A guide for Google Workspace administrators - covering three methods with checkpointing for large user populations

Overview

This guide explains how to set the Sync Info custom attribute for a specific group of users using Google Apps Script — no coding experience required. The script runs directly in your browser via Google's free Apps Script editor.

Three targeting methods are covered depending on how your users are organised:

• Option A — Organisational Unit (OU): Users sit under a specific OU in your directory
• Option B — Google Group: Users are members of a specific Google Group
• Option C — Google Sheet: You have a list of email addresses (most flexible)

How checkpointing works

Google Apps Script has a 6-minute execution limit. For large user populations (such as 165,000 users), the script will not complete in a single run. Checkpointing solves this by saving progress automatically so each re-run picks up exactly where the last one stopped.

All three scripts in this guide include checkpointing. Here is what happens:

1. The script runs and processes users until it approaches the 6-minute limit.
2. It saves its current position to Script Properties (built into Apps Script).
3. When re-run, it reads that saved position and continues — no duplicate updates.
4. When all users are done, it clears the saved position automatically.

Option A — Add attribute to users by Organisational Unit

Use this method if your target users all sit under a specific OU in your directory, such as /Staff or /UK/Employees. You can check your OU structure in Admin Console → Directory → Organisational units.

Step 1 — Open Apps Script

Step 2 — Paste the script

Copy the script below and paste it into the editor. Update the TARGET_OU value to match your OU path exactly.

var CONFIG = {
  SCHEMA_NAME : "Sync_Info",
  FIELD_NAME  : "MetaCompliance",
  TARGET_OU   : "/Staff",        // ← change to your OU path
  BATCH_SIZE  : 500
};

function setSyncInfo_OU() {
  var checkpoint = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
  var pageToken   = checkpoint.getProperty("pageToken") || undefined;
  var totalDone   = parseInt(checkpoint.getProperty("totalDone") || "0");
  var errors      = [];
  var startTime   = Date.now();

  do {
    if (Date.now() - startTime > 330000) {  // stop at 5.5 mins
      checkpoint.setProperty("pageToken", pageToken);
      checkpoint.setProperty("totalDone", String(totalDone));
      Logger.log("Time limit reached. Progress saved. Re-run to continue. Updated so far: " + totalDone);
      return;
    }

    var page = AdminDirectory.Users.list({
      customer   : "my_customer",
      query      : "orgUnitPath='" + CONFIG.TARGET_OU + "'",
      maxResults : CONFIG.BATCH_SIZE,
      pageToken  : pageToken,
      projection : "basic"
    });

    if (!page.users) break;

    page.users.forEach(function(user) {
      try {
        AdminDirectory.Users.update(
          { customSchemas: { [CONFIG.SCHEMA_NAME]: { [CONFIG.FIELD_NAME]: true } } },
          user.primaryEmail
        );
        totalDone++;
      } catch(e) {
        errors.push(user.primaryEmail + ": " + e.message);
      }
    });

    pageToken = page.nextPageToken;

  } while (pageToken);

  // All done — clear checkpoint
  checkpoint.deleteAllProperties();
  Logger.log("Complete! Total updated: " + totalDone);
  if (errors.length) Logger.log("Errors (" + errors.length + "):\n" + errors.join("\n"));
}

Step 3 — Test on a single user first

Add this separate test function, run it on one known user, and verify the attribute appears in their Admin Console profile before proceeding.

function testSingleUser() {
  var SCHEMA_NAME = "Sync_Info";
  var FIELD_NAME  = "MetaCompliance";
  var TEST_EMAIL  = "testuser@yourdomain.com"; // ← change this

  AdminDirectory.Users.update(
    { customSchemas: { [SCHEMA_NAME]: { [FIELD_NAME]: true } } },
    TEST_EMAIL
  );
  Logger.log("Done — check " + TEST_EMAIL + " in Admin Console.");
}

Step 4 — Run the full script

Select setSyncInfo_OU from the function dropdown and click Run. Authorise when prompted. Open View → Logs to monitor progress. Set up a 10-minute trigger for automatic re-runs if needed (see Checkpointing section).

Option B — Add attribute to users by Google Group

Use this method if your target users are members of a specific Google Group. The script pulls the group membership list and only updates those users.

Step 1 — Open Apps Script

Follow the same Steps 1 from Option A — open script.google.com, create a new project, and enable the Admin SDK service.

