Set it up yourself

Four chapters, in order. Chapter 1 happens once, in Google, on a computer: about 25 minutes. Chapters 2 and 3 happen on the Route Companion page with files you export from Time To Pet: about an hour and a half, most of it answering questions about your team. Chapter 4 switches on updates: about 15 minutes, once. At the end, If something is wrong covers every message you are likely to meet on the way. Tick each step as you go.

The rule that makes this safe: Route Companion never changes your Time To Pet account. It reads files you export, what you paste, and (if you connect it) Time To Pet’s nightly Dropbox backup. Your sitters keep getting their day from Time To Pet. When the plan needs a change in Time To Pet, the page lists it and you make it. Everything else lives in a spreadsheet you own.

Before you start, have these ready: the template link from Everjade (it ends in /copy); the Google account that will own Route Companion, signed in on a computer; a login to Time To Pet that can export staff, clients, pets and visits; a card for Google Cloud (chapter 2, step 6; Google asks for one even for the free allowance); and your phone.

Give it time to load. Google is slow the first time through, and that is normal. Making the copy, the Route Planner menu appearing, the permission screens, the route page opening, and each Set up step can each take 30 seconds to a minute, sometimes a little more while it reads your files. Click once and wait: clicking again can start the same thing twice. If nothing has changed after 2 minutes, refresh the page (F5, or Cmd+R on a Mac) and try that step again. Once you are set up, it is much quicker.

Chapter 1: Get it running about 25 minutes, on a computer

Before step 1: use a private window with only one Google account in it. This is only for setting up.

If your browser is signed in to two Google accounts (a personal Gmail and a business one, say), Google’s setup screens pick the wrong one and stop with errors. A private window starts with no accounts, so you can sign in to just the one you want.

Not sure? On any Google page, click your picture in the top right corner. If more than one account is listed, use a private window. If only one is listed, you can skip this box.

Open a private window. Chrome or Edge: Ctrl+Shift+N. Firefox: Ctrl+Shift+P. Safari: File › New Private Window. On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.
In that window, go to google.com and sign in to the account that will own Route Companion. Only that one.
Open the template link in that same window (paste it into the address bar there).
Stay in that window for Chapter 1, Chapter 4 and the Google Maps key guide. If you close it, open a new private window and sign in again the same way.

After setup, you are done with private windows. Open the route page and the spreadsheet in your normal browser, every day, on your computer and your phone. The one exception: if the route page ever says “Sorry, unable to open the file at this time”, open the link in a private window just that once.

On a computer, sign in to Google with the account that will own Route Companion.

If you signed in inside the private window above, this step is done. Use the business account you want to keep, not a personal one you might close. Everything belongs to this account: the spreadsheet, the morning email, the backups before updates, and the Google Maps key.

Signed in to several Google accounts in the same browser? Open a new Chrome window with only this account signed in (Chrome: your picture top right › Add, or a separate Chrome profile). Mixed accounts cause most of the odd errors in this chapter.

Done

Open the template link Everjade sent you.

You’ll see: a Google page that says Copy document and asks if you would like to make a copy, with a blue Make a copy button. It may also say an Apps Script file is copied with it. That is expected: it is the part that runs Route Companion.

If you see the spreadsheet itself instead of this page, click File › Make a copy, leave the name, and click Make a copy.

Done

Click Make a copy.

You’ll see: your own copy open, named “Copy of …”, full of example sitters and clients. After a few seconds a Route Planner menu appears at the top, to the right of Help.

This copy is yours; the template never changes and nobody else can see your copy. The example rows are there so the page has something to show; chapter 2 removes them in one tap. No Route Planner menu after half a minute? Reload the tab.

Done

Click the name at the top left and type a new one.

For example “Route Companion: your business name”. Press Enter.

Done

Click Extensions › Apps Script.

You’ll see: a new tab with seven files down the left side, RC-1.gs to RC-7-webpage-2.gs. They came with your copy. There is nothing to paste and nothing to edit.

If there is only one file called Code.gs, stop: you copied something other than the template. See Apps Script shows one file called Code.gs at the end of this guide.

Done

Top right, click the blue Deploy button, then New deployment.

You’ll see: a New deployment window with “Select type” on the left.

Done

Click the gear next to “Select type” and choose Web app.

You’ll see: three boxes: Description, Execute as, Who has access.

Done

Fill it in: Description Route page, Execute as Me, Who has access Anyone. Click Deploy.

You’ll see: “The Web App requires you to authorize access to your data” and an Authorize access button.

More: why “Anyone”

“Anyone” means anyone who has the link, without signing in to Google, so the page opens on any phone you schedule from. The link is long and private. In chapter 2 you choose whether the page also asks for a password. “Me” means the page runs as you, reading your own spreadsheet.

No “Anyone” in the list? See “Anyone” is not in the Who has access list at the end.

Done

Click Authorize access, then click your Google account in the window that opens.

You’ll see: a page that says Google hasn’t verified this app, with a Back to safety button.

Nothing opened? Your browser blocked the pop-up. Allow pop-ups for script.google.com (the blocked-window icon at the right end of the address bar) and click Authorize access again.

Done

Click the small Advanced link at the bottom left, then Go to Route Companion (unsafe).

