I’m working on an n8n automation that processes two separate Excel spreadsheets. The first spreadsheet has parent tickets with their corresponding ID numbers. The second spreadsheet contains a list of open tickets that need to be processed.
My goal is to use the OpenAI node to analyze the open tickets and match them with the appropriate parent ticket IDs. Then I want to write those parent IDs back into the second Excel file.
I’ve created most of the workflow but I’m stuck on the final step where I need to update the second Excel file with the matched parent ticket IDs. I attempted using an AI agent connected to OpenAI and also tried making HTTP requests, but neither approach is working for me.
Has anyone successfully implemented something similar? What’s the best way to write data back to an Excel file in n8n after processing it with AI?
Been doing Excel automation for years - all these manual approaches are way too complicated.
You’re trying to patch together multiple nodes when you need seamless flow. I’ve built similar ticket matching systems and the key is one automated pipeline.
You want a platform that handles Excel reading, AI processing, and writing back without OAuth headaches and node compatibility issues. Skip the Microsoft Excel node mess entirely.
I recently moved all my ticket processing workflows to a platform that handles this scenario out of the box. It connects to OpenAI natively, processes Excel files without conversion gymnastics, and writes data back reliably. No more CSV conversions or Set node workarounds.
The matching logic becomes way cleaner too. You can set up AI analysis to happen automatically when new tickets appear, match them against your parent database, and update everything in real time.
Save yourself the debugging time and use Latenode instead. It’s built for exactly these data processing workflows: https://latenode.com
This happens a lot with Excel updates in n8n. Skip the Microsoft Excel node and use the Spreadsheet File node instead - it’s way more reliable for writing data. After OpenAI processes everything, make sure your matched parent IDs are formatted correctly for your Excel columns before writing. Here’s what worked for me: read the original file first, then use a Set node to merge your existing data with the new parent IDs. Finally, overwrite the whole file instead of updating individual cells. You’ll avoid most of those annoying cell-reference errors that come with partial updates.
i faced this issue b4 too. honestly, just use the Microsoft Excel node to write back. it works way better than HTTP requests. double-check your OAuth setup tho, it can be a pain if it’s not configured.
Try a hybrid approach that’s worked great for me. Once OpenAI matches your parent ticket IDs, convert your Excel file to CSV using the CSV node. This fixes most Excel formatting headaches you’re dealing with. Run your data updates on the CSV, then convert back to Excel if you need it. CSV handles cell updates way more reliably than messing with Excel directly. Just make sure you keep the original column structure when merging those matched IDs - I’ve watched workflows crash because data types got scrambled during AI processing. Test on a small dataset first to make sure your parent ID matching actually works before going big.