Water LLM
Getting Started
Everything you need to go from a fresh spreadsheet to a working CRM — in under 30 minutes.
Step zero: install the add-on
Water LLM lives in the Google Workspace Marketplace. Install it before you start — everything below happens inside Google Sheets once it is in place. You’ll then choose a plan to activate it, using the same Google account email.
Signed in to more than one Google account in your browser? Open your sheet from a browser profile where the Water LLM account is the only one, or the first one you signed in with — otherwise the sidebar may not load. Chrome and Edge work best; Safari and Firefox may need one privacy setting changed. Why, and how to fix it.
What is Water LLM?
Water LLM is a Google Sheets add-on that gives coaches, consultants, and solopreneurs a full client relationship manager — without leaving Google. It connects Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, and Drive and adds AI features powered by Google's Gemini model.
The most important thing to understand: your Google Sheet is the database. There is no separate server or app storing your data. Everything lives inside your own Google account.
Water LLM doesn't run its own database. Your contacts, invoices, and CRM data live in your own Google Drive and Sheets. AI features use Google Cloud (Vertex AI), where Google is contractually prohibited from training models on anything you send. See Data & Privacy for full details.
Before You Start
Before running the setup wizard, make sure you have:
- A Google account — personal Gmail or Google Workspace both work
- The Water LLM spreadsheet open in Google Sheets (provided when you subscribe)
- An active Water LLM subscription — the wizard verifies this automatically
The setup wizard uses modals that need a full desktop window. Once you're set up, you can access many features from the mobile web app.
The Setup Wizard
Open your Water LLM spreadsheet and choose . (If you have already been through it once, it lives at .)
Twelve steps, most of which do their own work. Budget about fifteen minutes, plus however long your contacts take to import.
| # | Step | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome | Orientation. | Read and continue. |
| 2 | License Agreement | The End User License Agreement. | Review and accept. You can’t continue without it. |
| 3 | Your Account | Your display name, your LinkedIn profile URL, and any other email addresses you send from. | Fill in. The alternate addresses matter more than they look — they are how Water LLM recognises your own outbound mail. |
| 4 | Your Revenue Goal | Your annual target, per year. | Enter a number, or skip — the dashboard simply shows “no goal set” until you do. |
| 5 | Feature Modules | Optional extras, such as ICF hour tracking for accredited coaches. | Switch on anything that applies. |
| 6 | Workspace Setup | The one that does the work: writes your ⚙️Settings tab, creates the Drive folders (Water LLM / Invoices / Templates / LinkedIn Data / Notes), creates the Subscriptions Gmail label, copies in the invoice template and Style Guide, and imports your Google Contacts. |
Watch it tick along. If it finds templates already in your Drive it stops and asks what to do with each — keep, regenerate, or make a v2. |
| 7 | Personal Polish optional | Two AI extras: an inbox-zero helper that finds newsletters and filters them, and a voice scan that reads your website and sent mail to fill in your Style Guide. | Do either, both, or neither — both are available later from the menu. The voice scan is the one worth doing: every drafted email is written against it. |
| 8 | Shared Calendars | Lists calendars you have access to beyond your own. | Tick any that carry meetings you want counted — a team calendar, a shared coaching calendar. |
| 9 | Date, Timezone, Currency & Tax | How dates are written, which timezone your schedule runs in, your currency, and your default tax label and rate. | Pre-filled from your Google account — check rather than retype. |
| 10 | Row Display Style | Alternating row colours or plain. | Pick one. Cosmetic only. |
| 11 | Overnight work | One question: what time should Water LLM have finished by each morning? Everything else is scheduled backwards from your answer. Expand “See what will run” for the full list, including the seven jobs that stay off and why. | Pick an hour — 7:00 AM by default — and continue. Fifteen jobs are switched on in one go. |
| 12 | You’re all set | A summary of what was set up and what will run. | Close it and go and look at your CRM. |
It is the only question in the wizard that decides what happens every single night afterwards, and it takes one dropdown. Pick an hour shortly before you usually start work — your briefing, your task list and your dashboard will all be waiting. You can move any individual job later in .
You can re-run onboarding from whenever you need to change a setting, re-link your sheet, or reinstall triggers. It won't duplicate your data or reset your CRM.
Your First Sync — Importing Your Google Contacts
Your first action after setup: bring your existing Google Contacts into the CRM.
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1Run Sync to CRMGo to .
-
2Watch the progress toastsYou'll see a running count as contacts are imported. Large contact lists (500+) may take a few minutes to finish.
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3Check your CRM tabOpen the 👋 CRM tab — your contacts are now there, one row per person.
Each contact is matched by its Google Contact ID. Running sync a second time updates existing rows — it doesn't create duplicates.
Next recommended step after your first sync: run a Communication Refresh to pull in email dates and meeting history from Gmail and Google Calendar. See Communication Refresh in the CRM guide for what to expect on the first run.
Accessing Water LLM on Mobile
Water LLM includes a standalone mobile web app for on-the-go access. You don't need to open the full spreadsheet.
What you can do from a phone:
- Contacts — look someone up, or add one
- Invoices — create one and get it into drafts
- Clients — hours used, hours left, and any flags
- Pipeline — the board, and adding a new lead
- Meeting Prep — a brief on the way to the meeting, which is when you actually want it
- Quick Look — the dashboard figures worth glancing at between meetings
Open the web app URL in your mobile browser, tap the share icon, and choose "Add to Home Screen." This gives you a one-tap shortcut that feels like a native app.
What to Do Next
Setup is done and your contacts are in. A sensible order from here — and none of it is urgent, because the overnight work is already running:
- Read Google Sheets Basics — especially the Watch-Outs section. A few simple habits prevent the most common data issues.
- Explore your CRM — understand the column layout and run your first Communication Refresh to see email and meeting dates fill in.
- Set up your Style Guide — . This makes all AI-generated content sound like you.
- Add your meeting follow-up keywords — . Three or four words for the meetings that genuinely deserve a follow-up. It does nothing at all until you do this.
- Look at your dashboard — and skim the definitions, so you know what each number is actually counting before you make a decision on one.
- Set up your outreach once your CRM has a few months of communication behind it — the filters are only as good as the dates they read.
Still stuck? Email support@waterllm.com and we’ll get back to you within one business day — or use the contact form.