Google sheets append node error - Append Row function is appending columns

[gerardopacksys]

Describe the problem/error/question

I have a Google Sheets Node with the Append Row action, I have it configured with the "Map Each Column Manually", and it should only find the corresponding columns and adding the row. This works just fine 90% of the time, but at some point it ignores the columns and adds more columns and even erases the previos ones. It not only happens with that node, but also other google sheets nodes with the Append Row action in other workflows, same behavior.

Here is an example of the correct columns in the Google Sheets node:

Here is an example of the problem, after an execution the google sheets node updated the sheet and ended like this:

---

Here is my node and its configuration:

What is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow/screenshots/recording

(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.)
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ If you have sensitive data in your workflow (like API keys), please remove it before sharing.

I'm going to paste the node that is currently experiencing the error, and also the two nodes prior to it:
{
"nodes": [
{
"parameters": {
"operation": "append",
"documentId": {
"__rl": true,
"value": "1XlZSqqnKaLM_dVXvg0RJYPq4GOIRAdsQ5QTHjXbs87g",
"mode": "list",
"cachedResultName": "BDD input sheets",
"cachedResultUrl": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XlZSqqnKaLM_dVXvg0RJYPq4GOIRAdsQ5QTHjXbs87g/edit?usp=drivesdk"
},
"sheetName": {
"__rl": true,
"value": "gid=0",
"mode": "list",
"cachedResultName": "Hoja 1",
"cachedResultUrl": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XlZSqqnKaLM_dVXvg0RJYPq4GOIRAdsQ5QTHjXbs87g/edit#gid=0"
},
"columns": {
"mappingMode": "defineBelow",
"value": {
"Estado": "={{ $json.state }}",
"País": "=Mexico",
"Company Name": "={{ $json.output[0].content[0].text.razon_social }}",
"Email": "={{ 'ejemplo@'+$json.output[0].content[0].text.dominio_final }}",
"First Name": "Nombre_ficticio",
"Last Name": "Apellido_ficticio"
},
"matchingColumns": [],
"schema": [
{
"id": "First Name",
"displayName": "First Name",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true,
"removed": false
},
{
"id": "Last Name",
"displayName": "Last Name",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true,
"removed": false
},
{
"id": "Company Name",
"displayName": "Company Name",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
},
{
"id": "Email",
"displayName": "Email",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
},
{
"id": "Estado",
"displayName": "Estado",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
},
{
"id": "País",
"displayName": "País",
"required": false,
"defaultMatch": false,
"display": true,
"type": "string",
"canBeUsedToMatch": true
}
],
"attemptToConvertTypes": false,
"convertFieldsToString": false
},
"options": {}
},
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
"typeVersion": 4.7,
"position": [
4768,
848
],
"id": "bdf26a43-3053-4a8f-828f-a8b58281f298",
"name": "Append a hoja "BDD input sheets"",
"retryOnFail": true,
"waitBetweenTries": 5000,
"credentials": {
"googleSheetsOAuth2Api": {
"name": "Gerardo - Google Sheets - GET"
}
}
},
{
"parameters": {
"jsCode": "// 1. DICCIONARIO DE ABREVIATURAS\nconst state_abbr_mapping = {\n "CDMX": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "Mexico City": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "D.F.": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "Méx.": "Estado de Mexico",\n "Edo. Méx.": "Estado de Mexico",\n "Mex.": "Estado de Mexico",\n "Ags.": "Aguascalientes",\n "Ags": "Aguascalientes",\n "B.C.": "Baja California",\n "B.C.S.": "Baja California Sur",\n "Camp.": "Campeche",\n "Coah.": "Coahuila",\n "Col.": "Colima",\n "Chis.": "Chiapas",\n "Chih.": "Chihuahua",\n "Dgo.": "Durango",\n "Gto.": "Guanajuato",\n "Gro.": "Guerrero",\n "Hgo.": "Hidalgo",\n "Jal.": "Jalisco",\n "Mich.": "Michoacán",\n "Mor.": "Morelos",\n "Nay.": "Nayarit",\n "N.L.": "Nuevo León",\n "Oax.": "Oaxaca",\n "Pue.": "Puebla",\n "Qro.": "Querétaro",\n "Q.R.": "Quintana Roo",\n "Q. Roo": "Quintana Roo",\n "S.L.P.": "San Luis Potosí",\n "Sin.": "Sinaloa",\n "Son.": "Sonora",\n "Tab.": "Tabasco",\n "Tamps.": "Tamaulipas",\n "Tlax.": "Tlaxcala",\n "Ver.": "Veracruz",\n "Yuc.": "Yucatán",\n "Zac.": "Zacatecas",\n "Naucalpan De Juárez": "Estado De Mexico",\n};\n\n// 2. DICCIONARIO