Julian Abt This workflow corresponds to n8n.io template #16312 — we link there as the canonical source.
This workflow follows the Gmail → Google Sheets recipe pattern — see all workflows that pair these two integrations.
The workflow JSON
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{
"name": "Due-Date Reminder Engine from Google Sheets (no AI)",
"nodes": [
{
"id": "sticky-05-overview",
"name": "Overview & Setup",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-780,
-40
],
"parameters": {
"color": 3,
"width": 560,
"height": 620,
"content": "## \u23f0 Due-Date Reminder Engine (Google Sheets)\n\nA universal, AI-free deadline watcher: reads dated rows from a sheet, works out what's due soon / today / overdue, emails reminders and escalates overdue items to Slack.\n\n### \ud83d\udc64 Who's it for\nAnyone tracking deadlines in a spreadsheet \u2014 invoices, renewals, contracts, tasks, follow-ups \u2014 who wants automatic reminders.\n\n### \u2699\ufe0f How it works\n1. **Schedule** reads the sheet once a day.\n2. A Code node classifies each open row with timezone-safe calendar-day math (Luxon) and skips rows already notified today.\n3. **Gmail** emails every reminder (tone matches urgency).\n4. **Is Overdue?** escalates only overdue items to **Slack**.\n5. **Mark Notified** stamps `NotifiedOn` so nothing fires twice in a day.\n\n### \ud83d\udd27 Set up (~5 min)\n- Add **Google Sheets**, **Gmail OAuth2** and **Slack** credentials.\n- Sheet columns: `Title, DueDate (YYYY-MM-DD), Email, Status, NotifiedOn`.\n- Tune `REMINDER_WINDOW_DAYS` (default 3) in **Compute Due Reminders**."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "sticky-05-s1",
"name": "Section 1 \u00b7 Read",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-170,
-40
],
"parameters": {
"color": 7,
"width": 500,
"height": 440,
"content": "### 1. Read\nDaily trigger \u2192 reads every row of the sheet, keeping the hidden `row_number` for the write-back later."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "sticky-05-s2",
"name": "Section 2 \u00b7 Compute & Send",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
430,
-40
],
"parameters": {
"color": 7,
"width": 540,
"height": 440,
"content": "### 2. Compute & Send\nClassifies each open item as overdue / due today / due soon (skipping rows already notified today), then emails an HTML reminder whose tone matches the urgency."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "sticky-05-s3",
"name": "Section 3 \u00b7 Escalate Overdue",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
1070,
-40
],
"parameters": {
"color": 7,
"width": 500,
"height": 440,
"content": "### 3. Escalate Overdue\n**Is Overdue?** lets only overdue items through to **Slack** for team escalation. Everything else stops after the email."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "sticky-05-s4",
"name": "Section 4 \u00b7 Mark Done",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
1670,
-40
],
"parameters": {
"color": 7,
"width": 200,
"height": 440,
"content": "### 4. Mark Done\nStamps `NotifiedOn` = today on every reminded row, so the same item never re-fires on the same day."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "trigger-daily",
"name": "Every Day at 07:00",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger",
"position": [
-120,
160
],
"parameters": {
"rule": {
"interval": [
{
"field": "days",
"daysInterval": 1,
"triggerAtHour": 7,
"triggerAtMinute": 0
}
]
}
},
"typeVersion": 1.3
},
{
"id": "sheets-read",
"name": "Read Items",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
"onError": "continueRegularOutput",
"position": [
180,
160
],
"parameters": {
"options": {
"dataLocationOnSheet": {
"values": {
"rangeDefinition": "detectAutomatically"
}
}
},
"sheetName": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "list",
"value": "Sheet1",
"cachedResultName": "Sheet1"
},
"documentId": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "url",
"value": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_SHEET_ID/edit"
}
},
"typeVersion": 4.7
},
{
"id": "code-compute",
"name": "Compute Due Reminders",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
"position": [
480,
160
],
"parameters": {
