Balanced Group Maker: Google Sheets add-on

Coming soon to the Google Workspace Marketplace (in Google's review). Meanwhile the same solver runs on the web: balanced classroom group generator.

What it does

Keep your class list in a Google Sheet: one row per student, one column per trait (gender, reading level, a score, first language). Press Make groups and the add-on writes two new tabs, groups (who is in which group) and balance (how closely each group mirrors the whole class on every trait). It is not a shuffle: a solver searches for the arrangement that is fairest on every column you list, and never breaks a “must be apart” or “must be together” rule.

How to use it

1. Open a spreadsheet and choose Extensions → Balanced Group Maker → Make groups.
2. First time? Press Insert sample class. It adds a students tab with 30 students and a settings tab, ready to run.
3. Pick the number of groups, or a minimum and maximum size, and press Run.

How to lay out your tab

Row 1 is the header, row 2 is a priority row (1 = most important), then one row per person. Column A is the name. Optional columns named must be together and must be apart hold codes (students sharing a code stay together, or are separated). Every other column is a trait to balance. The add-on reads the active tab, or a tab called students or people if the active one is settings, groups or balance. The full format, with a worked example, is on the web tool page, and you can download the sample workbook.

Limits

Up to 300 people, 60 groups and 15 traits per run. Most classes solve in a few seconds; a run is capped at about 12 seconds of search.

Privacy

The add-on can only read the spreadsheet you open it in, and only sends the active tab when you press Run. The tab is used to compute the groups and then discarded; nothing is stored, nothing goes to a third party, and no AI or machine-learning model is involved. Details in the privacy policy.

Support

Email me at mario@kindoflost.com.