Copilot Actions works a folder of files from plain English, no script in sight. Your data lives in a Google Sheets tab, which is not a folder, and the cleanup you want needs a judgment call on every row: sort four thousand free-text notes into six categories, make every company name match, rewrite the descriptions. Today that is an Apps Script somebody else writes and runs straight into the live sheet, with no review attached. So the cleanup sits in a backlog.
Scratch pulls the tab down, one file per row. Copilot edits the fields on your laptop; Scratch shows each cell as a diff; it writes only the cells you approve. Everything you did not approve keeps its value and its formatting, so a wrong pass costs you nothing but the time.
How it works
- Scratch pulls your tabs into files. Sign in with Google and paste the URL of each spreadsheet Scratch may touch. Every tab becomes a table, row 1 becomes the column names, and Scratch adds one managed
Scratch IDcolumn in position A so it can tell your rows apart even after a sort. - Copilot edits the rows. Open the Copilot app on Windows and attach your Scratch folder to Copilot Actions. Describe the cleanup in plain English and it works through the rows in its own agent workspace while you watch. Sort every note into one of these six categories and leave the rest of the row alone. Copilot works the files, never your live sheet.
- You review every diff and publish. Back in the Scratch app, each changed cell sits beside its original value. Approve what holds up, and Scratch writes only those cells.
What people use it for
The cleanup jobs that wait for a developer because the grid only does find-and-replace:
- Sort a column of free-text notes into the dropdown categories you report on.
- Normalize company names, job titles, industries, and country codes across a whole export.
- Rewrite a product or content column for the entire catalog in one reviewed batch.
- Fill blank cells from what the rest of the row already says.
- Flag and merge the duplicates three people created in three styles.
Run it on 50 rows to see what it does, then let it work the tab.
How is this different from asking a developer for an Apps Script?
A script does exactly what somebody spelled out and nothing smarter. It cannot decide that this row is Manufacturing and that one is Logistics, and it writes into the live sheet with no per-row review, so a wrong assumption becomes four thousand wrong cells and a restore from version history. It also means waiting for someone else's week to open up.
Scratch puts the agent you already have on the whole tab, and holds the result as a diff you read. Copilot can change any cell; only you commit it. Every published change is reversible per row, and you never wrote a line of code.
What Copilot edits in Google Sheets
- Text, number, checkbox, and dropdown columns
- Dates, currency, and percentages, kept as real values rather than text
- New rows, added below your data
- Row deletions, applied from the bottom up so nothing shifts underneath
Scratch touches one thing you did not put there: the Scratch ID column in position A, which is how it tells your rows apart. Columns with an empty header are invisible to Scratch and never read or written. For the full picture, see Scratch for Google Sheets.
Questions people ask
Which of my spreadsheets can it see?
Only the ones whose URLs you pasted. Scratch asks Google for permission to work on spreadsheets and nothing else, with no access to Drive at all, so it cannot list your files, look through folders, open a spreadsheet you did not hand it, or delete anything.
Will it wreck my formatting?
No. Approved changes are written cell by cell, so a cell nobody touched keeps its value and its formatting. Dropdowns, checkboxes, and date formats stay as you set them.
What is the Scratch ID column?
It is how Scratch tells your rows apart. A row's position is not a name: sort the tab and row 400 becomes row 12. So Scratch keeps one column headed Scratch ID at the far left and writes a short code in it. It arrives gray, with the header row frozen and a warning if anyone tries to edit it. Rows you type in by hand get a code the next time Scratch pulls.
Can I roll a change back after it publishes?
Yes, one row at a time. Every published change is reversible from Scratch, and the original value sits beside the new one until you decide which stays.
Can it work through a few thousand rows?
Yes, that is the point of it. Try 50 rows first to see how it reads your data, then let it work the whole tab. It reads the files directly instead of asking Google for one row at a time, which is what makes the full pass practical.
Do I need to be technical?
No. Connecting is a Google sign-in and pasting a spreadsheet link. After that you describe the change in plain English and approve the diffs.
See it on your own sheet
Book a 30-minute demo on your own spreadsheet →, or try Scratch free and run the first pass yourself.