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Posted on Sep 28

📈📲Getting Started with Google AppSheet and Data Studio Build a Data Entry App and a Report

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Getting Started with Google AppSheet and Data Studio｜Build a Data Entry App and a Report

If you manage data in Google Sheets, you may want an easier way to enter records and a clearer way to see the results.

In this article, we will use equipment purchase records to create a data entry app with AppSheet and a report with Data Studio.

Enter purchase records in AppSheet
                ↓
Store them in Google Sheets
                ↓
Analyze them in Data Studio

Data Studio was previously called Looker Studio. You may still see the Looker Studio name in older articles and screenshots.

What We Will Build

In AppSheet, we will create a purchase list, an entry form, and a button that marks an item as purchased.

In Data Studio, we will create a chart showing the total purchase amount by category.

Tool	Role
Google Sheets	Stores purchase records
AppSheet	Adds and edits records
Data Studio	Summarizes and visualizes records

Prepare a Google Sheet

Create a spreadsheet with these columns:

ID	Purchase date	Item	Category	Amount	Status
A001	2026/09/01	Notebook	Stationery	300	Purchased
A002	2026/09/02	Mouse	Computer accessories	2500	Not purchased
A003	2026/09/03	Pen	Stationery	200	Purchased

Put the column names in the first row and the records in the rows below.

The ID column identifies each record. Do not reuse the same ID for different rows. Enter purchase dates as dates and amounts as numbers.

Create an AppSheet App

Create → App → Start with existing data

Choose Google Sheets as the data source and select the spreadsheet you prepared.

After the app is created, check Data, App, and Actions in the editor’s left navigation.

Image source: AppSheet Help: Explore the app editor

Check the Columns in Data

Data is where you configure the tables and columns used by the app.

Open the purchase records table and check:

ID: Set as the Key, with a unique value in every row
Purchase date: Recognized as a Date
Item: Recognized as Text
Category: Recognized as Text or a selectable Enum
Amount: Recognized as a numeric value
Status: Recognized as Text or a selectable Enum

If AppSheet assigns the wrong type to a column, change its Type.

Image source: AppSheet Help: Columns

This image is an example from the official documentation. In your own app, check the ID and Amount columns in the purchase records table.

Check the List and Form in Views

To configure the screens that people use, open Views under App in the editor.

Check these screens:

A list of purchase records
A form for adding a purchase record
A detail screen that opens when a record is selected

For the list, a Table view displays the records in rows. In the form, check that users can enter the item, category, amount, and other necessary details.

Image source: AppSheet Help: Improvements in the app editor

After configuring the screens, add a record in the preview. Changes made in the preview are saved to the connected spreadsheet, so use test data first.

Create a “Mark as Purchased” Action

An Action defines what happens when a user presses a button.

We will create a button that changes Status to Purchased.

Actions → + → Create a new action

Configure it as follows:

Setting	Value
For a record of this table	Purchase records table
Action name	Mark as Purchased
Do this	Set the values of some columns in this row
Column to change	`Status`
Value to set	`Purchased`

If needed, add a condition so the button appears only for records whose status is Not purchased.

Image source: AppSheet Help: Actions

The image shows an official Action example, not this purchase records app. After creating your Action, press the button in the preview and check that Status also changes in the spreadsheet.

Create a Data Studio Report

Next, open Data Studio and create a report.

Choose Google Sheets as the data source, then select the spreadsheet used by the AppSheet app.

Create a report in Data Studio
               ↓
Choose Google Sheets
               ↓
Select the purchase records sheet
               ↓
Add it to the report

Check that Purchase date is recognized as a date and Amount as a numeric field.

You can also create a Data Studio report from the Google Sheet’s Extensions menu.

Chart the Purchase Amount by Category

Add a bar chart to the report and configure these fields:

Field	Value
Dimension	`Category`
Metric	Sum of `Amount`
Filter	Records where `Status` is `Purchased`

With the sample data above, the result we expect is:

Category	Purchased amount
Stationery	500

The mouse is marked Not purchased, so its amount is excluded.

The following image is an official example of charts created in Data Studio. It uses different data from our purchase records, but shows what a finished chart can look like.

Image source: Google Cloud documentation: Bar chart and column chart reference

If you publish this article as a record of your own work, replace this example with a screenshot of the purchase amount chart you created.

Check the Complete Data Flow

Finally, use both AppSheet and Data Studio to check that everything works:

Add a purchase record in AppSheet
Confirm that a new row appears in Google Sheets
Use the AppSheet Action to change its status to Purchased
Check the report in Data Studio

If the change does not appear immediately in Data Studio, refresh the report data. If you add a new column to the spreadsheet, refresh the fields in the Data Studio data source as well.

Summary

AppSheet provides a screen for entering and updating records. Data Studio provides a report for analyzing them.

AppSheet
Enter and update records
          ↓
Google Sheets
Store the data
          ↓
Data Studio
Summarize and visualize it

Showing the Data, Views, and Actions settings in AppSheet alongside the finished Data Studio report helps readers see how the settings lead to the final result.

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