n8n Automation: Send ShipStation Tracking Emails from Google Sheets

Automatically email ShipStation tracking from Google Sheets (with duplicate protection)

This n8n workflow reads shipping-ready orders from your Google Sheets “Orders” tab, optionally pulls tracking details from ShipStation, sends a Gmail tracking/installation email, and writes a “Ship email sent” timestamp back to the sheet—so the same order isn’t emailed twice.

What this workflow does

• Runs twice on weekdays at 08:30 and 16:30 (or you can start it manually).
• Loads configuration and accesses the Google Sheets Orders tab (uses demo orders if the sheet isn’t connected).
• Filters eligible rows: selects orders where Stage = “Shipped”, a confirmation timestamp is present, and no prior shipping email has been recorded.
• Obtains tracking data: uses the tracking number from the sheet when available; otherwise (when enabled) queries the ShipStation API to fetch carrier, tracking number, and ship date.
• Handles exceptions: stops processing if no tracking number is found, and separately surfaces any rows marked Shipped that are missing a confirmation timestamp.
• Sends the email via Gmail in test/live modes, including tracking details and installation information derived from product rules.
• Updates your sheet with carrier, tracking, ship date, and a “Ship email sent” timestamp to prevent duplicate sends on future runs.

Use cases

• Email customers tracking updates automatically when orders reach Shipped in your Google Sheets workflow.
• Bridge Google Sheets order staging with ShipStation tracking data for more accurate notifications.
• Operational teams running on n8n to reduce manual “send the tracking email” tasks and ensure idempotency.

Technical details

• Google Sheets (read/update Orders tab using spreadsheet ID + tab name from config)
• Gmail (send tracking emails; configurable From name and optional Reply-To/test recipients)
• ShipStation API (optional tracking lookup)
• n8n nodes: if, code, no op, gmail, sticky note, http request