TL;DR
Your n8n Google Sheets update hits the first row when you match on a data column instead of row_number.
The row_number field is a hidden-ish option at the very bottom of the dropdown.
You do not need a loop for multiple rows—n8n processes item-by-item automatically.
Set Column to Match On to row_number, rerun, and each row updates individually.
Your n8n workflow reads every row from Google Sheets just fine. The OpenAI node processes all of them. But then the Update Row node? It only touches the first row. Every. Single. Time. 🤦
I was having this exact problem and honestly thought something was broken. Turns out, the fix to update multiple rows in Google Sheets is embarrassingly simple and I wish someone had just told me instead of sending me down a rabbit hole of loop tutorials.
If you’re building n8n automations and hitting this wall, stick around for about two minutes. 👇
This isn’t a “let me walk you through connecting your Google account” situation. You already know how to build workflows. You just need the one thing that’s wrong.
The Problem: n8n Google Sheets Only Updating First Row
So here’s what’s happening. You’ve got a workflow that looks totally correct. Mine was simple: a trigger, a Read Google Sheets node, an OpenAI node to generate some content, and then a Google Sheets Update Row node to write the results back. Clean. Logical. Should work.
“I test this, it reads the sheet, and then it creates something based on that information… it should update each row individually, but what it was doing was only doing the first row, and I couldn’t figure it out.”
And that’s the maddening part. The read works fine, you can see all your items flowing through the workflow. The AI processing works fine, each item gets its own response.
But the moment you hit that Update Row node, it just… updates row 2 (or whatever your first data row is) three times and calls it a day. Same row, every time.
If you’re searching for why your n8n Google Sheets automation is only updating the first row, you’re in the right place. And no, your connection isn’t broken. Your credentials are fine. The problem is in your mapping.
The Actual Fix: Use row_number, Not a Column
“I soon realized that I was mapping it incorrectly. What I was doing was mapping it to a column. But what I needed to do was map it to row number.”
That’s it. That’s the whole fix. But let me explain why this matters because once you get the mechanic, you’ll never make this mistake again.
When you configure the Google Sheets node with the Update Row operation, there’s a setting called “Column to Match On”. This is how n8n figures out which row to update.
Most people (myself included) instinctively pick one of their data columns, like an ID column, a name, a URL, whatever seems unique. That’s the trap.
The problem? If your matching logic isn’t resolving to a unique row for each incoming item, n8n just keeps updating the same row. Or worse, it matches the first occurrence and moves on.
Your data column might have duplicates, or the expression you’re using might not be pulling the right value for each item in the sequence. Ambiguity breaks updates.
The fix is dead simple: scroll to the very bottom of the “Column to Match On” dropdown. You’ll see row_number sitting there, quietly, like it’s been waiting for you to notice it this whole time.
Warning
The row_number property is easy to miss. It’s not grouped with your regular columns. Scroll past all your data columns in the dropdown to find it at the very bottom.
How row_number Actually Works
When n8n reads rows from your Google Sheet, it doesn’t just grab the cell data. It also attaches metadata to each item, and one of those metadata properties is row_number, the actual row position in the spreadsheet. It’s row metadata.
So if you read rows 2, 3, and 4 from your sheet (row 1 being headers), each item flowing through your workflow carries its own row_number value: 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
When you tell the Update Row node to match on row_number, it knows exactly which row in the spreadsheet corresponds to which item in the workflow.
No ambiguity. No duplicate matching issues. Each item maps to its specific row by position. It just works.
Matching Strategy
❌ What You’re Probably Doing
- Matching on a data column (like ID or Name)
- Risking duplicates, mismatches, or only updating the first match
✅ What You Should Be Doing
- Matching on
row_number - Letting n8n update the correct row per item automatically
You Don’t Need a Loop (Seriously)
This was the other thing that saved me a ton of unnecessary complexity. n8n already loops.
“So what that does mean is that it actually did process each row individually without needing to go through any kind of loop.”
When I first ran into the “only updating first row” problem, my instinct was to add a Loop Over Items node. That’s what most people try, and honestly, a bunch of tutorials out there will tell you to do exactly that.
But n8n already has built-in internal looping. When a node outputs multiple items, every subsequent node in the chain processes each item one by one, automatically. No extra node needed.
