Whether you want to automatically add data to your Google Sheet, retrieve data from it, or delete certain data, after this tutorial you will know how to do all this with Google Sheets and the workflow automation tool n8n.

What is n8n and why should you use it?

n8n is an automation tool that helps to connect various external services, synchronize data, make custom API requests, and much more.

Today we will use it to easily create custom automation workflows using Google Sheets. We will describe the basic functionality and show the possibilities that exist with n8n. From this starting point, you can easily develop specific applications for your use cases yourself.

If you don’t have an n8n cloud account yet, you can create one here for free.

If you have never used n8n before, take a look at how to get started with the cloud version here.

The Google Sheets Integration

Because n8n has a direct integration to Google Sheets, it is very easy to build automations based on it. Since this integration uses the normal Google Sheets API under the hood, you could also build all this yourself, but with n8n it is simply much easier.

Here you can get an overview of everything you can do with the integration. In the following, we will go through the options that the integration offers us one by one.

Google Sheets as a Trigger Node

Every automation in n8n starts with a trigger node. There are many different types of trigger nodes, such as on a schedule, or manual triggers. In addition, actions from external applications can also trigger a workflow, such as Google Docs in our case. To start our workflow, we press the + in our workflow canvas and search for google sheets.

If we want to define a trigger, we have 3 different options in the google sheets integration:

• On Row Added – The workflow starts as soon as a row is added to the Google Sheet you select
• On Row Updated – The workflow starts as soon as a row is updated in the Google Sheet you select
• On Row Added Or Updated – The workflow starts as soon as a row is added or updated in the Google Sheet you select

Note: If you want to use the Google Sheets integration as a trigger for your workflow, you need a Google Cloud account for authentication. You can use all other operations of the integration with a “normal” Google account.

Google Authentication for Trigger Nodes

In order for n8n to have access to your Google Sheets, you must authenticate yourself. To create new credentials, click on “Select Credential” -> “- Create New Credential -” at the top of the node.

Now all you have to do is enter your Client ID and Client Secret, click “Log In with Google”, save your new credentials and you can return to your workflow.

If you need a detailed guide to this authentication via Google Cloud Account, click here.

Automation Ideas for Google Sheet Trigger Nodes

Now you are ready to define your first Google Sheet Trigger node. All you have to do is select the mode (how often the sheet should be checked), the document & the sheet on which the trigger should be based in the node.

Based on this node, you can now build, for example, the following automations:

• Send Google Sheets data as a message to a Discord channel
• Sync your Google Sheets with a Postgres (or other Database)

Google Sheets for other Operations

Much more than with Google Sheets as the trigger of a workflow, you can do with the operations with Google Sheets itself. You can integrate the following actions into your workflows as you wish:

• Create or Delete Spreadsheet inside a document
• Append or Update a Row in a Spreadsheet
• Delete all the content or part of a Spreadsheet
• Delete Rows or Columns
• Retrieve all or just specific Rows from a Spreadsheet

Authentication for Google Sheets Operations

In contrast to the trigger nodes, you do not need a Google Cloud account to perform the operations mentioned, but can authenticate yourself with any Google account.

To do this, you simply have to create new credentials and then, after clicking on “Sign in with Google”, log in with your google account.

Automation Ideas for Google Sheets Operations

Due to the already mentioned possible operations that you can perform with the Interations Node, you now have all possibilities to define workflows according to your wishes. Here are a few examples for inspiration, maybe you can use parts of them for your automation:

• Extract expenses from emails and add to Google Sheets
• Import CSV from URL to Google Sheets
• Send a ChatGPT email reply and save responses to Google Sheets

I hope you enjoyed this overview of the Google Sheets integration, and I wish you lots of fun automating with n8n cloud.