Do not click Back to safety. The name in the link is your Apps Script project’s name, so it may read differently.

More: why it says unsafe

“Unsafe” is Google’s word for “made by someone who has not paid Google to review it”. This is your own copy of the code, running in your own account, reading your own spreadsheet. Nobody else, Everjade included, can see your copy or what it reads.

Done

On the permission screen, tick Select all, then click Continue.

Some screens say Allow instead of Continue. If there are no tick boxes, just click Continue or Allow.

You’ll see: the Apps Script tab again, now showing New deployment with a Deployment ID and a Web app URL.

More: what each permission is for

Google’s wording can differ a little, and it may group the lines. In plain words:

See, edit, create and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use with this app: the backup of your code saved before each update. It cannot see your other Drive files.
View and manage spreadsheets that this application has been installed in: your Route Companion spreadsheet, and only that one.
Display and run third-party web content in prompts and sidebars inside Google applications: the boxes and messages the Route Planner menu shows in the spreadsheet.
Connect to an external service: Google Maps (map pins and drive times), Time To Pet’s Dropbox backup if you connect it, your chat channel if you connect one, and Everjade’s update files.
Allow this application to run when you are not present: the jobs that run while you sleep, like the 3 AM backup import and the 5 AM morning email.
Send email as you: the morning brief, alerts and problem reports, sent from your own account.
See your primary Google Account email address: so it knows whose copy it is, where emails go and who may install updates.
Create and update Google Apps Script projects: updates, which put the new version into your copy.
Create and update Google Apps Script deployments: keeps your route page at the same link after an update.

Nothing on this list reads your email. A box left unticked quietly switches that part off; see Google has not given this workbook every permission at the end.

Done

Under Web app, click Copy, then click Done.

You’ll see: nothing new, but the link is now copied. It starts with script.google.com/macros/s/ and ends in /exec. That link is your route page.

Lost it? It is always under Deploy › Manage deployments in this Apps Script tab. Two things never to do: use the link from Test deployments (it only opens for you), or make a second New deployment later (that makes a second link; your phones and updates follow the first one).

Done

Close the Apps Script tab. Go back to the spreadsheet and refresh it: press F5 (Cmd+R on a Mac) or click the round reload arrow next to the address bar. Wait a few seconds for the Route Planner menu to come back, then click Route Planner › Open the Route Page.

You’ll see: a box titled Your route page with a space to paste a link.

The refresh makes the spreadsheet pick up the setup you just finished. Without it the menu can show an error or do nothing. Google may ask for permission once more the first time you use the menu: the same screens as steps 10 and 11.

Done

Paste the link (Ctrl+V, or Cmd+V on a Mac) and click OK.

You’ll see: “Saved. This is the link to bookmark wherever you do your scheduling.” Click OK. Then a box with an Open the route page button.

“That looks like the HEAD deployment” means you copied the Test deployment link. Go back to step 12 and copy the one under Deploy › Manage deployments. Saving the link here lets the spreadsheet open the right page for you from now on.

Done

Click Open the route page.

You’ll see: the route page in a new tab, with a Getting set up card at the top and an Open Set up button, and the example sitters on the map. A grey line from Google at the very top, saying the page was made with Google Apps Script, is normal.

Opening it once here, signed in as the owner, also tells Route Companion which account owns it. That matters for updates in chapter 4.

Done

Send the link to your phone and open it there.

Email or text it to yourself. Open it in Safari on an iPhone, or Chrome on Android, not inside an email or Facebook app.

You’ll see: the same page, laid out for a phone, with a bar along the bottom: Routes, Shifts, Ahead, More and Reroute….

“Sorry, unable to open the file at this time” means the phone is signed in to more than one Google account. Open the link in a private tab, do not sign in, and carry on from there.

Done

Put it on your phone’s home screen.

iPhone, in Safari: the Share button (a square with an arrow) › Add to Home Screen › Add. Android, in Chrome: the three dots › Add to Home screen (or Install app) › Add.

You’ll see: a new icon on your home screen. Tapping it opens the route page.

The icon is Google’s plain one until you give it yours: Settings › Make it yours › Web App Icon URL (see Make it yours, after chapter 3). Add the icon again after changing it.

Done

Chapter 2: Bring in your business about an hour, on the page

On the route page tap More on the bottom bar, then Set up (or tap Open Set up on the Getting set up card). The numbered steps below are the numbered steps on that screen, in the same order. A computer is easiest for this chapter, because the files you export from Time To Pet land in your Downloads folder. A phone works too.

●

Tap More, then Set up.

You’ll see: a box titled Set up, then a card Who can open this page?, then steps 1 to 17, each folded to its heading. The next step to do is open. A tick replaces a step’s number once it is done.

Tap any heading to open or fold it. Each step writes what it did in a green box under its button as soon as it finishes; a red box means something needs fixing, and the words say what. You can leave and come back: the ticks are kept.

Done

●

Who can open this page? Type a password of 6 characters or more in the box and tap Use a password.

Or, if you would rather not have one, tap Keep it open, no password, then OK.

You’ll see: “Password set. This computer or phone stays unlocked. Everyone else will be asked for it once per device…” or “Kept open. Anyone with the link can see the day…”. Either is fine; it is your call.

