sheet_write function

(Over)write new data into a Sheet

This is one of the main ways to write data with googlesheets4. This function writes a data frame into a (work)sheet inside a (spread)Sheet. The target sheet is styled as a table:

• Special formatting is applied to the header row, which holds column names.
• The first row (header row) is frozen.
• The sheet's dimensions are set to "shrink wrap" the data.

If no existing Sheet is specified via ss, this function delegates to gs4_create() and the new Sheet's name is randomly generated. If that's undesirable, call gs4_create() directly to get more control.

If no sheet is specified or if sheet doesn't identify an existing sheet, a new sheet is added to receive the data. If sheet specifies an existing sheet, it is effectively overwritten! All pre-existing values, formats, and dimensions are cleared and the targeted sheet gets new values and dimensions from data.

This function goes by two names, because we want it to make sense in two contexts:

• write_sheet() evokes other table-writing functions, like readr::write_csv(). The sheet here technically refers to an individual (work)sheet (but also sort of refers to the associated Google (spread)Sheet).
• sheet_write() is the right name according to the naming convention used throughout the googlesheets4 package.

write_sheet() and sheet_write() are equivalent and you can use either one.

sheet_write(data, ss = NULL, sheet = NULL)

write_sheet(data, ss = NULL, sheet = NULL)

Arguments

• data: A data frame. If it has zero rows, we send one empty pseudo-row of data, so that we can apply the usual table styling. This empty row goes away (gets filled, actually) the first time you send more data with sheet_append().

• ss: Something that identifies a Google Sheet:

  • its file id as a string or drive_id

  • a URL from which we can recover the id

  • a one-row dribble, which is how googledrive represents Drive files

  • an instance of googlesheets4_spreadsheet, which is what gs4_get()

    returns

  Processed through as_sheets_id().

• sheet: Sheet to write into, in the sense of "worksheet" or "tab". You can identify a sheet by name, with a string, or by position, with a number.

Returns

The input ss, as an instance of sheets_id

Examples

df <- data.frame(
  x = 1:3,
  y = letters[1:3]
)

# specify only a data frame, get a new Sheet, with a random name
ss <- write_sheet(df)
read_sheet(ss)

# clean up
googledrive::drive_trash(ss)

# create a Sheet with some initial, placeholder data
ss <- gs4_create(
  "sheet-write-demo",
  sheets = list(alpha = data.frame(x = 1), omega = data.frame(x = 1))
)

# write df into its own, new sheet
sheet_write(df, ss = ss)

# write mtcars into the sheet named "omega"
sheet_write(mtcars, ss = ss, sheet = "omega")

# get an overview of the sheets
sheet_properties(ss)

# view your magnificent creation in the browser
gs4_browse(ss)

# clean up
gs4_find("sheet-write-demo") %>%
  googledrive::drive_trash()

See Also

Other write functions: gs4_create(), gs4_formula(), range_delete(), range_flood(), range_write(), sheet_append()

Other worksheet functions: sheet_add(), sheet_append(), sheet_copy(), sheet_delete(), sheet_properties(), sheet_relocate(), sheet_rename(), sheet_resize()