Workflows / What changed report

What changed report in Google Sheets

This run compared with the last: which places changed, and how. Ask your AI in plain English: it reads Google Sheets, InstaMaps does the location work, and the results land in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets
InstaMapsInstaMaps
What changed report
Google Sheets
Works inClaudeChatGPTCopilotGemini
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Free connector · sign in with Google · about a minute

The prompt

Using the rows in this Google Sheet: <link to your sheet>, compare it with last month's tab and tell me which places changed and how, and write the results into the same sheet as new columns beside the rows.

Replace the parts in <angle brackets>.

What comes back

  • Each place's values from both runs side by side
  • What changed for the columns you name
  • Anything that can't be placed or answered comes back with the reason. Nothing is dropped.

Set it up

What changed report in Claude

Every plan, including Free. On Free, InstaMaps uses your one custom connector; Google Drive, Gmail and Google Calendar are directory connectors and don't count against it.

  1. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, and choose "Add custom connector".
  2. Name it InstaMaps and paste https://get-instamaps.com/mcp. Click Add.
  3. Click Connect and continue with Google. You land back in Claude, ready to ask.
  4. Paste the prompt above.
Claude's own guide ↗

Before you start

Reading Google Sheets

Share the sheet with InstaMaps, or set it to "anyone with the link can view". InstaMaps reads it straight from Google, so a sheet of thousands of rows is one call, and nothing passes through the chat.

Writing to Google Sheets

InstaMaps writes to the sheet itself: share it with the address the answer gives you, as Editor. It adds new dated columns or a new tab, and never overwrites a cell.

Run it on a schedule

Every Monday at 8am: using the rows in this Google Sheet: <link to your sheet>, compare it with last month's tab and tell me which places changed and how, and write the results into the same sheet as new columns beside the rows.

  • Claude. Scheduled tasks run a prompt hourly, daily, on weekdays or weekly, with the connectors you've added. They need a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise), and on Pro and Max they run in the cloud, so your computer can be off.
  • ChatGPT. ChatGPT has scheduled tasks, but OpenAI doesn't yet say whether they can use a custom connector. Run the prompt by hand until it does.
  • Microsoft Copilot and Teams. Copilot Studio agents can run on a schedule with a Recurrence trigger. The run uses the agent author's sign-ins.
  • Gemini. Google doesn't yet say whether scheduled actions can use a custom app. Run the prompt by hand until it does.

Good to know

  • Compares up to six runs of the same places, matched on InstaMaps' place ID.
  • The connector is free: 5,000 tool calls a day per person, and a whole sheet read by link counts as one call.

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