Build a Free Automated Periodic Text Message System Without Writing Code

Note: This tutorial works only if you have an Android phone. Sorry iOS folks!

Periodic SMS updates could be useful in a number of ways. For example, they can be used for:

• Sending weekly reminders to your customers informing them of their pending payments
• Receiving a daily SMS update with a summary of tasks done that day

In our case, we use this system to send a daily factory production update to the company head.

This tutorial will help you use no-code online tools to set up an automated SMS system. For this, you’ll need:

1. An Android Phone
2. Google Sheets account
3. Microsoft Flow account
4. Microsoft Outlook registered email
5. IFTTT App

Step 1: Set up your Google Sheets Worksheet:

Create a Google Sheet that contains the raw data whose summary you’d like to send via text. You can either set up the data entry manually or use the import functions from Google to get the external data you need into the sheet.

Here’s a guide on how to get your external data into a Google Spreadsheet.

In our case, we set up a daily manual entry system for recording the production information.

This is our internal production sheet that is updated daily

Once you’ve got the data, create a new spreadsheet within the workbook with the title ‘Message Text’.

Create columns with the parameters whose summary you’d like in your text message. Use aggregation functions like SUMIF, COUNTIF and CONCATENATE to summarize the data if necessary.

This is how our ‘Message Text’ Sheet looked like. Note that it is important that all the columns have names. Apart from that, there is no set format required for the information as long your message text is in a separate column.

Here, our message text was in cell G2. The text in this cell would dynamically update every time there was a new entry made in our raw data.

You can also add a ‘Date’ Column to this sheet that can be used in your email subject line like we’ve done in Cell A2.

Our ‘Message Text’ Sheet

Next, add a column titled exactly __PowerAppsId__ to the sheet and input a random string corresponding to the row containing your message text. Copy and store this string as we will use it in the next step.

Step 2: Set up your Flow:

Microsoft Flow is a free task automation service that allows you to automate tasks and workflows based on certain triggers. Set up your free account if you haven’t already.

Once you’ve logged in, start a new ‘Scheduled — from blank’ flow as shown here:

Set up the periodicity of your updates as per the instructions given:

After selecting ‘Create’, add a new step to your flow:

In the ‘Choose an action’ section — search for ‘google sheets’. In the list of actions that are shown in the search results, select ‘Get Row’

This will prompt you to sign in to Google Sheets. Login using the account that is the owner of the spreadsheet created in Step 1.

After logging in, navigate to your spreadsheet file in the first input box, and select ‘Message Text’ in the second input box. Input your random string from Step 1 in the third input box.

Now add a new step and select ‘send an email’ from the search results.

Login in using an Outlook account.

After logging in, there will be three input boxes needed to be filled.

In the input boxes, select the same outlook account in the ‘to:’ box. (you’ll essentially be sending emails to yourself).

Type in your desired subject line in the second input box. Clicking on the box also brings up a ‘Dynamic Content’ list on the right that lists all the columns fetched from the previous step in the flow. Use it to add the Date to the subject line.

For the third input box, select the column header that contains your text message content. In our case, it was Column G titled ‘text’.

Once you’re done, save your flow.

Step 3: Set up your IFTTT applet:

Download the IFTTT app from the Google Play store.

Sign in with any account.

Once you’ve logged in, select ‘My Applets’ on the bottom right. Then select the ‘+’ sign on the top right to start your new applet.

Search for ‘mail’ and select Office 365 Mail in the results.

Enter your outlook email address in the box given.

Your trigger is now set to run every time you send an email to yourself on outlook.

Next, the Applet screen will ask you for the action.

Search for Android SMS.

Select ‘Send an SMS’. In the next screen, you’ll be asked to enter a phone number and the body of the text.

Type in the number you’d like to text in the first input box.

Select ‘Add Ingredient’ -> ‘Body Preview’. This adds the email body text to the SMS without any HTML.

Select Create Action, and then save your applet.

That’s it! Turn your applet on. Now just run a test on Microsoft Flow to test whether your workflow works, and then you’re set.

This is how the text messages look like. Note that it truncates after 160 characters.

Hope this is helpful. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.