diff --git a/apps/client/src/features/app-settings/panel/sources-panel/GSheetSetup.tsx b/apps/client/src/features/app-settings/panel/sources-panel/GSheetSetup.tsx
index 6212be3094..5fcf863c92 100644
--- a/apps/client/src/features/app-settings/panel/sources-panel/GSheetSetup.tsx
+++ b/apps/client/src/features/app-settings/panel/sources-panel/GSheetSetup.tsx
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ export default function GSheetSetup(props: GSheetSetupProps) {
   const handleConnect = async () => {
     if (!file) return;
     if (!sheetId) return;
+    patchStepData({ worksheet: { available: false, error: '' } });
 
     setLoading('connect');
     const result = await connect(file, sheetId);
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/sheet-service/SheetService.ts b/apps/server/src/services/sheet-service/SheetService.ts
index 5f55203b7c..27337699b2 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/sheet-service/SheetService.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/sheet-service/SheetService.ts
@@ -208,6 +208,17 @@ async function verifySheet(
     });
     return { worksheetOptions: spreadsheets.data.sheets.map((i) => i.properties.title) };
   } catch (error) {
+    // attempt to catch errors caused by importing xlsx
+    if (
+      error.code === 400 &&
+      Array.isArray(error.errors) &&
+      error.errors[0].reason === 'failedPrecondition' &&
+      error.errors[0].message === 'This operation is not supported for this document'
+    ) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'This operation is not supported for this document. the reason is most likely that this is a .xlsx document',
+      );
+    }
     const errorMessage = getErrorMessage(error);
     throw new Error(`Failed to verify sheet: ${errorMessage}`);
   }