This card has no number, so the steps below keep the same numbers as this guide. The page shows client addresses, gate codes and where keys are kept, which is why it asks. With a password, any other phone or computer sees a page with a Password box and an Unlock button, once, and then stays signed in for about four months. Write the password down: it cannot be looked up, only replaced.

Later, the same card has Change it and Sign out every other phone (for a lost phone or someone leaving). To remove a password altogether, use the spreadsheet: Route Planner › Set up › Workbook › Set a Password for the Route Page.

Done

Start clean. Tap Remove the example rows.

You’ll see: “Remove the example rows this workbook came with? Anything you added yourself stays.”

Done

Tap OK.

You’ll see: “Cleared … sample row(s). Your workbook is now empty and ready for your own data.” The example sitters leave the map, and step 1 gets its tick.

“Nothing to clear. The example rows are already gone.” is fine too: someone already did it.

Done

Time zone. Pick the zone your business works in from the list (not where this computer is) and tap Save time zone.

Eastern, Central, Mountain, Arizona, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii and a few more are on the list. The zone your workbook already uses is chosen to start with.

You’ll see: “This workbook now uses …”, often followed by “The automatic jobs (the 3 AM import, the 5 AM plan) now run on its clock too.”

Do this before any file comes in: every time on the page is read in this zone. Setting a copy up for a business in another state? Pick their zone, not yours. The spreadsheet has the same thing: Route Planner › Set up › Workbook › Set the Time Zone…

Done

How your business runs: a few questions. Tap Answer the questions.

You’ll see: “1. How your business runs” and the questions, in six groups. Each one is already set to a sensible answer; change only what is wrong for you. About two minutes.

Or open every setting, beside the button, opens Settings instead, for anyone who would rather see everything at once. The questions are the quicker way.

Done

Your day. Set your business hours for each day.

Your business hours, day by day: from the first visit of the day to the last. Untick a day you are closed. Copy Monday’s hours to every open day saves typing. Open all hours? Tick Around the clock, every day.
How does your team’s week work? Time Off if everyone works unless they book time off in Time To Pet; Availability if people only work when they set availability. This decides what you paste in step 13.
The end of a sitter’s day (finished, or just started), whether a single visit is worth sending someone out for, and whether to warn you when someone goes over a number of hours in a week.

Done

Arrival windows and Driving. Answer the next six questions.

How flexible a visit booked at a set time with no arrival window is (30 minutes either way unless you change it), and whether a visit that truly cannot fit its window may be put a little late.
Miles or kilometres, what most of your driving is like (town, a mix, rural), parking and walking up to the door, and time for notes and photos after a visit.

Done

Spacing a client’s visits. Answer the four questions.

How far apart a cat’s two visits must be, a dog’s visits at least and at most, and whether clients with one visit a day stay at about the same time every day. These are the “hours between visits” the page checks within a day and from one day to the next.

Done

Your sitters and your clients. Answer the three questions.

Whether the sitter Time To Pet already has on a visit keeps it, what happens on a sitter’s first ever visit to a home, and what a visit booked to a last-resort sitter (often the owner) means.

Done

Time To Pet and email. Answer the last five.

How does Time To Pet show a client’s name in your exports? Pick the one that matches, for example “Ada Pell (Fido, Rex)”. It must match, or names will not line up between files.
The name of the custom field on a pet’s profile that marks medication, and who may give medication.
When a sitter needs a key another sitter holds: plan a quick meet, drop it at a key point first, or just flag it.
Where the 5 AM reroute and the morning brief email you. Blank means the Google account that owns the spreadsheet.

Done

Tap Save these answers.

You’ll see: a green box saying what was saved, ending “Your services and your team come after the imports, in their own step.” Step 3 gets its tick.

Nothing here is final: Change my answers on the same step brings them back. Key handoffs have a third choice in Settings, Settings › Keys › Key Handoff: Drop at a key point first, which uses the Key Pickup Points you list there (your office, a lockbox), as Name: address.

Done

Your team. In Time To Pet, go to Staff, scroll to the bottom of the list, and click Export.

Save the file where you can find it (usually Downloads). It is a .csv file. Do not open or change it.

Done

Back on Set up, tap Choose the staff export and pick that file.

You’ll see: “Reading … this takes a moment for a big list.”, then a green box starting “Your team is on the Staff tab.” with WHAT CAME IN (how many people) and WHAT TO DO NEXT.

Everyone comes in with their name and address. Their usual hours, skills and breaks come in step 10 on this screen, so you can ignore the “Fill in Shift Hours” and menu lines in WHAT TO DO NEXT. Anyone who has left Time To Pet is marked LEFT and stops being given visits. The file picker does nothing on your phone? Tap or paste it instead (see the fix boxes at the end).

Done

Your clients. In Time To Pet, go to Clients, show the active list, scroll to the bottom of the list, and click Export.

Again a .csv file, saved where you can find it.

Done

On Set up, tap Choose the client export and pick that file.

You’ll see: a green box starting “Your clients are on the Clients tab.” with WHAT CAME IN, sometimes CHANGED FOR YOU and WORTH KNOWING, and WHAT TO DO NEXT.

