Load a Phantom's results dynamically into a Google Sheet

A Phantom works like an opaque box. Send in specific data, and it will return augmented information. (Depending on its purpose, but you get the idea.)

The data you import to the Phantom is called input data, and the data generated by the Phantom is called output data. For example, LinkedIn Search Export takes a list of search words as an input and creates a file containing the list of people found as an output.

On Phantombuster, data are handled using CSV files. This simple format is compatible with Excel, Numbers and of course Google Sheets.

The problem is that the input CSV and the output CSV are different files, on different services. 

How do you dynamically handle all the data using only one Google Sheet?

Google Sheets

Google Sheets documents are very convenient because they are available through public URLs as CSVs and can import data using built-in functions.

In this instance, consider the first tab of the document as the Phantom input tab because it will contain data that the Phantom needs to do its job.

Then create a second tab, the Phantom output tab, which you can fill automatically with the content of a result.csv (the file created by a Phantom after its launch).

Obtaining your results.csv file

The result.csv you need is available on the Console page of your Phantom:

Right-click on 'result.csv' and copy its link:

You'll now have a URL for a compatible CSV file which looks something like this:

https://phantombuster.s3.amazonaws.com/xxxxxxxxx/yyyyyyyyy/result.csv

Combining the two

Now you just have to fill the A1 cell of the output tab you created in your Google Sheet with the built-in "=IMPORTDATA()" function. (This function only takes one argument between the parentheses: the URL of the result.csv file you just copied.)

So you should have something like this in your A1 cell:

=IMPORTDATA("https://phantombuster.s3.amazonaws.com/xxxxxxxxx/yyyyyyyyy/result.csv")

(This example will not work directly, you must use a result.csv file of yours.)

 When you hit "Enter", the Google Sheet will load your result.csv for you.

We're done! Now your Google Sheet is composed of two tabs. The first one is the input of your Phantom and the second is the output of this same Phantom.

The beauty of this is that its contents will change dynamically each time you launch your Phantom without you having to change anything :)