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Gmail Attachment Backup to Google Drive

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Created by: Akhil Varma Gadiraju || akhilv7

Akhil Varma Gadiraju

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Last update a month ago

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📥 Gmail Attachment Backup to Google Drive — n8n Workflow

This n8n workflow automatically backs up email attachments from a specific sender in Gmail to a designated folder in Google Drive. It polls Gmail every minute and uploads any new attachments from matching emails to the specified Google Drive folder with a timestamped filename.

📌 Use Case

Primary Purpose:

  • Automatically archive and back up attachments from a specific sender (e.g., [email protected]) to Google Drive for safekeeping, audit, or processing.

Ideal For:

  • Automating invoice/receipt collection from a vendor
  • Archiving reports from a monitored email address
  • Creating a searchable historical log of attachments for compliance

🧭 Workflow Overview

Here’s how the workflow operates:

  1. 🔔 Gmail Trigger
    Polls Gmail every minute for new messages from a specific sender ([email protected]).

  2. 📩 Gmail Get Message
    Retrieves the full contents (including attachments) of the matched email.

  3. 🧠 Code (JS)
    Iterates over all binary attachments in the email and restructures them as individual binary items to upload separately.

  4. 📤 Google Drive
    Uploads each attachment to a target Google Drive folder (DOcs) with a timestamp and unique name.

  5. 📍 Replace Me (NoOp)
    Placeholder node to indicate workflow completion. You can replace this with Slack notifications, logs, or alerts.

🔧 How to Use

Prerequisites

  • An n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
  • A connected Gmail account with OAuth2 credentials
  • A connected Google Drive account with OAuth2 credentials
  • Permissions for n8n to access your Gmail and Google Drive

Setup Instructions

  1. Import the Workflow
    Copy and paste the workflow JSON into your n8n editor.

  2. Set Up Credentials
    Ensure the following credentials exist and are authorized:

    • `Gmail (for Gmail nodes)
    • `Google Drive (for Google Drive node)

  3. Configure the Folder
    Update the folderId in the Google Drive node if you want to use a different target folder.

  4. Activate the Workflow
    Enable the workflow in n8n. It will start polling Gmail every minute.

✏️ How to Customize

Task How to Customize
Change sender filter Modify the sender field in the Gmail Trigger node
Adjust polling frequency Change the pollTimes configuration in the trigger node
Change destination folder Update folderId in the Google Drive node
Modify filename format Edit the name expression in the Google Drive node
Add post-upload logic Replace or extend the Replace Me node with notifications, logs, etc.
Process only specific attachments Add logic in the Code node to filter by filename or MIME type

📂 Filename Format Example

[MessageID]_[Timestamp]_backup_attachment

This naming convention ensures uniqueness and traceability back to the original message.

✅ Future Improvements

  • Email subject filtering to narrow down the match
  • Slack/Email notifications after upload
  • Deduplication check to avoid reuploading the same files
  • Virus scan or file validation before upload

💬 Support

For any issues using this workflow:

  • Double-check your credential permissions
  • Review n8n logs for Gmail or Google Drive errors
  • Visit the n8n community forums