The reason your update looked like it wasn’t looping is because it was, it was just updating the same row each time due to the bad mapping. Fix the mapping, and the built-in looping does its job perfectly.
Three rows in, three rows updated, different content each time.
Did You Know?
When do you need a Loop node? Only when you need to control batch sizes, add delays between iterations, or handle errors per item. If you receive one item that contains an array, use a Split Out node first.
Step-by-Step: Fixing Your Mapping in 30 Seconds
Alright, here’s the actual steps if you want to follow along. Do this once and you’re done.
Fix Your Google Sheets Update Node
- Open your Google Sheets update node — the one with Operation set to “Update Row”
- Find “Column to Match On” — it’s in the main configuration panel
- Scroll to the bottom of the dropdown — past all your data columns (ID, Name, URL, whatever you have)
- Select
row_number— it’ll be the last option, easy to miss - Make sure your expression pulls the row_number value — n8n should auto-map this from your Read node’s output
- Test your workflow — hit that “Test workflow” button and check your sheet
That’s genuinely it. The whole thing takes less time than it took you to find this article. 30-second fix.
Why This Mistake Is So Common
I don’t think this is a you problem. This is a UX problem, honestly. When you see “Column to Match On,” your brain immediately goes “oh, I need to match on one of my columns.”
That’s the logical interpretation. Nobody’s first instinct is to scroll past their actual data and look for a hidden system property. It’s a UI trap.
The n8n community forums are full of people hitting this exact wall. One user described trying to use an AI bot to find addresses and update their sheet, same problem, only the first row updating. The solution every time? Match on row_number.
There’s also a sneaky gotcha with data types. Even if you do match on a unique column like an ID, if that ID is stored as a number in your sheet but n8n is passing it as text (or vice versa), the match can silently fail.
The row_number approach sidesteps this entirely because it’s always a clean integer that n8n manages internally.
n8n’s Google Sheets node supports full CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) and also has an “Append or Update” operation that can either add or modify rows based on whether a match is found. That one has the same matching issue, by the way. Same fix applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and the same rule applies, you still need to set your matching column correctly. The “Append or Update” operation checks if a matching row exists and updates it, or creates a new row if it doesn’t.
If you match on row_number, it’ll find and update existing rows. Just be aware that if you’re adding new rows that don’t exist yet, row_number won’t help for that—you’d want to match on a truly unique data column in that scenario.
It will, but performance might slow down. n8n processes items sequentially through each node, so 500 rows means 500 individual update API calls to Google Sheets.
Google’s API has rate limits (typically 60 write requests per minute per project per user), so for very large sheets you might need to add a Wait node or batch your updates. For most real-world automations under a couple hundred rows, you won’t notice.
Good one. The row_number that n8n captures reflects the row’s position at the time of reading. If you sort your sheet between the read and update operations, the numbers could be off. Best practice: don’t reorder the sheet while a workflow is running.
That’s actually the mode you want for this fix. “Map Each Column Manually” lets you explicitly set the “Column to Match On” field, which is where you select row_number. If you’re using “Map Automatically,” n8n may not pick row_number, which is likely how you ended up here.
Absolutely. Once your matching is working correctly with row_number, you can add as many columns as you want under “Values to Update.” Each matched row will get all the specified column values written in a single operation. One match, many fields.
Final Thoughts
The whole problem comes down to one dropdown menu and one setting you probably scrolled right past. Match on row_number instead of a data column, and your n8n Google Sheets workflow will update every row individually—no loops, no workarounds, no weird hacks. One dropdown fix.
If you’re building automations that read from Google Sheets, process the data through AI or any other nodes, and write results back, bookmark this. You’ll run into this mapping issue again on a different workflow, guaranteed, and now you know exactly where to look.
Go fix your workflow. It’ll take you 30 seconds. I promise.
Sources and References
- n8n Google Sheets Node Documentation — Sheet Operations
- How to Use Loop Over Items in n8n — The AI Automators
- n8n Community Forum — Updating Multiple Google Sheets Rows
- How to Read, Append, Update, Delete Google Sheets in n8n — n8n Tutorial
- n8n Community Forum — Appending or Updating Rows in Google Sheets
- Google Sheets API Usage Limits