OLD Workflows All Stopped Working After Update

sinfa123
HOBBY

4 days ago

Project ID: 22d76fac-7740-4313-8533-403384377230

UPDATE: Turns out this error is only occuring for old workflows. Do you know the cause to this issue, and if there's a way to overcome it in the future?

I'm having an issue where none of my n8n workflows are running anymore. All of them worked earlier in the week, but when I wanted to continue my learning today, I noticed both my old ones set up earlier in the week and new ones set up today all don't run. I tried executing them manually, something as simple as take last email from inbox, which worked before but not anymore - it's not constantly stuck at fetching, tried on 2 gmail inboxes, both of which worked before but no longer.

I restarted PostGre and Redis, as well as both n8n and the problem persisted.

Anyone know how to fix it? Thanks

$10 Bounty

3 Replies

Anonymous
FREE

4 days ago

Do you check the logs?

Search for "Failed to connect" or "Connection failed" or "Authentication failed"

If you find something like that, paste here

sinfa123
HOBBY

4 days ago

OLD Workflows All Stopped Working After Update

sinfa123
HOBBY

4 days ago

OLD Workflows All Stopped Working After Update (n8n)

czupryn013
HOBBY

4 days ago

Possibly try to update the nodes or the workflows which are not working. Have you tried to remove and add the same node? I don't know n8n much but it sounds as if you have some corrupted old version of them

ujjwaljha1
FREE

4 days ago

When old workflows in n8n stop running after a previously working state, a common cause is:

n8n version update or environment change affecting trigger nodes

  • n8n has changed how workflows run—especially those with trigger nodes (like Gmail, Webhook, Cron, etc.).

  • In recent versions, n8n won't auto-activate old workflows after restart unless:

    • The workflow is enabled, and

    • The trigger node is properly configured, and

    • No credentials have changed or become invalid.

Things to Check

1. Are workflows still marked as active?

  • Go to the n8n dashboard → Workflows → Check if the old ones are enabled (green check).

  • If not, re-enable manually.

2. Any credential/auth changes in Gmail or others?

  • Go to Credentials tab.

  • Reauthorize the Gmail credentials (OAuth tokens may expire or become invalid).

  • Ensure Google API access is still granted and that scopes haven’t changed.

3. Check n8n logs

Run docker logs <container> or view process logs if self-hosted:

  • Look for errors like:

    • Gmail trigger node failed to connect

    • Credential error

    • Cannot start workflow: Missing node parameters

4. Manual Execution stuck at "Fetching"

This usually means the trigger node is not emitting anything:

  • For Gmail Trigger:

    • Ensure it’s configured to poll properly.

    • Check Gmail inbox has relevant new/unread emails (if using polling filter).

    • Try toggling the workflow off and on again.

  • For Webhook Trigger:

    • Make sure the URL you're calling matches the new deployment endpoint if environment changed.

Solutions

Recreate Trigger Nodes

  • In affected workflows, delete and re-add the trigger node, especially if it’s a Gmail Trigger.

  • This reinitializes it with updated node logic, which may have changed in recent versions.

Refresh Credentials

  • Go to Credentials section → Open Gmail → Click "Reconnect" or reauthorize.

Update Environment

If you recently:

  • Changed n8n version

  • Moved to a different environment or container

  • Updated Node.js version
    Then consider:

  • Running a backup/export

  • Fully recreating workflows or reimporting them (as some serialized nodes may fail silently)