14 DAY TRIAL // Google Apps Standard Edition users got a bit of a treat yesterday as Google has introduced Apps Script to the free edition after the feature had been made available to Premier and Education Edition users a few months ago. The tool enables users to automate any task in Google Apps, from updating spreadsheets to sending emails. Apps Script can be quite powerful and useful but for the average user it may be a bit too technical and hard to pick up.
"[W]e're excited to extend the availability of Apps Script to Google Apps Standard Edition, used by millions of groups, families, clubs and other organizations around the world. Google Apps Script provides the ability to automate a variety of tasks such as modifying Spreadsheets, creating Calendar appointments, checking stock prices, sending email, looking up Contacts and much, much more," Evin Levey, product manager, Google Apps team writes.
The scripts themselves are written in JavaScript, so the users have access to a wide library of code and tools, but it also means that the average user may find the tool too daunting. The scripts themselves run on the Google servers and have access to an extensive list of Google APIs.
Google has set up a help page and lists several tutorials, so anyone interested in getting some basic scripts working in Google Apps could probably do so without too much hassle. The company has created some sample code for the most common users. You can check out the video below for a quick start guide into Google Apps Script.
The move is an important one as Google tries to position Apps as a true competitor to established products from the likes of Microsoft which have had some form of scripting support for quite a while. Google wants to become a major player in the enterprise market, a very lucrative one, and has been building Apps into a very solid product. The Standard Edition is offered for free, with advertising, and is aimed at smaller companies and organizations.