Automatic File Organizer for Google Drive: Sorting PDFs, Images, and Documents by Type

With the upsurge in the number of people working remotely, the majority of individual files used to store documents electronically are now kept on cloud servers. For many, there is an abundance of documents, but there are also many that are unorganised. Google Drive does offer a search feature to help locate documents quickly by keyword, however it also has the ability to fail to locate them due to the sheer volume of organisation required. An automatic organiser works by automatically categorising your documents based on predetermined categories. An automatic organiser uses a combination of algorithms and rules to accomplish this; the best part is that you never have to do anything other than set it up.

There are still many ways that businesses are operating, and automating those routines is one of the many ways to be efficient. An automatic file organiser for Google Drive will enable you to create a completely automated file organisation system for all of your documents.

Let's take a look at what makes an automatic organiser different from the regular Google Drive file organisation process. For example, when you create a file in Google Drive, it will be created empty, with no categorisation. The only categorisation information it has is the last modified date. When you have a task that requires both a file and a milestone date, you would need to manually go back and find that file to attach it to the milestones.

Once you have a fully functional automatic file organiser in Google Drive, everything that has been created using that organiser will be automatically filed under the appropriate category without having to search through folders. It is an excellent way to save both time and resources with your document organisation.

Examples of Automatic File Organisers:

• PDF File Organiser
• Image File Organiser
• Document File Organiser
• Spreadsheet File Organiser

As you can see from the examples above, there are many different categories of files that can be sorted using an automatic organiser. You will also find many different automatic organisers available. The ones I recommend are those that use the most current technologies. An example of an automatic organiser would be ASCN's automatic file organiser for Google Drive. ASCN.AI uses machine learning to classify your documents, so if your documents aren't classified correctly or if you create new files that aren't classified yet, it will continue to improve over time.

How to Connect Your Automatic File Organiser with Google Drive

The process of connecting an automatic organiser with Google Drive is very simple. To set it up:

1. Create an ASCN account.
2. Download and install your Auto File Organiser.
3. Create a sync folder.
4. Locate the Files and Select the Folders. Use the Search Feature or Click on "Select All" for All Documents.

How to Create Your Own PDF, Image, Document, Spreadsheet Files Organiser

1. Create an ASCN account.
2. Download and install your Auto File Organiser.
3. Create a Sync Folder
4. Locate the Files and Select the Folders; Use the Search Feature or Click on "Select All" for All Files.

How Automatic File Organizers Work and Why You Should Use Them

An automatic file organizer is like a set of rules for automatically determining the file type (PDF, image, document) and then placing it into the designated folder. The organizer will perform this task without any input from you, using the Google Drive API. When files are uploaded, the organizer will scan the files and determine the file type (extension) and MIME type, and sometimes read the content to decide where to send the file based on the rules defined.

How This Process Works

Trigger: The system receives an event when you upload a new file to Google Drive.

Analysis: Based on the extension (such as .pdf or .jpg) or MIME type (such as image/jpeg), the organizer will determine the file type.

Action: The file will be automatically sent to the appropriate folder as per your pre-defined settings.

We previously had a project to automate the processing of documents received from clients. Prior to the introduction of the organizer via ASCN.AI NoCode, managers spent a total of 2-3 hours daily manually sorting through a mix of PDF contracts, payment images and Excel files. Once we installed the organizer, it was possible to complete the verification process in approximately 10 minutes. This equates to an approximate accumulation of 60+ hours of extra time over the period of one month.

The Benefits of Automation

Speed: Files are sorted automatically, in real time as they are uploaded.

Accuracy: The machine cannot be confused, thus eliminating a large portion of human error, resulting in reduced error rates from approximately 5% to now less than 1%.

Scalability: The automatic file organizer works equally well whether you have a dozen files or thousands of files.

Decreased Load: The team can devote additional resources to do vital (more meaningful) activities compared to the mindless old way of sorting; it's a lot better for teams all around the world.

The current tasking of distributing documents to people won't replace the capabilities of a traditional CRM or Project Management System, but it does create a huge leap forward towards smart Document Management.

How It's Done with Google Drive

The magic occurs with the Google Drive API. Third-party services gain access to Document Metadata, allow you to create folder structures, and allows movement of documents around. Additionally, the best part is there are no applications installed locally on your PC, as the application is hosted and operated on Google servers.

Complete Requirements for the Google Drive Connection:

OAuth Authorisation: You provide permission for Third-Party applications to access and use your account (similar to how you would log into your account using "Sign in with Google").