Run it again whenever you like: a client already there is checked for changes, never added twice. Anyone who has left Time To Pet is marked Former; their history stays. If a box asks “This does not look right … Go ahead?”, tap Cancel unless you really did just gain hundreds of clients; see the fix box at the end.

Done

A Google Maps key. Tap Get your Google Maps key in the step and follow that guide.

It is everjade.store/help/maps-key and opens in a new tab. About ten minutes, once, in Google Cloud, signed in as the same Google account. Google asks for a card; Route Companion stops itself at 90% of Google’s free monthly allowance.

You’ll see: at the end of that guide, a key that starts with AIza. Copy it.

While you are in Google Cloud, do chapter 4 of this guide (Turn on updates) in the same project. It is the same as the Maps key guide’s own Turn on updates section, and saves coming back later.

Done

Paste the key into the box (it says Paste the key here) and tap Save key.

You’ll see: “Key saved privately in the script, so it will not show on any tab. Checked with Google: address lookups work, and real drive times work.” Step 6 gets its tick.

Saving tests the key with Google straight away. If Google refuses it, the red box says why, in a few words, with a link to the guide. The usual reasons, and what to do, are in Google refused this key at the end.

Done

Put everyone on the map. Tap Look up addresses on the map.

You’ll see: “Looking up… a big list takes a minute or two”, then “… addresses now have a map pin (clients, staff and pet-taxi destinations).” The pins appear on the map.

Anyone without a pin is never routed. Run it again after every client import: it only looks up people who are new or have moved, so it is quick. Addresses Google could not match are listed by name: fix them in Time To Pet, bring the file in again (step 4 or 5), and press this again. On a long list it may stop part way and say so; press it again and it carries on.

Done

The nightly backup (Dropbox). In Time To Pet, go to Settings › Integrations and turn on the Dropbox backup.

Time To Pet then writes a backup of your clients, pets and schedule into your Dropbox every night. Not using Dropbox? Skip to step 9. Your key holders can come in from Key holders (optional, without Dropbox), just after step 9 on Set up.

Done

On Set up, tap Open Dropbox.

You’ll see: a Dropbox page in a new tab. Log in as the business’s Dropbox (the one Time To Pet backs up to) and tap Allow. Dropbox then shows a code.

Done

Copy the code, come back to the route page, paste it into Paste the code from Dropbox and tap Connect.

You’ll see: “Connected. Switch on the nightly backup below, then press Bring in last night’s backup now.”, then “✓ Connected.” with a switch and two buttons.

A code works once and only for a few minutes. If Dropbox says no, tap Open Dropbox again for a fresh one.

Done

Tick Bring in last night’s backup every night, by itself.

You’ll see: “Every night around 3 AM: new clients, new pets, moved addresses, keys and the coming visits arrive by themselves.”

Done

Tap Bring in last night’s backup now.

You’ll see: “Bringing it in… a minute or two”, then a summary of what came in. Step 8 gets its tick.

Just switched the backup on in Time To Pet? There is nothing to bring in until it has run once, overnight; the message says no dated backup folders were found. Try this button tomorrow. The one thing no backup carries is the arrival window a client asked for. That lives on the Daily Summary, so the morning paste (chapter 3) stays part of the week either way.

Done

This week’s visits (only if you did not connect Dropbox). In Time To Pet: Reporting › Schedule › Visits, choose this week, click Generate, then Download.

With Dropbox connected, skip step 9: it ticks by itself.

Done

On Set up, tap Choose the visits export and pick that file.

You’ll see: a green box with how many visits came in. Step 9 gets its tick.

Once a week. One thing this file cannot carry: the arrival window a client asked for, which Time To Pet keeps on the Daily Summary only. Visits from here are planned at their booked time, give or take the Manual Visit Flex setting (30 minutes unless you change it, and one of the questions in step 3). Nothing needs to go on the Time Blocks tab for this. If your clients book windows, paste the Daily Summary each morning (chapter 3, and the Every day guide). The same file a second time is fine: “Nothing new to import”.

Done

10a

Your services and your team. Tap Go through them.

You’ll see: “1. What each of your services is”: every service name found in your visits, most booked first, each with a list and a box.

“No visits yet, so no services to sort” means step 8 or 9 has not brought visits in yet. Do that first, then come back.

Done

10b

For each service, pick what it is from its list.

Most are A visit at the client’s home. The others: an overnight, boarding, daycare, meet and greet, driven to but not billed (a key pickup), or Not a visit: nobody drives. If only certain sitters may do it, type the skill in the box beside it (for example meds).

Choosing an overnight shows two more questions: how long arriving and leaving take.

Done

10c

Tap Save the services.

You’ll see: a green line saying they were saved. Below it, “2. Your team, one person at a time”, one card per person.

Done

10d

On each person’s card, fill in what applies, then tap Save and their name.

Usually starts and Usually finishes (blank means your business hours), Most visits in a day.
Skills (for example meds, puppies), and New? Rides along with for a trainee.
Use only if nobody else can: Yes for the owner or anyone who is a last resort.
Who gets visits first: leave High (the usual) for your regular sitters. Choose Medium or Low for people who should get visits only once the High people are busy, for example team leads or managers.
Break after (hours worked) and Break length (minutes).

You’ll see: “Saved.” beside the button.

