Automating Edcamp with Google Add-ons, Part 3: Autocrat

This is the final part to a three part post (and the coolest of them all, IMHO) detailing how we used Google Add-ons to make organizing easier for Edcamp35. The first post outlined how to use FormMule for confirmation emails and email updates and the second post gave an overview for using DocAppender to filter specific information from those who were willing to facilitate a session.

Add-on #3: Autocrat

Basic Add-On Description: Autocrat takes the data from a Google Sheet and renders it into an easier-to-read Google Doc or .pdf format. Additionally, you have the ability to customize the file name, type, destination folder in Drive, and you can even customize a mail merge with the documents attached! Again, this add-on for Sheets is written by the still-ever-amazing-and-awesome Andrew Stillman. (Fangirl, much? Yes. Just, yes.)


Add-on’s Function for EdCamp35: This particular workflow is my favourite use of edcamp add-on awesomeness, mainly because it allows for collaboration of your edcamp attendees. The purpose of this add-on is to automatically create collaborative session documents as the session board schedule is being finalized. Each document would be automatically created and filtered into a publicly shared folder (all documents inside would automatically inherit the folder’s sharing permissions). This way, all attendees can use the folder link to locate their session and the corresponding collaborative Google Doc to take notes on. Even better, you have a window into sessions that you were unable to attend, and to share with others later on, too!

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Basic How-To:

Step 1: Create a template for what you would like your session documents would look like. This year’s version looked the one below (and you can snag your own copy on Drive if you click on the image):

Step 2: Create a publicly editable folder in Drive where you’d like to keep the collaborative edcamp Docs. You can also create sub-folders inside of it for each session time slot that would run within your edcamp. If you make a folder for each session, it makes for easier for attendees to find the session title that they may be looking for.

Step 3: In a different folder (for us, it was our Edcamp35 organizing folder) create a new Google Form with questions just like the ones pictured below. Add any other fields you think you might need… remember to collect everything you'll require to fill in your template doc’s fields. Here is a link to our form or take a look by clicking below.

Step 4: Backing up now.... on our template document, you may have noticed these strange tags: <<Room Number>>, <<Session Name>>, etc. These are called merge tags. Wherever you add them in your template, Autocrat allow you to merge specific responses from the form into each doc that is created. For example, if I input “Genius Hour” into the form under Session Title, then I have made it so “Genius Hour” will now replace <<Session Name>> on the template document.

Now, it’s your turn! Go back to your template document and add merge tags that will correspond the data you input from your form. It’s nice to have the form and the template doc side by side (pictured below) to make it easier to correspond with one another before launching the add-on.

Step 5: On the Sheet that receives the form responses, I installed Autocrat in the “Add-ons” menu. Click on the “Launch” button in the menu and a sidebar will pop up for you to begin the use of the add-on. When the sidebar pops up, click "New Merge Job".

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Note: This is the sheet that accepted our responses for the Edcamp35 2015. Your sheet should be empty - no data!

Step 6: A pop-up window will appear in your Sheet to set up the Autocrat add-on. Start by adding your template doc from Drive or by choosing a template in the document list below.

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Step 7: Ensure that your merge tags correspond with the appropriate fields from your document. Some of your merge tags will automatically choose the corresponding entry from the form if they have the exact same name. Others, you will have to select from a drop-down menu.

Step 8: The merge settings step has a lot of little sub-steps. First, what will your merged documents be named? You can customize this using the naming tags listed on the next step of the add-on. All documents were titled a very specific way so that they would be easy to for attendees to see and for organizers to sort (see image below). Our nomenclature for merged docs was $sessionTitle - $Rm - $sessionNumber. So, for example, a session document would come out titled as the following:

Genius Hour for Beginners - Rm208 - 3

And it would also have matching information inside of the doc where the <<merge tags>> sit.

Why did we do this? The name of the sessions is the most important aspect for attendees, so that came first. The room number is secondary. The session number was for the organizers so that we put each document in the correct collaborative docs subfolder. Remember, we had Edcamp35 Session Docs named as a parent folder and subfolders for session 1, 2, or 3. The session number in the name makes it so we don’t have to open the documents one by one to see where they should live, or continually reference the session board to figure it out.

Step 9: Next, select “Email and/or share merged documents” and input your own email address (you need one; I just delete these notifications in my email later). I also ensure that it's shared as a publicly editable Google Doc, but… Google Nerd Note Reminder (as if all of this wasn’t enough already): If the destination folder is publicly editable, so will all the Docs be that are created within it. Secondary note: if you’re using Autocrat for a different purpose, you can also customize the email subject, address, and message, too!

Step 10: Click to expand the Advanced Options menu. This is where you can ensure that the Docs being created would land in your appropriate parent folder. Make sure that “Run autoCrat when new forms are submitted” is checked off before pressing “Save".

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Step 11: Test out the magic by filling out your form. Check the merge folder you chose to see if the document merged. You should also see the evidence of a merge on the response spreadsheet - clickable links and a merge confirmation field.

Step 12: Delete any test documents you created and double check that your parent folder is shared to be publicly editable. Share the folder link on the morning of edcamp or before so that people can access it. For Edcamp35, we created shortened URLs for this as well as QR codes for participants to scan around the building to get connected with our collaborative documents.

Step 13: We repeatedly filled out the form with session titles and rooms on the day of the edcamp in a frenzy as the session board was being built. After the documents were merged into the parent folder, we had to drag and drop each session into its corresponding session subfolder. Note that this is best done in “List View” in Drive, not "Grid View”.

Each of these documents would get dragged and dropped into the appropriate session folder.

If you’re curious what the final structure might look like, check out our final merged products from Edcamp35 here. Some documents got edited by attendees during the conversations, others didn’t. But what we created was a shareable source of evidence of professional conversations that others could learn from. The coolest part? I learned from sessions I didn’t even attend, and so did many others! And it didn't really take that long to set up, either.

I really hope you enjoyed learning about Google Add-ons for Automating Edcamp from this series of blog posts. Thank you for planning amazing educational events (or being curious about it!) and being a part of growing professional practice through sharing and collaboration!