Automatically OCR your PDFs, Word docs, and images with Mistral

Watches a Google Drive folder, extracts text from PDFs, Word docs, and images, and alerts your team in Slack when it's done.

How the work actually flows

It branches. Every path runs.

Pattern: Parallel Split (2) ยท Transient Trigger (23)

flowchart TD trig>"new file added to folder"]:::trig s0["ocr extracts text"]:::svc s1[("save text to drive")]:::store trig --> s0 s0 --> s1 gx{"+ how to notify team"}:::gate s1 --> gx p00["update sheet log"]:::task gx -->|"update log"| p00 p10["post to slack"]:::task gx -->|"notify team"| p10 p00 --> out p10 --> out out[/"extracted searchable text files"/]:::out pay{{"documents converted and team informed"}}:::pay 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 itAn outside serviceA record or sheetEvery pathResultPayoff
Build size
Advanced

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

Business functions
Knowledge Base & RAGMessaging & NotificationsTranslation & LocalizationDocument Processing & OCRSpreadsheet & Database OpsFile & Cloud Storage
Connects
Google DriveGoogle SheetsMistralSlack

The problem it solves

You have a folder full of PDFs, scanned documents, and images that all need their text pulled out before anyone can search or process them. Doing that by hand for every file, then telling the team it's ready, takes time away from actual work.

Who it fits

Operations or knowledge management teams who need documents converted into clean, searchable text at scale.

How it works

  1. New or updated files in a watched Google Drive folder trigger the automation
  2. Each file is copied into a dedicated destination folder
  3. Mistral's OCR reads and extracts the text and content from the file
  4. The extracted text, along with any images, is saved back to Google Drive
  5. A processing log is updated in Google Sheets and your team is notified in Slack
What you get

Documents that get searchable text without anyone retyping them

Every file that lands in your folder comes back as clean, readable text your team can search and reuse right away.

What you get

Extracted, searchable text files from your PDFs, Word docs, and images, plus a processing log and Slack alerts.

What you need

A Google Workspace account, a Mistral Cloud API key, and a Slack 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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