Google Sheets or QuoteCloud's Spreadsheet block?
Two different spreadsheets. Google Sheets is your team's file, outside QuoteCloud, reached through Zapier. The Spreadsheet block lives inside the quote and sets its prices.
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They're different things. Google Sheets is your own spreadsheet, outside QuoteCloud, that Zaps add rows to or start documents from. QuoteCloud's Spreadsheet block is a content block inside a document, on Essentials and up, with formulas, tabs, .xlsx import and cells linked to price-table lines. Zapier can also write values into the block's cells.
Last reviewed by the QuoteCloud team
Two overlapping panels with sample data. Behind, Tallowwood Solar & Storage's proposal TS-2693 for Ines Calloway in QuoteCloud, with its Spreadsheet block's Sizing tab: daily use 22 kWh written by a Zap, peak sun 4.2 hours and a 0.44 kW panel give 12 panels and 5.28 kW; the panel line's price, $2,100.00, and its label are linked to the first price-table line. Below, the price table, $6,310.00 plus tax. In front, an illustration of Tallowwood's Proposal requests sheet in Google Sheets, outside QuoteCloud.
What's the difference between them?
Most teams that use one end up using both: the Google Sheet to run the business, the Spreadsheet block to price the quote.
| Google SheetsGoogle SheetsYour team's spreadsheet, outside QuoteCloudThrough Zapier or Make | QuoteCloudSpreadsheet blockA content block inside a QuoteCloud documentEssentials and up | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | In your Google Drive, shared with your team. | Inside a QuoteCloud template or document, saved with it. |
| One sheet or many | One file across every quote: a log, a pipeline, a price list. | One per document: each quote has its own copy and its own numbers. |
| Formulas | Google Sheets' own functions. | Google-Sheets-style functions such as IF, ROUNDUP and lookups, across several tabs. |
| Getting data in | People type it; Zaps add and update rows. | Your team types it, imports an .xlsx file, or a Zap writes values into its cells. |
| Link to the price table | None directly: a Zap can create a document with price-table rows from a row. | A cell can set a price line's description and unit price, and a price-table total can come back into a cell. |
| Best for | Reporting, enquiry lists and price lists across the business. | Calculators and workings that set this quote's prices. |
| Log quotes in Google Sheets | Spreadsheet block guide |
Microsoft Excel works the same way through Zapier: see QuoteCloud and Excel.
Inside the quote: the Spreadsheet block
Tallowwood sizes every solar system in a Spreadsheet block inside the proposal template. Daily use, peak sun hours and the panel size go in; ROUNDUP gives the number of panels, and a text formula writes the line's label.
Two cells are linked to the first price-table line: one sets its description, the other its unit price. Change the daily use and the price table follows, inside the same document.
- Google-Sheets-style functions such as IF, ROUNDUP and lookups, across several tabs.
- Import an existing calculator as an .xlsx file.
- Cells linked to a price line set its description and unit price; a price-table total can come back into a cell.
Spreadsheet block: Essentials and up
Formulas in the Spreadsheet block| Sizing | Value | How |
|---|---|---|
| Daily use (kWh) | 22Written by a Zap | From the request row |
| Peak sun hours | 4.2 | For the suburb |
| Panel size (kW) | 0.44 | 440 W panel |
| Panels needed | 12 | =ROUNDUP(B2/B3/B4, 0) |
| System size (kW) | 5.28 | =B5*B4 |
| Price per panel | $175.00 | From the Rates tab |
| Panel line price | $2,100.00Price line 1 | =B5*B7 |
| Panel line label | 12 × 440 W panels (5.28 kW)Price line 1 | Text formula |
- Sizing
- Rates
Input cellLinked to a price line
Your system, priced
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your system | $6,310 | ||
12 × 440 W panels (5.28 kW) Linked cellsDescription and price from the Sizing tab
|
1 system | $2,100 | $2,100.00 |
Pellam PH-5 · 5 kW hybrid inverterRuns the panels, battery-ready
|
1 ea | $2,350 | $2,350.00 |
Rail & clamp kit for 12 panelsFor your tiled roof
|
1 kit | $480 | $480.00 |
Installation, 12 panels & inverterLicensed installers, one day on site
|
1 job | $1,380 | $1,380.00 |
- Subtotal
- $6,310.00
- Tax (10%)
- $631.00
- Total
- $6,941.00
- Plus, monthly
- $0.00/mo
- Deposit on signing (15%)
- $1,041.15
Can a Zap write into the Spreadsheet block?
Yes: QuoteCloud has confirmed that Zapier can write values into a Spreadsheet block's cells. That joins the two spreadsheets up. The daily use typed into Tallowwood's Google Sheet can land in cell B2 of the new proposal's Sizing tab, and the block's own formulas and price links do the rest.
