Find and Use n8n Templates: video walkthrough

Intro: what you'll build

0:00 Don't start from a blank canvas. A booking workflow for Hillside Pet Grooming from a free template. You'll find it in the n8n gallery. Connect Google Sheets and Gmail, then test booking and publish it. Let's build it.

Find a template

0:13 Here's the n8n workspace for Hillside Pet Grooming, and it's still empty. Before you build anything from scratch, check whether someone already has. In the sidebar, click Templates.

0:22 That opens the n8n template gallery in a new tab. Thousands of free workflows, sorted into categories like AI, Sales, IT Ops and Marketing. Booking requests are really sales leads, so click Sales.

0:35 Now narrow it down. Hillside takes bookings through a form, so type form in the search box and press Enter.

0:41 This one fits: it logs every booking request to a Google Sheet and sends a confirmation from Gmail. Click it to open the template page.

Import it

0:49 The template page shows a preview of the workflow, who made it, and a description of what it does and what you need. Click Use for free.

0:55 Because you came here from your own workspace, n8n lists it right here. Click Import template to your workspace. The Copy template to clipboard option works anywhere too: you'd paste it straight onto an empty canvas.

Set up credentials

1:07 Back in n8n, the workflow is already on your canvas, and a Set up template window lists every account it needs. Two here: Google Sheets and Gmail. Click Create new Google Sheets credential.

1:17 On n8n Cloud you don't need any Google developer setup. Just click Sign in with Google.

1:22 Pick the Google account your business uses. Here that's the Hillside Grooming account.

1:26 Google shows exactly what n8n will be allowed to do. Tick Select all, so the workflow can add rows to your sheet.

1:32 Click Continue, and Google hands the connection back to n8n.

1:36 Account connected. n8n saves the credential for you, so you can use it in any workflow from now on. Close this window.

1:43 Google Sheets is done. Now Gmail. Click Create new Gmail credential.

1:47 Same as before. Click Sign in with Google.

1:49 Pick the Hillside Grooming account again.

1:52 This time the permissions are for Gmail, so the workflow can send the confirmation email. Tick Select all.

1:57 And Continue.

1:58 Connected. Close the window.

2:00 Both accounts are connected. Click Continue, and n8n puts them into the right steps for you.

Finish the setup

2:05 There's the whole workflow: a form, a Google Sheets step and a Gmail step, plus a sticky note from the creator. Quick detour: click the three dots at the top.

2:13 This menu has Import from URL and Import from File, for when someone sends you a workflow file. Good to know. Now open the Google Sheets step. The warning means it still needs your spreadsheet.

2:24 Your Google Sheets credential is already filled in. The template can't know which spreadsheet is yours, so click the Document dropdown.

2:31 Pick the Hillside Booking Requests sheet.

2:33 Then the Sheet dropdown, for the tab inside it.

2:36 Sheet1. The template already maps the columns: name, email, pet name and the time it came in. Your sheet just needs those headers in its first row.

2:44 Close the node.

2:45 Last bit of set-up: make the email sound like you. Open the Gmail step.

2:49 It already sends to the email address from the form. Swap in Hillside's own message. The parts in double curly braces pull in the customer's name and their pet's name.

2:58 Close it.

First test run

2:59 No more warnings. Time for a test run. Click Execute workflow.

3:03 n8n opens the booking form in a new tab and waits. Pretend you're a customer. Type a name.

3:08 An email. In the real thing, use your own, so you get the confirmation.

3:12 And the pet's name.

3:14 Submit.

3:15 Now head back to the n8n tab to see what happened.

3:18 Every step ran and has a green check: the request went into the sheet and the confirmation went out. Click Publish, and it runs for every real booking from now on.

3:26 Simple as that. We show you and you do it. Sign up below to learn AI automation for free.