Replacing pinned data with other executions does not work

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

I’m on self hosted n8n, and I’m facing a really annoying issue. Basically, when I have pinned webhook data, and I choose a different execution to pin the data on, If you go into the node, you can see that the new pin data is there. However, I click execute and it chooses the old data. A really annoying bug, and I was wondering if someone could look at itWhat is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow

(Select the nodes on your canvas and use the keyboard shortcuts CMD+C/CTRL+C and CMD+V/CTRL+V to copy and paste the workflow.)

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version:
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
  • Operating system:
3

Hi

If you do not want to use the pinned data, just unpin it. This way, you will always work with new data

4

I know this used n8n for well over a year however the best happens when switching pinned data

5

Hi @Oscar_Growns, welcome!
Maybe re-reading the node would bring some help, also make sure to do a hard reload Ctrl+ Shift+r after switching pinned data in nodes, as sometimes the cached data might get into the flow

6

Welcome to the community!

This is actually a known quirk with how n8n handles pinned data in the browser. The hard reload trick mentioned above (Ctrl+Shift+R) is usually the fix.

A couple more things to try:

  1. After switching the pinned execution, close the node panel entirely, then reopen it before running
  2. If you’re on a self-hosted instance, check your n8n version - some older versions had a bug where the pin wouldn’t update properly until page refresh
  3. Try unpinning, saving the workflow, then re-pinning from the new execution

The pin data is stored in the workflow JSON, so if you open your workflow in JSON view (three dots > Download) you can see the actual pinned data and confirm whether it updated correctly. That helps narrow down if it’s a display issue vs actual data issue.

Hope that helps!