Automate Receipt Filing from Emil

applescript

I currently have a workflow setup that when I get a paper receipt I highlight the company name and price in green then scan with my ScanSnap which it then OCR's. Then using Hazel I automate the filing so that it saves anything in green as a keyword. Then Hazel auto matches the date and renames and files the PDF based on the Company, Date and total.

So as odd as it is I'm not sure how to do this when I get an email receipt or a receipt from a we page. The only way I can get it to work is to actually print out the receipt and do the same process.

Every time I do that it feels like I'm moving backwards in terms of automation. Does anyone know a way I can highlight a PDF to save as keywords in Hazel?

Best Answer

If you open the PDF in Preview, you can manually add keywords to the PDF. There is no need to highlight the words first.

Open the Inspector (Command - i) and the click the tab that looks like a magnifying glass. Click the + button on the bottom left and you can add the keyword.

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The answer to your second question might lead you directly to a solution to the first.

You'll want a tool that edits PDF files to append docments (or conversely, split them up). I use PDFPen for the job, but there are others that do less but might meet your needs.

Here is an article on using Hazel to script PDFPen as well as documentation on how PDFPen is scriptable in general. There is a Pro version of the app for a higher cost, so you might see if you need the extra features, but the normal version seems to meet your needs well enough.

Many helpful PDFPen example scripts can be found after you install the software in your user library:

~/Library/Application Support/PDFpen/Scripts

Opening them in the AppleScript Editor is a great way to learn more.

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screencapture has a -R option for specifying the area. It is not mentioned in the man page but it is mentioned in the help message:

$ screencapture -h
screencapture: illegal option -- h
usage: screencapture [-icMPmwsWxSCUtoa] [files]
  -c         force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -C         capture the cursor as well as the screen. only in non-interactive modes
  -d         display errors to the user graphically
  -i         capture screen interactively, by selection or window
               control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
               space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                             window selection modes
               escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -m         only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -M         screen capture output will go to a new Mail message
  -o         in window capture mode, do not capture the shadow of the window
  -P         screen capture output will open in Preview
  -s         only allow mouse selection mode
  -S         in window capture mode, capture the screen not the window
  -t<format> image format to create, default is png (other options include pdf, jpg, tiff and other formats)
  -T<seconds> Take the picture after a delay of <seconds>, default is 5
  -w         only allow window selection mode
  -W         start interaction in window selection mode
  -x         do not play sounds
  -a         do not include windows attached to selected windows
  -r         do not add dpi meta data to image
  -l<windowid> capture this windowsid
  -R<x,y,w,h> capture screen rect
  files   where to save the screen capture, 1 file per screen

Best Answer

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