Noodlesoft Forums

I have read a couple of posts on this forum about using Hazel to rename documents based on content. I've also seen a youtube video that explains how to do this BUT while that workflow seems OK, I'd like to know if it can be taken a step further.

Basically it seems Hazel can be set up to rename files from fairly predictable documents. For example, you tell Hazel how to expect the date on a document to be formatted (e.g., date first followed by month followed by year).

So my questions are:

Is there a way to have Hazel detect multiple date formats as well as multiple vendors? For example it should be able to detect Walmart as the vendor as well as Costco or Bestbuy. And as mentioned above, it should be able to detect different date formats.

The resulting file name should look like the below examples:

- 2019-09-25 at Costco for $23.81.pdf
- 2019-09-25 at McDonalds for $12.88.pdf

In the end, I want to save time by not having to do this manually.

I'm very well aware that the accuracy depends on the legibility of the scanned receipt. Therefore, for the sake of argument let's assume the legibility is good. I don't mind going through the receipts to double-check/fix any errors.

Thanks!

By default, custom date attributes are set to try and detect the date format automatically.

As for vendor, unless you can find a pattern on where it is located in the text, you'll need to specify them as Hazel it's all just words and it doesn't know whether one word corresponds to a vendor over another.

I was finally able to figure out how to do the date recognition.

On a side note, I'm computer literate —although not a programmer— but I have to admit that Hazel is a not as intuitive for me. This is not to say there's anything wrong with it, just not easy to initially grasp.

Thanks for a great product!