Archive Web Pages as PDFs with n8n, Gaffa & Google Drive

Archive monitored web pages as dated PDFs—only when content changes

This n8n workflow checks the web pages you list in Google Sheets every morning, uses Gaffa to extract the page as text and generate a PDF, and then uploads a new dated file to Google Drive only when the page content changes.

What this workflow does

• Runs on a schedule (every morning).
• Reads your Google Sheet from the “Pages” tab and keeps only rows that include a Page URL.
• For each URL, loads the page in Gaffa (optionally using a provided `Selector`) to generate page text and a PDF.
• If the page can’t be read or no text is returned, it writes an error status and updates the Last checked date back to the same row.
• Hashes the extracted page text and compares it with the row’s stored Last hash.
• If the hash changed:
  • Downloads the generated PDF and uploads it to a target Google Drive folder with a dated filename.
  • Updates Last hash, Last changed, Last PDF, Last checked, and Status in Google Sheets.
• If the hash did not change, it updates Last checked and sets Status to no change.

Use cases

• Archive daily snapshots of marketing pages, release notes, or policy pages as PDFs for auditability.
• Monitor competitor or vendor landing pages and store evidence only when content changes.
• Track documentation updates across multiple URLs with per-row selectors.

Technical details

• Gaffa via the community node @gaffa-dev/n8n-nodes-gaffa (API key from gaffa.dev).
• Google Sheets and Google Drive credentials in n8n.
• Core n8n logic using nodes such as if, set, filter, and sticky note, plus HTTP Request and Google Drive for PDF upload.