"jsCode": "// \u2500\u2500 Due-Date Reminder Engine \u2014 classification & dedup \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n// Pure core JS. Uses Luxon (DateTime) which n8n injects globally.\n// WHY Luxon: whole-calendar-day math in the workflow timezone avoids\n// UTC off-by-one bugs that plain `new Date()` subtraction produces.\n\n// ===== EDITABLE CONSTANTS ==========================================\nconst REMINDER_WINDOW_DAYS = 3; // days ahead that count as \"due soon\"\nconst DONE_STATUS = 'Done'; // Status value that means \"ignore\"\nconst DATE_FMT = 'yyyy-MM-dd'; // sheet date format (YYYY-MM-DD)\n// ===================================================================\n\n// \"today\" as a date-only anchor in the workflow's timezone.\n// WHY startOf('day'): strips the clock time so diffs are full days.\nconst today = DateTime.now().startOf('day'); // DateTime.now() already honours the workflow timezone\nconst todayStr = today.toFormat(DATE_FMT);\n\nconst out = [];\n\nfor (const item of $input.all()) {\n const row = item.json;\n\n // Skip blank spacer rows that have no due date at all.\n const rawDue = (row.DueDate ?? '').toString().trim();\n if (!rawDue) continue;\n\n // Skip anything already marked finished.\n const status = (row.Status ?? '').toString().trim();\n if (status === DONE_STATUS) continue;\n\n // \u2500\u2500 DEDUP GUARD \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n // If this row was already reminded today, do nothing for it now.\n const notifiedOn = (row.NotifiedOn ?? '').toString().trim();\n if (notifiedOn === todayStr) continue;\n\n // Parse the due date as a date-only value in the same timezone.\n const due = DateTime.fromFormat(rawDue, DATE_FMT, { zone: today.zoneName }).startOf('day');\n if (!due.isValid) continue; // WHY: bad date strings shouldn't crash the run\n\n // Whole-day difference: negative = past, 0 = today, positive = future.\n const daysUntilDue = Math.round(due.diff(today, 'days').days);\n\n // Classify; rows outside the window are left alone.\n let reminderType = null;\n if (daysUntilDue < 0) reminderType = 'overdue';\n else if (daysUntilDue === 0) reminderType = 'due_today';\n else if (daysUntilDue <= REMINDER_WINDOW_DAYS) reminderType = 'due_soon';\n if (!reminderType) continue;\n\n // Human-readable line reused by both email and Slack.\n const overdueDays = Math.abs(daysUntilDue);\n const phrase =\n reminderType === 'overdue'\n ? `is OVERDUE by ${overdueDays} day${overdueDays === 1 ? '' : 's'}`\n : reminderType === 'due_today'\n ? 'is due TODAY'\n : `is due in ${daysUntilDue} day${daysUntilDue === 1 ? '' : 's'}`;\n\n const title = (row.Title ?? 'Untitled item').toString().trim();\n const message = `\"${title}\" ${phrase} (due ${rawDue}).`;\n\n out.push({\n json: {\n Title: title,\n Email: (row.Email ?? '').toString().trim(),\n DueDate: rawDue,\n daysUntilDue,\n reminderType,\n isOverdue: reminderType === 'overdue',\n row_number: row.row_number, // WHY: needed to update the exact row later\n todayStr,\n message,\n },\n });\n}\n\nreturn out;\n"
},
"typeVersion": 2
},
{
"id": "gmail-send",
"name": "Send Reminder Email",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.gmail",
"position": [
820,
160
],
"parameters": {
"sendTo": "={{ $json.Email }}",
"message": "=<div style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:#1a1a1a;line-height:1.6\">\n <p>Hi,</p>\n <p>This is an automated reminder about a tracked deadline:</p>\n <table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;margin:12px 0\">\n <tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#666\">Item</td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\"><strong>{{ $json.Title }}</strong></td></tr>\n <tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#666\">Due date</td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">{{ $json.DueDate }}</td></tr>\n <tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#666\">Status</td><td style=\"padding:4px 0\">{{ $json.reminderType === 'overdue' ? '<span style=\\\"color:#c0392b;font-weight:bold\\\">OVERDUE by ' + (-1 * $json.daysUntilDue) + ' day(s)</span>' : ($json.reminderType === 'due_today' ? '<span style=\\\"color:#e67e22;font-weight:bold\\\">Due today</span>' : 'Due in ' + $json.daysUntilDue + ' day(s)') }}</td></tr>\n </table>\n <p style=\"color:#444\">{{ $json.message }}</p>\n <p style=\"font-size:12px;color:#999;margin-top:24px\">Sent automatically by the Due-Date Reminder Engine. You receive at most one reminder per item per day.</p>\n</div>",
