Why is my single hourly Google Sheets automation hitting the read requests quota?

Below is an explanation of how a single hourly process might still be responsible for exceeding the read requests quota, along with some suggestions to investigate and remedy the issue.

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How a Single Process Could Cause This Issue

• Internal Read Operations:
  Even if the process only “writes” data, many nodes (or supporting background processes) may perform read operations behind the scenes. For example, the node might need to verify the current state of the sheet or fetch metadata before writing, thereby contributing to the read quota usage.

• Shared Credentials/Project:
  If your Google Sheets API credentials are shared across multiple workflows or integrations—even ones you thought were disabled—those hidden or background jobs could still contribute read operations to the same project.

• Cached or Repeating Calls:
  Sometimes workflows that appear to run only once per hour might trigger additional calls. The process might be configured in a way that causes retries or additional "check" calls (for example, when errors occur or if the node doesn’t get a proper response, it might retry, quickly accumulating read request counts).

• Workflow Configuration:
  It is also possible that what appears as a single workflow is triggering additional sub-processes (such as polling mechanisms or triggered follow-up requests) that increase the overall number of read requests against your Google Sheets integration.

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Next Steps and Recommendations

1. Review All Active Workflows and Credentials:
   Ensure that no other workflows—even disabled ones—are still making API calls with the same credentials. Sometimes background listeners or residual polling nodes can continue to run if not fully deactivated.

2. Inspect the Workflow’s API Call Patterns:
   Look into the specific nodes used in your workflow. Check if any of them are reading from the sheet (such as verifying a state before writing or fetching ranges automatically) and adjust the configuration to minimize those reads.

3. Check for Retries or Polling:
   Verify if the node is set to retry automatically on failure or if there is any polling behavior enabled (for example, through trigger nodes or waiting loops) that may unintentionally add up extra read requests.

4. Optimize API Calls:

   • If applicable, switch to using batch operations for updates to reduce the number of separate API calls.
   • Use the HTTP Request node with built-in batch-limit options to fine-tune the number of requests being sent.

5. Examine Your n8n Settings:
   Confirm that you’re not running multiple n8n instances or processes that might share the same project number for the Google Sheets API, as this could contribute to exceeding per-minute limits.

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By reviewing the above points, you can isolate whether the remaining process includes extra reads or if an unseen background process (or misconfiguration) is responsible for the high read volume. Adjusting your workflow configuration to minimize unnecessary reads should help prevent these quota errors in the future.