How do I add a "live" Google Doc to an Activity?

Let’s say you have an Excel Spreadsheet or any sort of document that you need to share with your users. Instead of sending out a static table, one you would need to replace and re-share every time you need to make an adjustment, you can instead use a Google Doc that will automatically update. This is called a “live” spreadsheet. Then, you can embed the Google Doc into a TargetSolutions Custom Activity. This way, every time you update the document, the activity will automatically update as well and you can assign your users the most current information.

Here's how to:

1. Create a Google Doc at https://docs.google.com/ - it’s free! You can either enter your information, or import it from an existing file from your computer. Once it is ready to be shared, click File and then Publish to Web.

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2. On the Publish to the Web window, click the drop down arrow Published content & settings and click Start Publishing.

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3. From the Publish to the web page, click on the Embed tab.

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4. Highlight the code outlined in the image below, right click, and select Copy.

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5. Open up a Word Document or a blank email, right click, and Paste your code.

6. You will see all the quotes in that code. Before you insert an embed code into the Activities Builder, you need to remove all of these. This is very important! Now highlight your new quote-free code, right click, and Copy.

7. Log into TargetSolutions. Under Administration, open the Activities Builder. Scroll down the list to find the desired activity (or create a new one).

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8. Under Free Form Components on the right, select Text. Right click and paste in the code. Check again to make sure there are no quotes! Then click Submit.

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9. You will see the live sheet is in your activity. You can now add other Components to the activity, or leave it as in.

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Note: If you would like to change the size of the spreadsheet, simply add width=500 height=400 (entering the width and height you want) to the text in between 'iframe' and 'src', as shown below.

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10. This is how the activity will look to the assigned users. Test it out by assigning it to yourself. Now go in the Google Doc and make a change. When you go back to the activity, you will see that it has automatically updated.