how im automating email receipt management

How I’m automating email receipt management with Zapier and Hazel

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I currently use Hazel to automate the management of my receipts (check out this post for tips on how to get started with Hazel and document automation). I pay for a number of services like MailChimp, Pipedrive and Buffer to run my business and once a month I receive a receipt from each of these services. Currently, I have some Hazel rules set up for my Downloads folder so if I save one of my receipt emails as a PDF or save an attached PDF to the downloads folder, Hazel renames the file and moves it into my Accounting folder in Dropbox.

This process has worked well for a while but it still requires me to export the email or manually save the attachment and I want fully automate this process if I can.

With a little help from CloudConvert and Zapier, I’ve now done this. Here’s how the process works:

  1. I have some mail rules set up on iCloud.com to forward my receipt emails to a special Zapier email address. I could set these rules up in Mail.app, but I’d rather set them up on iCloud.com so the rules can still run even if my Mac is turned off.
  2. Because I receive some receipts as emails and some as attachments, I have two Zaps that handle my different receipts. 1) One will convert the email into a PDF and save it to Dropbox. 2) The other will save any PDF attachments from the email and save to Dropbox. Each Zap has it’s own special Zapier email address, so when setting up the mail rules on iCloud.com, I just need to use the right address based on how I receive the receipt.zapier email
  3. Zapier handles the conversion by passing the email through CloudConvert.zapier cloudconvert
  4. I’ve set up an “Action” folder in Dropbox which is where the receipts are saved. I have Hazel rules set up on this folder that will rename and move the files based on the content of the PDF. I name my receipts “YYYY-MM-DD Service” e.g. 2017-02-15 Pipedrivehazel pipedrive receipt
  5. Finally, an iCloud rule will then move the receipt to the Archive folder so that I don’t even have to see the email.

When this system is working correctly, I never see the receipt emails come into my inbox. All I see is a notification from Hazel that says the file was renamed and saved, so I know that a receipt was received and sorted. Cool right!?

I love little tricks like this. I find that by saving lots of little moments of time during your day they can add up to big efficiencies.

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What do the lessons cover?

When you purchase, you’ll get access to the following lessons via your customer account. This is a “go at your own pace” program where you’re free to view the lessons whenever you like:

MODULE 1: PLANNING YOUR PIPEDRIVE STRATEGY

  • 1.1: Introduction (4:10)
  • 1.2: Your Pipedrive vision and purpose (4:12)
  • 1.3: Planning your Pipedrive tech stack (8:50)

MODULE 2: SETTING UP YOUR PIPEDRIVE ACCOUNT

  • 2.1: Organisations, contacts, deals & leads (15:01)
  • 2.2: Setting up your pipeline(s) (28:24)
  • 2.3: Labels, data fields and products (42:40)
  • 2.4: Activities and lost reasons (14:01)
  • 2.5: Importing data from a CSV file (10:46)
  • 2.6: Using filters to find information (10:26)
  • 2.7: How to bulk update information (7:11)
  • 2.8: Setting up sales goals (16.02)
  • 2.9: Project management in Pipedrive (30:43)

MODULE 3: TEAM ONBOARDING

  • 3.1: Planning your Pipedrive rollout (10:13)
  • 3.2: Define protocols and best practices (12:53)
  • 3.3: User permissions, visibility and teams (17:17)
  • 3.4: Training your team (recommended agenda) (8:49)

More videos coming soon… (Last Updated: November-2024)

MODULE 4: USING PIPEDRIVE ON A DAILY BASIS

  • 4.1: Using leads, contacts vs. deals (12:28)
  • 4.2: Activities, automation and calendar sync (20:10)
  • 4.3: Scheduling appointments with Pipedrive or Calendly (13:10)
  • 4.4: Email integration, templates, automation and bulk messaging (36:09)
  • 4.5: Calling via JustCall and the Pipedrive mobile app (14:05)
  • 4.6: Insights, dashboards and reports (21:18)
  • 4.7 Revenue forecasting, payment instalments and subscriptions (18:20)
  • 4.8: Creating Smart Documents in Pipedrive (12:17)
  • 4.9: Automating your sales process with Workflow Automation (24:29)
  • 4.10: Sending email campaigns (24:51)

MODULE 5: INTEGRATIONS & AUTOMATION

  • 5.1: Create new contacts and deals with Zapier (18:45)
  • 5.2: Adding contacts to a newsletter or drip campaign (18:42)
  • 5.3: Posting Pipedrive updates to Slack (6:43)
  • 5.4: Auto-generate proposals and quotes with Pandadoc (9:35)
  • 5.5: Auto-generate contracts with Webmerge (13:25)
  • 5.6: Invoicing via Quickbooks or Xero (8:06)
  • 5.7: Using LeadBooster to get more leads (15:28)
  • 5.8: Linking Pipedrive to a project management system (13:23)
  • 5.9: My booking system and email automation explained (23:25)

What do the lessons cover?

When you purchase, you’ll get access to the following lessons via your customer account. This is a “go at your own pace” program where you’re free to view the lessons whenever you like:

MODULE 1: PLANNING YOUR ASANA STRATEGY

  • 1.1: Introduction (4:28)
  • 1.2: Your Asana vision and purpose (13:23)
  • 1.3: Planning your Asana structure (17:31)
  • 1.4: Members vs. Guests (5:39)
  • 1.5: The Pyramid of Clarity (4:39)

MODULE 2: SETTING UP YOUR ASANA ACCOUNT

  • 2.1: Setting up a project (42:00)
  • 2.2: Using workflows, custom fields, rules, tags & forms (44:16)
  • 2.3: Should you use projects or tasks? (e.g. clients, events) (16:10)
  • 2.4: Importing tasks from a CSV (4:38)
  • 2.5: Seeing the big picture with Portfolios & Workload (19:24)
  • 2.6: Creating project and task templates (35:52)
  • 2.7: How to manage meetings (15:10)
  • 2.8: How to move projects between accounts (7:22)
  • 2.9: Planning your goals in Asana (24:40)

MODULE 3: TEAM ONBOARDING

  • 3.1: Planning your Asana rollout (10:23)
  • 3.2: Define protocols and best practices (22:41)
  • 3.3: Training your team (recommended agenda) (8:33)
  • 3.4: Improving the success of adoption (4:37)
  • 3.5: Customize your onboarding process (10:33)

MODULE 4: USING ASANA ON A DAILY BASIS

  • 4.1: Use ‘My Tasks’ to plan your day (17:09)
  • 4.2: How to communicate in Asana (14:00)
  • 4.3: Checking the inbox (9:19)
  • 4.4: Sharing project status updates (7:36)
  • 4.5: How to use Asana and Slack (9:45)
  • 4.6: Keyboard shortcuts (4:16)
  • 4.7: Filtering tasks with advanced search (5:49)
  • 4.8: How to manage approvals in Asana (4:25)
  • 4.9: Best practices for assigning a task to a colleague or VA (8:38)
  • 4.10: Daily habits every Asana user should follow (8:29)

MODULE 5: ADVANCED TRAINING AND AUTOMATION

  • 5.1: How to create projects with subsections (8:37)
  • 5.2: Automating tasks with Zapier (19:12)
  • 5.3: Time tracking options (30:33)
  • 5.4: Creating a client-facing project (5:26)
  • 5.5: Multi-homing tasks into multiple projects (10:41)
  • 5.6: Creating reports in Asana (14:33)
  • 5.7: Creating automated checklists with rules (5:21)

More videos coming soon… (Last updated: June-2024)