Which Google permissions does AI2Fin ask for on the consent screen?

Two. The first covers only the Drive files you use with this app — spreadsheets Fin created, or ones you opened with AI2Fin — rather than everything in your Drive. The second is your email address, used solely to label the connection so two Google accounts are distinguishable. The broad “see and edit all your spreadsheets” permission is deliberately not requested, because every call this connection makes already works without it.

Why can’t Fin see a Google Sheet you already created yourself?

Because the permission it asks for covers files this app created or that you opened with AI2Fin from Google Drive, and stops there. A spreadsheet Fin has never touched is simply outside that grant, so it does not appear in the list and cannot be written to. That is the narrow permission working as intended rather than a fault — and the simple path is to let Fin create the sheet, then build your own tabs, formulas and charts around it.

Can Fin write to one particular tab in a spreadsheet with several?

Yes. You choose the worksheet during setup and Fin addresses it by name, so rows land on the tab you picked even when it is not the first one in the file. The header row is checked on that same tab, and written only if its first row is empty.

What happens if you rename or delete the tab Fin writes to?

The next push stops and tells you the worksheet was not found, naming the tab it was looking for. Nothing is written somewhere else and nothing is lost — the transactions stay queued in AI2Fin. Point the destination at the renamed tab, or create one with the original name, and the next push carries on from exactly where the last one finished.

Google Sheets destination

Export your bank transactions to Google Sheets, automatically

Fin writes your categorised transactions into a Google Sheet in your own Drive — with the category, the tax treatment and a link to the receipt already filled in. Connect it once and Fin can keep it updated on a schedule, or push it across whenever you ask.

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Google Sheets

What does the Google Sheets destination do?

It pushes your categorised transactions into a Google Sheet you own, as nine columns per transaction. Fin adds new rows beneath what is already there, on a schedule and on demand.

The spreadsheet lives in your Google Drive, not inside AI2Fin. You can open it on a phone, share it with your accountant, build a pivot table on top of it, or keep it long after you have stopped using anything else — it is your file in your account.

What makes it worth automating is the enrichment. A bank export gives you a date, a description and an amount. This one arrives with the category Fin assigned, whether the transaction is tax deductible, which deduction bucket it belongs in, and a link straight to the receipt.

How do you connect Google Sheets to AI2Fin?

You sign in on Google’s own consent screen and tick the permission covering the Drive files you use with this app. Your Google password is never typed into AI2Fin, and the access token never reaches your browser.

Google lets you approve each permission separately on that screen, so the connection is only saved once Fin can confirm the one it actually needs was granted. If that box was left unticked, you are sent back through consent straight away rather than getting a connection that looks healthy and then fails on the first push, with nothing on screen to say why.

The grant is visible in your Google account under the apps with access to your account, and you can withdraw it there at any time — from Google’s side, without asking anyone.

What you are agreeing to on Google Sheets’s screen

See and edit only the files you use with this app
Google calls this drive.file. It covers spreadsheets Fin created and ones you deliberately opened with AI2Fin — not the rest of your Drive, which stays entirely out of view.
Your email address
Used only to label the connection, so two Google accounts are told apart on the settings screen. If you decline it the connection still works; the label just falls back.
What is deliberately not asked for
The broad “see and edit all your spreadsheets” permission. Every call Fin makes works under the narrow one, so asking for the wide version would buy nothing and give away a great deal.

Can Fin create the spreadsheet, or do you need one first?

Fin can create a fresh spreadsheet for you, with the nine column headers already in place. You can also point it at a sheet you made earlier with AI2Fin.

A new spreadsheet is the quickest start: choose “create new”, give it a name, and it appears in your Drive with the header row written and nothing else. From then on every push appends beneath the last row.

The header row is only ever written when row 1 is empty. If you have restructured the sheet with your own headings, Fin appends underneath them and leaves your layout alone — your formulas, charts, pivot tables and extra columns keep working.

