📁 Gmail to Google Drive email export workflow

⚡ 1,768 views · 📁 File Management

Description

📬 Gmail to Google Drive Email Export Workflow (n8n)

🧩 Overview

This n8n workflow automates the process of:

Retrieving all emails from a specific sender using Gmail.
Extracting essential fields like subject, message, and date.
Formatting the email date to the desired time zone (e.g., IST).
Exporting the parsed data as a CSV file.
Uploading the file to a specified folder in Google Drive.

🛠 Nodes Breakdown

1. Start Workflow (`Manual Trigger`)

Type: Manual Trigger
Purpose: Initiates the workflow manually.

2. Gmail Node (`Get All Emails`)

Type: Gmail
Operation: getAll
Filters:
- sender: akhilgadiraju@gmail.com
Returns: All emails from the specified sender.
Credentials: Gmail OAuth2 - Akhil

3. Parse Data (`Set Node`)

Purpose: Extracts key fields from the email JSON.
Mapped Fields:
- id: Email ID
- subject: Email subject
- message: Email text
- time: Email date

4. Convert Time Field (`Code Node`)

Purpose: Converts the email time (ISO 8601) to a human-readable format.
Output Format:
- Local time using Asia/Kolkata timezone.
- Format: "Month Day, Year, Hour:Minute AM/PM"
Customizable: Change the timezone as needed:

timeZone: 'Asia/Kolkata'

5. Convert to File

Type: Convert to File Node
Purpose: Converts JSON data to a downloadable .csv file.
Output File: CSV containing id, subject, message, and time.

6. Google Drive

Type: Google Drive
Purpose: Uploads the generated CSV file to Google Drive.
Drive: My Drive
Folder: Root
File Name: Current timestamp + _n8n_export.csv

7. End Workflow (`NoOp`)

Purpose: Final node to explicitly end the workflow.

✅ Use Cases

Personal Email Archiving: Back up or export emails from a specific sender (e.g., invoices, reports).
Audit Logs: Save conversations for compliance.
Team Reports: Aggregate project emails into a central file store.

🔧 Customization Guide

Customization	How to Do It
Change Sender Email	Update the `sender` field in the Gmail node.
Filter by Date/Subject	Add filters in the Gmail node settings.
Change Time Zone	Edit `timeZone` in the Code node.
Add More Email Fields	Modify the `Set` node to include more fields.
Change File Format	Use a different format in the Convert to File node.
Rename Output File	Adjust the `name` in the Google Drive node.
Change Upload Folder	Set a different `folderId` in the Google Drive node.

🚀 Deployment Tips

Schedule the Workflow: Replace Manual Trigger with a Cron node.
Avoid Duplicates: Store email IDs and skip duplicates using conditional logic.
Security: Use environment variables for sensitive credentials.

🧪 Testing Steps

Manually trigger the workflow.
Verify email data is parsed and formatted.
Confirm CSV is generated correctly.
Ensure the file is uploaded to Google Drive.

🧰 Requirements

Connected Gmail and Google Drive OAuth2 credentials.
n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud).
Required nodes available in the n8n environment.

> 💡 Need more features? You can add: > - Error handling > - Slack/Email notifications > - Conditional filters > - Google Sheets integration instead of Drive

🔗 Nodes Used

Google Drive, Gmail, Convert to File

📥 Import

Download workflow.json and import into n8n: Workflow menu → Import from File

📖 Importing guide · 🔑 Credential setup