diff --git a/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSource.java b/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSource.java
index 91f12cd..3752f07 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSource.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSource.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.Emitter;
 import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.FailureCollector;
 import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.PipelineConfigurer;
+import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.StageConfigurer;
 import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.batch.BatchSource;
 import io.cdap.cdap.etl.api.batch.BatchSourceContext;
 import io.cdap.plugin.common.LineageRecorder;
@@ -51,11 +52,13 @@ public GoogleSheetsSource(GoogleSheetsSourceConfig config) {
 
   @Override
   public void configurePipeline(PipelineConfigurer pipelineConfigurer) {
+    StageConfigurer stageConfigurer = pipelineConfigurer.getStageConfigurer();
     FailureCollector failureCollector = pipelineConfigurer.getStageConfigurer().getFailureCollector();
     config.validate(failureCollector);
     failureCollector.getOrThrowException();
 
-    pipelineConfigurer.getStageConfigurer().setOutputSchema(config.getSchema(failureCollector));
+    Schema configuredSchema = config.getSchema(failureCollector);
+    stageConfigurer.setOutputSchema(configuredSchema);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSourceConfig.java b/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSourceConfig.java
index 2e00632..03939c8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSourceConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/google/sheets/source/GoogleSheetsSourceConfig.java
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ public class GoogleSheetsSourceConfig extends GoogleFilteringSourceConfig {
   @Name(NAME_SCHEMA)
   @Description("The schema of the table to read.")
   @Macro
-  private transient Schema schema = null;
+  private String schema;
 
   @Name(FORMATTING)
   @Description("Output format for numeric sheet cells. " +
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ public GoogleSheetsSourceConfig(String referenceName, @Nullable String sheetsIde
                                   @Nullable String lastDataColumn, @Nullable String lastDataRow,
                                   @Nullable String metadataCells, @Nullable Integer readBufferSize,
                                   @Nullable Boolean addNameFields, @Nullable String spreadsheetFieldName,
-                                  @Nullable String sheetFieldName) {
+                                  @Nullable String sheetFieldName, @Nullable String schema) {
 
     super(referenceName);
     this.sheetsIdentifiers = sheetsIdentifiers;
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ public GoogleSheetsSourceConfig(String referenceName, @Nullable String sheetsIde
     this.addNameFields = addNameFields;
     this.spreadsheetFieldName = spreadsheetFieldName;
     this.sheetFieldName = sheetFieldName;
+    this.schema = schema;
   }
 
 
@@ -290,9 +291,15 @@ public Schema getSchema(FailureCollector collector) {
                              "Perhaps no validation step was executed before schema generation.")
           .withConfigProperty(SCHEMA);
       }
-      schema = SchemaBuilder.buildSchema(this, new ArrayList<>(dataSchemaInfo.values()));
+      return SchemaBuilder.buildSchema(this, new ArrayList<>(dataSchemaInfo.values()));
     }
-    return schema;
+    try {
+      return Strings.isNullOrEmpty(schema) ? null : Schema.parseJson(schema);
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      collector.addFailure("Invalid schema: " + e.getMessage(),
+          null).withConfigProperty(NAME_SCHEMA);
+    }
+    throw collector.getOrThrowException();
   }
 
   private boolean shouldGetSchema() {
@@ -1083,8 +1090,8 @@ public void setSheetsIdentifiers(String sheetsIdentifiers) {
     this.sheetsIdentifiers = sheetsIdentifiers;
   }
 
-  public void setSchema(String schema) throws IOException {
-    this.schema = Schema.parseJson(schema);
+  public void setSchema(String schema) {
+    this.schema = schema;
   }
 
   public void setFormatting(String formatting) {
diff --git a/widgets/GoogleSheets-batchsource.json b/widgets/GoogleSheets-batchsource.json
index 3893df1..f4137d2 100644
--- a/widgets/GoogleSheets-batchsource.json
+++ b/widgets/GoogleSheets-batchsource.json
@@ -449,7 +449,24 @@
       ]
     }
   ],
-  "outputs": [],
+  "outputs": [
+    {
+      "name": "schema",
+      "label": "schema",
+      "widget-type": "schema",
+      "widget-attributes": {
+        "schema-types": [
+          "boolean",
+          "long",
+          "double",
+          "bytes",
+          "string",
+          "array"
+        ],
+        "schema-default-type": "string"
+      }
+    }
+  ],
   "filters": [
     {
       "name": "Select modification date range",