Automate Mailchimp Exports to Google Sheets

The manual baseline

Start from what already works. The existing guides on this site cover the manual route to Google Sheets: the Mailchimp to Google Sheets guide and the Mailchimp contacts to Google Sheets guide. A manual export is a snapshot. It is correct at the moment it is taken, and it goes stale the moment a new campaign is sent or a contact changes. If the sheet is read once, for one decision, manual is enough. If the sheet is read every week, manual re-export becomes a chore that will be skipped, and the sheet will quietly go stale.

What automation means here

Automation, on the official documentation opened, has two halves. The Mailchimp half is the API. The scheduling half is a script trigger in Google Apps Script. Together, they form a pattern: a script calls a Mailchimp API endpoint, receives JSON, writes the chosen fields into a sheet, and runs again on a time driven trigger. The pattern is yours to build. Neither Mailchimp nor Google documents a ready made Mailchimp script for it.

Pick the Mailchimp endpoint first

The endpoint decides what the sheet can show. For campaign performance, the Get campaign report endpoint returns report details for a specific sent campaign. Its response fields include the campaign title, subject line, campaign type, send time, emails sent, opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, abuse reports, delivery status, ecommerce stats, and an hourly breakdown over the first 24 hours, where available. A sheet fed by this endpoint shows one row per campaign, with the same numbers as the Mailchimp report.

For a full account copy, the account export endpoint creates a new account export. Creating an export requires include_stages, the stages of an account export to include, and accepts an optional since_timestamp in ISO 8601 format, which limits the export to records created after a given time. When the export is finished, the response includes a download_url, and Mailchimp states that download URLs are only valid for 90 days after the export completes. A sheet fed by an account export is a poor fit for row by row campaign reporting, because the export is a ZIP of files, not a single JSON response. Use the account export for backup, as described in the back up your Mailchimp account data guide.

Both endpoint pages show authorization as Bearer or OAuth. The pages opened do not state plan limits or rate limits for these calls. Keep the API credential out of the sheet itself, and out of any shared script copy.

Add the schedule with a time driven trigger

Google documents installable triggers for Apps Script. Installable triggers allow Apps Script functions to run automatically based on events, with more flexibility and authorization capabilities than simple triggers. Time driven triggers allow scripts to execute at specific times or intervals. Installable triggers can be managed manually through the script editor or programmatically using the Script service, and they are subject to Apps Script trigger quota limits.

The documented programmatic pattern starts by calling ScriptApp.newTrigger with a function name, which returns a TriggerBuilder. Google's example creates two time driven triggers: one that fires every 6 hours, and one that fires every Monday at 9 a.m. Choose the interval from how often the sheet is read. A sheet read weekly needs a weekly trigger, not an hourly one.

The script itself must do three things, in order: call the chosen Mailchimp endpoint, select the fields to keep, and write those fields to the sheet, replacing or appending rows in a way the reader of the sheet understands. The docs opened do not document the exact Apps Script calls for fetching a URL or writing to a sheet in this pattern, so this guide does not list them as verified steps. Build the script against the current Apps Script and Sheets documentation in your own project, and keep a manual export as the check: the first scheduled run should produce the same numbers as a manual export taken at the same time.

Run the pattern in order

Use this order for a first automated sheet. Choose the endpoint and fields first, run the API call once outside any schedule and confirm the fields are present, write the script to fetch the endpoint and write to a test sheet, compare the test sheet against a manual export taken at the same time, then add a time driven trigger for the interval readers need. After the first two scheduled runs, open the sheet and confirm the rows updated.

When manual is still the right answer

Manual re-export remains the right answer when the sheet is read rarely, when only one or two campaigns matter, or when the person who owns the sheet cannot maintain a script. A script that no one maintains will break at the worst time: when an API response changes, a credential expires, or a trigger hits a quota limit. A manual export, run on the day the sheet is needed, has none of those failure modes.

If you do automate, keep the manual route documented alongside the sheet. Note the endpoint, the field list, and the trigger interval, so the next person can re-run the export by hand when the script fails. For the full set of destinations, see the Mailchimp exports by destination directory.

Open flags

No built in Mailchimp scheduled export to Google Sheets was documented in the official pages opened. Mailchimp API authentication setup for Apps Script, API rate and plan limits, and the exact Apps Script calls for fetching and writing data were not verified in the pages opened, so they are not stated as steps here. Third party automators are out of scope for this page by design, because Mailchimp's own docs opened do not name them as the method.

Source

• Mailchimp Marketing API, Get Campaign Report
• Mailchimp Marketing API, Create Account Export
• Google Apps Script Docs, Installable Triggers
• Mailchimp Help, Export and Back Up Account Data

Facts verified 2026-10-31. Open flags are listed in the section above.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to your state motor vehicle agency or court.