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Set Up with Google Sheets

This guide walks you through setting up a Telar exhibition using Google Sheets to manage your content. Interactive tools on this page generate your configuration file automatically.

You’ll set up three things: a GitHub repository for your site, a Google Sheets spreadsheet for your content, and a configuration file to connect them. You’ll enter a few details as you go — your GitHub username, your spreadsheet link, a title for your site. At the end of this page, you’ll download a ready-to-use configuration file.

You will need:

Already familiar with GitHub Pages and YAML? You can configure everything manually with the Manual Setup guide.

The setup might feel like a lot of steps, but you only have to do it once. After that, everything happens in your Google Sheets spreadsheet.

Create Your Repository

A repository is your project’s home on GitHub — it holds your configuration and image files.

  1. Visit the Telar template
  2. Click the green Use this template button
  3. Choose Create a new repository
  4. Give your repository a name — use lowercase letters and hyphens (e.g., my-exhibition) — this will be part of your site’s web address
  5. Make sure Public is selected
  6. Click Create repository

GitHub screenshot: Use this template button

Keep your repository public. Private repositories will not work with GitHub Pages unless you have a paid GitHub plan.

Enter your GitHub details below. These are used to build your site’s web address and to generate your configuration file at the end.

Your GitHub Details
Your site will be at:
https://username.github.io/my-exhibition

Enable GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages turns your repository into a live website for free.

  1. In your repository, go to Settings → Pages
  2. Under Source, select GitHub Actions
  3. Click Save

Setting up GitHub Pages with GitHub Actions

Duplicate the Google Sheets Template

Your Google Sheets spreadsheet is where you manage all your content — objects, stories, and text.

  1. Go to https://bit.ly/telar-template
  2. Click File → Make a copy
  3. Save to your Google Drive with a name you will remember (e.g., “My Telar Exhibition”)

Publish Your Sheet

Your spreadsheet needs to be published so Telar can read your content during builds.

  1. Go to File → Share → Publish to web
  2. Click Publish
  3. Copy the published URL and paste it below
Your Google Sheets URL
From File → Share → Publish to web

Generate Your Configuration

Fill in the remaining details and this page will create your configuration file.

Site Details
Your site's display name, shown in the browser tab and header
Used for search engine metadata and social sharing previews
Controls your site's color scheme and visual style
Fetches tutorial stories from the Telar content server. These show a "Demo" badge and help new users explore the interface. Turn off for production sites.

Your _config.yml

Once generated:

  1. In your GitHub repository, navigate to _config.yml and click the pencil icon to edit
  2. Select all the existing content and replace it with what you copied or downloaded
  3. Click Commit changes to save

Verify Your Setup

After committing, GitHub Actions will automatically build and publish your site. This takes 2–5 minutes.

  1. Click the Actions tab to watch the build progress
  2. When it finishes, visit your site at the URL shown in the preview above
  3. You should see a Telar site with your title and the default demo content

Telar homepage with title and navigation menu

Build problems? Check that your Google Sheets published URL is correct — it should come from File → Share → Publish to web. If your site does not appear at all, check the Actions tab for error details. You can also paste your _config.yml into the Telar Config Validator to check for errors.

Next Steps

Your Telar site is up and running. Follow this tutorial to learn how Telar stories work and add your own content, or jump ahead to any section: