Telegram Invoice Photos to Google Drive + Sheets Log (n8n)

Telegram invoices/photos go straight to Google Drive—with an automatic Google Sheets log

This n8n workflow automatically listens to a Telegram bot for incoming photos or PDF invoice documents, saves each file to Google Drive with a timestamped name, and records every upload in Google Sheets—then confirms back to the sender in Telegram.

What this workflow does

• Triggers on new Telegram messages received by your bot.
• Validates the content: if the message is not a photo or a PDF invoice, the bot replies with guidance for the sender.
• Downloads the accepted file (photo or PDF) from Telegram.
• Uploads to Google Drive in your configured folder, naming the file with the current timestamp and the sender’s first name.
• Appends a row to Google Sheets in the Invoices tab, including:
  • received time
  • sender name
  • drive_link
  • status (set to “new”)
• Sends a confirmation message back to the sender in Telegram after a successful upload.

Use cases

• Centralize invoice submissions: employees send invoices to Telegram, and they’re archived in Drive with a matching row in Sheets.
• Operational tracking for SaaS teams: quickly audit who sent what and when via the “new” status in Google Sheets.
• Lightweight document intake: collect photos of receipts or PDF invoices without building a custom form.

Technical details

• Telegram Trigger for incoming messages.
• if logic to allow only photos or PDFs.
• set and workflow nodes to build filenames using timestamp and sender first name.
• Google Drive node to upload files to a specified Drive folder.
• Google Sheets node to append to the Invoices tab with received, sender, drive_link, status.
• Sticky Note for in-workflow guidance (as provided in the workflow).

Setup requirements

• Telegram bot token from @BotFather.
• Google credentials with access to Google Drive and Google Sheets.
• Paste the Google Drive folder ID and the Google Sheets document ID in the Settings node.
• Create a sheet tab named Invoices with columns: received, sender, drive_link, status.