Turn scanned invoices in Google Drive into an organized spreadsheet

The system reads scanned or PDF invoices from Google Drive, extracts the key details with AI, and logs them to a sheet.

How the work actually flows

It branches. Exactly one path is taken.

Pattern: Exclusive Choice (4) · Simple Merge (5) · Transient Trigger (23)

flowchart TD trig>"new invoice file uploaded"]:::trig s0["determine file type"]:::task s1["extract invoice text"]:::task s2["extract details with AI"]:::task s3[("log to sheet and notify")]:::store trig --> s0 s1 --> s2 s2 --> s3 gx{"× PDF or scanned image"}:::gate s0 --> gx p00["extract text directly"]:::task gx -->|"clean PDF"| p00 p10["run OCR extraction"]:::task gx -->|"scanned image"| p10 jn{"○ text ready"}:::gate p00 --> jn p10 --> jn jn --> s1 out[/"invoice details logged to sheet"/]:::out pay{{"eliminates manual invoice typing"}}:::pay s3 --> out out --> pay classDef task fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#34b8f0,color:#2c2a29 classDef svc fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#7c8795,color:#2c2a29 classDef mi fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29,stroke-width:2px classDef human fill:#fff,stroke:#0079a8,color:#0079a8 classDef store fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29 classDef trig fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigtime fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigdata fill:#8ad4f5,stroke:#0079a8,color:#06314c,font-weight:bold classDef gate fill:#fff,stroke:#e8a23d,color:#6b4708,font-weight:bold classDef out fill:#1f9d6b,stroke:#167a53,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef pay fill:#06314c,stroke:#021f33,color:#fff
Starts itA stepA record or sheetOne path onlyPaths rejoinResultPayoff
Build size
Advanced

A larger build with multiple systems, AI reasoning, and custom rules.

Business functions
Document Processing & OCRImage & Media ProcessingSpreadsheet & Database OpsWeb Scraping & Data CollectionFile & Cloud StorageFinance & Accounting
Connects
Google DriveGoogle SheetsOpenAIMailgun

The problem it solves

Scanned paper invoices are a pain to deal with because someone has to open each one, squint at the details, and type them into a spreadsheet by hand. Handwritten or photographed invoices make it even worse, and details get missed or entered wrong.

Who it fits

Small businesses or bookkeepers who receive scanned or photographed invoices instead of clean digital files.

How it works

  1. A new invoice file appears in your watched Google Drive folder
  2. The system determines if it's a PDF or an image and processes it accordingly
  3. Text is extracted directly, or through OCR for scanned images and tricky PDFs
  4. AI pulls out the company name, amount, currency, date, and invoice number
  5. The details are added to a Google Sheet and an email notification goes out with a summary
Quick estimate

What it is worth to you

Your numbers, your hourly cost. We add nothing hidden.

per week
minutes
$ per hour
0Hours freed per month
0Value per year at your hourly cost

Assumes freed hours are redirected to other work and that scanned invoices arrive at a fairly steady weekly rate.

What you get

A running Google Sheet of extracted invoice details plus an email notification for each new invoice.

What you need

A Google Drive account, a Google Sheets account, an OpenAI API key, an OCR.Space API key, and a Mailgun account.

We can build this. But should you?

The hard question is not how to build it. It is whether this is the right thing to build first.

That is what a Fractional Chief AI Officer figures out with you, before anyone writes a line of code.

Let's Talk Strategy

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