Integrating a notification system into your spreadsheet is very useful when dealing with dynamic data that changes frequently. How do you keep track of these changes, particularly when certain updates require immediate action? Having a notification system that allows you to watch for breaking changes in your data and increase response time makes a lot of difference in your workflow.

This article will guide you through writing a few scripts to build an automated notification system for Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Using Twilio Programmable Messagingand Twilio SendGrid, this system will alert you when specific, predefined metrics in your data change. Let's get right into it!

1. Spreadsheet Software: You'll need one of the following:

2. Twilio Account: Sign up for a Twilio account if you haven't already. You'll need this to use the Programmable Messaging and SendGrid services.

3. Basic programming knowledge:

The spreadsheet sample data that will be used for this project is a basic sales inventory table that includes Total Sales as part of the columns. The script will focus on checking if total sales exceed a predetermined threshold. Each time someone edits the Total Sales column, the script runs. When the data surpasses the threshold, it triggers an email notification through Twilio SendGrid and an SMS notification through Twilio Programmable Messaging.

You can copy the table provided here or use any dataset that suits your needs. Keep in mind that you can adapt the principles outlined here to different use cases.

Excel allows developers to write code to automate tasks and build personalized solutions for specific use cases in the spreadsheet using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Before writing any code, ensure that your Excel application has enabled the developer's tab.