Automating Birthday Email Notifications with Google Apps Script

To automate birthday emails, you will need to create a Google Apps Script that triggers an email to be sent on the exact date of a person’s birthday. Here’s a breakdown of how the process works:

1. Storing Contact Information

The first step is to store the contact information of the individuals whose birthdays you want to track. Typically, you’ll store this data in a Google Sheet, with columns for the person’s name, email address, and birthday.

Example columns in the sheet:

• Name
• Email
• Birthday (in MM/DD format)

2. Writing the Script

Next, you’ll write a Google Apps Script that reads from the Google Sheet and checks if today’s date matches any birthdays in the list. If a match is found, the script will automatically send an email to that person.

Here’s a basic script outline:

javascript

Copy code

function sendBirthdayEmails() {

  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();

  var today = Utilities.formatDate(new Date(), Session.getScriptTimeZone(), ‘MM/dd’);

  var data = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();

  for (var i = 1; i < data.length; i++) {

    var name = data[i][0];

    var email = data[i][1];

    var birthday = Utilities.formatDate(new Date(data[i][2]), Session.getScriptTimeZone(), ‘MM/dd’);

    if (today == birthday) {

      MailApp.sendEmail(email, “Happy Birthday!”, “Happy Birthday, ” + name + “!”);

    }

  }

}

This script:

• Accesses the data in the Google Sheet.
• Compares today’s date with the birthday in the list.

Sends an automated email using Gmail’s MailApp service.