Issue with extract from file, freezing server

[aredder02]

Describe the problem/error/question

My n8n server/instance is freezing/crashing whenever my “extract from file” node tries to execute.

I am trying to extract information from an excel file.

What is the error message (if any)?

It doesn’t produce an error message, but here is the relevant part of the log:
16:29:00.093 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mRunning node “Code14” startede[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Code14”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.187 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mRunning node “Code14” finished successfullye[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Code14”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.188 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mStart executing node "Loop Over Items2"e[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Loop Over Items2”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.188 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mRunning node “Loop Over Items2” startede[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Loop Over Items2”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.189 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mRunning node “Loop Over Items2” finished successfullye[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Loop Over Items2”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.189 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mStart executing node "Extract from File1"e[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Extract from File1”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m
16:29:00.189 e[34mdebuge[39m e[34mRunning node “Extract from File1” startede[39m e[2m{ “node”: “Extract from File1”, “workflowId”: “cTWVcWNNTslwmGMu”, “file”: “logger-proxy.js”, “function”: “exports.debug” }e[22m

Please share your workflow

Share the output returned by the last node

There is no output/error, only the log sent above.

Information on your n8n setup

• n8n version: 1.109.2
• Database (default: SQLite): SQLite
• **n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): **
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): npm
• Operating system: Windows 11

[jabbson]

Hey @aredder02 hope all is well.

How large is the file you are trying to extract data from?
If this is not a large file, could you share the file (given no sensitive info is in the file)?

[aredder02]

Hello jabbson, usually the file is around 10 kB to 1 mB, the files i have tested were around 10 kB, both of them excel files.

I cannot share the exact file due to sensitive information, also it doesn’t seem like the upload function here on the forum allows for excel files. However, i have provided a screenshot of the an example file in excel.

[jabbson]

Hi,

If you have an example file, which causes the issue but doesn’t have any sensitive content, I could try it myself to see if the same happens to me. You could share the file through any file storage, which allows you to publicly share - google drive, any other driver, even github will do.

[jabbson]

If I try to re-create the file you have and then read it from n8n, it works just fine:

[aredder02]

Using my workflow where i get the attachments from an outlook mail i have succesfully gotten the workflow to throw an error instead of freezing.

The file size of this particular excel file is 9.42 kB. However i get this specific error:

Bad compressed size: 0 != 25114728

Stack trace:

NodeOperationError: Bad compressed size: 0 != 25114728 at ExecuteContext.execute (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-nodes-base\nodes\SpreadsheetFile\v2\fromFile.operation.ts:223:10) at ExecuteContext.execute (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-nodes-base\nodes\Files\ExtractFromFile\actions\spreadsheet.operation.ts:57:66) at ExecuteContext.execute (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-nodes-base\nodes\Files\ExtractFromFile\ExtractFromFile.node.ts:122:43) at WorkflowExecute.executeNode (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-core\src\execution-engine\workflow-execute.ts:1253:31) at WorkflowExecute.runNode (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-core\src\execution-engine\workflow-execute.ts:1427:22) at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-core\src\execution-engine\workflow-execute.ts:1727:38 at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\n8n\node_modules\n8n-core\src\execution-engine\workflow-execute.ts:2303:11

[aredder02]

It seems i have resolved the issue. The problem was that the option “Read as string” on the “Extract from file” node was turned on. Turning this off fixed the problem