Google Sheets Integration - Persistent "Forbidden" Error

Questions
1

Hi everyone,

I’m having trouble connecting my n8n workflow to my Google Sheet. I repeatedly get a “Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials?” error. I’ve tried re-adding my Google account multiple times, double-checking that the account has Editor access to the spreadsheet, and verifying the OAuth2 connection, but the issue persists.

I’m using the latest version of n8n. I’ve already checked the OAuth2 scopes to ensure they include https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file, but this hasn’t resolved the problem.

I have tried everything including making the sheet public and anyone can edit.

Has anyone encountered this before? Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated. I’m happy to provide additional details or screenshots if needed.

  • n8n version: 1.94.1
  • Database (default: SQLite): google sheets on my google account
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): own,main
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): n8n cloud
  • Operating system: Windows 10

Thanks in advance for your help!

1 Like
2

Hello @Nani, welcome to the community!

Is the file created with the same account? Please check the coherence between authentication and file creation.

Other thing to check is the permission state of the file: even if you’ve shared the spreadsheet and assigned “Editor” rights, Google Drive may still block API access unless:

  • The file is shared using “Anyone with the link” (temporarily, for test)

  • Or the authenticated user is the owner or has “full” access from within the Google Drive UI (not just sheet)

Also try to enable the Google Drive API in GCP.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the reply.
Yes, the same account is connected from start to finish, it is reading the URL from the same file but cant write in it.
here are some screenshots

image
image2512×1296 88.4 KB

image
image2520×1290 71.2 KB

image
image514×446 23.4 KB

the url to the file is not in drive but in docs i think.
I say this because the url looks like this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/…
Should i try to put the file in my drive?

i enabled google drive API

image
image2439×274 15.3 KB

added the credentials too but its still showing me the same problem.

4

Yes please, try it.