A Google Sheet you built yourself will not appear in the list

The narrow permission above is the reason: it covers files this app created or that you opened with AI2Fin from Drive, and nothing else. That is the trade for not asking to see your whole Drive, and it is the honest side of a genuinely narrow grant. The straightforward path is to let Fin create the sheet and build whatever you like on top of it.

What do the columns look like in the sheet?

Nine columns, A to I, one row per transaction, oldest first. Values are written the way Google parses them when you type them yourself, so the amount lands as a number rather than as text.

That last part is the difference between a spreadsheet you can work in and one you have to clean first. A total across the Amount column works immediately; so does sorting by date, filtering by category, or building a pivot of deductible spend by tax category.

If your spreadsheet has several tabs, you choose which one receives the rows, and Fin writes to that tab by name — not to whichever happens to be first.

The nine fields Fin writes into Google Sheets, and the type each one lands as
Field	Type	Why
A · Date	Date	When the transaction happened, as YYYY-MM-DD.
B · Description	Text	The transaction line as it was recorded.
C · Merchant	Text	Who was paid, once Fin has resolved it.
D · Amount	Number	A real number, so the column totals without cleaning.
E · Currency	Text	So a multi-currency year stays readable.
F · Category	Text	The category Fin assigned, or the one you set.
G · Tax deductible	Yes / No / blank	Blank where nobody has assessed it yet.
H · Tax category	Text	The deduction bucket it belongs in.
I · Receipt	Link	Straight to the receipt attached to that transaction.

An empty deductibility cell reads as “not looked at”, which is true — where a “No” would assert a tax position nobody actually took.

Which of your transactions get sent to Google Sheets?

The ones you entered yourself, imported from a CSV, or captured from a receipt — categorised, tax-tagged and receipt-linked before they land. Transactions that arrived through a connected bank feed stay inside AI2Fin, where your reports and your tax view still count them.

It works the same way for every destination, so the file you keep in Google Sheets carries the records you assembled. The reasoning behind that, and what it means for a file you share with your accountant, is on the Destinations overview.

Would another destination suit you better?

The same nine fields go to all four, so the choice is about where you already work rather than about what you would be giving up.

Google Sheets, answered

Common questions about the Google Sheets destination

Which Google permissions does AI2Fin ask for on the consent screen?: Two. The first covers only the Drive files you use with this app — spreadsheets Fin created, or ones you opened with AI2Fin — rather than everything in your Drive. The second is your email address, used solely to label the connection so two Google accounts are distinguishable. The broad “see and edit all your spreadsheets” permission is deliberately not requested, because every call this connection makes already works without it.
Why can’t Fin see a Google Sheet you already created yourself?: Because the permission it asks for covers files this app created or that you opened with AI2Fin from Google Drive, and stops there. A spreadsheet Fin has never touched is simply outside that grant, so it does not appear in the list and cannot be written to. That is the narrow permission working as intended rather than a fault — and the simple path is to let Fin create the sheet, then build your own tabs, formulas and charts around it.
Can Fin write to one particular tab in a spreadsheet with several?: Yes. You choose the worksheet during setup and Fin addresses it by name, so rows land on the tab you picked even when it is not the first one in the file. The header row is checked on that same tab, and written only if its first row is empty.
What happens if you rename or delete the tab Fin writes to?: The next push stops and tells you the worksheet was not found, naming the tab it was looking for. Nothing is written somewhere else and nothing is lost — the transactions stay queued in AI2Fin. Point the destination at the renamed tab, or create one with the original name, and the next push carries on from exactly where the last one finished.

Your transactions, in your own Google Sheet

Getting your transactions sorted and categorised is the free part. Turn on the Google Sheets destination when you want the finished rows arriving in your spreadsheet without you opening anything.

Get 2Fin free

Export your bank transactions to Google Sheets, automatically

What does the Google Sheets destination do?

How do you connect Google Sheets to AI2Fin?

What you are agreeing to on Google Sheets’s screen

See and edit only the files you use with this app

Your email address

What is deliberately not asked for