Screenshot Every New Google Sheets URL to Drive
Drop a URL into a Google Sheet and get a full-page screenshot filed in Google Drive — automatically. Zapier's native Rendex Capture Screenshot action renders the page, hands back the image as a file, and the next step archives it. No code, no headless browser, and it runs on the free tier.
Last updated 2026-07-21
The Problem
Teams keep URLs in a spreadsheet all the time — leads to review, competitor pages to watch, submissions to audit — and someone eventually wants a picture of each one. Doing it by hand means opening every link, scrolling to capture the whole page, saving the PNG, and dragging it into a shared folder with a sensible name. It's tedious, easy to skip, and impossible to keep up with once the list grows. The no-code alternatives are worse: a raw webhook step you have to hand-build, or a separate screenshot subscription to wire in.
The Solution
Zapier has a native Rendex Capture Screenshot action, so there's no webhook to build. Trigger on a new Google Sheets row (or Airtable record), map the row's URL into the action, and turn on Full Page. Rendex renders the page in a real browser, polls until the image is ready, and returns it as a file — which the next step uploads straight to Google Drive or Dropbox. The whole thing is no-code, uses the URL already sitting in your sheet, and runs on the free 100 renders a month. A row becomes an archived full-page screenshot seconds after it's added.
How the Workflow Runs
New row
A new Google Sheets row (or Airtable record) with a URL fires the Zap. Zapier passes the row's fields to the next step.
Rendex — Capture Screenshot
Map the row's URL into the native action, set Full Page on. Rendex submits the render, polls until it's ready, and returns the image as a file — no code, no browser to run.
Upload to Drive
A Google Drive (or Dropbox) step files the returned image, named from the row so every capture is archived and findable.
Input → Rendered Output
Rendered by Rendex
What You Need
- A Rendex API key — the free tier includes 100 renders/month with no card required.
- A Zapier account with the Rendex app connected (search "Rendex" in the app directory, add your key once).
- A source with a URL column: Google Sheets, Airtable, or any table app Zapier supports.
- A destination step: Google Drive or Dropbox to file the image (or Slack to post it).
What This Recipe Uses
Native Capture Screenshot action
No custom webhook — the Rendex Capture Screenshot action appears in the Zap editor once you connect your key, alongside Generate PDF and Create Render Link.
Full-page, real-browser render
Turn on Full Page and Rendex captures the entire scrollable page in a real browser — lazy-loaded images, custom fonts, and web components included — not just the visible viewport.
Handles slow pages for you
The action submits the render and polls until the image is ready, so a heavy page never trips Zapier's step timeout — the finished file just arrives at the next step.
Files straight to Drive
The action returns the screenshot as a file object, so the next step — Google Drive, Dropbox, or Slack — stores or posts it with no base64 or encoding step in between.
Build It
# Zapier — action config (no code)
Trigger: Google Sheets — New Spreadsheet Row
Action: Rendex — Capture Screenshot
Source Type: URL
URL: {{ Google Sheets: Website }}
Output Format: PNG
Full Page: true
Next: Google Drive — Upload File
File: {{ Rendex: File }}
Filename: {{ Google Sheets: Company }}-{{ zap_meta_human_now }}.png# The Capture Screenshot action submits this async, then polls the job
# until the image is ready and hands the file to the next step.
curl -X POST https://api.rendex.dev/v1/screenshot \
-H "Authorization: Bearer rdx_YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"url": "https://example.com",
"format": "png",
"fullPage": true,
"async": true
}'
# => { "data": { "jobId": "job_..." } } → the action polls GET /v1/jobs/{jobId}
# until { "status": "completed", "resultUrl": "https://..." }, then returns the file.100 free API calls/month — no credit card required. Get your API key and start building.
Reach for this whenever a spreadsheet is already your queue of things to look at — a business-development list of prospect sites, a content calendar of published posts, a compliance log of pages to snapshot. The value is that the capture becomes a byproduct of adding the row: no one has to remember to screenshot anything. Because the Rendex action is native to Zapier, you skip the part everyone dreads — there's no HTTP step to configure, no auth header to paste, no polling loop to write. You map the URL, pick PNG and Full Page, and the action returns a finished file the next step can file, attach, or post. Full Page matters here: a viewport-only shot misses everything below the fold, and for archiving you want the whole page. Name the Drive upload from a row field — the company, the date, the submission ID — and your folder becomes a browsable visual history instead of a pile of rendex-123.png files. It runs on the free tier, so a modest list costs nothing to start.