This page describes your options for extending the Google Workspace user
interface (UI). You can extend the Google Workspace UI for many reasons,
including:
- Integrate your app or service into Google Workspace, so that users can use
the app directly from one or more Google Workspace apps. For example,
build a Google Workspace Add-on that creates smart chips and link previews for
your service inside Google Docs.
- Help Google Workspace users be more productive or improve their workflow.
For example, build a Google Chat app that lets users report weekly
timesheets directly from Google Chat.
- Add capabilities that aren't natively available in Google Workspace.
For example, add a custom menu in
Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.
You can publish most of the options for extending the Google Workspace UI to
the
Google Workspace Marketplace
,
an online store where users can find and install third-party apps that integrate
with Google Workspace.
Overview of options for extending the Google Workspace UI
The following table lists the options for extending the
Google Workspace UI and compares them by these
characteristics:
- Apps extended
: Lists the Google Workspace apps that you can extend
with the given option.
- Coding options
: Lists the ways that you can build, including:
- AppSheet
:
A no-code development platform.
- Apps Script
: A cloud-based, low-code
development
platform based in JavaScript.
- Full dev
: Your own tech stack that supports your preferred
coding language.
- UI frameworks
: Indicates the types of UI frameworks that you
can use to to build each option, including:
- Card-based
: Card interfaces are predefined widgets and cards built
with either the
Card Service
using
Apps Script or by returning properly formatted JSON to
render cards with your preferred tech stack (full dev). Card-based
interfaces don't require knowledge of HTML or CSS, and work well on both
desktop and mobile clients.
- HTML
: Apps Script offers an
HTML service
for developing web pages that can
interact with server-side Apps Script functions. Interfaces
developed with the HTML service are highly customizable, but require more
manual work to create a great user experience.
- iFrame
: iFrames embed external content into Google Workspace and
offer the most customizability for user interfaces.
Following the table are descriptions for each option.
Google Workspace Add-ons
Google Workspace Add-ons are applications that integrate with Google Workspace
apps. A Google Workspace Add-on can extend multiple
Google Workspace apps. Most often, the app opens in a sidebar from within the
Google Workspace app that it extends.
View Google Workspace Add-ons documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Full dev
Extends the following apps
:
Gmail
Drive
Calendar
Docs
Sheets
Slides
Available UI frameworks
:
Card framework
Link previews and smart chips | Google Workspace Add-ons
Google Workspace Add-ons that extend Docs can create custom link
previews from a third-party service. Similar to smart chips that
Docs generates for mentions of a person, file, calendar event, or
other entity within a Google Workspace application,
an add-on can generate
a smart chip for a third-party link and show a preview card when
someone hovers over the chip.
You can add link previews to existing Google Workspace Add-ons or create a
separate Google Workspace Add-on specifically for link previews.
View link previews and smart chips documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
AppSheet
Apps Script
Full dev
Extends the following apps
:
Docs
Available UI frameworks
:
Card framework
Email drafts | Google Workspace Add-ons
Google Workspace Add-ons that extend Gmail can provide a custom
interface when the user composes new messages or replies to existing messages.
To use this interface, users open the add-on from
within the email draft, either at the bottom of the draft or in the
more_vert
More options
menu.
View email drafts documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Full dev
Extends the following apps
:
Gmail
Available UI frameworks
:
Card framework
Calendar conferencing | Google Workspace Add-ons
If you're a web conferencing provider, you can build a Google Workspace Add-on
that extends Google Calendar with your conference solution.
The add-on adds a
conferencing option for Calendar events, letting users create and
join those conferences directly from Calendar.
View Calendar conferencing documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Extends the following apps
:
Calendar
Available UI frameworks
:
Uses existing UI
Editor Add-ons
Editor Add-ons are apps that extend Docs,
Sheets, Slides,
or Forms. Editor Add-ons can only extend one app
per add-on, but you can publish multiple
Editor Add-ons in the same Marketplace
listing. Users open Editor Add-ons from the
Extensions
menu
in the app that they extend.
You can use the following interfaces for an
Editor Add-on:
- A
sidebar
next to the
application that it extends.
- A
dialog
overlaying the app
it extends.
- A
menu
item that runs a script.
View Editor Add-ons documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Extends the following apps
:
Available UI frameworks
:
HTML
iFrame
Chat apps
Chat apps bring resources and services into Chat.
You can design Chat apps to interact with users in many ways,
including:
- Respond to
slash commands
with a text message
or card message.
- Open a
dialog
to help users complete multi-step
processes, like filling in form data.
- Preview links
by attaching cards with helpful
information that let users take
action directly from the conversation.
View Chat apps documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
AppSheet
Apps Script
Full dev
Extends the following apps
:
Chat
Available UI frameworks
:
Card framework
Custom functions
Custom functions let you add more functions in Sheets. Users can
find and use them just like any of the hundreds of built-in functions available
in Sheets.
View custom functions documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Extends the following apps
:
Sheets
Available UI frameworks
:
Uses existing UI
Macros
Macros are recordings in Sheets that duplicate a specific series
of UI interactions that you define. You can link a macro to a keyboard shortcut
or run it from the
Extensions
>
Macros
menu.
When you record a macro, Sheets automatically creates an
Apps Script function that replicates the UI interactions. You can
edit macros directly within the Apps Script editor. You can write
macros from scratch in Apps Script, or take functions you've
already written and turn them into macros.
View macros documentation
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Extends the following apps
:
Sheets
Available UI frameworks
:
Uses existing UI
You can add custom menus, prompts, alerts, and HTML-based dialogs and
sidebars to files in Docs, Sheets,
Slides, and Forms. Custom menus appear next to the
default menus of the app they extend. Dialogs, sidebars, prompts, and alerts are
typically activated by user actions like menu item clicks, or by triggers like
event-driven triggers.
View custom menus, dialogs, and sidebars documentation
Coding options
:
Apps Script
Extends the following apps
:
Available UI frameworks
:
HTML
iFrame
Drive apps
If your app supports Drive files, you can integrate with the
Drive user interface to present your app as an option to create
or open files. Your app can appear in the
New
>
More
menu and the
Open with
menu when a user right-clicks a file in Drive.
When a user selects your app from either menu, your app opens in a new window.
View Drive apps documentation
Publishable
Coding options
:
Full dev
Extends the following apps
:
Drive
Available UI frameworks
:
Uses existing UI