Google Sheets FAQs

Google Sheets Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I have multiple sheets (tabs) in my file, will Panoply create a table for each sheet?

A: Yes. Google will collect each tab as a separate table using the default naming convention sheets_filename_sheetname. For example, if you had a spread sheet named “App Install Metrics” and it contained a sheet (tab) named app_installs, it would be stored in Panoply as sheets_app_install_metrics_app_installs.

Q: Why do I sometimes get an error message about rows not the same size. What does that mean?

A: During the data ingestion of any given sheet, row 1 becomes the database columns, and each subsequent row becomes a record in the database table. Basically, this means your data must be tabular.

The error message means some row is longer (has more columns) than the rest of the rows. This is a problem because some of your data isn’t “under” a header, and therefore can’t be assigned to a column in the database table.

For example, if have content in cell in E5 but no header in E1, then Panoply can’t tell where to put that data because it doesn’t map to a column in the related database table. Panoply throws the error message instead of permitting data loss.