Gmail Counter with Google Apps Script

The following Google Apps Script will display the unread Gmail counter for your mailbox to anyone on the Internet with a simple URL.

The count is published as text but you may use other formats (ContentService.MimeType) like RSS, JSON or even CSV and feed this data into other system – like tweets or even another spreadsheet.

 

/*    Gmail Counter by Amit Agarwal   */
/*    Published on 06/17/2013         */

function doGet() {
  
  var cache = CacheService.getPublicCache();
  var counter = cache.get("gmail-counter");
  
  // Cache the counter to stay within the Apps Script quota
  if (!counter) {
    counter = GmailApp.getInboxUnreadCount();
    // Cache the counter value for 20 minutes
    cache.put("gmail-counter", counter, 1200); 
  }
  
  // You can customize the output message
  counter = "There are " + counter + " unread messages in my Gmail Inbox."
    
  // Output the result in plain text format
  return ContentService.createTextOutput(counter)
    .setMimeType(ContentService.MimeType.TEXT);
  
}