CIUDAD -> ESTADO\nconst city_to_state_mapping = {\n "monterrey": "Nuevo León",\n "san pedro garza garcia": "Nuevo León",\n "san pedro": "Nuevo León",\n "santa catarina": "Nuevo León",\n "cdad. santa catarina": "Nuevo León",\n "apodaca": "Nuevo León",\n "guadalupe": "Nuevo León",\n "san nicolas de los garza": "Nuevo León",\n "general escobedo": "Nuevo León",\n "garcia": "Nuevo León",\n \n "guadalajara": "Jalisco",\n "zapopan": "Jalisco",\n "tlaquepaque": "Jalisco",\n "tlajomulco": "Jalisco",\n "tonala": "Jalisco",\n\n "ciudad de méxico": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "ciudad de mexico": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "cdmx": "Ciudad de Mexico",\n "naucalpan de juarez": "Estado de Mexico",\n "naucalpan": "Estado de Mexico",\n "tlalnepantla": "Estado de Mexico",\n "toluca": "Estado de Mexico",\n "ecatepec": "Estado de Mexico",\n "atizapan": "Estado de Mexico",\n "cuautitlan": "Estado de Mexico",\n "cuautitlan izcalli": "Estado de Mexico",\n "tepotzotlan": "Estado de Mexico",\n "tepotzotlán": "Estado de Mexico",\n "teoloyucan": "Estado de Mexico",\n \n "queretaro": "Querétaro",\n "santiago de queretaro": "Querétaro",\n "el marques": "Querétaro",\n "leon": "Guanajuato",\n "silao": "Guanajuato",\n "irapuato": "Guanajuato",\n "celaya": "Guanajuato",\n "san luis potosi": "San Luis Potosí",\n "puebla": "Puebla",\n "aguascalientes": "Aguascalientes",\n \n "tijuana": "Baja California",\n "mexicali": "Baja California",\n "hermosillo": "Sonora",\n "chihuahua": "Chihuahua",\n "juarez": "Chihuahua",\n "saltillo": "Coahuila",\n "torreon": "Coahuila",\n "reynosa": "Tamaulipas",\n "matamoros": "Tamaulipas",\n "tampico": "Tamaulipas",\n \n "merida": "Yucatán",\n "cancun": "Quintana Roo",\n "veracruz": "Veracruz",\n "villahermosa": "Tabasco",\n "culiacan": "Sinaloa",\n "mazatlan": "Sinaloa"\n};\n\n// 3. PROCESAMIENTO\nfor (const item of $input.all()) {\n // Obtenemos valores originales (con default vacío)\n // En JS usamos || "" en lugar de .get(key, "")\n let raw_state = item.json["state"] || "";\n let raw_city = item.json["city"] || "";\n \n // --- PASO A: LIMPIEZA GENERAL (Quitar números) ---\n // En JS usamos .replace con regex global (/g) para imitar re.sub\n // .trim() es el equivalente a .strip() de Python\n let clean_city_str = String(raw_city).replace(/\d+/g, '').trim().replace(" ,", "");\n let clean_state_str = String(raw_state).replace(/\d+/g, '').trim();\n \n // Guardamos la ciudad limpia de una vez\n item.json["city"] = clean_city_str;\n\n // --- PASO B: MAPEO DE ABREVIATURAS ---\n // Buscamos en el objeto, si no existe usamos el original\n let final_state = state_abbr_mapping[clean_state_str] || clean_state_str;\n\n // --- PASO C: INFERENCIA POR CIUDAD ---\n if (!final_state || final_state.length < 2) {\n // .toLowerCase() es el equivalente a .lower()\n let city_key = clean_city_str.toLowerCase();\n \n if (city_to_state_mapping.hasOwnProperty(city_key)) {\n final_state = city_to_state_mapping[city_key];\n }\n }\n\n // Asignamos el resultado final capitalizado (Simulación de .title())\n if (final_state) {\n // JS no tiene .title() nativo, esto convierte "ciudad de mexico" a "Ciudad De Mexico"\n item.json["state"] = final_state.toLowerCase().split(' ').map(word => {\n return word.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + word.slice(1);\n }).join(' ');\n } else {\n item.json["state"] = "";\n }\n}\n\nreturn $input.all();"
},
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
"typeVersion": 2,
"position": [
4592,
704
],
"id": "172c37e6-3601-44b5-b92f-257f3a00cfc8",
"name": "Abreviaturas por estado",
"retryOnFail": true,
"maxTries": 5,
"waitBetweenTries": 5000
},
{
"parameters": {
"jsCode": "return $('If dominio valido').first();"
},
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
"typeVersion": 2,
"position": [
4416,
528
],
"id": "b87cf886-aa95-4eb4-a8e2-a6974ebfa13c",
"name": "Variables"
}
],
"connections": {
"Append a hoja "BDD input sheets"": {
"main": [
[]
]
},
"Abreviaturas por estado": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Append a hoja "BDD input sheets"",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Variables": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Abreviaturas por estado",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
}
},
"pinData": {},
"meta": {
"templateCredsSetupCompleted": true,
"instanceId": "75c8ca9bfbd9fb831779b9b2c1f1a0209e5d18fe36b85deef8131f4ba85dea04"
}
}

