Working with "snippets" (Google Doc files?)

[FaCe]

Hi,

i work with Google Docs and have multiple recurrent "GDoc-snippets-files" that i need to use in other GDocs.

Actually i search for these existing files in Google Docs copy/past the text into the new GDoc.

I'd like to create an AppSheet App to better manage all this stuff,  to categorize them and i'd like to search for the text in these files, changing when need the text.

I think i've 2 ways:

1 - Leave the GDoc files and integrate them in AppSheet.

I should use Collection: https://support.google.com/appsheet/answer/11905920?hl=en

is it correct ?

In this case: i should be able to open the GDoc file within AppSheet but i cannot add a new GDoc files from within AppSheet ?

And how to search inside the GDocs from within AppSheet App?

2 - Add the snippets in a GoogleSheet database:

In this case i cannot open the snippets in GDoc to see the content isn't it ?

I need to leave the data formatted as now have in my GDoc files like bold, spacing, font, and other staff.

How to do ?

Any idea / suggestion / help ?

[WillowMobileSys]

If I understand correctly, you have several snippets in several different GDoc files and wish to, within AppSheet, choose from this list of snippets and order them to produce a "full" Google document.

There is not an ability within AppSheet that allows you to collate several existing files and then combine them into a single final document.  Nor can you "open" files, extract their text and formatting and then combine that text to produce a single resultant file.

There are, however, a couple of options:

1)  If you can handle formatting in a different way, you may be able to manage the snippets directly in AppSheet.  A Google Doc cell can handle 50,000 characters.  If you can break your snippets up into 50,000 or less characters chunks then you may be able to manage all of the snippets directly from AppSheet.  Formatting then is the big question.  You may be able to handle conditional formatting within a template using HTML encoding.

2) You can certainly manage this by using a Google App Script.  You can create the AppSheet app to collate/order the snippets to create a data row specifying the desired final document.  The app then triggers a Google Script that can open existing files and append them into a newly created document.  This is probably the best approach to maintain document formatting.  By the way, this is also a fully supported workflow in AppSheet.  You just have to know how to create Google App Scripts.

[FaCe]

@WillowMobileSys thanks for the reply but seems a bit difficult for me to achieve what you've suggested.

I could simplify my scenario and don't  choose from a list of snippets and order them to produce a "full" Google document but simply create an AppSheet App that is a "database" of all my snippets, each snippet is saved into one GoogleDoc file. 

So when i need to create a GoogleDoc Master file containing some snippets i can

1 - search in AppSheet app the appropriate snippets open them

2 - copy/past manually in my GoogleDoc Master file

what do you think ?

My question is: AppSheet can create and open GDocs files ?

How i can create within AppSheet a database of my gDoc files ?