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n8n Overview and 100 Use Cases

n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool similar to Zapier or Make, but self-hosted and highly flexible.

• Nodes → building blocks that perform tasks (e.g., read Excel, send email).
• Triggers → nodes that start workflows (webhooks, schedules, email received).
• Workflows → a series of nodes automating processes.
• Credentials → stored securely to connect services.
• Expressions → dynamic variables to pass/manipulate data between nodes.
• Error Handling → workflows can branch if a node fails.

Major Integrations – n8n Overview and 100 Use Cases

• Microsoft: Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint (via Office 365 APIs), PowerBI.
• Google: Gmail, Drive, Sheets, BigQuery.
• AI: ChatGPT (OpenAI API), Hugging Face, Stability AI, Replicate.
• Social Media/Marketing: Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Discord.
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Airtable, Notion.
• Misc APIs: Weather (free), Stripe, Slack, Trello.
• Mattermost → Alternative to Slack, fully self-hosted.
• n8n’s HTTP Request Node → Connect to any API not natively supported. Hugely powerful once you learn it.
• RSS Feeds → Still useful for tracking competitors, job boards, research papers.
• IFTTT/Zapier bridge → Connect n8n to other automation tools you may already use.
• Calendly → Automate scheduling (new meeting → create Zoom link → send to CRM).
• Typeform → Beautiful forms → auto-store results in Google Sheets.
• Harvest / Toggl Track → Automate time tracking → invoice generation.
• Telegram / WhatsApp (via Twilio or API) → Send automated reminders or reports.
• DocuSign / PandaDoc → Contract signed → auto-send to cloud storage + notify sales.
• Text Analysis APIs (like MonkeyLearn, AYLIEN) → Auto-tagging and classification of customer feedback.
• WolframAlpha API → Calculations, stats, science queries integrated into workflows.
• Email Verification APIs (ZeroBounce, NeverBounce) → Clean email lists automatically before marketing.
• Knowledge bases → Confluence, Notion, Obsidian (via community APIs).

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Marketing & Social Media Use Cases – n8n Overview and 100 Use Cases

Basic

1. Auto-post blog updates to Twitter/X
   • Trigger: RSS feed from WordPress.
   • Flow: RSS → Text Formatter → Twitter Node.
   • Cost: RSS (free), Twitter API has free tier limited to 1,500 tweets/month API info.
2. Daily inspirational posts on LinkedIn
   • Trigger: Cron job (every morning at 9am).
   • Flow: Google Sheet with quotes → LinkedIn Node.
   • Cost: Google Sheets (free), LinkedIn API (requires approved developer app, free but limited).
3. Instagram scheduled posting
   • Trigger: Cron job.
   • Flow: Dropbox image folder → Instagram Graph API.
   • Cost: Dropbox free tier (2GB), Instagram API is free but requires a Business account Meta Docs.

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Mid-Level

1. Multi-channel content distribution
   • Trigger: New blog post in WordPress.
   • Flow: WordPress → LinkedIn + Twitter + Facebook + Discord.
   • Cost: WordPress REST API (free), social APIs free but rate-limited.
2. Lead capture → Email sequence
   • Trigger: Form submission on website.
   • Flow: Webhook → Google Sheets → Gmail follow-up email.
   • Cost: Gmail API free for up to 500/day for G Suite users Pricing.
3. UTM-tagged campaign tracking
   • Trigger: Cron job weekly.
   • Flow: Google Analytics → Excel → Send PDF report via Outlook.
   • Cost: Google Analytics API (free), Excel API requires Microsoft 365 subscription (~$6–$12/month).

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Advanced

1. AI-powered content generator
   • Trigger: New topic added in Google Sheet.
   • Flow: Google Sheets → OpenAI (generate draft post) → Buffer (schedule to multiple platforms).
   • Cost: OpenAI GPT-4o-mini: ~$0.006 per 1k tokens Pricing.
2. Social listening & competitor tracking
   • Trigger: Cron job every 6 hours.
   • Flow: Twitter Search API + Reddit API → Sentiment Analysis (Hugging Face) → Notion Database.
   • Cost: APIs mostly free, Hugging Face free up to limits Docs.
3. End-to-end ad campaign automation
   • Trigger: New row in Airtable (campaign idea).
   • Flow: Airtable → ChatGPT (ad copy) → Canva API (design) → Facebook Ads API.
   • Cost: Airtable free tier, Canva API free Canva Dev, Facebook Ads API requires ad spend.

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Microsoft Excel Use Cases

Basic

1. Auto-update Excel with Gmail attachments
   • Trigger: Gmail new email w/ attachment.
   • Flow: Gmail → Extract Excel → Save to OneDrive.
   • Cost: Gmail API free (limits), OneDrive free up to 5GB.
2. Weather data in Excel
   • Trigger: Cron job.
   • Flow: Weather API (https://open-meteo.com/, free) → Excel Online.

Mid-Level

1. Survey results auto-cleaning
   • Trigger: File upload in Dropbox.
   • Flow: Excel → Function Node (clean data) → Save cleaned file back.
2. Merge multiple Excel reports
   • Trigger: New report uploaded.
   • Flow: Excel Node → Merge Node → Consolidated Excel file → Outlook email.

