Do you need to find the spreadsheet ID for your Google Sheets workbook?

Google Spreadsheets is a powerful tool that helps you to collect, organize, store, and analyze data. Every sheet in a Google Sheets file has a unique ID. With the unique ID, you can easily identify, access, and share your spreadsheet with others.

The Google Spreadsheet ID is a unique identifier for each spreadsheet you create in Google Sheets. It is used to access data stored in the spreadsheet from other applications or websites.

Knowing how to find your spreadsheet ID will help you better manage your spreadsheets and share them with other users.

This article will highlight the ways you can find the spreadsheet ID and the things you can use them to do.

How can Google Spreadsheet ID be Used?

Finding the ID for your spreadsheet can serve many different purposes. Here are some of them.

Sharing the spreadsheet

When you want to share a Google Spreadsheet with others, you can provide them with the spreadsheet ID so they can access it directly.

This comes particularly handy if you want to share the spreadsheet with a large number of people or if you want to embed the spreadsheet in a website or other online platform.

Hyperlinks

The Google Sheets API allows you to programmatically access and modify data in Google Spreadsheets. To make requests to the API, you need to provide the spreadsheet ID with your API credentials. This allows the API to know which spreadsheet you want to work with

Formulas

You can use the spreadsheet ID in formulas to reference data in other spreadsheets. For example, you can use the IMPORTRANGE() function to import data from another spreadsheet by specifying its ID and the range of cells you want to import.

Apps Script Function or Custom Menu

You can use the Google Apps Script to automate tasks and build custom functionality in Google Spreadsheets. To work with a specific spreadsheet in your script, you need to provide its ID.

How to Find Google Sheets ID

There are two simple ways you can find the ID of your Google Spreadsheet.

Find Google Spreadsheet ID Using the URL

The easiest way to find the ID is to look at the URL of the spreadsheet.

In the URL, the spreadsheet ID is the string of letters and numbers that comes after the “/d/” portion of the URL.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rhbct9YijSAKWuP75E1NpAILR9CWeLmgIgGgfTfvyE4/edit#gid=0

Here, for example, the spreadsheet ID from this URL will be 1rhbct9YijSAKWuP75E1NpAILR9CWeLmgIgGgfTfvyE4

Each sheet within a spreadsheet also has its own unique ID. To find the ID of a particular sheet, simply navigate to the sheet by clicking on the sheet name and going to the URL.

Find Google Spreadsheet ID with Apps Script

You can get the spreadsheet ID by creating a custom function using an apps script.

Go to the Extensions menu and select App script to open the Apps script editor window.

function SHEETID () {
  return SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getId()
}

This custom function returns the ID of the currently active spreadsheet. Here’s a breakdown of what each part of the function does:

1. SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet –This method returns the currently active spreadsheet in your browser.
2. .getId() – This method is called on the spreadsheet object returned by getActiveSpreadsheet(). It retrieves the unique ID of the spreadsheet, which is the string of letters and numbers that identifies the spreadsheet.
3. return – This keyword is used to return the value of the expression that follows it. In this case, the value returned is the ID of the currently active spreadsheet.

=SHEETID()

To call this function, enter =SHEETID() in an empty cell. The function will retrieve the ID of the currently active spreadsheet and return it as a result.

You can then reference the spreadsheet ID in another part of your code, such as when making requests to the Google Sheets API or sharing the spreadsheet with others.

Conclusions

The spreadsheet ID is a vital tool for collaborative work, as it allows multiple users to access, edit, and share documents in real-time.

This makes it easy for teams to work together on projects and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

In addition to this, since every sheet has its own unique ID, you can select which sheets you want to share with other users. This setup allows you to enhance data privacy and overall protection of your information.

Have you needed the spreadsheet ID before? What did you use it for? Let me know in the comments below!