Share the output returned by the last node

Last Node correct output:

[
{
"Estado": "",
"País": "Mexico",
"Company Name": "PASTEURIZADORA AGUASCALIENTES",
"Email": "ejemplo@lechesanmarcos.com.mx",
"First Name": "Nombre_ficticio",
"Last Name": "Apellido_ficticio"
}
]

Last Node Incorrect output:

[
{
"output": [
{
"id": "msg_04055beffbd836ba00698ae253d3d4819c9c7e50f2d12d30a9",
"type": "message",
"status": "completed",
"content": [
{
"type": "output_text",
"annotations": [],
"logprobs": [],
"text": {
"es_match_oficial": true,
"razon_social": "PASTEURIZADORA DE LOS PRODUCTORES DE LECHE",
"nombre_comercial": "Leche Zaragoza",
"confianza": "ALTA",
"sitio_consultado": "https://lechezaragoza.com/",
"dominio_final": "lechezaragoza.com"
}
}
],
"role": "assistant"
}
],
"city": "",
"state": ""
}
]

Debug info (this i have not changed/modified, default values)

core

• n8nVersion: 2.2.5
• platform: docker (cloud)
• nodeJsVersion: 22.21.1
• nodeEnv: production
• database: sqlite
• executionMode: regular
• concurrency: 20
• license: enterprise (sandbox)

storage

• success: all
• error: all
• progress: false
• manual: true
• binaryMode: filesystem

pruning

• enabled: true
• maxAge: 720 hours
• maxCount: 25000 executions

client

• userAgent: mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 10.0; win64; x64) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/144.0.0.0 safari/537.36
• isTouchDevice: false

Generated at: 2026-02-10T12:59:38.771Z}

[n8n-assistant]

Hey @gerardopacksys,

Thank you for reaching out! We’ve received your issue and are looking into it. To help us track this internally, we’ve created a Linear ticket with the reference: "GHC-6763".

We’ll keep you updated as we make progress, but if you have any additional details or context to share, feel free to add them here - it’s always helpful!

Thanks for your patience and for bringing this to our attention.

---

For INTERNAL use only: GHC-6763

[MookieLian]

@gerardopacksys Thanks for bringing this up! After reviewing the details, it seems like the behaviour you've reported is actually expected and not a bug. We can understand how this might seem confusing, so we've added a note to clarify things.

If you have any questions or need more details, feel free to reach out again, we're here to help!

Note that you have to refresh the node parameters after making changes to the columns. For production runs to include the new version of your table, you may have to publish the workflow again after refreshing the node.

#closed:working-as-expected

[gerardopacksys]

Hi MookieLian, thank your for your response.

I believe I didn't explain myself clearly.

I understand that the columns' titles changed and that, for them to be updated, I need to refresh the node parameters. But that is not my problem.

My actual problem is the fact that I'm NOT changing the column titles intentionally, I'm only using "Append Rows" using the column titles to map the values that I append, but the columns should always stay the same. Somehow during the process the columns are changed. Even if I change back the correct column titles manually in the google sheets, it works fine during several executions but after a couple more executions the column titles change again by their own.

---

As shown in the "Share the output returned by the last node" section, the correct column titles that the google sheet should always have are:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Company Name
• Email
• Estado
• País

The expected behavior output of the node is the following, where the values match the columns (the actual values will not match as it is an example, but please use the format as reference):

---

The problem is the column titles are changing, in the example below the columns changed and now are the following(this is not the expected behavior):

• output
• city
• state

[krisn0x]

@gerardopacksys Can you please re-share the workflow in a code block or in a file? On a new line, you can type /code to insert a code block properly.

[gerardopacksys]

@krisn0x Thank you for the help, the workflow is a bit big so I will be provinding the file.

The node with the problems is the last google sheets node, called Append a hoja BDD input sheets.

Cold Email - 1) Github CRM _ BDD (1).json