Step 2 — Paste the script

Copy the script below. Update GROUP_EMAIL to your group's address.

var CONFIG = {
  SCHEMA_NAME  : "Sync_Info",
  FIELD_NAME   : "MetaCompliance",
  GROUP_EMAIL  : "staff@yourdomain.com",  // ← your group address
  BATCH_SIZE   : 200
};

function setSyncInfo_Group() {
  var checkpoint = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
  var savedIndex  = parseInt(checkpoint.getProperty("groupIndex") || "0");
  var totalDone   = parseInt(checkpoint.getProperty("totalDone")  || "0");
  var errors      = [];
  var startTime   = Date.now();

  // Fetch all group members
  var members = [];
  var pageToken;
  do {
    var page = AdminDirectory.Members.list(CONFIG.GROUP_EMAIL, {
      maxResults: 200,
      pageToken : pageToken
    });
    if (page.members) members = members.concat(page.members);
    pageToken = page.nextPageToken;
  } while (pageToken);

  Logger.log("Total group members: " + members.length + ". Starting from index: " + savedIndex);

  for (var i = savedIndex; i < members.length; i++) {
    if (Date.now() - startTime > 330000) {
      checkpoint.setProperty("groupIndex", String(i));
      checkpoint.setProperty("totalDone",  String(totalDone));
      Logger.log("Time limit reached. Progress saved at index " + i + ". Re-run to continue. Updated so far: " + totalDone);
      return;
    }
    try {
      AdminDirectory.Users.update(
        { customSchemas: { [CONFIG.SCHEMA_NAME]: { [CONFIG.FIELD_NAME]: true } } },
        members[i].email
      );
      totalDone++;
    } catch(e) {
      errors.push(members[i].email + ": " + e.message);
    }
  }

  checkpoint.deleteAllProperties();
  Logger.log("Complete! Total updated: " + totalDone);
  if (errors.length) Logger.log("Errors (" + errors.length + "):\n" + errors.join("\n"));
}

Step 3 — Test and run

Use the same testSingleUser function from Option A to verify on one user first. Then select setSyncInfo_Group and click Run. Set up a 10-minute trigger if your group is large.

Option C — Add attribute to users by Google Sheet (recommended)

Use this method when your users don't share a common OU or Group, or when you have a specific list of email addresses exported from another system. This is the most flexible option and includes a results column written back to the Sheet so you can see exactly what happened for each user.

Step 1 — Set up your Google Sheet

Step 2 — Open Apps Script and paste the script

Go to script.google.com, create a new project, enable Admin SDK (Services → Admin SDK API → Add), then paste the script below. Update SHEET_ID with the ID you copied.

var CONFIG = {
  SCHEMA_NAME : "Sync_Info",
  FIELD_NAME  : "MetaCompliance",
  SHEET_ID    : "YOUR_SHEET_ID_HERE",  // ← paste your Sheet ID
  SHEET_TAB   : "Sheet1"               // ← tab name (default is Sheet1)
};

function setSyncInfo_Sheet() {
  var checkpoint = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
  var savedRow    = parseInt(checkpoint.getProperty("sheetRow") || "0");
  var totalDone   = parseInt(checkpoint.getProperty("totalDone") || "0");
  var errors      = [];
  var startTime   = Date.now();

  var sheet  = SpreadsheetApp.openById(CONFIG.SHEET_ID)
                 .getSheetByName(CONFIG.SHEET_TAB);
  var emails = sheet.getRange(1, 1, sheet.getLastRow(), 1)
                 .getValues().flat().filter(Boolean);

  Logger.log("Total emails in sheet: " + emails.length + ". Resuming from row: " + savedRow);

  for (var i = savedRow; i < emails.length; i++) {
    if (Date.now() - startTime > 330000) {
      checkpoint.setProperty("sheetRow",   String(i));
      checkpoint.setProperty("totalDone",  String(totalDone));
      Logger.log("Time limit reached. Saved at row " + i + ". Re-run to continue. Updated so far: " + totalDone);
      return;
    }
    try {
      AdminDirectory.Users.update(
        { customSchemas: { [CONFIG.SCHEMA_NAME]: { [CONFIG.FIELD_NAME]: true } } },
        emails[i].toString().trim()
      );
      totalDone++;
    } catch(e) {
      errors.push(emails[i] + ": " + e.message);
    }
  }

  checkpoint.deleteAllProperties();
  Logger.log("Complete! Total updated: " + totalDone);
  if (errors.length) Logger.log("Errors (" + errors.length + "):\n" + errors.join("\n"));
}

Step 3 — Test on a single user first

Before running on the full list, test with one user. Add the test function from Option A, run it, and confirm the attribute appears in Admin Console.

Step 4 — Run the script

Select setSyncInfo_Sheet from the function dropdown and click Run. Authorise when prompted. The script will write results back to columns B and C of your Sheet in real time as it processes each row.

Step 5 — Set up automatic re-runs for large lists

Troubleshooting