Client spent 2 hours weekly copying data from PDF reports into Excel. Built automation that does it in 2 minutes. Here’s exactly how.
THE MANUAL PROCESS:
Every Monday: Receives 12-page vendor report PDF. Opens it. Scrolls to find 8 specific tables. Copies each table to Excel manually. Formats data. Calculates totals. Emails to team.
Time: 2 hours. Error rate: ~10%.
THE AUTOMATION SOLUTION:
Built in Make. Trigger → Extract → Transform → Deliver. Takes 2 minutes.
STEP-BY-STEP BUILD:
STEP 1: EMAIL TRIGGER (1 minute)
Gmail module watches for vendor email. Filter: specific sender, subject contains “Weekly Report”.
STEP 2: EXTRACT TABLES (2 minutes)
Parse document module extracts tables from PDF. Converts to structured JSON. Handles multi-page tables. Preserves number formatting.
STEP 3: TRANSFORM DATA (3 minutes)
Spreadsheet functions calculate totals. Format currency. Add variance calculations. Apply business logic.
STEP 4: DELIVER RESULTS (2 minutes)
Google Sheets module clears previous data. Writes new data. Formats cells. Emails team with link.
Total setup: 8 minutes.
THE TRANSFORMATION:
BEFORE: Manual process every Monday. 2 hours copying. 10% error rate. Delayed reports. Team frustrated.
AFTER: Automated Monday morning. 2 minutes processing. <1% error rate. Instant reports. Team thrilled.
TIME SAVINGS:
Weekly: 2 hours saved
Monthly: 8 hours saved
Annually: 96 hours saved
Value: $4,800 yearly (at $50/hour)
Setup time: 8 minutes. ROI: Paid back in first week.
THE ACCURACY WIN:
Manual errors: Wrong numbers copied, missed cells, calculation mistakes, formatting inconsistencies.
Automated: Consistent extraction, perfect calculations, standardized formatting, audit trail.
CLIENT REACTION:
“I can’t believe I did this manually for 3 years.”
THE PATTERN:
This workflow works for: Weekly reports, monthly statements, quarterly summaries, annual reviews.
PDF format changes? Update extraction schema in 5 minutes. Same workflow handles new format.
Includes: Trigger setup, table extraction config, transformation logic, delivery templates.
THE LESSON:
If you do something manually more than twice, automate it. 2 hours weekly = 96 hours yearly.
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