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📐 Project Manager

Manage Projects & Tasks Without Leaving Your Spreadsheet

Adalo is the AI-powered no-code platform for building database-driven web and native iOS and Android apps from a single editor. Turn your project tracking spreadsheet into a mobile app where PMs, team leads, and contributors can create tasks, update progress, and track milestones—all synced to Google Sheets in real time. One app, published to the App Store and Google Play—no complex development required.

Real-Time
Task & Project Sync
Full
CRUD Capabilities
100%
Mobile-Friendly
SheetBridge Project Manager — Google Sheet to web, iOS and Android sprint board app

Build Any Project Management App You Can Imagine

From product launches to client engagements—if you can organize it in Google Sheets, you can build it

📐
Project Tracker
✅
Task Manager
📊
Sprint Board
🎯
Milestone Tracker
👥
Team Workload
⏱️
Time Tracking
🚨
Blockers Board
📅
Due Date Tracker
📋
Kanban Board
🏗️
Client Projects
🐛
Bug Tracker
📈
Project Dashboard
🔄
Weekly Reviews
📝
Status Reports
⏰
Overdue Alerts
📝
To Do
→
🔨
In Progress
→
🔍
In Review
→
✅
Done
The Challenge

Project Management Shouldn't Mean Managing Your Tools

Teams spend more time updating spreadsheets, chasing status, and switching between tools than doing actual work. Project data gets fragmented, deadlines slip unnoticed, and blockers go unreported.

Traditional Challenges

  • Project spreadsheets that only the PM updates—everyone else ignores
  • Task status discovered in standups, not in the system
  • Blockers and dependencies buried in Slack threads or email
  • No easy way to see who's overloaded and who has capacity
  • Time estimates never compared against actual hours spent
  • Enterprise PM tools too expensive and complex for the team's needs

The SheetBridge Solution

  • Contributors update their own tasks from a mobile app
  • Status, hours, and blockers sync to Sheets in real time
  • PMs see task counts by status without asking anyone
  • "My Tasks" views let each person focus on their work
  • Estimated vs. actual hours tracked for better future planning
  • Your existing spreadsheet stays the single source of truth
Key Features

Everything Your Project Team Needs in One App

Built for project managers, team leads, and contributors who need task visibility, progress tracking, and blocker surfacing—all from their phone.

📐

Project Overview

Browse all projects with name, owner, status, and target end date. Drill into any project to see its full task list, progress, and team assignments.

✅

Task Management

Create, assign, and update tasks from any device. Each task writes a row to the Tasks tab with project name, assignee, due date, priority, and estimated hours—via SheetBridge in real time.

👤

My Tasks

Each contributor sees only their assigned tasks, filtered by assigned_to using the logged-in user's identity. Built using SheetBridge's user-based filtering for personalized views.

🚨

Blockers & Dependencies

Contributors flag blockers directly on their tasks. PMs filter for non-empty blockers to see what needs unblocking—no more hunting through Slack or email.

🔁

Bidirectional Sync

Projects and tasks added in the sheet appear in the app automatically. Updates in the app reflect in Sheets instantly. Real-time sync in both directions via SheetBridge.

⏱️

Time Tracking

Track estimated_hours when creating tasks and actual_hours as work progresses. Compare planned effort against real effort to improve future estimates and resource planning.

Implementation

From Spreadsheet to Project App in Four Steps

Get your project management app up and running quickly without disrupting existing workflows.

1

Set Up Your Spreadsheet

Create a Google Sheet with three tabs: Projects for high-level tracking, Tasks for individual work items, and Team Members for your roster. Use one header row per tab with clear, unique column names. SheetBridge reads row 1 as column headers and turns each column into a property in Adalo.

Tab 1: Projects

High-level project tracking — one row per project
project_name
description
owner
start_date
target_end_date
status
priority

Tab 2: Tasks

Individual work items — one row per task, linked by project_name
project_name
task_name
assigned_to
due_date
status
priority
estimated_hours
actual_hours
notes

Tab 3: Team Members

Your roster — one row per person
member_name
member_email
role
department
Optional Columns (Tasks tab):
milestone
completed_at
blockers
category

Use milestone to group tasks into phases (e.g., "Design Phase," "Sprint 1"). Keep data types consistent—don't mix dates and text. Use a consistent date format (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD) for reliable filtering. SheetBridge will add a sheetbridge_id column to each tab—do not edit or remove it.

2

Connect the Sheet with SheetBridge

In Adalo, open your app and click the Database tab. Add an External Collection, select SheetBridge, and paste your Google Spreadsheet URL. Complete the Google Sign-In flow to grant access, then select your sheet and Run Test to verify the connection. Create a separate External Collection for each of the three tabs.

