Google Drive “Update Content in a File” no longer preserving newline characters

Hi,

I have a long-established Pabbly Connect workflow which has been running successfully for over a year without any manual changes. It processes CSV data in a JavaScript step and then uses:

Google Drive → Update Content in a File

to update a Google Sheets file.

The workflow was working correctly up to 19 August 2026, but since then newline characters in the file content appear to be handled differently. Instead of creating separate CSV rows, the data is being written horizontally across a single spreadsheet row.

I have now reproduced the problem in a duplicated workflow using a completely separate test Google Sheet, so the issue is not dependent on my original data, JavaScript processing or production spreadsheet.

As a simple test, I entered the following directly into the File Content field of the Google Drive “Update Content in a File” action:

A,B,C
1,2,3
4,5,6

Rather than creating three spreadsheet rows, the resulting file contains effectively one row, with the newline characters being treated as literal \n content rather than CSV record separators.

I have also compared historical task data. On 19 August, the same existing workflow successfully passed multiline CSV content through this Google Drive action and produced the correct spreadsheet structure. The workflow has not been manually changed since then.

The JavaScript step immediately before the Google Drive action is still outputting correctly separated multiline CSV. For example, Chunk 1 contains a header followed by 300 separate records, and the subsequent chunks are also correctly newline-separated. The corruption therefore appears to occur when the content is handled by the Google Drive → Update Content in a File action.

The target file is a native Google spreadsheet (application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet), and the action is using the Google Drive upload endpoint.

Could you please investigate whether there has been a recent change or regression in the Google Drive “Update Content in a File” action, particularly in the handling/escaping of newline characters (\n) in file content?

I can provide:

• successful task history from 19 August;
• failing task history from 31 August;
• the original JavaScript output showing correct multiline data;
• the resulting malformed spreadsheet;
• screenshots of the Google Drive action configuration;
• the isolated A,B,C test described above.

This is affecting a production workflow, so I'd appreciate it if this could be escalated to the technical/integration team if necessary.

Many thanks.

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for reporting this and providing the detailed reproduction steps.

We inspected the Task History execution logs for your workflow “Customer Price Rules from Centric Live”.

In the output of your Code (Pabbly) step (Run JavaScript), the CsvChunk_1 response string returns literal escaped line break characters (\n) in the JSON payload:

JSON

{
"output": {
"CsvChunk_1": "Title,Product SKU...\nALCHE01 4032,=\"4032\"...\n"
}
}


When this value is mapped into the Google Drive: Update Content in a File step, Google Drive receives \n as literal text rather than actual line breaks, causing the data to print across a single line.

How to Fix

Update JavaScript Output

If you prefer handling it directly in your custom JavaScript step, ensure your result object outputs actual multiline strings instead of JSON-escaped \n characters before returning the final response to Pabbly Connect.

Please try this adjustment and let us know if your file updates correctly!

The output has been working perfectly for months...nothing has changed from a workflow perspective - the js task remains the same as ever. Why am I now seeing this glitch? It began on the 20th August along with some other active workflows that have also started to output incorrectly

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for your patience while we investigated this further.

We inspected the backend execution logs for your workflow (Customer Price Rules from Centric Live) dating back to August 17, 2026.

Upon checking the raw response from the Code (Pabbly): Run JavaScript step, we observed that the JavaScript output object has consistently formatted line breaks as escaped character strings (\n) rather than unescaped newline characters:

When Google Drive receives \n as an escaped string inside the Update Content in a File payload, it writes the character sequence as literal text across a single row rather than interpreting it as a CSV row separator.

How to Fix This in Your JavaScript Step

To ensure Pabbly Connect passes true line breaks to Google Drive, update your custom JavaScript return statement to output unescaped newline breaks or replace literal \n strings before returning:

Please update the JavaScript output format in your workflow, test the execution, and let us know if your file updates correctly!

why did it work before and suddenly doesnt?

Has Pabbly changed any of the following?

• the Code step runtime version

• JSON serialisation behaviour

• how output variables are stored between steps

• how escaped characters are passed into connected apps

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for providing those specific technical details.

To help our platform engineering team isolate whether a runtime update or serialization change affected this behavior, could you please share the Task History URL of an older, successful execution where the newline characters were processed correctly?

Having a working task execution link alongside a recent failing task link will allow our engineering team to compare the raw input/output payloads directly across both instances and identify exact backend differences.

Thank you for your cooperation!

IjU3NjYwNTZjMDYzZjA0MzY1MjZhNTUzMDUxMzc1MTY3NTQzNTBmMzQi_pc

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for sharing the task history URL.

To investigate this issue thoroughly and help resolve the line break/newline formatting behavior live with you, we would like to get on a quick call with our technical team.

Could you please schedule a call at your convenience using the following link?

👉 Schedule a Meeting

Once scheduled, we will review the execution behavior together and assist you in getting your workflow outputting correctly again.

Looking forward to speaking with you!

This is very urgent, and the only available slots are tomorrow

Hello Sarah,

We completely understand the urgency and apologize for the delay.

To ensure we get this looked at as quickly as possible for you today, please use this link to schedule a session with our support agent :

👉 Schedule Support Call

Once scheduled, our technical team will join you to investigate the behavior and help get your workflow outputting correctly.

Do you have any updates? I know the issue was being escalated

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for reaching out and for your patience while we look into this.

Our engineering team is actively investigating the issue regarding the newline character handling in the Google Drive: Update Content in a File action. We are reviewing the payload changes to identify the exact cause and get this resolved for you.

We will keep you updated as soon as we have a fix or further details from the technical team.

I need to just repeat that this process is crucial to my clients business...I think you may be working on it as I can see 6 published price rules following an import to Woocommerce actioned at 8pm London GMT today

Okay...so I have checked the Google sheet that was most recently populated and:

• It contains 849 rows total: 1 header + 848 price-rule records.

• The records are genuinely on separate CSV rows using proper line breaks.

• Leading-zero SKUs are preserved. For example, the file contains 0206, 0817, 0221, etc.

• So the original catastrophic problem — the whole feed effectively becoming one enormous row — is fixed.

There is one small difference I noticed: the file currently has 14 columns, although there are 11 named columns in the intended structure...

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for providing the update and for confirming that the primary line break formatting issue is resolved and that your SKUs are updating correctly with leading zeros intact!

Regarding the additional columns you observed, we have forwarded these details to our engineering team to review the column structure and ensure that extra trailing delimiters or blank columns are not being added during the file update process.

We will share an update with you as soon as our developers review the structure.

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for your patience while our development team investigated the column output.

Our platform engineering team has reviewed the trailing column structure and completed testing on the backend update handling for the Google Drive: Update Content in a File action step. Everything has been verified and fully resolved.

Please run a test execution on your workflow or monitor your next live run. The output should now correctly maintain your intended 11-column structure without adding extra trailing columns or empty delimiters.

If you notice any further discrepancies, please feel free to reach out and let us know!