🎯 Why This Automation?

Forgetting birthdays can be awkward — especially when it’s your clients, students, friends, or team members. Manual reminders and typing out emails every time is tedious and easy to forget.

With Make.com, you can fully automate birthday emails using Gmail + Google Sheets.

🛠 What You’ll Need

📋 Step 1: Create Your Birthday Google Sheet

Create a sheet called "Birthday List" with these columns:

NameEmailBirthdayMessage
Riya Sharma[email protected]08-15Wishing you a fantastic year ahead! 🎉
Amit Verma[email protected]09-10Happy Birthday, Amit! Hope you have a great one
Sneha Kapoor[email protected]12-25Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Sneha! 🎂

Tips:

⚙ Step 2: Plan the Automation Workflow

Here’s the logic:

  1. Trigger → Google Sheets checks if today’s date matches any birthday.

  2. Condition → If yes, send an email via Gmail.

  3. Action → Log “Birthday Email Sent” in the sheet (optional).

🖥 Step 3: Build the Make.com Scenario

  1. Module 1 – Google Sheets: Search Rows

    • Connect your Google Sheets account.

    • Search for rows where Birthday = TODAY().

  2. Module 2 – Gmail: Send an Email

    • To: {{Email}} from the sheet

    • Subject: "Happy Birthday, {{Name}} 🎉"

    • Body: "Hi {{Name}}, {{Message}} - [Your Name]"

  3. Module 3 – Google Sheets: Update Row (Optional)

    • Add a column “Status” → Update with “Sent”

🧩 Sample Make.com JSON for This Scenario

You can import this in Make.com to get started faster:

{
  "name": "Send Birthday Emails",
  "flow": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "module": "google-sheets:searchRows",
      "version": 1,
      "parameters": {
        "spreadsheetId": "your_sheet_id",
        "sheetId": "your_sheet_gid",
        "filter": "Birthday = TODAY()",
        "limit": 10
      },
      "mapper": {}
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "module": "gmail:sendEmail",
      "version": 1,
      "parameters": {
        "to": "{{1.Email}}",
        "subject": "Happy Birthday, {{1.Name}} 🎉",
        "contentType": "text/html",
        "body": "Hi {{1.Name}},<br><br>{{1.Message}}<br><br>– Your Friend"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Replace:

🔄 Step 4: Set Scheduling

🚀 Benefits

🌟 Pro Tips

🛠 Fix – Common Issues & Solutions

  1. Emails Not Sending

    • Reconnect your Gmail module in Make.com; expired authentication tokens are common.

    • Check Gmail’s daily sending limit (500/day for free accounts).

  2. Wrong Person Gets the Email

    • Ensure column names in Google Sheets exactly match the mapped fields in Make.com (Name, Email, Message).

    • Watch out for extra spaces in header names.

  3. Birthday Date Not Matching

    • Format birthday cells as MM-DD (Text) so Google Sheets doesn’t change them into full dates.

    • Ensure the Make.com filter uses formatDate(now; "MM-DD") to compare correctly.

  4. Scenario Not Triggering

    • If using “Watch Rows” in Google Sheets, it only triggers when a new row is added. For existing rows, use Search Rows + Filter instead.

  5. Duplicate Emails Sent

    • Add a “Status” column in Google Sheets and update it to “Sent” after sending. Filter out rows where Status = Sent in Make.com.

No-Code Alternative (Free)

Make can automate birthday-based email sends using date checks in Google Sheets combined with Gmail actions. You can explore it here (free account): https://www.make.com/en/register?pc=rohit9910

📌 Final Thoughts

This Birthday Bot is more than just a reminder — it’s a relationship builder. Whether you’re a teacher, entrepreneur, HR manager, or just a thoughtful friend, this automation will help you stay connected effortlessly.