Child Support reminders, receipts reading GSheets and sending Gmail

Hello,
Newbie here, I’m excited to start using Make! I’m also using the Free version, if that makes a difference to answers. Here is the context: I want to send my ex automatic child support reminders at least to his email, if possible also as a text. I have a Google Sheet with the data. I do not create new rows because I have the entire year with formulas in there. I do, however, update cells. So at midnight on the first of every month, I want to use the data on the row with the current month to send an email reminder taking data from specific cells in that row. i.e. Current remaining balance, what he paid last month, date of last payment, etc.

Bonus if we can also add a trigger that will send him an automatic email receipt of his payment with current payment, method of payment, remaining balance, etc. He typically pays in cash, which is why this process is such a pain.

TIA!

Hi,

You should start with the Google Sheets “Search” module, which will search for the current month entry. Then set up mapping to the email module or the Gmail module if you are using Gmail.

It is a pretty straightforward scenario.

The tricky part is setting up the scheduling, which will be a crucial part of your project. Here is your solution: Schedule Scenarios to Run on the Last Day of the Month.

Bonus if we can also add a trigger that will send him an automatic email receipt of his payment with current payment, method of payment, remaining balance, etc. He typically pays in cash, which is why this process is such a pain.

I don’t know what your local law requires, but don’t you need a signed document? If so, you can achieve it with the Google Docs create from template module. If email is enough- you should learn more about webhooks here

Good luck!

Have a nice day, Michal

I have figured out the time based trigger but what I am having a hard time with is getting the flow right for grabbing the data from different cells each month and basically doing a mail merge with that data in an email. I have already installed the Make Extension and have a Watch Webhook added to my google sheet.

So it would look something like this in the reminder email:

"This is an automatic monthly reminder that {{Current Month}}'s Asher’s $xxx child support payment is due on the 15th of this month, per our written agreement.

As of the date of this message your current balance is: ${{Current_Balance}}; this includes the $xxx for this month.

Once a payment is received and logged, you will receive an email confirming the payment and an update of balances.

Thank you for your monthly support.

If you would like to view and track payments, please view this [Google Sheet] where everything is logged.

Sincerely,…"