If you're having trouble with the Spreadsheets data source, learn more below about possible issues and how to resolve them.
Common issues
Issue | Error message |
File too large, spreadsheet exceeds 5MB | |
FetchError: Could not find spreadsheet file | |
There was an error fetching the list of spreadsheets | |
No data to visualize | |
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File too large
If you see a File too large, spreadsheet exceeds 5MB message, this means the spreadsheet file in use exceeds the 5 MB size limit.
Even if your file size is lower than the 5 MB limit when viewed locally, .xlsx files use ZIP compression within them, which means the file is actually much larger. A 2–3 MB file can be roughly 10 times the size reported on your device.
To use the file with Geckoboard, the size must be below 5 MB. To reduce the file size, there are two solutions:
Clean up the spreadsheet:
Remove non-essential cell formatting: Spreadsheets often retain formatting, even in unused cells. These styles can significantly increase the sheet's size. Check if any styles, like colors or fonts, are applied to empty rows or columns and remove them, even down to the 999th row.
Remove non-essential worksheets: Delete any worksheets that are not in use or are no longer required.
Create a dedicated sheet specifically for Geckoboard: If cleaning up the sheet didn't resolve the issue, the best option is to start a new spreadsheet specifically for the metrics to display on Geckoboard and create a reference to the data from the original sheet if needed. We suggest using ImportRange within this new sheet to only bring in the required data.
Could not find spreadsheet file
If you receive the message FetchError: Could not find spreadsheet file, this can happen for two reasons:
The sharing settings for the link are not configured as required. To resolve this, follow the steps in this guide to set the permissions to be visible to Anyone with the link.
The file has been renamed, moved, or deleted. In this case, please get in touch.
There was an error fetching the list of spreadsheets
If you see the message There was an error fetching the list of spreadsheets, you'll need to allow Google Drive permission to share data with Geckoboard.
To resolve this, an admin for your Google account must follow the steps in this guide to allow users to install Google Drive apps before the data is available to use in Geckoboard.
No data to visualize
Formulas are often expected to reset periodically, for instance, at the beginning of each week or month. Depending on your formula configuration, that reset could be to zero (0) or blank (empty cell).
However, these states are interpreted differently in Geckoboard. A 0 will display a 0 within your widget, but an empty cell will show No data to visualize.
If you want to avoid the No data to visualize message and prefer seeing 0s when your formulas reset, we recommend using IFERROR or ISBLANK.
IFERROR example
To protect against errors in your spreadsheet, wrap your formulas using IFERROR. For example, use the example with IFERROR below.
With IFERROR
=IFERROR(QUERY(Calculations,"select count(A) where E is not null and N matches '"&Calculations!$R$2&"' and E like '%"&A2&"%' label count(A) ''"),0)
Without IFERROR
=QUERY(Calculations,"select count(A) where E is not null and N matches '"&Calculations!$R$2&"' and E like '%"&A2&"%' label count(A) ''")
ISBLANK example
Let's say that you have a number widget powered by a cell B2 and B2's value is =A2. Instead, we'd recommend using =IF(ISBLANK(A2),0,A2).
This way, if A2 is empty, the cell that powers your widget will default to 0 instead of also being empty, which will result in No data to visualize.
Specific Excel file not available
If your Excel spreadsheet file isn't showing up, please try searching in the Search field for the file name.
If the file still isn't listed, this may be because it's in an unsupported format, such as .xls or .xlsm. Only .xlsx files are supported, so you'll need to save your workbook again as .xlsx if the format is the issue.
Data not updating after changes to the sheet
There are two possible reasons why changes to your data aren't showing up on your dashboard yet:
Your widgets haven't refreshed yet
Spreadsheet widgets automatically refresh every 15 minutes. Changes made between refreshes will not immediately be reflected; however, they will be automatically picked up during the subsequent widget refresh.
We also support manual refreshing. This can be helpful when initially setting up your widget or running tests on an existing widget.
Your uploaded file failed to overwrite the previous version
In some cases, particularly when using browser versions of Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive for Business, a duplicate file of the same name is created, which results in Geckoboard continuing to fetch data from the original.
One solution to avoid duplicate files is to use the desktop app for Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive for Business and overwrite the file.
Pivot table data from Google Sheets is not visible
Due to limitations with Google Sheets, pivot table data is not available by default.
To make this data accessible within the Spreadsheets data source, you will need to update your pivot table and add a value summarized by COUNTUNIQUE to make the data available within Geckoboard. This will create a new column that could potentially be useful, but you can simply disregard it when configuring your widget.
Another alternative is to add a new tab to the same file, then copy the values from the pivot table sheet to the new sheet (using any formula that can copy the entire content across). Then use the new sheet to power your widgets instead.