Red “no home address pin yet” beside a name: add their address in Time To Pet, bring the staff file in again (step 4) and run step 7. Days off are not set here; they come from step 13. Settings › Staff shows the same order of who gets visits first as a Priority of High, Medium or Low.

Done

10e

When everyone is right, tap These are all right as they are ✓.

You’ll see: “Noted.” Step 10 gets its tick.

Done

11a

Check your data. Tap Check my data.

You’ll see: “Checking…”, then a summary line and a list. Each line is an Error, a Warning or a Note, with the tab and row it is about.

Done

11b

Fix each Error, then tap Check my data again.

Most are fixed in Time To Pet (a missing address, a misspelled sitter name) and the file brought in again. Warnings are worth a look; Notes are just telling you something.

You’ll see: no lines marked Error. Step 11 gets its tick.

Run it again after any import. If a warning is noise for your business, the next step hides it for good.

Done

Warnings you never need to see. Tick any warning that is always fine for your business, then tap Save. Saving, even with nothing ticked, marks this step done.

For example Clients with no address on file, if you keep profiles for clients you never drive to.

You’ll see: “… warning(s) will stay quiet.” or “Every warning will be shown.”

Optional. Nothing ticked is fine. Tap Save once and the step shows its tick. Hidden warnings are still checked; Check my data says how many it hid.

Done

Chapter 3: Your first plan about 15 minutes

Your day does not have to be scheduled yet. Route Companion plans today or any day ahead, including days where Time To Pet has no sitters assigned to the visits yet. Paste that day’s Daily Summary and it plans who goes where. The button then says Route instead of Reroute.

13a

Who’s actually working. On Set up, tap Open the paste box.

You’ll see: the Shifts screen, at a box headed Who’s actually working: paste Time To Pet’s team time off view (or availability, if you chose Availability in step 3).

Nobody has time off booked? Tap Nobody has time off booked on Set up instead, and step 13 is done.

Done

13b

In Time To Pet, go to Scheduler › Time Off, choose List, then Week. Select all (Ctrl+A, or Cmd+A on a Mac) and copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C).

If your team sets availability instead: Scheduler › Availability › List › Week.

Done

13c

Paste it into the box on the Shifts screen and tap Check (changes nothing).

You’ll see: what would be saved: each person’s days off for the dates you pasted.

Done

13d

If it looks right, tap Bring it in (replaces these dates).

You’ll see: what was saved, and the Who’s working this week grid above it filled in. Step 13 gets its tick.

More: how the page decides who works

On a day you paste the Daily Summary for (next step), the people on it work that day. Any other day, everyone works, less anyone marked out. What you mark yourself always wins: this paste, or tapping a day in the grid to mark someone in or out. Paste this again whenever someone books time off; it replaces those dates and never piles up.

Done

●a

Paste today’s Daily Summary. Tap Routes on the bottom bar, then tap the card Start here: paste the Daily Summary.

You’ll see: the card open, with a paste box and a Bring it in button.

This step has no number on Set up: it is the first step of every morning. It is here because your first plan should start from the day as Time To Pet booked it.

Done

●b

In Time To Pet: Schedule › Daily Summary for today. Select all and copy, from the top of the page down to the end of the staff list at the bottom.

Several days at once is fine, including days that have not happened yet.

Done

●c

Paste it into the box and tap Bring it in.

You’ll see: “Bringing in the Daily Summary…”, then the day as Time To Pet booked it, and a banner: Your day as booked in Time To Pet. Nothing optimized yet. with three choices under it.

Just check, change nothing shows what the paste would change first. A day where half or more of the visits are on a placeholder account (or nobody) says Most visits have no sitter yet., and its buttons say Route instead of Reroute. Nothing moves until you choose.

Done

14a

Your first plan. Pin anything that must stay as booked, if anything.

Tap a visit and tap Pin, or tap the pin on a sitter’s card to keep their whole day. A reroute never moves a pinned visit.

Done

14b

Tap Reroute now on Set up step 14 (or use the choices on the banner).

You’ll see: three choices: Reroute …: fewest changes (marked Usual), Reroute: best routes and Compare first.

More: which one

Fewest changes keeps each visit with the sitter Time To Pet booked wherever it can, and moves a visit only to save real driving or fit one that is waiting. Best routes plans the whole day for the least driving, whoever was booked: shorter routes, more changes to make in Time To Pet. Compare first shows both side by side and changes nothing until you pick.

Done

14c

Tap the first choice, fewest changes.

You’ll see: today’s routes, one card per sitter, a card Driving, before and after this reroute, and a list Make … changes in Time To Pet. That is your first plan. Step 14 gets its tick.

Make each change in Time To Pet, then tap Done on its line. From here on, the front page is the only screen you need each morning: the Every day guide is that morning in five steps.

Done

Reroute by itself at 5 AM, optional. Tick Reroute by itself at 5 AM (fewest changes) only if you want each day planned before you wake up.

You’ll see: “Every morning around 5 AM, today gets Reroute: fewest changes before you are up…” Leave it unticked, the usual choice, and each day shows as Time To Pet booked it until you press Reroute.

