SheetAI

Common Errors

Solutions for the most common errors you may encounter while using SheetAI in Google Sheets.

Error: Your OpenAI API free trial is expired or inactive

This error means your OpenAI free trial is no longer active or has expired. Note that a ChatGPT Plus subscription does not include paid access to the OpenAI API platform.

To confirm, visit the OpenAI Playground and try submitting a prompt. If you get an error there too, you need a paid account.

Solution

Set up a paid account on the OpenAI billing dashboard.

Note: Verifying your account with a phone number that hasn't been used before is necessary to benefit from a free trial.

Exceeded maximum execution time

OpenAI API servers can be under heavy load, and response time depends on the model and your account status. This error means your request took more than 30 seconds, which is above the limit of Google Sheets functions. It happens more frequently during peak usage times.

Solutions

  • Use the SheetAI Sidebar instead
  • Upgrade your free trial OpenAI account to a Pay-as-you-go account — response time is much faster for paid accounts
  • Choose a model with a faster response time (e.g. GPT-4o-mini is usually much faster)
  • Try again outside of peak hours

Error: Invalid parameter

If you see this error, check the following:

  • You have quotation marks around your prompt if it is not in a cell. =SHEETAI("hello") works. =SHEETAI(A1) works. =SHEETAI(hello) does not work.
  • You have quotation marks around model parameters
  • You are using the correct number format for temperature for your locale: 0.8 or 0,8
  • Your arguments are in the correct order

Error: Please set OpenAI API key in Extensions menu

This can happen for two reasons:

ProblemSolution
You have not set your API keySet up your API key
You're using multiple Google accounts in the same browser session1. Create a dedicated Chrome profile
2. Create a new spreadsheet
3. Set up your API key in the new file
4. Try using a SHEETAI function again

Cannot use GPT-4

The ChatGPT Plus subscription does not cover usage of the OpenAI API. Paying for ChatGPT Plus will not enable you to use GPT-4 in this extension.

Solution

Go to the OpenAI Playground and check if you can select the GPT-4 model there. If not, you need to set up a paid API account on the OpenAI billing dashboard.

Response is cut or incomplete

You need to increase the max_tokens parameter in your formula. This controls the maximum size of the response.

You can increase it up to a maximum of 4000.

The menu only shows "Help"

Solution

Refresh your spreadsheet, wait 30 seconds, then try to launch the add-on again.

Exception: Service invoked too many times for one day: urlfetch

This means you have reached your daily quota of calls to an external service from Google Sheets.

  • Quota for gmail.com accounts: 20,000 / day
  • Quota for Google Workspace accounts: 100,000 / day

Solution

Wait 24 hours for the quota to reset.

429: Rate limit reached for [...] requests per min

You have reached your limit of requests per minute.

Solutions

  • Wait one minute then retry
  • Set up a payment method on the OpenAI dashboard to increase your rate limit (increases to 3,500 RPM after 48 hours)

See our full rate limits guide for more details.

#NAME? Unknown function: 'SHEETAI' or 'sheetai'

This means you have not enabled the SHEETAI functions.

Solution

Click Extensions → SheetAI App → Launch sidebar

If you do not see SheetAI App in the Extensions menu, it means you have not installed the extension on the account you're using. Install SheetAI.

Formula parse error

If you see this error, check the following:

  • You are using the right parameter separator for your locale: , or ;
  • Your arguments are in the correct order

ScriptError: Authorisation is required to perform that action

This means you are likely using multiple Google accounts in the same Chrome session.

Solution

  1. Create a dedicated Chrome profile
  2. Create a new spreadsheet
  3. Set up your API key in the new spreadsheet
  4. Try a SHEETAI function again

Need more help?

If your issue isn't listed above, reach out to us at support@sheetai.app