Keep your store locator in sync with a Google Sheet. Manage locations in the spreadsheet and your locator updates on its own. Great for retail stores, dealer networks, and anything else that changes often.
New to this? Start with our step-by-step guide for the walkthrough version.
On This Page
- How It Works
- Locations you already have
- Setting up the sync
- Spreadsheet fields
- Sync frequency
- What sync does
- Editing synced locations
- Troubleshooting
How It Works
- Put your locations in a Google Sheet, using whatever column names your team already uses
- Share the sheet, paste the link into Storepoint, and match your columns to Storepoint fields
- Storepoint syncs on the schedule you choose, or right away when you click Sync now
You match your columns once. From then on, your sheet is the only place you edit.
Locations You Already Have
A sync manages the locations it brings in from your sheet and leaves the rest of your locator alone. To have your sheet manage everything in one place, export your current locations and paste them in before you connect it.
- Go to Manage Locations
- Click More in the top-right corner
- Select Export All Locations to download a CSV
Of course, if you're starting fresh and your sheet has everything you need, you can skip this. See exporting locations for more.
Setting Up Google Sheets Sync
Step 1: Set Up Your Sheet
Two things go in every row: a name for the location and an address Storepoint can place on the map. Everything else is optional. Put your column names in the first row.
Name those columns whatever makes sense to you. Store Name, Retailer, Street, Zip Code, and Tel all work, because you match your columns to Storepoint fields when you connect the sheet. Extra columns your team relies on can stay in the sheet too.
Keep your locations on one tab. Storepoint syncs the first tab unless your link points to a specific one.
Starting from a blank sheet, or want to see how a field should be formatted? Our template lists every standard field with one example row filled in. In Google Sheets, go to File → Import and upload it. Treat it as a guide, not a required format.
Download it from your dashboard instead and it comes with your custom fields included.
Step 2: Share the Sheet
- Click the Share button in Google Sheets
- Under General access, set permissions to "Anyone with the link" and "Viewer"
- Click Copy link and you're ready for the next step
If you'd rather not make your sheet publicly accessible, you can share it directly with our sync service account instead. Contact us and we'll provide the email address to share with.
Step 3: Connect to Storepoint
- Go to Google Sheets Sync in your dashboard
- Paste your Google Sheets share link
- Choose how often Storepoint checks the sheet for changes
Step 4: Match Your Columns
Storepoint reads your sheet and lines your columns up against its own fields, then shows you what it matched. Headings like Store Name, Business, Street, Zip, Postal Code, Phone Number, Lat, and Lng are recognized on their own.
Check the matches, pick a field from the dropdown for anything left over, and skip the columns you don't need. Name and Address are the two that need a column. A first-row preview shows you the result before you commit.
Storepoint saves this mapping, so you only do it once. Then click Connect & Sync.
Your first sync begins right away. The whole setup takes a few minutes.
Point two columns at the same field and Storepoint combines them. Sending Street, City, and Zip to Address builds one address per row, and you choose how the values are joined.
Spreadsheet Fields
These are the Storepoint fields your columns can feed. Only Name and Address need a column, everything else is optional. Your own column names can be anything, since you match them up when you connect the sheet.
Required: name, address
Optional: description, city, state, postcode, country, phone, website, email, monday through sunday (for store hours), facebook, instagram, twitter, image_url, tags
The address field can contain the full address (e.g., 123 Main St, Boston, MA 02101, USA). The city, state, postcode, and country fields are there for convenience if your existing data already has these in separate columns, but they're not required if your address is complete.
Custom Fields
If you've set up custom fields, they appear in the field dropdown under Custom Fields, so any column in your sheet can feed them. Want your custom columns labeled for you? Download the template from your Google Sheets Sync page.
Store Hours
Use a simple format like 9:00am - 5:00pm or Closed. If a location has a break (like a lunch closure), separate the time ranges with a comma: 9:00am - 12:00pm, 1:00pm - 5:00pm.
See the Opening Hours guide for all supported formats and display options.
Coordinates
Storepoint geocodes each location from its address. Got exact coordinates already? Add columns for latitude and longitude, match them to those two fields, and Storepoint drops each pin on those points instead. Keep your address column matched as well, since that's the address customers see in your locator.
Tags
Use the tags column to categorize locations for filtering. Enter tags as a comma-separated list:
Coffee, WiFi, Parking, Drive-Thru
Include all relevant tags for each location in a single cell.
Just include your tags for now. You can organize them into filter groups later in your dashboard. If you've already set up filters, Storepoint automatically assigns tags to the right groups on sync. Learn more about filters and tags.
Images
The image_url column accepts a direct link to an image file. Images display on your locations in the locator.
Getting image URLs:
- From your website: Right-click an image and select "Copy image address"
- From image hosts: Services like Cloudinary provide direct image URLs
Example: https://example.com/images/store-photo.jpg
Learn more about location images
Sync Frequency
Choose how often Storepoint checks your sheet for changes:
- Once a day is available on Pro plan and above
- Every hour, every 15 minutes, and every 5 minutes are available on the Business plan
- Manual only waits for you, so your locator changes when you say so
Need an update right now? Click Sync now on your sync card.
Each run reads your sheet and touches your locator only when something has changed.
What Sync Does
Your sheet is the source of truth for the locations it brings in. Each sync, Storepoint matches rows to those locations by name and address, updates anything that changed, adds anything new, removes anything you deleted from the sheet, and merges duplicate rows.
Everything else on your locator stays put, including locations you added by hand and locations from your spreadsheet imports.
Rename a location or change its address in the sheet and Storepoint reads it as a new location, since name and address are how rows are matched. The old one comes off the map on that same sync.
Editing Synced Locations
Locations from your sheet are read-only in the dashboard, so your sheet and your locator never disagree. Each one shows which sync manages it and links straight back.
Your sheet is where you make the change. Edit the row, and the next sync carries it through to your locator.
Checking Sync Status
Your sync card shows when the last sync ran, how many locations it manages, and how many columns are matched. Update your spreadsheet and the locator reflects it on the next sync.
Troubleshooting
If your sync isn't working, the Google Sheets Sync page in your dashboard will show any errors. Here are common issues:
Permissions error
Your Google Sheet permissions aren't set correctly. Make sure the sheet is set to "Anyone with the link" can "View". To check: click Share in Google Sheets, then under General access, select "Anyone with the link" and set the role to "Viewer".
Using an Excel file (XLSX) instead of a Google Sheet
Google Sheets Sync only works with native Google Sheets, not Excel files stored in Google Drive. If you have an Excel file, open it in Google Sheets and save it as a Google Sheet (File → Save as Google Sheets), then use that sheet's URL.
Name and address aren't matched
Every sync needs a column feeding Name and a column feeding Address. Open your sync settings and pick them from the dropdowns.
A matched column is missing from the sheet
Renaming or deleting a column in your sheet leaves its match with nothing to read, so the sync stops rather than dropping that data quietly. Open your sync settings and match the column again.
Sync seems stuck or not updating
Click Sync now on your sync card to run it immediately. If it still doesn't update, check the card for errors.
Still having issues? Contact us with a link to your Google Sheet and we'll help sort it out.
Next Steps
- Learn how to view and manage your synced locations
- Set up filters and tags to let customers filter your locations
- Add custom fields for additional location data
- Customize your locator's appearance