Auto-reply to out-of-hours email with an SLA promise and log it
Answers email that arrives outside working hours with an in-thread reply carrying a stated deadline, and logs the promise to a sheet so the morning shift can honour it.
A Gmail Trigger polls the covered mailbox every minute. A Date & Time node converts arrival into the office timezone and formats it as 'Weekday HH'; a Set node splits that into a numeric hour and a named weekday alongside the sender, subject and message id. An IF applies three conditions at once — after 09:00, before 18:00, and not a weekend — and the TRUE branch ends at an explicit No-Op, because replying while the team is online is the wrong behaviour. The FALSE branch composes a reply that names both the working hours and the deadline by which a human will answer, sends it as a Gmail reply so it lands in the customer's own thread, and appends the promise with its due timestamp to a Google Sheet. Both external calls retry and route failures to an error rail that posts to Discord.
Key benefits
- ✓Overnight senders get a real commitment with a time on it, not a content-free receipt
- ✓The team wakes up to a list of promises with deadlines instead of an unread inbox
- ✓Office timezone is an environment variable, so the same file is correct in any region
- ✓No reply is sent while the team is online — the quiet branch is explicit, not an accident
- ✓Ships with pinned sample mail so both branches can be run before Gmail is connected
Use cases
- →Support teams in one timezone serving customers in another
- →Small agencies that cannot staff evenings but do not want to look unresponsive
- →Sales inboxes where a fast, dated acknowledgement measurably lifts reply rates
- →Any team that has been asked 'did anyone see my email from last night?'
Integrations
Workflow preview (10 nodes)
The template's actual node layout and connections. Node parameters and credential slots unlock with the download.
What's inside (10 nodes)
A look at the node types this workflow uses. No purchase required — full parameters and credentials are yours after you buy.
From download to running in 3 steps
- 1Import. In n8n, open Workflows → menu → “Import from File” and pick the downloaded JSON.
- 2Connect. Add your own credentials on the app nodes - n8n highlights exactly which ones need them.
- 3Activate. Run it once to test, then toggle Active. The automation is live.
What you'll learn
Core levelA compact production shape: validation and error handling without extra machinery.
- •Moving data between Gmail, Google Sheets and Discord in a single run
- •Normalising timestamps before anything downstream compares them
- •Adding retries and an explicit error path to external calls
Every node carries its own documentation on the canvas, plus notes explaining why the architecture was built this way, a credential setup guide, troubleshooting, and three practice exercises. Sample data comes pinned to the trigger, so you can hit Execute and watch data flow before connecting a single account.
Common questions
What exactly do I get?
The complete, ready-to-import n8n workflow as a JSON file, delivered instantly after payment. Import it into your own n8n (cloud or self-hosted), add your credentials, and it runs.
How do I import it into n8n?
In n8n, open Workflows, click the three-dot menu, choose “Import from File”, and select the downloaded JSON. Then connect your own app credentials on the highlighted nodes.
Do I need anything else for it to work?
You need your own n8n instance and accounts/credentials for the apps this workflow connects to (Gmail, Google Sheets, Discord). No coding is required.
What if it doesn't work for me?
If the file is faulty, won't import, or isn't as described, contact us within 7 days and we'll fix it or refund you - see our refund policy.
Can I modify or resell it?
You can freely adapt and use it in your own or your clients' projects. Reselling or redistributing the template file itself is not permitted.
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