Automatic Notion Database Backup to Google Drive with Telegram Notifications

This n8n workflow automates the process of backing up a Notion database to Google Drive and sends a notification to Telegram upon completion. It provides a robust solution for ensuring your Notion data is regularly saved off-platform and keeps you informed about the backup status.

What it does

1. Manually Triggered: The workflow is initiated manually, allowing you to run the backup on demand.
2. Notion Database Query: It queries a specified Notion database to retrieve all its items.
3. Process Notion Items: Each item from the Notion database is processed individually.
4. Transform Data: The retrieved Notion data is transformed and prepared for storage.
5. Upload to Google Drive: The processed data is then uploaded as a file to a designated folder in Google Drive.
6. Conditional Success Notification: If the Google Drive upload is successful, a success message is sent to a Telegram chat.
7. Conditional Failure Notification: If any step in the Google Drive upload or data processing fails, an error notification is sent to a Telegram chat.

Prerequisites/Requirements

To use this workflow, you will need:

• n8n Instance: A running n8n instance.
• Notion Account: Access to a Notion workspace with a database you wish to back up.
  • You'll need to create a Notion integration and grant it access to your database.
  • An internal integration token will be required for n8n credentials.
• Google Drive Account: A Google Drive account where the backups will be stored.
  • You'll need to set up Google Drive credentials in n8n (OAuth2 recommended).
• Telegram Account: A Telegram account to receive notifications.
  • You'll need a Telegram Bot token and the chat ID where you want to receive messages.

Setup/Usage

1. Import the Workflow:
   • Download the provided JSON file.
   • In your n8n instance, click "Workflows" in the left sidebar.
   • Click "New" -> "Import from JSON" and paste the workflow JSON or upload the file.
2. Configure Credentials:
   • Notion: Edit the "Notion" node. Select or create a new Notion API credential. You will need your Notion integration token.
   • Google Drive: Edit the "Google Drive" node. Select or create a new Google Drive OAuth2 credential. Follow the n8n documentation for setting up Google Drive OAuth2.
   • Telegram: Edit the "Telegram" node. Select or create a new Telegram API credential. You will need your Bot Token and the Chat ID.
3. Customize Nodes:
   • Notion Node:
     • Specify the Database ID of the Notion database you want to back up.
     • Adjust any other query parameters if needed (e.g., filters, sorts).
   • Edit Fields (Set) Node: This node is currently empty. You might want to add fields here to format or select specific data from Notion before saving it to Google Drive. For example, to convert the Notion items into a CSV or JSON string.
   • Google Drive Node:
     • Set the Operation to "Upload".
     • Specify the Folder ID where you want to save the backup files.
     • Define the File Name for the backup. You can use expressions to include timestamps or other dynamic data (e.g., {{ $now().toFormat('yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss') }}_notion_backup.json).
     • Ensure the Binary Data field points to the output of the "Edit Fields" node, formatted as a file.
   • Telegram Nodes:
     • Update the Chat ID in both "Telegram" nodes (for success and failure) to your desired Telegram chat ID.
     • Customize the success and error messages as needed.
4. Activate the Workflow: Once configured, activate the workflow by toggling the "Active" switch in the top right corner of the workflow editor.
5. Execute Manually: Click the "Execute Workflow" button to run the backup process.

This workflow provides a solid foundation for your Notion database backups. You can extend it further by adding:

• Scheduled Trigger: Replace the "Manual Trigger" with a "Cron" node to run backups on a schedule (e.g., daily, weekly).
• Error Handling: Implement more sophisticated error handling, such as retries or detailed logging.
• Data Formatting: Use the "Code" or "Edit Fields" node to format the Notion data into a specific file type (e.g., CSV, JSON, Markdown) before uploading to Google Drive.