n8n: Save Gmail Attachments to Google Drive

Every inbox holds hidden potential. Buried inside daily emails are contracts, invoices, recordings, and resources that keep your work moving forward. Yet, if you are manually downloading attachments and uploading them to Google Drive, that potential is trapped behind repetitive clicks and constant context switching.

Automation gives you that time back. In this guide, you will turn a small, focused n8n workflow into a powerful stepping stone toward a more streamlined workday. You will learn how to automatically pull attachments from Gmail, place them neatly into a Google Drive folder, and generate shareable links you can use anywhere in your systems.

This is not just about saving a few minutes. It is about building the habit of automating small tasks so you can focus on the work that actually grows your business or career.

From inbox overload to intentional workflow

Think about how often you:

• Open an email, download an attachment, then upload it to the right Drive folder
• Forget to move an important file and later scramble to find it
• Manually copy links to share with teammates or clients

Each of these steps is simple, yet together they drain focus and energy. When you automate them, you create space for deeper work, faster responses, and fewer mistakes.

The workflow in this article turns a messy, manual process into a clear, repeatable system. It reads messages from a specific Gmail label, uploads attachments to a chosen Google Drive folder, and returns a clean, shareable link for every file. Once it is running, your inbox becomes a quiet input channel for your automated file system.

What this n8n workflow helps you achieve

This n8n template focuses on three core actions that, together, create a simple but powerful automation:

• Read messages from a Gmail label so only tagged or filtered emails are processed
• Upload attachments to a specified Google Drive folder where your files stay organized and easy to find
• Return the Drive file webViewLink so you can share or use the file link in any downstream process

Once in place, this workflow becomes a building block. You can plug it into notification systems, reporting flows, or media processing pipelines. It is a compact piece of automation that can grow with your needs.

Mindset: start small, think scalable

It is tempting to wait for the perfect, all-in-one automation before you start. Instead, treat this workflow as a small, practical experiment. You are not just saving attachments. You are learning how to:

• Connect apps in n8n using OAuth credentials
• Work with binary data like file attachments
• Use expressions to name files and extract important fields

Once you are comfortable with this pattern, you can reuse it again and again. The same approach works for invoices, audio files, reports, or any file that lands in your inbox.

What you need before you start

To build and run this Gmail-to-Drive automation, make sure you have:

• An n8n instance, either cloud or self-hosted
• Gmail OAuth credentials or a connected Gmail node in n8n
• Google Drive OAuth credentials or a connected Drive node in n8n
• A target Google Drive folder ID where files will be uploaded

With these in place, you are ready to translate a manual routine into a repeatable workflow.

The three-node journey: from email to shareable link

This workflow is intentionally compact. The template uses just three n8n nodes to move from raw email to a clean link:

1. Gmail (getAll messages) – fetch messages or messages under a specific label
2. Google Drive (Upload File) – upload the binary attachment into Drive
3. Set (Get attachment Link) – capture the Drive file link (webViewLink) and format the output

Let us walk through each step so you can both understand and confidently customize it.

Step 1: Configure the Gmail node to fetch messages

Your journey starts with defining which emails should trigger automation. In n8n, add a Gmail node and configure it to retrieve messages, ideally from a specific label you control.

Recommended settings for the Gmail node:

• Resource: message
• Operation: getAll
• Additional Fields:
  • Set format to resolved so attachments are available in binary form
  • Optionally set labelIds to the label you want to process

Using a label gives you control. You can:

• Create a Gmail filter that automatically labels relevant emails
• Manually apply the label when you want an email processed

How to get a label ID: You can open Gmail labels via the Gmail API or use the n8n Gmail node to list labels. Once you have the label ID, plug it into the node and your workflow will only touch messages you have clearly marked for automation.

Step 2: Upload attachments to Google Drive

Next, connect the Gmail node to a Google Drive node configured with the Upload operation. This is where your binary email attachments become organized Drive files.

Key settings for the Google Drive Upload node used in the template:

• Name: {{$binary.attachment_0.fileName}} This uses the original filename from the email attachment.
• Parents: your Drive folder ID, for example ["1I-tBNWFhH2FwcyiKeBOcGseWktF-nXBr"]
• binaryData: true
• binaryPropertyName: attachment_0 This is the default name for the first attachment in n8n.
• resolveData: true This ensures the node output includes resolved metadata such as webViewLink.
• authentication: OAuth2 using your Drive OAuth credentials

Handling multiple attachments with confidence

If your emails often contain more than one attachment, you can extend the workflow a bit further. Before the Upload node, add a:

• SplitInBatches node, or
• SplitOutItems node

These nodes let you process each attachment item-by-item. n8n will expose attachments as separate items depending on your Gmail node configuration, so splitting them ensures every file is uploaded correctly.

