Understanding the Sheet Structure
Learn how to structure your Google Sheet so BuddyActivity can read and schedule your activities correctly.
BuddyActivity reads activity data from a specific set of columns in your Google Sheet. The first row must always be the header row containing the column names exactly as shown below. Each subsequent row represents one activity — a post, comment, or reply.
Column Reference
| Column | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
id | Yes | A unique identifier for each row. Use any value — a number or short string works well. BuddyActivity uses this to track which rows have been processed and prevents duplicates. |
type | Yes | The activity type. Accepted values: post, comment, reply. |
user_id | Yes | The WordPress User ID of the virtual member who will perform this activity. |
scheduled_at | Yes | The date and time when the activity should go live. See Supported Date & Time Formats for accepted values. |
content | Yes | The text content of the post, comment, or reply. Plain text only — HTML is not supported. |
group_id | For posts | The BuddyBoss Group ID where the post will be published. Required when type is "post". |
parent_id | For comments & replies | References the "id" column of the parent row. For comments, this is the post's id. For replies, this is the comment's id. |
status | No | Leave blank — BuddyActivity manages this column automatically. It will be updated to done once processed. |
Example Sheet Layout
Here is a minimal example showing a post, a comment on that post, and a reply to that comment:
csv
id,type,user_id,scheduled_at,content,group_id,parent_id,status
1,post,42,2024-03-15 09:00:00,"Great morning everyone! Who's working on something exciting today?",7,,
2,comment,58,2024-03-15 09:45:00,"I'm finalizing a new project proposal! Super pumped.",,,1,
3,reply,91,2024-03-15 10:15:00,"That's awesome! Would love to hear more about it.",,,2,Info: The
parent_id column references the id column within your sheet — not a WordPress ID. BuddyActivity resolves the chain once each row is processed.Sheet Tab Name
By default, BuddyActivity reads from the first tab in your spreadsheet. You can configure a specific tab name in BuddyActivity → Settings → Sheet Tab Name if you prefer to keep your data on a named tab or use multiple tabs for different groups.
Important Rules
- Row 1 must be the header row with exact column names (case-sensitive).
- The
idcolumn must be unique across all rows. Duplicate IDs will cause BuddyActivity to skip that row. - Do not delete or reorder processed rows — BuddyActivity tracks position by row number and the
statuscolumn. - Never manually edit the
statuscolumn — BuddyActivity owns this field. - Extra columns are ignored and will not cause errors.
Warning: Column names are case-sensitive.
user_id will work; User_ID will not.