Connection checklist:
✓ Sheet URL pasted
✓ Google account has edit access
✓ Run Test successful
✓ All three tabs connected

Name your collections clearly—e.g., "Projects (SheetBridge)," "Tasks (SheetBridge)," and "Team Members (SheetBridge)"—to avoid confusion when building screens. Each tab needs its own External Collection created by repeating the connection flow.

3

Create Views for Your Team

Build screens for PMs to oversee projects and for contributors to manage their own tasks. Use SheetBridge's filtering operators to create dynamic views by project, assignee, status, or due date.

Core Screens:
All Projects
List view showing project name, owner, status, and target end date
Project Detail
View/edit project info and see all tasks linked to the project
My Tasks
Tasks filtered by assigned_to matching the logged-in user
Task Detail
View/edit status, priority, hours, notes, and blockers
Create Task
Form to add a new task row under a selected project
Optional Screens:
Board View
Tasks grouped by status columns for a kanban-style overview
Overdue Tasks
Filter by due_date < today AND status ≠ Done
Team Workload
List of team members with a count of tasks assigned to each
4

Enable Write-Backs (CRUD)

Configure forms and actions so contributors can create and update tasks, PMs can manage project status, and all changes sync to Google Sheets in real time via SheetBridge.

Create Task form writes to Tasks tab:
project_name
task_name
assigned_to
due_date
status
priority
estimated_hours
Editable fields on Task Detail:
status
actual_hours
notes
blockers
completed_at
Editable fields on Project Detail:
status
target_end_date
description

Default new task status to "To Do." Auto-set completed_at when status changes to Done. The connecting Google account must have edit access for write-backs to work. You cannot have a column titled "id" in your sheet—it conflicts with SheetBridge's internal system. For tasks created in error, either delete the row or set status to "Cancelled" to keep a record of all planned work.

What You Should See

How You Know It's Working

Once everything is connected, here's what the experience looks like for your team.

Seamless Sync

  • New projects and tasks added in the Sheet appear in the app automatically
  • Status, hours, and notes updates in the app appear immediately in the Sheet
  • New tasks created in the app write new rows to the Tasks tab instantly

Team Workflow

  • PMs build reports, timelines, and charts in familiar Sheets
  • Contributors manage their day-to-day work entirely from the app
  • Everyone stays aligned without status meetings or email check-ins
Business Impact

Measurable Benefits for Your Projects

SheetBridge transforms how teams manage projects and how PMs maintain visibility across work streams.

⚡

Faster Status Updates

Contributors update tasks from their phone between meetings. No more waiting for standups to learn what's done, blocked, or overdue.

👁️

Full Project Visibility

PMs see every task at every status in real time. Filter by project, assignee, or priority to get exactly the view they need without asking anyone.

🎯

Better Estimation

Track estimated_hours alongside actual_hours for every task. Over time, this data reveals patterns that make future project estimates more accurate and reliable.

📈

Blocker Surfacing

Contributors flag blockers directly on tasks. PMs filter for non-empty blockers to identify and resolve bottlenecks before they delay the project.

💪

Team Accountability

Every task is assigned to a specific person with a due date. "My Tasks" views keep contributors focused, and PMs see who's overloaded at a glance.

🔧

Easy to Evolve

Add columns, change statuses, or add new task categories by editing the spreadsheet. Run Test in Adalo and new properties appear automatically—no developer needed.

Best Practices

Tips for Success

Learn from teams who've successfully deployed SheetBridge for project management.

📋 Consistent Status & Priority

Use fixed lists for status (To Do, In Progress, In Review, Done) and priority (High, Medium, Low). SheetBridge filters are case-sensitive—"In Progress" and "in progress" are treated as different values.

🗂️ Keep Tabs Separate

Keep Projects, Tasks, and Team Members in separate tabs. Link them by project_name and assigned_to so each task ties back to the correct project and person. Each tab gets its own External Collection.

🏷️ Use Milestones

Use the milestone column to group tasks into phases (e.g., "Design Phase," "Development Sprint 1"). This lets you filter tasks by phase and track progress at a higher level without creating additional tabs.

⏱️ Track Estimated vs. Actual

Always fill in estimated_hours when creating tasks and actual_hours as work progresses. Comparing these values over time is invaluable for improving future project estimates.

🆔 Don't Touch sheetbridge_id

SheetBridge automatically creates a sheetbridge_id column in each tab to identify rows. Do not rename, edit, or delete it—it's system-managed and required for updates and deletes to work.

