Set up
Set up Legacy Handover in your own Google account
About 10 minutes, free, and everything stays in your own Google account. Go one step at a time: each step has a short animation, and tells you how to know it worked. A guide inside your Sheet, the Setup assistant, checks your progress too.
Step 1 of 6
Make your copy
Legacy Handover is a personal tool for adults. Confirm below, then one click copies a ready-made Sheet, with its script, into your own Google Drive.
1. Tick the box to say you are 18 or over, then press Make my copy.
2. Google asks you to name your copy. It goes into your own Drive.
3. Your copy opens on a Start here tab. The menu Check-in tool is where everything starts.
How to tell it worked: a new tab opens with your own copy of the Sheet, on a tab called Start here. Keep this page open, then press the button below.
Allow the app, once
In your copy, open the menu Check-in tool and choose 1. Set up. Google asks for your permission once, and shows a warning that sounds scarier than it is.
1. Open the menu Check-in tool and choose 1. Set up.
2. Google says the script needs permission. Choose Review permissions.
3. Google says it has not verified the app. That is expected: it is your own copy. Choose Advanced.
4. Choose Go to the app (unsafe), then Allow. You only do this once.
5. Setup runs. Your folders appear in your Drive and the Setup assistant opens beside your Sheet.
Why the warning? It appears because the script is your own copy, not an app run by us, so Google has not reviewed it. That is exactly why nobody else can see your data. Read the short, slightly silly story.
What am I allowing, exactly?
- This spreadsheet: to keep your settings, people and log in it.
- Google Drive: to create your folders, and to share them when a release happens.
- Send email as you: for reminders and alerts. They come from your own Gmail.
- Connect to an external service: for Telegram and for saving uploads to Drive.
- Run on a schedule: the check that happens every few minutes.
- Menus and dialogs: the Check-in tool menu and the assistant.
- Your email address: to know it is you using the dashboard.
Setup then creates the folders Legacy Handover in your Drive (an Inbox and a folder for everyone) and opens the Setup assistant beside your Sheet.
How to tell it worked: a Setup assistant panel opens beside your Sheet, and your Drive has a new folder called Legacy Handover.
Create your public link
This is the one technical step, and the assistant checks it for you. It is the link behind the buttons in your emails, so your contacts can answer without signing in. You need only one link.
1. In your copy, open Extensions, then Apps Script.
2. In the editor choose Deploy, then New deployment.
3. Pick the type: Web app.
4. Execute as: Me. Who has access: Anyone. Then Deploy.
5. Copy the Web app URL.
6. Paste it into the Setup assistant. It calls the link like a stranger would and tells you if anything is off.
The settings to choose
Execute as: Me
Who has access: Anyone
Why Anyone? So a friend can press “they’re OK” without a Google account. The link only opens pages protected by long secret codes, and your dashboard refuses anyone but you. The assistant calls your link the way a stranger would and says if something is off.
How to tell it worked: the assistant shows a green “works for anyone” message and marks Create your public link as Done.
Add your people
In the assistant, add your circle (people who are asked to check on you), exactly two trusted contacts (both must confirm before anything is shared) and the recipients who get a folder. Everyone gets an invite and receives nothing else until they accept. Invites sometimes land in spam, so tell them to look there.
1. Add your circle, exactly two trusted contacts, and the people who should get a folder.
2. Each person gets an invite. They receive nothing else until they press Accept.
3. The assistant counts who has accepted, so you can see when you are covered.
How to tell it worked: the assistant counts who has accepted: a circle member, two of two trusted contacts, and a recipient. You can finish this step later, while you wait for answers.
Run a test
Test mode squeezes a day into a minute and sends only you messages, labelled [TEST]. Nothing is shared with anyone. It is the best way to see it all work before you rely on it.
1. In the assistant, press Start a test run.
2. A day passes in a minute. You get reminders by email, labelled [TEST]. Nobody else is contacted.
3. Press I'm here and the clock resets. Nothing was shared. Then stop test mode.
How to tell it worked: a [TEST] reminder lands in your inbox within a couple of minutes. Press “I’m here” in the dashboard to see the clock reset, then stop test mode.
You are all set
That is everything that is needed. From now on, check in whenever you like: the dashboard button, your personal check-in link, or a reply to your Telegram bot. If you go quiet, the steps you chose happen, in order, and every one of them can be cancelled by a check-in.
Extras, when you want them
- Dashboard on your phone: make a second deployment with Who has access: Only myself and paste its link in the assistant. The dashboard also opens inside your Sheet without it.
- Telegram: connect your own bot in the dashboard, under Settings, to check in by replying OK and to send photos and files to your Inbox.
- Your check-in link: choose Show my check-in link in the assistant, and bookmark it on your phone. One tap checks you in.
- Prepare your folders: write notes (where things are, who to call; not passwords or ID numbers), upload files, add shortcuts, record voice notes. Locked notes open on the Unlock page.
Something not working? Read the questions and answers, or go through the guide again.