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Hazel Automation to Name Files and Upload Notes

DigitalLynn

Asked by DigitalLynn,

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DigitalLynn

DigitalLynn 1

Posted
Posted

Hi All,

I've gone down the rabbit hole of using Hazel to OCR, rename, and file scanned docs into specific Evernote and it has transformed my paperless life by saving me time.

I used to scan my docs with my SnapScan and manually lable/file them manually. I loved having my entire life in Evernote, but hated the repetitive task of naming things that I get monthly. My solution? I setup a cascading folder system to automate as much as possible.

Here's how it currently works:

  • File gets scanned to a folder called "EvernoteScansForHazel," where it sits for 2 minutes, giving Acrobat time to OCR it.
  • It then gets moved to a "NameSpecificFiles" where it names the files based on content rules and gets moved to 'SortToProperty' 
  • 'SortToProperty' is my notebook filing structure (I'm a real estate developer so the bulk of my papers are property related) where it uses more content rules to identify which noteboook the document belongs in, then creates the note it the appropriate notebook. If there isn't a match for notebooks, it simply creates the note in my ~Inbox.

So, now to my challenge. This setup works so well that now I want certain emails to run through the system. The problem is, I can't figure out how to get my emails into the system appropriately.

 

I *think* I'm going to have 2 distinct paths that need to be taken, but I'm struggling to find the solution.

 

  1. For emailed receipts (not an attachment) - The usual IFTTT recipe doesn't seem to work because most of the emails are HTML so I think I'm going to have to print to PDF into the "EvernoteScansForHazel" folder. The challenge with this is that I use Gmail and can't seem to automatically print to PDF. Is the solution to simply change to an email program like Apple Mail? 
  2. For receipts with an attachment - some plugin that downloads the attachments? attachments.me has been discontinued. I need something that can have specific rules. For instance, I don't want to download ALL attachments that come into my inbox, only those with emails that have the words invoice or statement.

 

Once I get this handled, my next step will to be to add the tag @bills to my notes. I'm thinking this requires an if/then/else statement in Applescript, but since I don't know how to do this, it will require some research.

Anyone with any thoughts on any of this?

 

Thanks,

 

Lynn

5 replies to this idea

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Bver911

Bver911 0

Posted
Posted

Hi Lynn,

 

Can you please share your automation scripts for this process? I'm trying to do something similar with Hazel and Eaglefiler but struggling specifically to automate the naming of files such as online receipts. 

 

Thanks,

Bryan

g00s

g00s 0

Posted
Posted

Hi All,

I've gone down the rabbit hole of using Hazel to OCR, rename, and file scanned docs into specific Evernote and it has transformed my paperless life by saving me time.

I used to scan my docs with my SnapScan and manually lable/file them manually. I loved having my entire life in Evernote, but hated the repetitive task of naming things that I get monthly. My solution? I setup a cascading folder system to automate as much as possible.

Here's how it currently works:

  • File gets scanned to a folder called "EvernoteScansForHazel," where it sits for 2 minutes, giving Acrobat time to OCR it.
  • It then gets moved to a "NameSpecificFiles" where it names the files based on content rules and gets moved to 'SortToProperty' 
  • 'SortToProperty' is my notebook filing structure (I'm a real estate developer so the bulk of my papers are property related) where it uses more content rules to identify which noteboook the document belongs in, then creates the note it the appropriate notebook. If there isn't a match for notebooks, it simply creates the note in my ~Inbox.

So, now to my challenge. This setup works so well that now I want certain emails to run through the system. The problem is, I can't figure out how to get my emails into the system appropriately.

 

I *think* I'm going to have 2 distinct paths that need to be taken, but I'm struggling to find the solution.

 

  1. For emailed receipts (not an attachment) - The usual IFTTT recipe doesn't seem to work because most of the emails are HTML so I think I'm going to have to print to PDF into the "EvernoteScansForHazel" folder. The challenge with this is that I use Gmail and can't seem to automatically print to PDF. Is the solution to simply change to an email program like Apple Mail? 
  2. For receipts with an attachment - some plugin that downloads the attachments? attachments.me has been discontinued. I need something that can have specific rules. For instance, I don't want to download ALL attachments that come into my inbox, only those with emails that have the words invoice or statement.

 

Once I get this handled, my next step will to be to add the tag @bills to my notes. I'm thinking this requires an if/then/else statement in Applescript, but since I don't know how to do this, it will require some research.

Anyone with any thoughts on any of this?

 

Thanks,

 

Lynn

 

Lynn,

 

I haven't tested this, but should be simple. Install the Google Drive in your machine, so you can sync Google Drive files locally. Have Hazel watch the Google Drive folder for new pdfs and move/copy new pdfs to your "EvernoteScansForHazel".

 

To save your emails as pdf, print it from Gmail and select "Save to Google Drive" instead of a printer. You can print pdfs to your Google Drive from your mobile devices by using the Gmail webmail print function or the Gmail App.

 

Gus

DigitalLynn

DigitalLynn 1

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the tip, Gus!

 

I don't use Google Drive that much and didn't even know that there was a local app for it. I'll explore that option.

 

Lynn

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