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How to take and dynamically display auto-updating screenshots in Google Sheets

Learn how you can take scheduled screenshots of web content and automatically display the latest image in your Google Sheet with PagePixels.

Introduction

PagePixels is a screenshot automation tool that you can use to automatically take screenshots and dynamically display the latest image in a website or web app, including Google Sheets.

You can accomplish this by scheduling a screenshot in PagePixels and using an Embed URL in a Google Sheets IMAGE function.

A PagePixels' Embed URL is a single web address that always displays the most up-to-date image for a scheduled screenshot configuration.

PagePixels is free to start and this tutorial demonstrates how you can take daily screenshots of a random XKCD comic and display the image in a Google Sheet cell.

Example

Prerequisites

Before you start, you'll need:

  • A PagePixels account
  • A link to a web page you want to screenshot

    • For this example, we're going to use XKCD's random comic page:

      https://c.xkcd.com/random/comic/

How to capture and embed auto-updating screenshots in Google Sheets

To take daily screenshots of a web page and display the latest image in a Google Sheet cell, follow these steps:

1

Create a screenshot

Log in to your PagePixels account, and click the "+Create Screenshot" button.

2

Set your schedule

By default, recurring screenshots are taken every 5 minutes.

For a daily screenshot, use the input and dropdown fields to change the default values to: 1 Days

3

Add URL

Copy and paste the web page URL you want to screenshot into the Website URL to Capture field.

For example: https://c.xkcd.com/random/comic/

4

Configure your screenshot

Use over 20 different setting options in PagePixels to get your screenshot to look just right.

For example, using the CSS Selector field, you can capture just the comic element on the XKCD page with the following selector: #comic

5

Save Screenshot

Click the green Save Screenshot button (top-right).

6

Copy Embed URL

Click the clipboard icon to copy your configuration's Embed URL.

7

Add IMAGE function

In your Google Sheet, add an IMAGE function to a cell and use the Embed URL as the value.

=IMAGE("https://pagepixels.com/app/screenshots/screenshot_configuration_id/embed?nocache=" & RANDBETWEEN(1,100000), 3)

Note: Because the Google Sheets app aggressively caches images, you'll want to add a cache breaker to your IMAGE function. ?nocache=" & RANDBETWEEN(1,100000)

You also might want to choose a different mode for how your image displays. This example uses: 3

Learn more about the IMAGE function in this Google Support doc.

8

Allow Access

Click Allow Access in the dialog box or the top banner that appears.

This permits requests to fetch new screenshot images.

Your screenshot automation is now set and the latest screenshot will automatically display in your Google Sheet.

What else can PagePixels do?

When you use PagePixels for automating screenshots, you can:

  • Schedule screenshots by time interval, days of the week, time of day, and time zone using PagePixels' built-in scheduling system.
  • Automate clicking buttons, filling out forms, performing a search and more with Multi-Step Screenshot functionality.
  • Convert data from third-party APIs, HTML emails, and other HTML content into screenshots using the Custom HTML Screenshots feature.
  • Automatically take screenshots and have an AI analyze the resulting images with the AI Analysis Screenshot feature.
  • Have AI compare and contrast multiple screenshots and other images with the Multiple Image AI Analysis feature.
  • Send scheduled screenshots to a public or private Slack channel, a Custom Webhook address, or save your screenshot images to your Dropbox account.
  • Connect PagePixels to no-code integration platforms Zapier and Make (Integromat) to automatically send, save, and email screenshots to thousands of services, such as OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Excel.
  • Capture screenshots from different locations around the world with PagePixels' Real Locations Screenshots feature.
  • Automate structured data extraction and AI-powered text analysis for your marketing, sales, and lead generation needs with PagePixels' Domain Research feature.
  • Leverage PagePixels' Screenshot API to programmatically take scheduled and instant screenshots.

See even more possibilities of what you can do on our Features page →

Support

Questions? Contact us anytime by email:

support-tickets@pagepixels.com

Or send us a message through our Support page.