Install

Blockspring is a plugin that must be installed before use.

Install for Google Sheets

Download Blockspring for Google Sheets
Open a Google Sheet, then open Blockspring from "Add-ons" in the toolbar

Install for Excel

Download Blockspring for Excel
Open the download, and double click to install it. Follow the setup instructions that open.
Open Excel, then open Blockspring from "Add-ons" in the toolbar

Add a block

Blockspring makes spreadsheets more powerful by adding "blocks" to them. A block can do many things. The typical things a block does is get data, do a calculation, or take an action (e.g. send an email).

To add a block to a spreadsheet:

1. Open the Blockspring Plugin.
In Google Sheets, this is in the top toolbar under "Add-ons". In Excel, this is in the top toolbar under "Blockspring". Log-in to Blockspring if needed.

2. Click the "Add Block" button
Click the green "Add Block" button near the top-right of the plugin.

3. Choose a block to add
You can search or click a company to view their blocks. When you have found a block to add, click on it and you will see a page with its title, description, a form for filling out its inputs, and an insert button.

4. Fill out the form for a blocks inputs
On a block's page, there is a form for the block's inputs. Fill out each input or have the input reference a cell in your spreadsheet. When an input references a cell, the block will use the data in your spreadsheet as an input!

5. Insert the block to your sheet
Click the green "Insert" button. The block will run and the results will be added to your sheet.

Run or schedule a block

After a block has been added to a spreadsheet, the block can be run again at any time. The Blockspring plugin shows all blocks that have been added to a spreadsheet.

To run a block manually:

1. Open the Blockspring Plugin
In Google Sheets, this is in the top toolbar under "Add-ons". In Excel, this is in the top toolbar under "Blockspring". Log-in to Blockspring if needed.

2. Click the Run button
After opening the Blockspring plugin, you will see a list of all blocks in the sheet. Click the blue "Run" button in a block's card.

To schedule a block to run automatically:

1. Open the Blockspring Plugin
In Google Sheets, this is in the top toolbar under "Add-ons". In Excel, this is in the top toolbar under "Blockspring". Log-in to Blockspring if needed.

2. Choose a frequency
Click the dropdown under "Schedule" and choose a frequency for the block.

The block will run at the scheduled frequency.
In Google Sheets, the block will run even if the spreadsheet is closed.
In Excel, the block will not run if the spreadsheet is closed.

Share a spreadsheet

There are two ways to share a spreadsheet that uses Blockspring.

Option 1: Share access

If you want to give a person access to your spreadsheet, you can share access. If they have Blockspring, they will see all of the spreadsheet's blocks and be able to run them. All scheduled blocks will continue to run according to their schedule.

Google Sheets:
Open a sheet that you want to share, then click the blue "Share" button in the top-right corner.

Excel:
You can use any method that lets another person work with the Excel file. One method is to place the file on Dropbox or another file sharing service.

Option 2: Copy

If you want a person to have access to your sheet's functionality, but their own data, then they should make a copy of your spreadsheet.

Google Sheets:
In the top toolbar, go to "File" > "Make a copy".

Excel:
Locate the spreadsheet file on your computer. Right-click on the file, and then choose "copy".

More resources

We've covered the basics: installing the plugin, adding a block, and running a block. You are ready to use Blockspring.

Get ideas

Our Google Sheet templates do some neat things. They are already setup and ready to use.

Use a particular API

Checkout our list of API's. We have over 100 API's that can be used in a spreadsheet.