Advanced

1. Excel → PowerBI auto pipeline
   • Trigger: New Excel file in OneDrive.
   • Flow: Excel → PowerBI API → Update dashboard.
   • Cost: PowerBI Pro ~$10/user/month Pricing.

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Outlook & Gmail Use Cases

Basic

• Email auto-responder → New email in Outlook → Send templated response.
• Gmail label → Slack notification.

Mid-Level

• Parse CVs from Gmail → store in Notion.
• Weekly digest email → Gmail → Google Docs summary → Outlook.

Advanced

• Sentiment analysis of incoming emails → Gmail → OpenAI → Tag & archive.
• Customer support triage → Outlook → Ticketing system (Zendesk/Freshdesk).

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PowerPoint Use Cases – n8n Overview and 100 Use Cases

Basic

• Auto-generate slides from Google Sheets (text + charts).

Mid-Level

• Sales pipeline PPT → Airtable CRM → Generate slides for weekly meeting.

Advanced

• AI-generated client pitch decks → Google Docs + OpenAI → PowerPoint export via Graph API.

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Lead Generation and Sales Use Cases – n8n Overview and 100 Use Cases

• Basic: Scrape LinkedIn job postings (via Phantombuster API ~$30/month) → Excel.
• Mid: Gather website contact forms → Google Sheet → Gmail outreach.
• Advanced: Enrich leads with Clearbit API (paid, ~$99/month) → Salesforce → Slack alert.
• Capture new leads from website forms (Typeform/Gravity Forms) → auto-store in Google Sheets → notify sales team on Slack.
• Enrich new leads with Clearbit or ZoomInfo API → append company size, revenue, tech stack → save into HubSpot CRM.
• Sync LinkedIn Ads leads (via LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms API) → push directly into Salesforce or Zoho CRM.
• Monitor Twitter/X mentions of competitor keywords → log prospects into Airtable → trigger outreach email via Gmail.
• Collect business emails from Apollo.io → verify using NeverBounce API → auto-tag in Mailchimp campaign.
• Scrape job postings (via Phantombuster API) → parse company details → send to sales team via Outlook.
• Track new Shopify or WooCommerce customers → sync to Pipedrive → schedule follow-up call in Calendly.
• Use Crunchbase API to fetch newly funded startups → auto-enrich with LinkedIn → push into Salesforce.
• Webhook from Facebook Ads → filter qualified leads via AI (OpenAI sentiment & intent analysis) → auto-send personalized email.
• When a Calendly meeting is booked → auto-generate a Google Doc with client profile → send summary to sales rep.
• Parse incoming CVs/resumes from Gmail → extract contact details with AI → push into Zoho CRM as leads.
• Monitor competitor’s RSS feed for product launches → notify sales via Discord → auto-generate prospecting list in Excel.
• Capture inbound WhatsApp queries (Twilio API) → log into Notion database → assign sales rep via Trello.
• Scan new website visitors (via Clearbit Reveal API) → identify company → trigger Slack alert for SDR follow-up.
• Sync leads from webinars (Zoom/Teams) → add to HubSpot workflow → send thank-you emails.
• Automate abandoned cart emails in Shopify → personalized with ChatGPT → send via SendGrid.
• Collect business cards (via OCR API like Google Vision) → auto-extract data → insert into Salesforce.
• New Stripe/PayPal payment → update CRM record → trigger upsell email sequence.
• Monitor Google Sheets for new lead entries → enrich with LinkedIn API → push warm leads into Sales Navigator.
• Integrate DocuSign → when contract signed, auto-update Salesforce opportunity → send Slack “Closed-Won” celebration.

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SEO Audits Use Cases

• Basic: Ping free SEO API (https://serpapi.com/ free tier 100 searches/month).
• Mid: Crawl website with Screaming Frog CLI (license ~$259/year) → Excel.
• Advanced: Full pipeline → Google Search Console API + Ahrefs API (paid) → Dashboard in PowerBI.

Additional Use Cases

Project Management & Collaboration

• Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com, Notion, Jira.
• Example: Move Jira issues into Trello automatically for reporting.
• Project Management – Exceediance

Databases & Storage

• PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Airtable, Supabase.
• Example: Parse form responses and insert into MySQL DB.

Customer Support & Service Desk

• Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom.
• Example: Auto-generate tickets from Gmail/Outlook with attachments.

Finance & Payments

• Stripe, PayPal, QuickBooks, Xero.
• Example: When Stripe payment comes in → update Google Sheet → send invoice.

File Storage & Document Processing

• Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive.
• Example: Auto-rename & organize files when uploaded.

DevOps & Monitoring

• GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Sentry.
• Example: Auto-create Jira tickets when Sentry logs new errors.

HR & Recruiting

• Greenhouse, Workable, BambooHR.
• Example: Auto-screen resumes → AI summary → Slack HR team.

E-commerce & Online Stores

• Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento.
• Example: When order placed → send WhatsApp message via Twilio.

IoT & Smart Devices

• Home Assistant, MQTT.
• Example: When office temp > 30°C → Slack alert + turn on AC.

Security & Compliance

• VirusTotal, HaveIBeenPwned, CrowdStrike.
• Example: When suspicious IP detected → email admin + block via firewall API.