Detect New Orders & Due Date Changes from Google Drive

Detect New Orders & Due Date Changes from Google Drive (Excel/Sheets)

Keep your order pipeline up to date automatically: this n8n workflow scans a Google Drive folder for the latest “Order_List” spreadsheet, validates order rows, and compares them to an n8n Data Table baseline to identify new orders and delivery due date changes.

What this workflow does

Designed for reliability and clear change detection, the workflow:

• Runs manually to start the check.
• Searches Google Drive using a configurable query (default: “Order_List”) and selects the latest matching Excel/Sheets file.
• Downloads and reads the workbook as an .xlsx file (converting Google Sheets when needed) and extracts rows from the first sheet.
• Normalizes and validates orders by mapping required columns: Order No., Customer, Product, and Due Date.
• Converts due dates to YYYY-MM-DD, and stops on missing/invalid or duplicate order numbers to prevent corrupt comparisons.
• Loads a baseline from an n8n Data Table (named order_baseline). If the baseline is empty, it saves the current orders as the initial baseline.
• If a baseline exists, compares current vs. baseline and outputs a preview of:
  • new orders
  • due date changes
• Does not update the baseline after comparisons (so you control when/if the baseline should be refreshed).

Use cases

• An operations team monitors weekly/daily order exports from Google Drive and needs instant visibility into new orders and shifting delivery dates.
• SaaS operators use an n8n Data Table baseline to audit order list changes before triggering downstream processes.

Technical details

• Nodes/steps used: Manual Trigger, Google Drive, If, Code, Data Table, Sticky Note.
• Baseline schema: create Data Table order_baseline with string columns order_number, customer_name, product_name, delivery_date.
• Setup: add Google Drive credentials and update the Drive search query to match your file naming convention.