How to Track Vendor Communication from Gmail to Google Sheets with N8n

Workflows > New Workflow

Create new N8n workflow

Set up a new workflow to monitor Gmail for vendor emails. You'll build a scheduled workflow that checks Gmail every 15 minutes for new messages from specified domains.

1. 1Click 'New Workflow' from the N8n dashboard
2. 2Name it 'Vendor Email Tracker'
3. 3Click 'Save' to create the workflow

Nodes > Core > Schedule Trigger

Add Schedule Trigger node

Configure the workflow to run every 15 minutes. This gives you near real-time tracking without hitting Gmail's API limits too aggressively.

1. 1Click the '+' button next to Start
2. 2Select 'Schedule Trigger' from the Core nodes
3. 3Set Trigger Interval to 'Minutes'
4. 4Enter '15' in the Minutes field

Nodes > Google > Gmail

Connect Gmail node

Add Gmail integration to search for emails from your vendor domains. You'll need to authenticate with your Google account and configure the search parameters.

1. 1Click '+' after the Schedule Trigger
2. 2Search for 'Gmail' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Get Many' operation
4. 4Click 'Sign in with Google' to authenticate
5. 5Authorize N8n to access your Gmail

Gmail > Parameters

Configure vendor domain search

Set up Gmail to only fetch emails from specific vendor domains. Use Gmail's search syntax to filter by sender domain and recency.

1. 1In the Gmail node, set Format to 'Full'
2. 2In the Query field, enter 'from:@vendor1.com OR from:@vendor2.com newer_than:1h'
3. 3Replace vendor1.com and vendor2.com with your actual vendor domains
4. 4Set Limit to 50

Nodes > Core > IF

Add IF node for new emails

Check if Gmail returned any emails before proceeding. This prevents the workflow from failing when no new vendor emails exist.

1. 1Add an IF node after Gmail
2. 2Set Condition to 'Number'
3. 3Set Value 1 to '{{$json.length}}'
4. 4Set Operation to 'Larger'
5. 5Set Value 2 to '0'

Nodes > Google > Google Sheets

Connect Google Sheets node

Add Google Sheets integration to log the email data. You'll authenticate and select your target spreadsheet for the communication log.

1. 1Connect a Google Sheets node to the 'true' output of the IF node
2. 2Select 'Append' operation
3. 3Click 'Sign in with Google' if not already connected
4. 4Select your target spreadsheet from the dropdown
5. 5Choose the worksheet (usually 'Sheet1')

Google Sheets > Columns

Map email fields to spreadsheet

Configure which email data goes into each spreadsheet column. You'll extract the sender, subject, date, and domain from the Gmail response.

1. 1In the Google Sheets node, click 'Add Column'
2. 2Set Column A to 'Date' with value '{{$json.internalDate}}'
3. 3Add Column B as 'Sender' with '{{$json.payload.headers.find(h => h.name === "From").value}}'
4. 4Add Column C as 'Subject' with '{{$json.payload.headers.find(h => h.name === "Subject").value}}'
5. 5Add Column D as 'Domain' with '{{$json.payload.headers.find(h => h.name === "From").value.split("@")[1].split(">")[0]}}'

Workflow > Execute Workflow

Test the workflow

Run a test to verify your vendor email tracking works correctly. You'll see sample data flow from Gmail to your spreadsheet.

1. 1Click 'Execute Workflow' button
2. 2Wait for all nodes to complete (green checkmarks)
3. 3Click on the Google Sheets node to see the output
4. 4Check your spreadsheet for new rows with vendor email data

Node Settings > Error Handling

Add error handling

Configure the workflow to handle API failures gracefully without stopping the entire automation. This ensures continuous monitoring even during temporary issues.

1. 1Click on the Gmail node settings (gear icon)
2. 2Select 'Continue on Fail' option
3. 3Add an HTTP Request node connected to the error output
4. 4Configure it to send error notifications to your monitoring system

Workflow > Activate Toggle

Activate the workflow

Turn on the workflow to begin automatic vendor email tracking. The schedule will start immediately and run every 15 minutes.

1. 1Click the toggle switch at the top right to 'Active'
2. 2Verify the status shows 'Active' with a green indicator
3. 3Check the executions log after 15 minutes to confirm it's running

Drop this into an n8n Code node.

// Clean and standardize vendor domains
const fromHeader = $json.payload.headers.find(h => h.name === 'From').value;
const domain = fromHeader.match(/@([^>\s]+)/)?.[1]?.toLowerCase();

// Clean and standardize vendor domains
const fromHeader = $json.payload.headers.find(h => h.name === 'From').value;
const domain = fromHeader.match(/@([^>\s]+)/)?.[1]?.toLowerCase();
return { ...json, cleanDomain: domain };