Make an agenda for meetings

Coding level: Beginner
Duration: 15 minutes
Project type: Automation with an event-driven trigger

Objectives

• Understand what the solution does.
• Understand what the Apps Script services do within the solution.
• Set up the script.
• Run the script.

About this solution

Automatically create agenda documents in Google Docs and attach them to your Google Calendar meetings.

How it works

The script creates a document template for an agenda. When you update your calendar, the script checks to see if any events you own include "#agenda" in the description. If the tag is present, the script makes a copy of the template, adds it to the calendar event, and shares it with the event attendees.

Apps Script services

This solution uses the following services:

• Drive service–Checks to see if the template document exists and if it doesn't, creates a new folder for the template document. Creates a copy of the template document for each new agenda.
• Document service–Creates the agenda template.
• Calendar service–Checks for events with the "#agenda" tag and updates the event description with a link to the agenda doc.
• Base service–Uses the Session class to get the user's email. This helps build the trigger for the current user.
• Script service–Creates a trigger that fires whenever there's a change to the user's calendar.

Prerequisites

To use this sample, you need the following prerequisites:

• A Google Account (Google Workspace accounts might require administrator approval).
• A web browser with access to the internet.

Set up the script

1. Click the button below to open the sample Make an agenda for meetings Apps Script project.
   Open the project
2. Click Overview .
3. On the overview page, click Make a copy .
4. In your copied project, in the function dropdown, select setUp.
5. Click Run.
6. When prompted, authorize the script. If the OAuth consent screen displays the warning, This app isn't verified, continue by selecting Advanced > Go to {Project Name} (unsafe).

Run the script

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Create a new event or edit an existing one.
3. In the description, add #agenda and save the event.
4. Check your email for an email notification that a document has been shared with you, or refresh Calendar and click on the event again to see the link to the agenda document.

All attendees receive the email notification to view the agenda. The script gives attendees permission to edit, but you can edit the script to update the agenda document permissions for attendees.

Review the code

To review the Apps Script code for this solution, click View source code below:

View source code

Code.gs

solutions/automations/agenda-maker/Code.js

View on GitHub

// To learn how to use this script, refer to the documentation:
// https://developers.google.com/apps-script/samples/automations/agenda-maker

/*
Copyright 2022 Google LLC

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*/

/**
 * Checks if the folder for Agenda docs exists, and creates it if it doesn't.
 *
 * @return {*} Drive folder ID for the app.
 */
function checkFolder() {
  const folders = DriveApp.getFoldersByName('Agenda Maker - App');
  // Finds the folder if it exists
  while (folders.hasNext()) {
    let folder = folders.next();
    if (
      folder.getDescription() ==
        'Apps Script App - Do not change this description' &&
      folder.getOwner().getEmail() == Session.getActiveUser().getEmail()
    ) {
      return folder.getId();
    }
  }
  // If the folder doesn't exist, creates one
  let folder = DriveApp.createFolder('Agenda Maker - App');
  folder.setDescription('Apps Script App - Do not change this description');
  return folder.getId();
}

/**
 * Finds the template agenda doc, or creates one if it doesn't exist.
 */
function getTemplateId(folderId) {
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);
  const files = folder.getFilesByName('Agenda TEMPLATE##');

  // If there is a file, returns the ID.
  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const file = files.next();
    return file.getId();
  }

  // Otherwise, creates the agenda template.
  // You can adjust the default template here
  const doc = DocumentApp.create('Agenda TEMPLATE##');
  const body = doc.getBody();

  body
      .appendParagraph('##Attendees##')
      .setHeading(DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING1)
      .editAsText()
      .setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph(' ').editAsText().setBold(false);

  body
      .appendParagraph('Overview')
      .setHeading(DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING1)
      .editAsText()
      .setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph(' ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Topic 1: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph(' ').editAsText().setBold(false);
  body.appendParagraph('- Topic 2: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph(' ').editAsText().setBold(false);
  body.appendParagraph('- Topic 3: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph(' ').editAsText().setBold(false);

