Email new leads from Google Sheets via Outlook on a schedule

Description

Send a templated outreach email to new leads in a Google Sheet on a daily schedule, then mark each lead as contacted so they won’t be emailed twice. Built with: Schedule Trigger → Google Sheets → Filter → Outlook Send Email → Google Sheets (append/update).

Who’s it for
Teams that collect leads in Sheets and want automatic, once-per-lead outreach
Solo founders/consultants running simple top-of-funnel follow-ups
Anyone prototyping CRM-lite flows in n8n

How it works / What it does
Schedule Trigger runs daily (e.g., 09:00).
Get rows (Google Sheets) pulls leads from your sheet.
Filter keeps only rows where Contacted is empty.
Outlook – Send a message emails each remaining lead (to = {{$json.Email}}).
Google Sheets (appendOrUpdate) writes back Contacted = Yes (match on Email) to prevent re-sending.

How to set up
1) Google Sheets (OAuth2)
In n8n → Credentials → New → Google Sheets (OAuth2), sign in and grant access.
In Get rows: select your Lead Source sheet (e.g., “New Leads”).
In Append/Update: select the sheet you want to mark as contacted (can be the same sheet or a CRM sheet).
Make sure your sheet has at least: Email, Contacted (blank for new).

2) Outlook (Microsoft Graph) OAuth2
n8n Cloud (quick connect):**
In Credentials → New → Microsoft Outlook OAuth2, choose Connect, sign in with your Microsoft account, and accept permissions.
Self-hosted (Azure App Registration):**
1) Azure Portal → App registrations → New registration.
2) Add redirect URL: https://YOUR_N8N_URL/rest/oauth2-credential/callback.
3) API permissions (Delegated): offline_access, Mail.Send, User.Read. Grant admin consent if required.
4) Create a Client secret; copy Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID.
5) In n8n, create Microsoft Outlook OAuth2 credential with those values and scopes: offline_access Mail.Send openid email profile.
In the Send a message node, select that credential and keep To mapped to {{$json.Email}}.
Customize Subject and Body to your brand (default provided).

Requirements
A Google Sheet of leads with an Email column (and an optional Contacted column).
A Microsoft account with permission to send mail via Microsoft Graph (Outlook).

How to customize the workflow
Email content:** Edit subject/body (add variables like {{$json.FirstName}}).
Send window:** Change Schedule Trigger time/interval.
Idempotency:** Use the same sheet for read+write (match on Email) or separate source/CRM sheets.
Logging:** Add a Sheet or Notion append step after send for an audit trail.

Security & best practices
No hardcoded secrets:* Always use *OAuth2 credentials** (Sheets & Outlook).
Sanitize PII:* If publishing, *remove real spreadsheet IDs/URLs** and personal emails/phone numbers.
Sticky notes are mandatory:* Add a *yellow sticky note** in the workflow with this description and a short setup checklist. Use neutral sticky notes for per-node tips.

Troubleshooting
No emails sent:** Ensure Contacted is blank for new rows and the Filter checks “is empty.”
Auth errors (Outlook):** Reconnect credential; confirm Graph scopes and tenant consent.
Sheets errors:** Re-select spreadsheet/tab; verify headers (Email, Contacted).
Duplicates:* Confirm *Append/Update* uses *matching column = Email**.

Tags & category
Category: Sales & CRM
Tags: outreach, follow-up, google-sheets, outlook, schedule, dedupe, cold-email

Changelog
v1.0.0 — Initial release: scheduled outreach, Outlook email, de-dupe via Contacted = Yes.

Contact
Need help customizing (personalization, rate-limits, CRM sync, bounce checks)?

📧 [email protected]
🔗 Robert Breen — https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-breen-29429625/
🌐 ynteractive.com — https://ynteractive.com