Google Drive - File Download Forbidden?

[Emmett_M]

Hey guys,

Any idea why I am getting this forbidden credential error when using the Download file action for Google Drive? The same credential is working fine with search and I also tested the delete action as well which works fine.

I am the owner of the file and tried to change permissions as well but no joy.

Running the latest 1.74 release.

Any help appreciated.

[n8n]

It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.

• n8n version:
• Database (default: SQLite):
• n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
• Operating system:

[nmatton]

Hello!

I’m experiencing the same issue. Even more oddly, it works with some files but not others, even though they were both generated from a template within the same n8n workflow!

It seems to be a google-related issue.
With direct HTTP call on the api, same results arise.

[nmatton]

(Sorry for posting multiple times instead of editing; I didn’t consider it at the time)

Actually, testing with the HTTP request carried significant meaning !

The log message was in clear text, which clearly states:

403 - "{\n "error": {\n "code": 403,\n "message": "This file is too large to be exported.",\n "errors": [\n {\n "message": "This file is too large to be exported.",\n "domain": "global",\n "reason": "exportSizeLimitExceeded\n }\n ]\n }\n}\n"

This appears to be the same error you encountered.

The N8N node encodes the response in a JSON buffer.

To convert it to a readable format, you can run the following code:

const bufferData = {
  type: "Buffer",
  data: [
    123, 10...
};
const readableMessage = String.fromCharCode(...bufferData.data);
console.log(readableMessage);

So the file size is the limit.

Checking this link, it is possible to overcome this situation with custom API calls, check workflow below: