataset in step 1: Upload Data?

A. If you add your Google Sheets with the Connect Google Sheets option, it won't update as soon as you add new data. If you update your data in your Google Sheet often and want to see the changes in the chart without needing to click "Publish" every time, select the option Link external dataset. You can find more information about the option to connect Google Sheets in our article "How to connect your chart or table to Google Sheets".

I have my dataset in JSON format. Can I use the advanced options?

A. Unfortunately, no. The advanced option is for live-updating the metadata of the visualizations (e.g. the chart type, colors, annotations), not to upload a dataset as a JSON. You'll have to convert your dataset format from JSON to CSV to use it in Datawrapper.