Either way, a short morning brief arrives by email around 5 AM from tomorrow: what needs you today, hours between visits that could not be kept, tomorrow’s busiest two hours and who is off, one number. Settings › Morning Brief turns it off. A day you already rerouted yourself is left alone. Also look ahead picks how many days ahead are looked at too (The next 7 days is a good start): those days are only proposals, and nothing changes on them until you open Ahead on the bottom bar and tap Lock this in.

Done

16a

Your pets. In Time To Pet, go to Pets, scroll to the bottom of the list, and click Export.

A .csv file again. It tells Route Companion which clients have a dog and which have a cat, so the spacing rules from step 3 (how far apart, how long a dog is left) apply to the right clients.

Done

16b

On Set up, tap Choose the pets export and pick that file.

You’ll see: a green box saying how many clients now have a species recorded. Step 16 gets its tick.

Clients have to be in first (step 5). A client the file could not match is listed by name; anything already in their Species cell on the Clients tab is left alone, and you can type a species there yourself.

Done

Turn on updates. This one is done in Google, not on this page: follow chapter 4 of this guide (about 15 minutes, once, on a computer). Then come back and tap Check that updates are on.

You’ll see: “Updates are on. You have …” Step 17 gets its tick. If a switch is still off, it says which one, with a link to the steps.

Done

Optional cards, below step 17 on Set up

Where alerts go (optional). To get the morning brief and warnings in a Pumble, Slack or Google Chat channel, paste the channel’s webhook address and tap Connect and test.

How to connect, on the card, gives the clicks for Pumble and Slack.

You’ll see: a test message in your channel, and “Now posting to your … channel”. Email them too keeps the email copy.

Treat the address like a password. Stop posting to the chat channel undoes it. Without a channel, alerts come by email.

Group walk packs (optional), for businesses that walk several families’ dogs together. First, in Settings › Group walks, type your group walk services in Group Walk Services and choose Group Walks: Who Goes Together.

Then open this card: each client with a group walk lately has a Pack box. Give families that always go out together the same pack name and tap Save packs.

You’ll see: the clients listed with how many walks each, then a green line once saved.

Packs you set: only packs go together. Closest dogs: a pack still goes only with its pack, and everyone else is matched to the nearest dogs, up to Group Walk Max Dogs.

Make it yours (optional). Tap Open Settings and fill in Business Name, Logo URL, Accent Color and Sitter Colors.

Web App Icon URL, in the same section, is the icon on your phone’s home screen. Plans do not change.

Your history, optional but worth it: two years if you have it.

In Time To Pet: Reporting › Schedule › Visits Report, the last 12 months, click Generate, then Download. Open the file in Google Sheets, select all, copy. On the page: More › Reports & Metrics, the Bring in revenue box: paste, then Import revenue. Then the 12 months before that.

You’ll see: how many visits came in. Your Year, Am I Growing? and the familiar-sitter rules now have a past to work from.

Copy from Google Sheets or Excel, not from a text app: in a text app the dates and amounts break apart. Each paste adds to the last; an overlapping period is never counted twice.

Chapter 4: Turn on updates about 15 minutes, once, on a computer

DO NOT SKIP THIS CHAPTER. Without it, your copy never gets fixes or new features, and the Update button will not work.

When Everjade releases a fix or a new feature, a green box appears at the top of your route page with an Update now button. Google only lets that button change your copy after three one-time switches, all in the same Google Cloud project as your Maps key, signed in as the account that owns the spreadsheet:

Two APIs turned on: Apps Script API and Google Drive API in the project, and the Apps Script API switch on your Google account (steps 1 to 4).
A consent screen on the project, the page Google shows when asking for permission (steps 5 and 6).
Your spreadsheet linked to the project by its project number (steps 7 to 9).

Step 11 checks it worked. You do this once; after that, every update is one tap. (The Maps key guide has the same steps, under Turn on updates.)

Go to console.cloud.google.com and choose your Route Companion project in the project list at the top.

You’ll see: the project’s name next to the Google Cloud logo.

Done

Left menu: APIs & Services › Library. Search for Apps Script API, open it and click Enable.

Search can miss it. Direct link (check your project name at the top first): console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/script.googleapis.com

You’ll see: the button turn into Manage, with “API Enabled”.

Done

Back in the Library, search for Google Drive API and click Enable.

Direct link: console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/drive.googleapis.com

Updates save a backup of your current version to your Drive first, and need this.

Done

In a new tab, open script.google.com/home/usersettings and turn Google Apps Script API to On.

That page has only this one switch. Steps 5 to 7 happen back in the Google Cloud tab; steps 8 to 11 in your spreadsheet.

This is a switch on your Google account, separate from step 2. It is off on every new account.

Done

Back in Google Cloud: APIs & Services › OAuth consent screen (it may be called Google Auth Platform), then Get started.

App name Route Companion. Support email: yours. Audience: External (or Internal if your email is Google Workspace on your own domain). Contact email: yours. Agree, then Create.

Done

Only if you chose External: Audience › Publish app › Confirm.

If Publish app is greyed out with “complete your configuration on the Branding page”: open Branding, fill in Application home page https://everjade.store, Privacy policy https://everjade.store/privacy, Terms of service https://everjade.store/terms, add everjade.store under Authorized domains, check the support and developer emails, Save, then come back to Audience and publish. No logo needed.