  body
      .appendParagraph('Next Steps')
      .setHeading(DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING1)
      .editAsText()
      .setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph('- Takeaway 1: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph('- Responsible: ').editAsText().setBold(false);
  body.appendParagraph('- Accountable: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Consult: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Inform: ');
  body.appendParagraph(' ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Takeaway 2: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph('- Responsible: ').editAsText().setBold(false);
  body.appendParagraph('- Accountable: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Consult: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Inform: ');
  body.appendParagraph(' ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Takeaway 3: ').editAsText().setBold(true);
  body.appendParagraph('- Responsible: ').editAsText().setBold(false);
  body.appendParagraph('- Accountable: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Consult: ');
  body.appendParagraph('- Inform: ');

  doc.saveAndClose();

  folder.addFile(DriveApp.getFileById(doc.getId()));

  return doc.getId();
}

/**
 * When there is a change to the calendar, searches for events that include "#agenda"
 * in the decrisption.
 *
 */
function onCalendarChange() {
  // Gets recent events with the #agenda tag
  const now = new Date();
  const events = CalendarApp.getEvents(
      now,
      new Date(now.getTime() + 2 * 60 * 60 * 1000000),
      {search: '#agenda'},
  );

  const folderId = checkFolder();
  const templateId = getTemplateId(folderId);

  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);

  // Loops through any events found
  for (i = 0; i < events.length; i++) {
    const event = events[i];

    // Confirms whether the event has the #agenda tag
    let description = event.getDescription();
    if (description.search('#agenda') == -1) continue;

    // Only works with events created by the owner of this calendar
    if (event.isOwnedByMe()) {
      // Creates a new document from the template for an agenda for this event
      const newDoc = DriveApp.getFileById(templateId).makeCopy();
      newDoc.setName('Agenda for ' + event.getTitle());

      const file = DriveApp.getFileById(newDoc.getId());
      folder.addFile(file);

      const doc = DocumentApp.openById(newDoc.getId());
      const body = doc.getBody();

      // Fills in the template with information about the attendees from the
      // calendar event
      const conf = body.findText('##Attendees##');
      if (conf) {
        const ref = conf.getStartOffset();

        for (let i in event.getGuestList()) {
          let guest = event.getGuestList()[i];

          body.insertParagraph(ref + 2, guest.getEmail());
        }
        body.replaceText('##Attendees##', 'Attendees');
      }

      // Replaces the tag with a link to the agenda document
      const agendaUrl = 'https://docs.google.com/document/d/' + newDoc.getId();
      description = description.replace(
          '#agenda',
          '<a href=' + agendaUrl + '>Agenda Doc</a>',
      );
      event.setDescription(description);

      // Invites attendees to the Google doc so they automatically receive access to the agenda
      newDoc.addEditor(newDoc.getOwner());

      for (let i in event.getGuestList()) {
        let guest = event.getGuestList()[i];

        newDoc.addEditor(guest.getEmail());
      }
    }
  }
  return;
}

/**
 * Creates an event-driven trigger that fires whenever there's a change to the calendar.
 */
function setUp() {
  let email = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();
  ScriptApp.newTrigger("onCalendarChange").forUserCalendar(email).onEventUpdated().create();
}

Modifications

You can edit the sample as much as you'd like to fit your needs. Below are a few optional changes you can make.

Update agenda document permissions for attendees

The script gives attendees permission to edit. If you want to limit the permissions to view only, replace the addEditor method with the addViewer method in the following part of the code:

     for (let i in event.getGuestList()) {
       let guest = event.getGuestList()[i];

       newDoc.addEditor(guest.getEmail());

Edit the agenda document template

To update the agenda document template, take the following steps:

1. After you create your first agenda in a calendar event, open Google Drive.
2. Open the folder called Agenda Maker - App.
3. Open the Agenda TEMPLATE## document and make your edits.

Contributors

This sample was created by Jeremy Glassenberg, Product Management and Platform Strategy Consultant. Find Jeremy on Twitter @jglassenberg.

This sample is maintained by Google with the help of Google Developer Experts.

Next steps

• Event-driven triggers
• Calendar service reference