Plenty of solar companies run reporting, commissions, or an owner's dashboard out of a spreadsheet — and that's fine. The problem was never the spreadsheet; it was the re-typing. The live sheet feed gives your spreadsheet a read-only URL that always returns your current jobs as CSV, so Google Sheets and Excel can refresh themselves. Data flows one way, out of TexPTO. Nothing you type in the sheet writes back, which means nothing you type in the sheet can corrupt the system of record.
The feed is included on the Team plan and up. Generating the URL takes one click; connecting a spreadsheet takes about a minute.
Get your feed URL
In TexPTO, open Settings, then Data (you'll need to be an org owner or admin). Under Live sheet feed, click Generate feed URL and copy it.
Treat the URL like a password: anyone who has it can read the feed. If it ever ends up somewhere it shouldn't, click Regenerate URL — the old URL stops working immediately, everywhere.
Google Sheets
In any cell of a blank sheet, paste the formula the settings card shows you:
=IMPORTDATA("your feed URL")
Sheets fills the tab with your jobs — one row per job, with the same columns as the workbook export's Jobs tab, including your custom fields. Google re-fetches the data on its own (roughly every hour); the feed itself refreshes about every 5 minutes, so what you see is never meaningfully stale.
Keep the imported tab pure. Put your formulas, pivot tables, and charts on other tabs that reference it. When the feed refreshes, the imported tab is replaced wholesale — anything you typed into it directly goes away.
Excel
Open the Data ribbon and choose From Web. Paste the feed URL and load it. Excel's Power Query treats the feed as a refreshable data source: right-click the query and choose Refresh whenever you want current numbers, or set an automatic interval under Query Properties (Refresh every N minutes, and Refresh data when opening the file).
The same rule applies: build your analysis on separate sheets that reference the query output.
What the feed contains — and what it doesn't
The feed is your organization's job data: addresses, stages, permit and interconnection statuses, dates, homeowner contact details, reference numbers, and your custom fields. It deliberately does not bulk-export TexPTO's curated jurisdiction and utility requirements database — requirement information appears in your workbook export only as it's attached to your specific jobs.
Every text cell is sanitized so nothing in the feed can execute as a formula in your spreadsheet, even if a homeowner's name or a note starts with a character Excel would otherwise interpret.
If the feed stops updating
- A single "paused" row instead of your jobs means your plan no longer includes the feed. Your data is untouched — the same URL starts working again when you upgrade.
- An error in the cell usually means the URL was regenerated (grab the new one from Settings, then Data) or the feed was switched off on the same card.
- Stale numbers are almost always the spreadsheet's own refresh interval — force a refresh (in Sheets, cut and re-paste the formula; in Excel, right-click Refresh) and check again.
FAQ
Does editing the sheet change anything in TexPTO? No. The feed is strictly one-way. The only way data enters TexPTO is through the app itself — that's deliberate, so a stray edit in a spreadsheet can never silently corrupt your operational records.
Can I share the sheet with my accountant or owner? Yes — share the Google Sheet or Excel file like any other. They see the data without needing a TexPTO login. Remember that the sheet effectively republishes the feed, so share it with the same care.
How fresh is the data? The feed serves data at most 5 minutes old. On top of that, your spreadsheet decides how often it re-fetches — Google Sheets roughly hourly on its own, Excel on whatever interval you configure.
What if I'm on Starter or Pro? Every paid plan includes the full workbook export (a downloadable .xlsx of everything), and Pro adds scheduled exports by email. The live feed is the Team-plan step: the spreadsheet updates itself instead of you downloading anything.
Sources
Your spreadsheet stays. The re-typing goes.