You’ll see: In production. Ignore any notice about verification; you do not need it.

Done

Left menu: Cloud overview (or Dashboard). Copy the Project number.

The long number made only of digits, not the Project ID.

Done

In your Route Companion spreadsheet: Extensions › Apps Script, then Project Settings (the gear on the left).

You’ll see: a section Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Project with a Change project button.

Done

Click Change project, paste the number, click Set project. Close the Apps Script tab.

Done

Reload the spreadsheet and click Route Planner › Set up › Which Version Am I On?

You’ll see: Google asks for permission again: the same screens as chapter 1 (Advanced, Go to Route Companion (unsafe), tick Select all, Continue). Then “Route Companion script version …”.

Done

Click Route Planner › Set up › Updates › Check for Updates…

You’ll see: “You’re up to date (…).” Updates are on. If a newer version is already out, it says “Version … is ready” and asks Update now?: click Yes.

Or, on the route page: More › Set up, step 17, Check that updates are on. It says the same thing and names any switch still off. Any other answer is covered under Updates at the end of this guide.

Done

When a new version is out: the route page shows a green box, “A new version of Route Companion is ready”, with what is new. Install it from the spreadsheet: , then Yes. (On a computer signed in as the owner, the box may have its own Update now button that does the same.) Your data is not touched and the page keeps the same link; reopen the page afterwards. puts the previous version back.

If something is wrong

The page always says what went wrong in plain words. Find the words below. Any red pop-up on the route page also has a Report this button, which sends it to Everjade with the details attached.

Making your copy and opening the page (chapter 1)

The Allow screen shows the wrong Google account, or keeps asking you to choose one

Your browser is signed in to more than one Google account. Close everything, open a private window (Chrome: Ctrl+Shift+N; Safari: File › New Private Window), sign in to only the account that owns your copy, open your spreadsheet there, and do the step again.

“Sorry, unable to open the file at this time” on a computer

Same cause: more than one Google account signed in. Open the route page link in a private window. The route page itself needs no Google sign-in at all, so you do not need to sign in there.

Apps Script shows one file called Code.gs

You copied something other than the template link, or opened Apps Script from a different spreadsheet. Close it, go back to the template link Everjade sent you and start again from chapter 1, step 2. Still the same? Email info@everjade.store and we will send the link again.

“Anyone” is not in the Who has access list

Your Google account belongs to a company Google Workspace that does not allow public links. Your Workspace administrator can allow it, or you can use a different Google account for Route Companion. Not sure? Email info@everjade.store before going further.

Google says “This app is blocked” or “Access blocked”

Same cause: a company Google Workspace that blocks apps Google has not reviewed. There is no Advanced link on that page. Your Workspace administrator has to allow it, or use a different Google account. Email info@everjade.store if you are stuck.

The Authorize access window never opens

The browser blocked the pop-up. Allow pop-ups for script.google.com (the icon at the right end of the address bar), then click Authorize access again.

Google has not given this workbook every permission

A box on Google’s permission screen was left unticked. Go to myaccount.google.com/connections as the owner account, find Route Companion and remove its access. Reload the spreadsheet, click Route Planner › Set up › Which Version Am I On?, and this time tick Select all before Continue. If it says this a second time, do chapter 4: the copy needs its own Google Cloud project.

“That looks like the HEAD deployment”

You copied the Test deployment link, which only opens for you. In Apps Script: Deploy › Manage deployments, copy the Web app URL listed there (it is noticeably longer), and paste that one.

The page shows “Sorry, unable to open the file at this time”

The phone or browser is signed in to more than one Google account. Open the link in a private tab once, without signing in (the route page needs no Google sign-in). If it keeps happening, sign that browser out of the extra Google account.

The page is blank, or stops halfway

It is probably open inside an email, Facebook or Messenger app. Open the link in Safari or Chrome itself, and pull down to refresh once.

It asks for the password every time

Private browsing forgets it when closed. Open the link in a normal window and unlock once. On the unlock page, Cannot get in? has the other answers.

“Too many wrong tries. Wait ten minutes and try again.”

After a run of wrong passwords, new devices wait about ten minutes. Phones already unlocked keep working. Forgotten it? On a phone that is unlocked: More › Set up › Who can open this page? and Change it.

Bringing in files (chapter 2, steps 4, 5 and 9)

Choosing a file does nothing, or the file is greyed out

Some phones refuse the file picker. Tap or paste it beside the button, open the export, select everything including the header row at the top, copy, paste it into the box and tap Bring it in. Easier still: do chapter 2 on a computer.

“That is an Excel file”

Export from Time To Pet as CSV instead (or open it and Save As CSV), then choose that file.

“That file looks empty, or has only a header row”

The export had nobody in it, often because a filter was on in Time To Pet. Clear the filter, export again and choose the new file.

“Couldn’t find these columns in what you pasted: Address 1, City, State, Zip Code”

Usually the wrong file in the wrong step (the client export in Your team, or the other way round), or a paste without the header row at the top. The message lists what it did find at the top. Choose the right export. If your Time To Pet names those columns differently, tell Everjade through Report a problem.

