Google Sheets
Direct answer
Google Sheets is the working list in these guides: overdue invoices, enquiries, checked receipt rows, quote lines, and tasks from a meeting. It is not your statutory accounting record. A sheet of customer details is personal data. Do not paste the whole sheet into a chatbot when one row would do.
A chase list or a one-person CRM you will actually open every day.
Watch out. A sheet of customer details is personal data. Delete rows you no longer need, and do not paste the whole thing into a chatbot.
Sheets is the lightest CRM and the lightest chase log. It is a working list. If you are in Making Tax Digital, the statutory record still lives in compatible software, and the sheet is how you prepare checked figures for that software.
Share the file only with people who need it. A link set to "anyone with the link" is how a customer list ends up somewhere you did not intend.
Playbooks using Google Sheets
- Weekly admin digestn8n2–3 hours the first timeabout £0 licence if self-hosted, or about £17 for Cloud Starter/mo
A Monday admin digest with n8n
Use n8n to email you one Monday morning note: unread mail that needs a reply, the week's calendar, and invoices you have marked overdue. It is a reminder, not a manager. Start on n8n Cloud if you do not want to host a server. Not live-tested yet.
- Social post repurposingGoogle SheetsOne sitting to make the sheet, then a note when the work is done£0 on the free plan/mo
A month of social posts planned in a sheet
Plan social posts on a private Google Sheet: one row for the date, the network, and a caption taken from work you actually did. ChatGPT can draft the caption from that note. You publish it yourself. Buffer is the separate queue. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Lead capture to a CRMZapier45–75 minutesabout £0, or about £15 if you need multi-step Zaps/mo
Capture leads in a sheet with a two-step Zap
Send a short enquiry form into a Google Sheet with a two-step Zapier automation, which fits the free plan. Reply yourself the same day. Add people to a marketing list only if they ticked a box that was not pre-selected. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate invoice chasingMake1–2 hours if the built-in reminder is not enoughabout £0, or about £7 if you outgrow the free plan/mo
Chase overdue invoices with Make drafts
Turn on the reminder feature inside the accounting software you already pay for. If that wording is too blunt, use Make to create Gmail drafts for overdue invoices and send them yourself. Do not let an automation mark invoices paid. This has not been live-tested.
- Data entry from PDFs and formsClaudeAbout an hour for the sheet, then a file at a time£0 to try, or about £15 for Pro monthly/mo
Data entry from PDFs and forms with Claude
Data entry from a PDF or a form is a row you check, not a file the model files. Claude can read the page into a sheet. If a figure is unclear, the cell stays blank and the original stays attached. The row is not your statutory record. Nothing here has been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingChatGPTOne sitting for the folders, then one photo at a time£0 on the free plan/mo
File receipt photos in Drive, without posting the books
File a receipt by putting the photo in a dated Drive folder and one checked line in a sheet. ChatGPT may propose the filename from the supplier, date, and total you type. Do not upload the photo. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026 with no paid price in the text. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting notes into tasksGeminiOne sitting, on a call that is not with a clientAbout £4 or £15 at the planning rate, from those US list prices/mo
Google Meet notes turned into tasks
Turn a Google Meet into tasks only if Take notes for me is on an eligible plan, then copy the actions you accept into a private sheet. On 25 October 2026 the US plans page showed Plus at $4.99 a month and Pro at $19.99. The Meet-notes ticks were blank in the saved text. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting notes into tasksFathomAbout 45 minutes before the first call£0 on the free plan/mo
Meeting notes turned into tasks with Fathom
Turn meeting notes into tasks by recording only with consent, copying Fathom's free summary into a private sheet, and writing the actions yourself. On 25 October 2026, AI action items were a Premium feature, not part of Free. You still check any list a paid plan writes. This page has not been live-tested.
- Quote and estimate draftsChatGPTAbout an hour to make the template, then minutes a quote£0 to try, or about £15 if you pay for Plus/mo
Trade quote drafts with ChatGPT
A trade quote should start from notes you took and from supplier pages you opened, not from a model's memory of prices. ChatGPT can lay the lines into your template. It must leave a blank where you have no figure. You check VAT, the day, and the total, then you send it. This has not been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingClaude30 minutes to set up, then about half an hour a weekabout £0–£15/mo
Turn receipt photos into checked bookkeeping rows
Photograph each receipt and, once a week, ask Claude to read the date, supplier, and amounts into a row you check before typing it into your bookkeeping software. Always check the VAT. Do not give an agent write access. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Does Sheets satisfy Making Tax Digital?
A spreadsheet can be part of a digital record only in the way HMRC's current rules allow, and these playbooks do not file the update. Read GOV.UK or ask your accountant before you treat a sheet as the return.
Who can open the sheet?
Only the people who need it. A link set to anyone with the link is the usual mistake. The playbooks say to keep the sheet private.
Which playbooks write to a sheet?
Invoice chasing, lead capture, receipts, PDF data entry, quotes, the Monday digest, a social posting calendar, and tasks copied from meeting notes. You still check the row.