Google Drive - “Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials”

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

I have an active workflow that copies a template into a specified folder, then pre fills that template in the next step. On the Google Drive node in which I am using the copy operation, sometimes it will just randomly error out saying “Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials”, with no other explanation. Has anyone else seen this behavior? If I were to rerun the workflow it would run fine until it randomly happens again. Any help would be appreciated.

Workflow:
(Disregard the undefined webhook values. Isolated the drive node for demonstration purposes)

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: 1.70.4
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): n8n cloud
  • Operating system: Windows 10
2

Keen to find out too. I started to get this for my google drive download node.

To be specific, here’s an error code to it. But it used to work fine few weeks back.
Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials?
Request failed with status code 403.

If I manually enter the ID of the file, it works without any issue.
but if I get the node to automatically identify it using {{$json.id}}, it error out.

1 Like
3

i got same problem, error 403.

1 Like
4

Further narrowed down, this appeared to be a load issue. As if I lower the no of records process by the Google Download node from 13 to 12, it immediately works.
12 records:

image
image1857×889 136 KB

13 records

image
image1819×849 120 KB

I have did the repeatitive tests, it shows consistency on the above.

1 Like
5

Im not so sure thats the case. My workflow only processes one record per run and I still see the error

1 Like
6

Same issue here! Did anyone manage to resolve it?

1 Like
7

I am also battling with Google Drive Credentials - see my post here

Mine only happens on the Download File request

image

1 Like
8

I have the same issue when downloading a file from Google Drive API.

“Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials?
Request failed with status code 403”

This workflow used to work perfectly fine until n8n v 1.8.x

Has anyone found a fix?

9

Still waiting for someone from n8n to diagnose the issue

1 Like
10

Same here.

11

When decoded, the error message given reads like this:

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

Original message:


{ "type": "Buffer", "data": [ 123, 10, 32, 32, 34, 101, 114, 114, 111, 114, 34, 58, 32, 123, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 99, 111, 100, 101, 34, 58, 32, 52, 48, 51, 44, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 109, 101, 115, 115, 97, 103, 101, 34, 58, 32, 34, 84, 104, 105, 115, 32, 102, 105, 108, 101, 32, 105, 115, 32, 116, 111, 111, 32, 108, 97, 114, 103, 101, 32, 116, 111, 32, 98, 101, 32, 101, 120, 112, 111, 114, 116, 101, 100, 46, 34, 44, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 101, 114, 114, 111, 114, 115, 34, 58, 32, 91, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 123, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 109, 101, 115, 115, 97, 103, 101, 34, 58, 32, 34, 84, 104, 105, 115, 32, 102, 105, 108, 101, 32, 105, 115, 32, 116, 111, 111, 32, 108, 97, 114, 103, 101, 32, 116, 111, 32, 98, 101, 32, 101, 120, 112, 111, 114, 116, 101, 100, 46, 34, 44, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 100, 111, 109, 97, 105, 110, 34, 58, 32, 34, 103, 108, 111, 98, 97, 108, 34, 44, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 114, 101, 97, 115, 111, 110, 34, 58, 32, 34, 101, 120, 112, 111, 114, 116, 83, 105, 122, 101, 76, 105, 109, 105, 116, 69, 120, 99, 101, 101, 100, 101, 100, 34, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 125, 10, 32, 32, 32, 32, 93, 10, 32, 32, 125, 10, 125, 10 ] }
12

Same problem here…
In my workflow I want to export the downloaded files from drive to pinecone.
Used to work on previous versions…not anymore I guess.

13

I had a similar issue: Setting up a node to connect to specific folder and it popped the “Forbidden” error.
Within the test step - google drive connect screen, I chose the folder I wanted to connect to and it popped a warning suggesting “Check Credentials”. So under credentials, I reconnected to my drive, selected “Select All” permission instead of the few selected I had earlier and it worked. No more error and it connected to my drive.

TL;DR: Try setting permission to “Select All” for GDrive access. Exercise caution as this could be a security concern for few.

14

How do you go about “decoding” the string of numbers to something readable?

15

I used ChatGPT :slight_smile:

16

i think i figured it out…atleast for audio files

instead of using ID you need to change it to URL

i put “http” in the search bar of the google folder trigger node to filter for all the urls and then chose “{{ $json.webViewLink }}”

once i changed it to “URL” on the Google drive download node and input the URL variable , the mp3 file i was trying to download finally worked

for the audio file, it didnt actually have an ID , which is normally at the end of the url, so thats why i think giving n8n the Url instead worked.

17

Try this, it might work.

enable sharing permissions for the for the file in google drive, give editor access to it.

Rgiht click, share, any with the link and change it to editor

18

Found a solution. Was getting the same exact error. My solution: in the Google Drive nodes i changed the search method and tested different ones and it started working again.