Build a Google Sheets New Data Tracker with Python

Level: Real World

Note: You can take todays’ project as a video course for free. Here is the link to the class: https://www.skool.com/automateit/classroom/226049c3?md=b1efebee17c6497d808af820eea580f9

Your task for today is to create a script that monitors a Google Sheets spreadsheet and detects only the new rows that have been added since the last time you ran the script — perfect for tracking form submissions, survey responses, or any data that gets added to a sheet over time.

Project Task

Create a Google Sheets new data tracker that:

• Uses the Google Sheets API to fetch spreadsheet data

• Connects to your Google Sheet using API credentials

• Tracks which rows have already been processed

• Stores the last processed row number in a text file

• Detects and returns only the new rows added since last run

• Loads API keys and spreadsheet IDs securely from environment variables

• Displays both all rows and just the new rows for comparison

• Automatically updates the tracking file after each run

This project gives you hands-on practice with Google APIs, state management, file persistence, and incremental data processing — essential skills for building automation that tracks changes over time.

Expected Output

ALL ROWS: [
  [’Name’, ‘Email’, ‘Response’],
  [’John Doe’, ‘john@example.com’, ‘Yes’],
  [’Jane Smith’, ‘jane@example.com’, ‘No’],
  ... (25 rows total)
]

NEW ROWS: [
  [’Alice Brown’, ‘alice@example.com’, ‘Yes’],
  [’Bob Wilson’, ‘bob@example.com’, ‘Maybe’],
  [’Carol Davis’, ‘carol@example.com’, ‘Yes’],
  [’David Lee’, ‘david@example.com’, ‘No’],
  [’Emma White’, ‘emma@example.com’, ‘Yes’]
]

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Skeleton and Solution

Below you will find both a downloadable skeleton.py file to help you code the project with comment guides and the downloadable solution.py file containing the correct solution.

Get the code skeleton here: