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Fix common Mail Merge errors

Most Mail Merge errors come from three places: Google permissions (approve every box and use one Google account), the header row of your sheet (Email and Mail Merge spelled exactly), and Google’s limits (recipients per day and 6 minutes per run). Find the message you see below. The headings use the exact error text.

Authorization is required to perform that action

You may also see “You do not have permission to call UrlFetchApp.fetch” or “You do not have permission to call Ui.showSidebar”. The add-on is missing a permission, or it’s running as a different Google account.

  1. Approve every permission. Open any item in the add-on menu again. The add-on asks again for any permission you unticked. Tick all the boxes.
  2. Use one Google account. If you’re signed in to several Google accounts in the same browser, the add-on may run as the wrong one. Open the sheet in a separate browser profile, or an incognito window, where only your sending account is signed in.
  3. Work or school account? Your administrator may block the add-on. See Admin setup.

More detail: Authorization is required to perform that action (for all DocGPT.ai add-ons).

We are sorry, but you do not have access to this Addon

The full message is “We are sorry, but you do not have access to this Addon. Please contact your Organization Administrator for access.” It comes from Google, not from the add-on. Your Google Workspace™ organization limits which Marketplace apps can run, and only an administrator can change that. Reinstalling doesn’t help.

Send your administrator the steps and the ready-made email on Admin setup.

Error: Invalid email

The row’s Mail Merge cell shows Error: Invalid email: …. The Email cell of that row contains something that isn’t a single email address, for example:

  • a company name or a website instead of an address,
  • spaces before, after or inside the address,
  • two addresses in one cell.

Fix the Email cell, clear the Mail Merge cell, and run the campaign again. The other rows are not affected: the campaign continues with the next row after an error.

To find bad cells before you send, add a helper column with =ISEMAIL(A2) and look for FALSE. Use Data → Data cleanup → Trim whitespace to remove extra spaces.

Required columns not found: Email or Mail Merge

The add-on needs two headers in row 1: Email and Mail Merge, spelled exactly like that, with capital letters and no extra spaces. Headers such as “email”, “E-mail”, “Email Address” or “Status” don’t count.

  1. Rename the headers in row 1, or open 🚀 Launch and click Check Sheet Setup in the sidebar.
  2. Make sure you’re on the right tab. The add-on works with the tab that is open.

See Set up the sheet.

Service invoked too many times for one day: email

You reached Google’s daily sending limit: about 100 recipients a day on @gmail.com, 1,500 on Google Workspace. The rows that were not sent show GMAIL_QUOTA_EXCEEDED_TRY_AFTER_12AM_PACIFIC_TIME or Error: Service invoked too many times for one day: email.

Wait, then run the campaign again. Rows already marked EMAIL_SENT are skipped. A paid plan doesn’t raise this limit. Full details: Gmail sending limits.

Exceeded maximum execution time

Google stops any Apps Script run after 6 minutes. Rows the add-on didn’t reach have no status. With the default 1-second delay, one launch usually handles a few hundred emails at most.

  1. Keep Maximum emails per launch at 100 (the default), or lower the Delay between emails.
  2. Start the campaign again. Rows already marked EMAIL_SENT are skipped, so it picks up where it stopped.

Scheduled campaigns have the same 6-minute limit.

CLICK_GO_PREMIUM__NO_CREDITS_LEFT in the Mail Merge column

Your free emails ran out during the campaign, and the add-on stopped. Upgrade to a paid plan, close the sidebar and click 🚀 Launch again, then run the campaign again. Those rows will be sent. See Plans and billing.

The add-on menu is missing, or you see Server error or Too many simultaneous invocations

These come from Google, usually right after the sheet opens.

  1. Reload the browser tab and wait a minute. The Extensions menu is built when the page loads.
  2. Check the account picture in the top-right corner. It must be the account that installed the add-on.
  3. Look under Extensions → Mail Merge for Sheets™ Gmail™.
  4. Still missing? Install the add-on again from the Marketplace listing while signed in with that account.

The email shows {{First Name}} instead of the name

The placeholder doesn’t match a header exactly. {{first name}} doesn’t match First Name, and {{Company}} doesn’t match Company with a trailing space. Also check that the whole placeholder has the same formatting: if only part of it is bold or a different font, retype it. Then send a test email. See Personalize with placeholders.

My draft isn’t in the list

  • The Select Draft tab shows only your 30 most recent drafts. Click Refresh.
  • The draft must be saved in the Gmail account you run the add-on in. Close the composer so Gmail saves it.
  • An older draft may be below the top 30. Open it in Gmail and edit it so it’s saved again, then click Refresh.

Draft not found. It may have been deleted.

The draft you picked no longer exists, often because it was sent or deleted in Gmail. Write the draft again, click Refresh on the Select Draft tab and pick it.

Sender name must be 50 characters or less

The Sender Name field accepts up to 50 characters. It can’t contain < or > (“Sender name cannot contain < or > characters”) or an email address (“Sender name should not contain email addresses”). Type only the name, for example “Ana Silva” or “Ana from Northwind”.

My emails land in spam

No tool can guarantee inbox placement, but these habits help:

  • Email people who expect to hear from you. Don’t send to bought or scraped lists.
  • Keep the draft simple. A short, plain message with one or two links does better than a draft full of links, images and attachments.
  • Use a delay. Keep Delay between emails at a few seconds rather than 0.
  • Start small. Send the first batches with a low Maximum emails per launch and watch for bounces and replies.
  • Let people opt out. The add-on doesn’t add an unsubscribe link, so add a line such as “Reply ‘unsubscribe’ to be removed” and honor it.
  • On your own domain? Ask your Google Workspace administrator to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. See Google’s Email sender guidelines.

Still stuck?

Contact support or use the chat on docgpt.ai. Tell us the exact error text, your account type (@gmail.com or Google Workspace) and roughly how many rows you’re sending.

Gmail™, Google Sheets™ and Google Workspace™ are trademarks of Google LLC.