The step that does this isn't on Zapier's public list of QuoteCloud actions, so we don't name it here. Ask QuoteCloud how to set it up for your template. Writing cells through the API on its own isn't confirmed.
- Write inputs, such as usage or quantities; let the block's formulas calculate the results.
- The client still ticks options and signs: a Zap doesn't choose packages or blocks.
| Sizing | Value | How |
|---|---|---|
| Daily use (kWh) | 22Written by a Zap | From the request row |
| Peak sun hours | 4.2 | For the suburb |
| Panel size (kW) | 0.44 | 440 W panel |
| Panels needed | 12 | =ROUNDUP(B2/B3/B4, 0) |
| System size (kW) | 5.28 | =B5*B4 |
- Sizing
- Rates
Input cellLinked to a price line
Which one should do the job?
A quick rule: if it spans many quotes, it's a Google Sheet; if it prices one quote, it's a Spreadsheet block.
A log or a report
Google Sheets. Every quote's events in one place, counted with your own formulas.
Quote logA price list
Google Sheets, fed into QuoteCloud's product library one product at a time.
Price list to productsA sizing or pricing calculator
The Spreadsheet block, inside the template, with its cells linked to the price table.
Spreadsheet calculators for solar
Try both with a free trial
The Spreadsheet block and QuoteCloud's Zapier app are on the Essentials plan and up. Start a free 14-day trial and import a calculator you already use.
Move a calculator from Google Sheets into the quote
Download it as .xlsx
In Google Sheets, download the calculator as a Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) file.
Add a Spreadsheet block
In the QuoteCloud template, add a Spreadsheet content block where the workings belong.
Import the file
Import the .xlsx into the block, then check the formulas and tabs came across.
Link cells to the price table
Connect the result cells to the price line's description and unit price.
Test with real numbers
Create a test document, change the inputs and check the price table follows.
Questions about the two spreadsheets
Is QuoteCloud's Spreadsheet block connected to Google Sheets?
No, not directly. The Spreadsheet block is a separate spreadsheet inside a QuoteCloud document. You can import a Google Sheet into it as an .xlsx file, and Zapier can write values into its cells, but editing your Google Sheet doesn't change a block that's already in a document.
Which plan includes the Spreadsheet block?
Essentials and up. The same plan includes QuoteCloud's Zapier app and API, custom data items and the product library, so every recipe on this site and the Spreadsheet block are available together.
Can a Spreadsheet block cell set a price in the quote?
Yes. A cell can be connected to a price-table line's description and unit price, so the calculator's result becomes the price the client sees. A price-table total can also be brought back into a cell as an input. Quantity links aren't confirmed.
Can a Zap write into the Spreadsheet block?
Yes, through Zapier. QuoteCloud has confirmed that Zapier can write values into Spreadsheet block cells. The step isn't on Zapier's public list of QuoteCloud actions, so ask QuoteCloud how to set it up for your template. Writing cells through the API isn't confirmed.
More on QuoteCloud and Google Sheets
Six use cases with the exact Zapier steps, then how to connect, test and what it costs.
- Log every quote event in Google SheetsSent, viewed, signed, paid and expired: each QuoteCloud event adds a row, and sheet formulas turn the log into a report.
- Keep a quote pipeline tracker in Google SheetsOne row per quote: a Zap adds it when the document is created and updates its status as it changes.
- Create quotes from Google Sheets rowsA new row creates the document from your template, with the row's details in data items and price-table rows.
- Fill a price table from Google Sheets linesOne sheet row per product line: a Zap looks the lines up and adds them to the new quote's price table.
- Feed the product library from a Google Sheets price listKeep prices in the sheet you already maintain: a Zap creates or updates each QuoteCloud product from its row.
- Connect Google Sheets to QuoteCloud, step by stepCheck the plan, set up the sheet's header row, connect both apps in Zapier and test your first Zap.
- Google Sheets column mapWhich column each Zap on this site writes or reads, which way it travels and a sample value.
- Test and troubleshoot the Google Sheets ZapsTest with a copy of the sheet, then fix the usual problems: no row found, blank columns, duplicate documents.
- What QuoteCloud with Google Sheets can and can't doWhat the Zaps do, where they stop, Zapier or Make, and what we haven't confirmed yet.
- What the Google Sheets connection costsEssentials and up for Zapier, plus a fee only for documents a Zap or the API creates. Logging rows is free.
- FAQAnswers to the questions teams ask before connecting QuoteCloud and Google Sheets.
Run the business in Sheets. Price the quote in the block.
Start a free 14-day trial, connect your Google Sheet through Zapier and import a calculator into a Spreadsheet block.