AI-Powered Invoice Processing Automation

The accounting team processed invoices manually - opening email attachments, entering data into spreadsheets, and archiving files in Google Drive. Invoices arrived in various formats: native PDFs, scanned documents, JPEG and PNG images, and sometimes ZIP archives. The process was slow, error-prone, and consumed hours every week.

We built an automated n8n workflow connected to email, Google Drive, and Google Sheets. The system monitors the inbox and processes each attachment intelligently - PDFs are tested for native text or scanned content and routed accordingly. Images and scanned PDFs are read with Mistral AI OCR, while ZIP archives are automatically extracted.

The extracted text is passed to an AI agent that classifies the document and pulls out structured accounting data. Valid invoices are written to Google Sheets, and files are automatically renamed and organised in Google Drive by supplier, year, and month. Unrecognised documents are moved to a separate folder and the team receives an automatic email notification.