Question 1

What type will my columns get?

Accepted Answer

LONGTEXT by default, because a spreadsheet cell carries no intrinsic type and MySQL strings map to LONGTEXT here regardless of length. Where you have set Google data validation rules, columns are promoted to numeric, date or boolean instead. If the types matter downstream, setting validation on the sheet is the only lever that changes this.

Question 2

What does connecting a spreadsheet involve?

Accepted Answer

Either Google OAuth and then pick the spreadsheet, or a service account: enable the Sheets API, upload its JSON key, and share the spreadsheet with the service account's email address. You also tell Polytomic whether row one holds headers, which decides where the column names come from.

Question 3

Does it ever read less than the whole tab?

Accepted Answer

No. Sheets exposes nothing to checkpoint against, so every ETL run scans the whole sheet in batched row ranges. For the reference tables people usually keep in spreadsheets that is perfectly fine. For anything genuinely large it is the wrong tool, and the data belongs in a real source first.

Question 4

What happens when someone adds a column?

Accepted Answer

Less than you would fear. The new column is discovered on the next schema refresh and can be added to the sync, though an existing sync will not write it until you enable it. Renaming a header is the more disruptive edit, since it reads as one column disappearing and another arriving, and the old column is not dropped during a migration.

Question 5

Is a spreadsheet worth putting in a database?

Accepted Answer

Usually, for one reason. The spreadsheet is often the only place a mapping lives: account tiers, territory assignments, budget targets, which customers count as strategic. Getting it into MySQL turns a manual lookup into a join, and it is the cheapest ETL any team ever sets up.

Sync Google Sheets to MySQL

Sync Google Sheets to MySQL with Polytomic

One table per tab

Text unless told otherwise

Whole sheet every run

Or sync MySQL to Google Sheets

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Step-by-step integration guide

Connect Google Sheets in Polytomic

Connect MySQL in Polytomic

Create a sync between Google Sheets and MySQL

Map fields and enable the sync

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