Why I Even Needed This Connection
It started with me staring at a Notion table full of messy metrics I had manually pasted in from various tools. Google Analytics events over here, newsletter signups over there, random campaign UTM tracking data scattered in another page entirely. I thought, okay, this is dumb — I could just push all of this into Google Sheets and make an actual dashboard. Easier to chart, easier to filter. Easy in theory. Except Notion doesn’t exactly send its data anywhere without some persuasion.
I didn’t want to manually export CSVs every week. That’s basically a slow form of spreadsheet self‑harm. So my goal was simple: get Notion data automatically synced to a Sheet that my analytics dashboard could pull from. No more dragging files into Google Drive like it’s 2009.
Figuring Out The Sync Options
First I opened the Notion integrations page and realized the API only gives you raw data in JSON. JSON looks like a giant wall of curly braces and brackets that mean nothing if you just paste them into Sheets. I considered writing my own script in Google Apps Script, but then I remembered I already had two half‑finished scripts somewhere from last year that broke when Notion changed something. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
So I went looking at automation tools again. Zapier could do it, but the triggers aren’t real‑time, and my marketing data changes often enough that 15‑minute updates felt slow. Integromat (now Make) had more flexibility, but it’s got that “drag the little bubble connectors until it works” energy that means I constantly forget which node does what. There’s also a few third‑party sync tools like syncedtables and coupler, which claim to do scheduled pulls from Notion into Sheets automatically. Those are fine if you like paying a subscription for one job.
Setting Up A Basic Automation Flow
I ended up using Make for the first attempt, mostly because I could visualize the steps and break them when necessary without rewriting everything. My flow was:
1. Notion API module to list database entries.
2. A mapping step to flatten the JSON structure into simple Name, Date, Value columns.
3. Google Sheets module to append rows into a specific sheet tab.
Sounds nice until you realize dates in Notion’s API come back in an odd format with timezones I didn’t set. When I first loaded the sheet, every date was offset by one day. I thought it was a bug in Make, but no — it was UTC vs local time. Had to insert a function that added hours back.
To beginners: think of each step as a small robot in a line. The first robot gets the data, the second robot adjusts it into a shape the next robot can use, and so on. If one robot hands over a mess, the next one spends all day cleaning it instead of actually doing its own job.
Dealing With The Sheet Formatting Headache
If you dump data straight from Notion to Sheets without guardrails, the sheet will turn into an unreadable mess in days. I created a hidden “raw” tab where the automation writes all incoming data. Then I built another “clean” tab that just uses formulas like =FILTER or =QUERY to present the columns in the right order and ignore duplicates.
Pro tip for complete beginners: Sheets formulas like =QUERY(A:D, “select A,B,C”) can behave like a mini‑database query, removing the need to constantly clean the automation mapping. That way, even if the incoming data changes column order next month, your dashboard formulas still pull the right details.
No matter how nice the automation is, some columns just don’t come through in a tidy way. For example, Notion’s multi‑select fields will show up as arrays smashed into a single text cell with commas, so your dashboard won’t sort them as tags. You either live with it or write a formula that splits them into new columns.
Making It Dashboard Ready
Once the clean tab was stable, I linked it to my analytics dashboard file (a separate Google Sheet) using =IMPORTRANGE. This basically lets you mirror data from one Sheet into another. The cool thing here is you can keep your Notion sync happening in a private workbook and only send the necessary columns to a public or team‑shared dashboard file.
I learned the hard way that if you directly hook a live sync Sheet into a big dashboard full of charts, it can slow to a crawl, especially as the data grows. Splitting them keeps the sync file nimble. For learners: think of your live sync file like a pantry full of raw ingredients. Your dashboard sheet is the restaurant’s kitchen — you don’t dump the whole pantry on the counter just to make one salad.
Troubleshooting When The Data Stops Coming
At least once a month, the sync stops. Sometimes it’s because the Notion API token expired or permissions changed when I shared a page with someone. Other times Make just fails silently. This morning I opened the sheet and saw no new rows for four days. When I checked the Make log, it had red error messages saying “Invalid value for property.” Turns out someone added an image field into the Notion table, and my mapping step didn’t know how to handle it.
Beginner tip: when setting up your automation, include an error branch that sends you an email or Slack message if the scenario fails. Otherwise you’ll only spot the issue after you’ve been making decisions from stale data for a week 😛
I also keep a manual CSV export from Notion as a backup, just in case. That way, worst case, I can quickly paste the missing rows into the raw tab and let the dashboard formulas do their thing.
Keeping It From Breaking Constantly
I wish I could say there’s a perfect set‑and‑forget method here, but the reality is any time someone in your team changes the structure of the Notion database — like renaming a field or switching it from text to select — your sync mapping might misalign. What you can do is:
– Lock editing permissions for the Notion database properties that feed into the analytics.
– Document the automation flow in plain language, so anyone modifying it later knows which columns are critical.
– Test with a duplicate scenario before pushing changes live.
This is especially important if your dashboard is used for reporting to clients or managers. The last thing you want is to show up to a meeting with all the numbers shifted by one row because of some new dropdown someone thought would be cute.
When You Should Just Use A Paid Connector
If you need real‑time sync or a dead‑simple setup, sometimes it’s worth paying for a tool that’s built specifically for Notion to Sheets. Platforms like coupler and syncedtables handle the API mess for you and even let you schedule hourly updates without limits. You’ll still need to manage the Sheet formatting, but you save the headache of OAuth tokens expiring randomly.
I tend to avoid those until I’ve broken my manual automation twice in one month — usually by adding some complicated filter. At that point, the $20 or so is worth not having to explain to my team why the “Daily active users” chart was blank all week. In some cases, sticking to the boring but reliable tool means more free time to fix the other automations I’ve ignored for weeks 🙂