🔒 Complete, Don't Delete

Set a project's status to "Completed" rather than deleting it, so you preserve historical data for retrospectives and reporting. Same for tasks—use "Cancelled" instead of delete.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues & How to Fix Them

⚠️ Projects or Tasks Don't Show Up

Confirm each sheet has a header row in row 1 and at least one data row below. Check that the correct tab is connected as its own External Collection and that you've completed the Run Test step in Adalo.

⚠️ Task Edits Don't Write Back

Confirm the connected Google account has edit access to the spreadsheet. View-only access lets the app read data but not update it. If the issue persists, disconnect and reconnect to refresh permissions.

⚠️ Tasks Under Wrong Project

Check that the project_name value in the Tasks tab exactly matches the value in the Projects tab. Even small differences in spacing or capitalization will break the link. SheetBridge filters are case-sensitive.

⚠️ Duplicate Tasks After Copy-Pasting

Avoid pasting rows that include the sheetbridge_id column. Paste values into a new row and let SheetBridge generate a new ID automatically. Duplicated IDs cause update and delete conflicts.

⚠️ Overdue Filter Shows Wrong Results

Ensure the due_date column uses a consistent date format (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD) and that your filter comparison value matches that format. Mixed date formats cause SheetBridge's operators to miss matching rows.

⚠️ Row Updates Fail

Check that you don't have a column titled "id" in any of your tabs—this conflicts with SheetBridge's internal system and will throw an error when updating rows. Rename it to "project_id" or "task_id."

Requirements

What You Need to Get Started

💳

Adalo Plan

Professional, Team, or Business plan required for SheetBridge access

📊

Google Sheet

A spreadsheet you can edit, with unique column headers and a clear header row per tab

🔤

Consistent Values

Predefined status and priority options for clean filtering and reporting

📱

Mobile Access

Team members need smartphones or tablets to update tasks on the go

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions About Project Management Apps

Can I build a project management app with Adalo?

Yes. Adalo is the AI-powered no-code platform for building database-driven apps that work on web, iOS, and Android from a single editor. Project management apps are a great fit because they need real-time data sync, mobile access for distributed teams, and the ability to publish to the App Store and Google Play.

Can my project management app be published to the App Store and Google Play?

Yes. Adalo builds native iOS and Android apps that can be published directly to the App Store and Google Play. This gives your team a professional, downloadable app for managing tasks—much more reliable and accessible than a shared spreadsheet link.

Why do I need three tabs instead of one?

The three-tab structure separates concerns cleanly. Projects holds high-level project definitions (one row per project), Tasks holds individual work items (one row per task, linked by project_name), and Team Members holds your roster. This normalized structure makes filtering, assigning, and reporting far easier than a single flat table. Connect each tab as a separate External Collection in Adalo.

How do I show each person only their tasks?

Use SheetBridge's query parameters to filter your task list where assigned_to equals the logged-in user. In Adalo, use MagicText to pass the current user's identity into the filter. This creates a personalized "My Tasks" view for each team member automatically.

Does SheetBridge sync in real time?

Yes. Changes to rows in Google Sheets and changes made from the Adalo app sync in real time. When a contributor marks a task as Done on their phone, the change appears in the Google Sheet immediately—and new tasks added to the sheet show up in the app automatically.

Is SheetBridge read-only or read/write?

SheetBridge is fully read/write. Contributors can create tasks (create rows), update status and hours (update rows), and PMs can remove tasks created in error (delete rows)—all reflected in Google Sheets immediately. The connecting Google account needs edit access for write-backs to work.

What happens if I add a new column to my sheet?

Add the new column in Google Sheets, then go to External Collections → Edit Collection → Run Test in Adalo. The new property will appear in your collection automatically. Column names must be unique within each tab—if multiple columns share a name, only the second will load correctly.

Learn more about Adalo's no-code app builder, turning Google Sheets into apps, or explore how to publish to the App Store and Google Play.

Next Steps

Take Your Project App Further

📊 Project Dashboard

Create a dashboard showing task counts grouped by status—e.g., 5 To Do, 8 In Progress, 3 In Review, 12 Done—for a quick health check on any project.

📅 Weekly Summary

Add a weekly summary filter (completed_at within the last 7 days) so the team can review what was accomplished each week without leaving the app.

🚨 Blockers Board

Build a filtered view where blockers is not null so project managers can quickly identify and resolve bottlenecks before they delay the entire project.

⏱️ Time Log Tab

Connect a Time Log tab if you want contributors to log hours per day per task for more granular time tracking. Link by task_name and use SheetBridge's sorting to show entries chronologically.

Ready to Streamline Your Project Management?

Join teams who've replaced expensive PM tools with a custom project app—tasks, milestones, and progress tracking synced to the Google Sheet they already use, all built without code.

Build Your Project App with Adalo → Explore More Use Cases