Prevent overwriting by using unique filenames

When similar files arrive regularly, it is easy to accidentally overwrite them. You can avoid this by appending a timestamp or unique ID in the Name expression. For example:

{{$binary.attachment_0.fileName.replace(/\.[^/.]+$/, '') + '_' + Date.now() + '.' + $binary.attachment_0.fileName.split('.').pop()}}

This expression keeps the original base name and extension, and adds a unique timestamp. Your Drive folder stays clean, and no file silently replaces another.

Step 3: Capture the shareable Drive link with a Set node

Once the file is uploaded, the Google Drive node returns useful metadata, including webViewLink. To make that link easy to reuse downstream, add a Set node after the Drive Upload node.

Example configuration in the Set node:

Values -> String -> 
Name: mp4_attachment 
Value: {{$json["webViewLink"]}}

This gives your resulting item a clean field called mp4_attachment that holds the shareable Drive link. You can rename this field to match your own use case, but the idea is the same: extract the value you care about and give it a clear, meaningful name.

Optional enhancements to level up your automation

Once the core workflow is working, you can start shaping it around your specific needs. Here are a few ways to extend it without losing simplicity.

Filter by file type, for example only .mp4 files

If you only want to upload certain file types, add an If node right after the Gmail node. Use it to check the binary file name:

Condition: String -> Expression -> 
{{$binary.attachment_0.fileName.endsWith('.mp4')}}

Only messages whose first attachment ends with .mp4 will pass through to the Drive upload step. This is ideal for workflows that focus on video processing, audio files, or specific document types.

Make uploaded files publicly viewable

By default, files uploaded to Google Drive might be private or limited to your account. If you want to share links externally, you can automatically adjust permissions.

Add a Google Drive node using the Permissions: create operation, or use an HTTP node to call the Drive permissions API. Configure it to set:

• type: anyone
• role: reader

Example permission body:

{  "role": "reader",  "type": "anyone"
}

Once permissions are applied, the webViewLink returned by the Upload node will allow anyone with the link to view the file. This is powerful for client access, shared resources, or content pipelines.

Build in error handling and logging

Reliable automation is not just about success paths. It is also about knowing when something fails. To make this workflow more robust, consider:

• Adding a Catch Error or Error Trigger node to record upload errors
• Logging file names and message IDs to a Google Sheet or database for auditing and traceability

These small additions give you visibility and confidence as you depend more on automation.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

As you experiment and refine the workflow, you might encounter a few common issues. Here is how to troubleshoot them quickly.

• Missing binary data: Make sure the Gmail node format is set to resolved. Without this, binary attachments will not be available to the Drive node.
• No webViewLink in the output: Confirm that the Google Drive node has resolveData set to true. Otherwise, the metadata will be minimal and the link may not appear.
• Permission errors: Check that your Drive OAuth credentials have the correct scopes, such as drive.file or broader, depending on your needs.
• Very large attachments: Large files can hit Drive API size limits or cause timeouts. Test the workflow with representative files and adjust expectations or architecture if needed.

Useful expression snippets you can reuse

Here are a couple of handy expressions from this workflow that you can copy into other automations as well.

Use the upload filename from the first attachment:

{{$binary.attachment_0.fileName}}

Get the Drive webViewLink in a Set node:

{{$json["webViewLink"]}}

These expressions are small, but once you are comfortable with them, you can start crafting more complex naming schemes and data transformations.

Turning a simple chain into a bigger automation ecosystem

The core chain of Gmail -> Google Drive Upload -> Set is intentionally simple. Yet it can become the backbone of larger, more ambitious workflows. Here are a few ways to extend it as your automation skills grow:

• Add notifications: Send a Slack message or email whenever a file is uploaded so your team knows new resources are available.
• Auto-tag Gmail messages: After processing, add or change a label so you do not re-process the same email in future runs.
• Trigger media or data processing: For example, start a transcoding job when an .mp4 file is uploaded, or trigger a data pipeline when a CSV lands in the folder.

Each enhancement is another step in your automation journey. You are not just building a single workflow. You are building a mindset of delegating repetitive work to systems, so you can focus on strategy, creativity, and connection.

Your next step: experiment, refine, and grow

You now have a clear path from idea to implementation. The next step is to try it for yourself.

Here is a simple way to move forward:

1. Import the template into your n8n instance.
2. Connect your Gmail and Google Drive credentials.
3. Set your target Drive folder ID and optional Gmail label.
4. Run a test with a few sample emails and attachments.
5. Adjust filenames, permissions, and filters until the flow feels reliable.

Use this template as your starting point, not your final destination. As you see how much time and mental load it removes, you will naturally spot other areas of your work that are ready for automation.

Call to action: start automating your attachments today

If you are ready to move from manual file handling to a more focused, automated workflow, this n8n template is a practical first step. Import it, run a test, and experience how it feels when your inbox and Drive start working together for you.

If you want a ready-made template or help customizing the workflow for multiple attachments, permission presets, or advanced routing, reach out for support or subscribe to our automation newsletter for more guides and ideas.