Automated Email Sending from Google Sheets with Gmail

Overview

This workflow automates the process of sending personalized emails to customers based on data stored in a Google Sheet. It runs on a schedule, checks for rows that are marked with a status of "Waiting for sending" and whose date matches the current day, then sends an email via Gmail using the row's subject, title, and recipient address. After sending, it updates the sheet to mark the status as "Sent successfully". This is ideal for marketing campaigns, scheduled reminders, or any recurring email outreach where you want to track delivery status.

Workflow Steps

1. Schedule Trigger — Runs the workflow at a configurable interval (currently every 1 minute for testing; adjust to daily or hourly as needed). No authentication required.
2. Retrieve Customer Messages Data (Google Sheets) — Fetches all rows from a specified Google Sheet (OAuth2 authentication). The sheet must contain columns: ID, Name, Email, Date, Status, Title, Subject.
3. Filter Status (Waiting for sending) (Filter) — Filters the rows to only those where:
   • Status equals "Waiting for sending"
   • Title, Subject, Email, Name, Date all exist
   • Date (formatted as yyyy/MM/dd) equals today's date
4. Send a message (Gmail) — For each filtered row, sends an email (OAuth2 authentication) to the recipient in Email, with subject from Title and plain text body from Subject.
5. Merge fields (Merge) — Combines the original row data (from the filter) with the output of the Gmail node (by position) to preserve all fields.
6. Set data (Set) — Extracts and renames fields: email, name, ID from the merged data.
7. Update Message Status (Google Sheets) — Updates the same Google Sheet (OAuth2 authentication) by matching the row with the same ID and setting the Status column to "Sent successfully".

Setup Instructions

1. Google Account: You need a Google account with access to Google Sheets and Gmail.
2. Google Sheet: Create a new Google Sheet with the following columns (header row): ID, Name, Email, Date, Status, Title, Subject. Populate it with your data. The Date column must be in yyyy/MM/dd format (e.g., 2025/03/15). Set the Status to "Waiting for sending" for rows you want to send today.
3. n8n Credentials:
   • Create Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials in n8n (use the same Google account).
   • Create Gmail OAuth2 credentials in n8n (also the same account).
4. Update Node Parameters:
   • In the Retrieve Customer Messages Data node, change the Document ID to your own sheet's ID (found in the sheet URL).
   • In the Update Message Status node, do the same.
   • Adjust the Schedule Trigger interval to your desired frequency (e.g., every day at 9 AM).
5. Test: Run the workflow manually first to ensure it sends an email and updates the sheet correctly.

Use Cases & Variations

• Marketing Campaigns: Send promotional emails to a list of customers on a specific date.
• Reminders & Follow-ups: Automate birthday greetings, appointment reminders, or invoice follow-ups.
• Multi-channel: Extend the workflow to also send SMS via Twilio or a Slack message after the email is sent.
• HTML Emails: Change the Gmail node's emailType to "html" and use an HTML template in the message field.
• Conditional Logic: Add more filter conditions (e.g., only send to certain segments) or use a Switch node to route different email templates.
• Logging: Add a node to log sent emails to another sheet or a database for auditing.

{
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    "templateId": "2088"
  },
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "0e4c65ce-95e9-4a32-bc5c-0461cb339764",
      "name": "Filter Status (Waiting for sending)",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.filter",
      "position": [
        1670,
        1110
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {
          "looseTypeValidation": true
        },
        "conditions": {
          "options": {
            "leftValue": "",
            "caseSensitive": true,
            "typeValidation": "loose"
          },
          "combinator": "and",
          "conditions": [
            {
              "id": "401b79a0-a079-4ea0-805b-a963d9206031",
              "operator": {
                "name": "filter.operator.equals",
                "type": "string",
                "operation": "equals"
              },
              "leftValue": "={{ $json.Status }}",
              "rightValue": "Waiting for sending"
            },
            {
              "id": "74ec18c7-e4cc-4d82-ba05-0ec4781cbb9f",
              "operator": {
                "type": "string",
                "operation": "exists",
                "singleValue": true
              },
              "leftValue": "={{ $json.Title }}",
              "rightValue": ""
            },
            {
              "id": "6e293a16-48cd-40bb-9882-09b456a97d58",
              "operator": {
                "type": "string",
// ... truncated (copy to see full JSON)