When a PDF file is added to Box, use OCR to extract its content and notify Slack

■Overview

Do you spend too much time manually reviewing and transcribing information from PDF files such as invoices received from business partners? With this workflow, whenever a PDF file is stored in Box, OCR automatically extracts its contents and sends the results to Slack. By automating the entire process of extracting text information from PDFs with OCR, you can eliminate tedious manual work and help prevent human errors such as missed reviews and transcription mistakes.

■Recommended for

• Anyone who finds it time-consuming to review or transcribe the contents of PDFs uploaded to Box
• Anyone looking to automate manual PDF OCR processing and subsequent information sharing
• Anyone looking to streamline the process of reviewing PDF files such as invoices and contracts and sharing them with their team

■Benefits of using this template

• From storing a file in Box to processing it with OCR and sending a notification to Slack, everything runs automatically, reducing the time previously spent on manual work.
• By eliminating manual data entry and copy-and-paste tasks, you can help prevent human errors such as input mistakes and missed reviews.

■Flowbot steps

1. First, connect Box and Slack to Yoom.
2. Next, select Box as the trigger and set the action to “When a file is uploaded to a folder.”
3. Then, set up a branch in the operation and configure the condition so that subsequent processes run only when the uploaded file is a PDF.
4. Next, set up Box’s “Download a file” action in the operation and specify the file obtained by the trigger.
5. Next, set up the OCR function’s “Read any image or PDF” action in the operation and specify the downloaded PDF file.
6. Finally, set up Slack’s “Send a message to a channel” action in the operation to notify any channel of the content extracted by OCR.

※“Trigger”: An action that starts the flow. “Operation”: An action that processes data within the flow after the trigger starts.

■Customization options

• In the Box trigger settings, specify the content ID of the folder you want to monitor.
• With the branching function, you can freely customize the conditions for proceeding to subsequent operations, such as running the process only when the file name contains “.pdf.”
• With the OCR function, you can specify the items you want to extract from the PDF, such as the invoice amount or business partner name.
• For Slack notifications, you can specify the destination channel and users to mention, as well as embed information obtained through OCR as variables in the message.

■Notes

• Connect both Box and Slack to Yoom.
• You can choose a trigger interval of 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes.
• Note that the shortest available trigger interval varies by plan.
• AI operations for OCR or audio transcription are available only on the Team and Success Plans. On the Free and Mini Plans, the configured Flowbot operations will result in an error.
• Paid plans such as the Team and Success Plans include a two-week free trial. During the free trial, you can use restricted apps and AI features (operations).
• Branching is an available feature (operation) on the Mini Plan and above. On the Free Plan, the configured Flowbot operations will result in an error.
• Paid plans such as the Mini Plan include a two-week free trial. During the free trial, you can use restricted apps and features (operations).
• OCR may not be able to read data containing more than 6,500 characters or text that is too small. Please note this limitation.