Google Sheets Trigger errors during polling (but works on edits)

Idearia_Intelligenza · February 6, 2026, 10:08am

Describe the problem/error/question

Hi all,
I’m running into a weird issue with the Google Sheets Trigger. I have it set to poll every 10 minutes.
I keep getting “The service was not able to process your request” errors, but I noticed they only happen when the sheet hasn’t been modified.
Whenever I actually add or change a row, the trigger fires immediately and the workflow runs perfectly. So it seems like the connection just fails randomly during the background polling checks when there’s no new data. I even have “Retry on Fail” enabled (5 tries), but these specific checks still fail.
Has anyone else seen this? Is it just API noise I should ignore, or is something wrong with my setup?

What is the error message (if any)?

The service was not able to process your request

Internal error encountered.

Please share your workflow

Information on your n8n setup

n8n version: 1.123.9
Database (default: SQLite): SQLite
n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): default
Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): n8n cloud
Operating system: MAC

Deepankar · February 6, 2026, 12:25pm

Hey @Idearia_Intelligenza Welcome to the n8n community !

The Google Sheets Trigger doesn’t get push notifications. It polls the Google Sheets API on a schedule and asks something like “anything changed since last check?” When nothing has changed, Google sometimes responds with a vague “The service was not able to process your request” instead of a clean “no updates”. That error usually comes from transient backend issues, quota hiccups, or internal retries on Google’s side. It’s especially common during background polling when there’s no new data.

Also on the other hand, I can see that you have selected “New Version“ in the include in output field.
With this it’s going send the updated/added row as the output. (This only works when the workflow is active/published)
Since there are no updates in the sheet the concept of new or old version doesnt exist.
hence the no update.

Everything is Okay, Let me know if this helps.
Appreciate it @Idearia_Intelligenza