Use two automations to turn email attachments into spreadsheet data. The first saves attachments to a folder. The second reads that folder and writes the data to a spreadsheet.
The email automation uses Gmail or Outlook as its source and Folder as its destination. It saves attachments from matching emails, but it does not create a spreadsheet. The folder automation handles that next step.
You can keep both automations in one workflow and give each its own trigger.
Save email attachments to a folder
Create an automation with Gmail as the source, or Outlook for a Microsoft account.
Choose the emails whose attachments you want to save.
Set Folder as the destination and choose the folder where you want to save the attachments.
Use that same folder as the source for your second automation.
For email setup instructions, see Use Gmail as a source or Use Outlook email as a source.
Example: Consolidate daily CSV or Excel reports
Suppose another system emails you a CSV or Excel report each day. The email automation saves those reports to a folder. A second automation combines their data into one spreadsheet.
Set up the folder automation
Add a second automation to the workflow, with Folder as its source.
Select the folder where the email automation saves the reports.
Set Content type to Spreadsheets. This option reads Google Sheets, Excel, and CSV files.
Under FILE TAB, choose the tab Sheetgo imports from each file. The default is Every first sheet. If you choose a tab by name, use the same tab name in every file.
Add the Merge data processor to combine the files' data into one table. A data processor is optional for a Folder source, but this example uses it to consolidate the reports.
Set a spreadsheet as the destination.
For example, if the folder contains three daily report files, the folder automation combines the data from those files into one table in the destination spreadsheet.
What happens on later runs?
The email automation saves attachments from matching emails to the folder. The folder automation reads the spreadsheet files in that folder.
Spreadsheet files do not have an Only import each file once option. Don't expect the folder automation to skip a report because it read that file on an earlier run.
For folder setup instructions, see Use files from a folder as a source.
Example: Extract supplier PDF invoices into rows
Suppose suppliers send you invoices as PDF attachments. The email automation saves the PDFs to a folder. The second automation extracts their data into a spreadsheet, with one row per invoice document.
Set up the folder automation
Add a second automation to the workflow, with Folder as its source.
Select the folder where the email automation saves the invoices.
Set Content type to Documents.
Choose the Invoices extraction preset, or provide your own extraction instructions.
Under IMPORT OPTIONS, leave Only import each file once (skip already-processed files) on if you want later runs to process only new files. This option is on by default for Documents.
Set a spreadsheet as the destination.
If the folder contains three invoice PDFs, Sheetgo extracts their data into three rows. Document extraction consumes automation credits.
The Documents content type also supports Google Docs and Word documents. Other extraction presets are Receipts, Contracts, and Other documents.
For extraction setup instructions, see Extract data from PDF and text documents.
Run each automation on its own trigger
Both automations can stay in the same workflow while running on different schedules. For example:
Give the email automation a trigger that runs every hour to save attachments to the folder.
Give the folder automation a trigger that runs once a day to read the saved files into the spreadsheet.
The folder automation processes files that are already in the folder when it runs. An attachment saved after that run is available for a later folder run.
For setup instructions, see Use more than one trigger in a workflow.