Google-sheets – Temporarily disable autosave in Google Sheets

autohotkeygoogle sheetsgoogle-sheets-offline

I use autohotkey scripts for a lot of things in Google Sheets. It's basically scripted, automated keyboard input. A script may look something like this:

Loop, 4
{
    Loop, 7
    {
        Loop, %reps%
        {
            Send, {Enter}
            waitshort()
            Send, {Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Left}{Right}{Delete}
            waitshort()
            Send, %nextpage%
            Send, {Enter}
            waitshort()
        }
        Loop, %reps%
        {
            Send, {Up}
            waitshort()
        }
        Send, {Right}
        waitshort()
    }
    Send, {Right}
    waitShort()
}

I need it for repetitive tasks that you cannot do with standard Excel tools. The problem is Google Drive saves to cloud every minute or so. Whenever that happens Google Sheets lags for 2–3 seconds and all keyboard inputs are ignored. Which obviously means that the script gets interrupted and further input will be full of errors.

Is there a way to take a Google Sheets document offline for as long as a script is running? I have a script that needs to replace values across several thousand cells.

Best Answer

There is no way to disable autosave on Google Sheets. Instead of using autohotkey scripts use Google Sheets macros / Google Apps Scripts. For details see Automate tasks in Google Sheets and https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/sheets.

Regarding using Google Sheets offline, this requires to use Google Chrome. For details see Work on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides offline

Related Solutions

Google-sheets – How to round a Google Form input to nearest .5

Wouldn't a more simple way of doing this be done using functions in the actual sheet?

Up: =MROUND(A1+0.25;0.5)
Down: =MROUND(A1-0.25;0.5)

I would assume that having another column added to the spreadsheet that takes the Google Forms input and performs the rounding function on it, then use Apps Script to email the data would be easier than than trying to do it all in a script.

Google Sheets – Remove Protection from Range

Try this code:

function start() {
  var idFolder = '0B79ClRnKS87QcW9XbVhrcFZxd28'; // change
  var sheetNames = ['1', '2', '3']; // change
  var strRange = 'A1'; // change

  deleteProtection(idFolder, sheetNames, strRange) 

}


function deleteProtection(idFolder, sheetNames, strRange) {

  var folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(idFolder);
  var contents = folder.getFiles();
  var file;
  var sheet;
  var sheets;
  var sheetName;
  var range;
  var strRangeProtect;
  var protections;
  var protection;

  var app = SpreadsheetApp;

  while(contents.hasNext()) {
    file = app.openById(contents.next().getId());
    sheets = file.getSheets();

    for(var i = 0; i < sheets.length; i++) {
      sheet = sheets[i];
      sheetName = sheet.getName();
      protections = file.getProtections(app.ProtectionType.RANGE);

      for (var i = 0; i < protections.length; i++) {
        var protection = protections[i];
        var range = protection.getRange();
        var sheetName = range.getSheet().getName();
        strRangeProtect = range.getA1Notation();
        if (strRangeProtect == strRange && sheetNames.indexOf(sheetName) > 0) {
          protection.remove();
        }      
      }           
    }  
  }  
}

Befor you start:

First you need to paste all the files into one folder, then copy it's id:

and change this lines:

  var idFolder = '0B79ClRnKS87QcW9XbVhrcFZxd28'; // change
  var sheetNames = ['1', '2', '3']; // change
  var strRange = 'A1'; // change

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Google-sheets – How to round a Google Form input to nearest .5

Google Sheets – Remove Protection from Range

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