"options": {
"appendAttribution": false
},
"subject": "={{ $json.reminderType === 'overdue' ? '\u26a0\ufe0f OVERDUE: ' : ($json.reminderType === 'due_today' ? '\u23f0 Due today: ' : '\ud83d\udd14 Reminder: ') }}{{ $json.Title }}",
"resource": "message",
"emailType": "html",
"operation": "send"
},
"typeVersion": 2.2
},
{
"id": "if-overdue",
"name": "Is Overdue?",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.if",
"position": [
1120,
160
],
"parameters": {
"options": {},
"conditions": {
"options": {
"version": 2,
"leftValue": "",
"caseSensitive": true,
"typeValidation": "strict"
},
"combinator": "and",
"conditions": [
{
"id": "cond-overdue",
"operator": {
"type": "boolean",
"operation": "true",
"singleValue": true
},
"leftValue": "={{ $json.isOverdue }}",
"rightValue": true
}
]
}
},
"typeVersion": 2.3
},
{
"id": "slack-escalate",
"name": "Escalate Overdue",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.slack",
"onError": "continueRegularOutput",
"position": [
1420,
60
],
"parameters": {
"text": "=:rotating_light: *Overdue item needs attention*\\n>{{ $json.message }}\\n\u2022 Owner: {{ $json.Email }}\\n\u2022 Due: {{ $json.DueDate }} (overdue by {{ -1 * $json.daysUntilDue }} day(s))",
"select": "channel",
"resource": "message",
"channelId": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "name",
"value": "#deadlines",
"cachedResultName": "#deadlines"
},
"operation": "post",
"messageType": "text",
"otherOptions": {
"includeLinkToWorkflow": false
}
},
"typeVersion": 2.4
},
{
"id": "sheets-mark",
"name": "Mark Notified",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
"onError": "continueRegularOutput",
"position": [
1720,
160
],
"parameters": {
"columns": {
"value": {
"NotifiedOn": "={{ $json.todayStr }}",
"row_number": "={{ $json.row_number }}"
},
"schema": [
{
"id": "row_number",
"type": "string",
"display": true,
"removed": false,
"readOnly": true,
"required": false,
"displayName": "row_number",
"defaultMatch": false,
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
},
{
"id": "NotifiedOn",
"type": "string",
"display": true,
"removed": false,
"required": false,
"displayName": "NotifiedOn",
"defaultMatch": false,
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
}
],
"mappingMode": "defineBelow",
"matchingColumns": [
"row_number"
],
"attemptToConvertTypes": false,
"convertFieldsToString": true
},
"options": {},
"resource": "sheet",
"operation": "appendOrUpdate",
"sheetName": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "list",
"value": "Sheet1",
"cachedResultName": "Sheet1"
},
"documentId": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "url",
"value": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_SHEET_ID/edit"
}
},
"typeVersion": 4.7
}
],
"settings": {
"executionOrder": "v1"
},
"connections": {
"Read Items": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Compute Due Reminders",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Is Overdue?": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Escalate Overdue",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
],
[
{
"node": "Mark Notified",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Escalate Overdue": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Mark Notified",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Every Day at 07:00": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Read Items",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Send Reminder Email": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Is Overdue?",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Compute Due Reminders": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Send Reminder Email",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
}
}
}
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About this workflow
This workflow runs daily, reads deadline rows from Google Sheets, and sends due-soon, due-today, or overdue reminder emails via Gmail, escalating overdue items to Slack and updating the sheet to prevent duplicate reminders. Runs every day at 07:00 on a schedule. Reads all rows…
Source: https://n8n.io/workflows/16312/ — original creator credit. Request a take-down →
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