The Scenario
You are an operations lead at a consulting firm. A round of new engagements just closed, and you need to set up 12 identical client onboarding projects in Basecamp.
Your Google Sheet has 12 rows: column A is the client name, column B is the engagement description. Every project should be built from the same onboarding template, template ID 11223344, which already has all the right to-do lists, schedule placeholders, and vault folders.
The bad version of this week:
- You open Basecamp, click "New Project," type the first client name, add the description
- You choose the template, wait for it to load, confirm
- You repeat for client 2
- Halfway through client 6, someone messages asking why the projects are not showing up yet
- You spend three hours doing what a spreadsheet could drive in three seconds.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI is an AI agent inside your spreadsheet that reads the client list and instantiates every Basecamp project from the template, so you do not have to click through the setup flow once.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
For each row in my sheet, column A is the client name and column B is the description. Create a new Basecamp project from template ID 11223344 for each row, then write the new project ID back to column C.
SheetXAI iterates through all 12 rows, creates each project from the template, and writes the resulting Basecamp project IDs back to column C. Done before the next message arrives.
What You Get
12 Basecamp projects created, each from the same template:
- Correct client name — each project is named after the client in column A
- Template applied — all the standard to-do lists, schedule slots, and vault folders are already there
- Project ID written to column C — so your tracking sheet is now a live link to each project
The template does the structure. SheetXAI does the scale. You did not configure anything twice.
Need to send each client a Basecamp invite after the projects are created? Tell SheetXAI to add the client contact email from column D to each project as a guest while it runs.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Client lists from CRMs and deal rooms are messy.
When client names have inconsistent formatting
Some names are "Acme Corp," some are "ACME CORP," some are just "Acme."
Normalize the client names in column A to title case. Then create one Basecamp project per row from template ID 11223344, using the normalized name and the description in column B. Write the new project ID to column C.
When descriptions are missing for some clients
A few rows in column B are blank because the engagement brief is not finalized.
For each row, if column B is blank, generate a short two-sentence project description based on the client name in column A and the note in column D (the deal type). Then create the Basecamp project from template ID 11223344 using the client name and the generated or existing description. Write the project ID to column E.
When different client tiers need different templates
Enterprise clients should use template 11223344. Starter clients should use template 55667788.
For each row, read column C (tier). If the tier is "enterprise," use template ID 11223344. If the tier is "starter," use template ID 55667788. Create one Basecamp project per row using the correct template, client name from column A, and description from column B. Write the project ID to column D.
When you need to invite the client contact at project creation
You have the primary client contact email in column D and want them added as a guest the moment the project is created.
For each row, create a Basecamp project from template ID 11223344 using the client name in column A and description in column B. Once each project is created, add the email in column D as a guest. Write the project ID to column E and the invite status ("invited" or "failed") to column F.
The pattern: the template handles structure, the sheet handles scale, SheetXAI handles both at once.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any client list or engagement roster, then ask it to spin up the Basecamp projects from your template. The Basecamp integration is included in every plan. See also how to sync project access across multiple projects or the Basecamp in Google Sheets overview.