“Couldn’t find these columns” in step 9 (Start, End, Client, Service, Status)

That file is not the visits export. In Time To Pet: Reporting › Schedule › Visits, choose the week, click Generate, then Download, and choose that file.

“This does not look right”, then hundreds of new clients

Check the number. If it is about how many clients you have, tap Yes, add them: that is a first import, not a broken file. If it is far more, tap No, cancel: a pasted export broke apart at line breaks in notes. Choose the exported file instead of pasting.

“NOTHING CHANGED, ON PURPOSE”

Many people already on your list are missing from this export, which nearly always means a partial or filtered export. Export the whole active list and bring it in again.

“Nothing new to import”

Every visit in that file is already in. Nothing is wrong.

The map and the key (steps 6 and 7)

Google refused this key

The red box gives the reason. “the Geocoding API is not switched on for this key”: in Google Cloud, enable Geocoding API and Routes API, and tick both under the key’s API restrictions. “Websites restriction” or “IP addresses restriction”: edit the key and set Application restrictions to None. “Billing is not switched on”: add billing to the project. “Not valid”: copy the whole key again. Then paste it and tap Save key again.

“Address lookups work, but Google refused real drive times”

Enable Routes API in the same project and tick it under the key’s API restrictions, then save the key again. Until then drive times are estimated and everything still works.

“Google did not answer the check just now”

The key is saved. Save it again in a few minutes to finish the check.

“No Google Maps key yet”

Step 6 comes first. Save the key, then press Look up addresses on the map again.

Some addresses “couldn’t be matched”

Correct each one in Time To Pet, bring the client (or staff) export in again, and press Look up addresses on the map again. A changed address is looked up again; anyone without a pin is never routed.

It stopped part way through a long list

Google limits how long one run can take. Everything done so far is saved. Press the button again: it carries on from where it stopped.

The map shows straight dashed lines

No Google Maps key yet, or Google refused real drive times. Chapter 2, step 6.

Dropbox (step 8)

“Dropbox did not accept that code” or “Dropbox said no”

Codes work once and only for a few minutes. Tap Open Dropbox again, tap Allow, and paste the new code straight away.

“That does not look like a Dropbox code”

Part of the code was missed. Copy the whole code Dropbox shows and paste it again.

“No dated backup folders were found”

Time To Pet’s backup has not run yet. Check it is on (Time To Pet: Settings › Integrations) and that you allowed the same Dropbox it backs up to. Try Bring in last night’s backup now tomorrow.

“Not available in this copy yet” or “This copy cannot connect to Dropbox yet”

Email info@everjade.store and it is fixed for you. Meanwhile use step 9, the weekly visits file.

Your first plan (chapter 3)

“Couldn’t read any visits from what you pasted”

Copy Time To Pet’s Daily Summary for that date with select all, so the header row comes too, and paste again. A file of it works too: Choose a file instead on the same card.

A sitter is missing from the routes

Look at the chips under the date. “(no address yet)”: add their address in Time To Pet, bring the staff file in again (step 4) and run step 7. “(not on the Daily Summary)”: they are not booked that day; tap the chip to mark them in. “(out)”: they have time off.

A visit says nobody can take it

Tap it. The reason is written there: a skill nobody working has, a window nobody can reach, or a client who allows only certain sitters. Under it are the ways to fix it today.

The button says Route, not Reroute

Half or more of that day’s visits are on a placeholder account or nobody, so there is nothing to reroute yet. It works the same way.

Everything shows as a change to make in Time To Pet

The page does not know yet who Time To Pet booked for that day, so the list is the whole plan. Paste that day’s Daily Summary and it becomes the short list of real changes.

Updates (chapter 4)

“Access blocked: … has not completed the Google verification process” (Error 403: access_denied)

The consent screen is still in Testing. Chapter 4, step 6: in Google Cloud, APIs & Services › OAuth consent screen (or Google Auth Platform) › Audience › Publish app › Confirm, until it says In production. If Publish app is greyed out, fill in the Branding page first (home page https://everjade.store, privacy policy https://everjade.store/privacy, terms https://everjade.store/terms, authorized domain everjade.store). Do it signed in as the account that owns the project. Then go back and try again. You do not need Google to verify anything.

“One switch first … turn Google Apps Script API On”

Chapter 4, step 4, signed in as the account that owns the spreadsheet. Then try again.

“Updates need this copy linked, once, to your own Google Cloud project”

Chapter 4 is not finished: usually step 2 (Apps Script API) or steps 7 to 9 (the project number). Check each, then try again.

“Your Google Cloud project needs the Google Drive API switched on”

Chapter 4, step 3. Then try again.

“Only the owner installs updates”

Install it from the spreadsheet, signed in as the owner: Route Planner › Set up › Updates › Check for Updates…

“This copy isn’t connected to Everjade’s updates”

Email info@everjade.store with the version number it shows.

“The route page is still on …”

The last update did not finish moving the page. Click Yes on that same message to finish it.

Anything else

Something else

On the page: More › Report a problem (in the spreadsheet: Route Planner › Set up › Report a Problem…). It reaches Everjade with the page’s own notes attached. Problems that stop planning go to the front of the line; you get a reply within two working days. Something missing rather than broken? More › Suggest a feature, and Vote on features if you see it.

Route Companion guide · updated 2026-10-06