Rule Creation: You create Rules that define and determine where the Document/File will be sent; these Rules can be set to apply to any Document/File based on their metadata.

Activator Trigger: The Google Drive-based organiser will continually monitor for changes occurring to the Document/File(s) in real time.

Important Google Drive API Limitation to Keep in Mind:

• A maximum of 10,000 Requests per day per user and no more than 1,000 Requests in a rolling 100 seconds.
• You may want to expect some delay in receiving updates (1–2 minutes typically).
• The Google Drive-based organiser will not process anything that has Restricted Access Rights on it.

Integration with Other Services

Connecting to Google Drive is only one of the many options available to you. It's common practice for organisers to link notifications to Slack, Telegram, or CRM. For example, within ASCN.AI NoCode, once you have sorted a Document/File, a notification is sent via Telegram. "A PDF Contract from Client X has been moved into the Contracts 2025 Folder." Sounds like a great way of doing business, don't you think?

Encryption of authorization data is done via AES 256 bit, and transmitted securely via the TLS protocol. You have total authority over your Google account and can revoke access any time from within your Google account's settings.

File and image formats supported for sorting:

PDF File Sorting

Sorted PDFs are most commonly contracts, reports, and invoices. Visually, they may appear to be the same, making it challenging when attempting to determine which document is which, without intelligent processing of the file contents.

Ways to Sort PDFs:

• By filename. Searching for the keyword; "contract", "invoice", or similar key terms.
• By date. Automatically archiving older PDFs based on either the created date or modified date.
• Upload source. Finding the final location of the PDF file by the folder structure or user who uploaded the PDF.
• File content (OCR and AI). Searching for keywords within the contents of a PDF file for accurately categorizing PDF documents.

We have automated the processing of work completion statements for a construction company. Previously accountants had to manually sort approximately seventy PDF files per month. Now, ninety-five percent of these types of documentation are sorted automatically, making the workload substantially lighter for our team.

Image Formats and Categories

Images in business consist of screenshots, logos, product photos, and document scans. Without a dedicated storage solution for images, they can become disorganised very quickly.

The following image formats are supported: JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs, WebPs, SVGs, AIs, and Professional RAWs.

Ways to Categorise:

• By image format; e.g., storing all PNG files in one folder, and all JPEG files in another.
• Sorting files based on their resolution is accomplished through the resolution method; if they are smaller than 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels it will end up in the 'Previews' folder, if they are larger than that size the file will be placed in the 'Originals' folder.
• The shooting date of the file, based on EXIF data, and auto-organises the files by year/months.
• The third way to sort files is to use artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically sort files by their content. Examples include sorting a photo of a dog, or a cut-out of a logo, and sorting based on these AI-recognised objects; note that using AI to recognise and sort your files will slow down the overall process slightly, so for most businesses, sorting files based on type and size will work well.

Types of Documents and Classification

The types of documents include spreadsheets, presentations, and other standard document types (e.g., Google Drive or Office). You need to classify all the documents to ensure you don't lose any of the documents in your collection.

Examples of document types include:

Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and other Office file types (e.g., .docx, .xlsx).

How to classify your documents:

• By Type - Move all documents that are .xlsx files into a folder called 'Spreadsheets.'
• By Name - Move all documents that have the word 'Report' in their title into a folder called 'Reports.'
• By Author/Creation Date - If the document was created or authored before a specific date, move it into the appropriate Archive.
• By Size - Large-size documents should be sent to an Archive.

As per a case study involving the classification of marketing briefs by name, automated classification reduced human errors and saved approximately 40 hours of work per quarter.

Using the Automatic Document Organizer

Connect your Automatic Document Organizer to Google Drive.

When you want to Connect to Google Drive, the first step is to identify your preferred platform. SaaS solutions like ASCN.AI NoCode, Zapier, or Make are popular among end-users, however, the cloud-hosted solution is most commonly used. Therefore, you'll need to complete the OAuth: Authorise Your App with Google Drive. You may also need to specify the folder(s) you wish to limit access to.

When you're sure everything is working properly, test the process of creating a rule and uploading files to it so you can see how well the whole system works.

What is the Basic Configuration and Management of Sorting Rules?

Rules are built like a chain; "when this occurs, take that action." Many newer platforms now offer visual building tools to assist with setting up rules without needing an expert coder or programmer.

Every rule consists of three parts: the event (what triggers the rule), the condition(s) (how to perform the rule), and the action (what to do if the rule meets the conditions). An example of a simple rule could be to "send any new File with a .pdf extension to PDF Books Folder." A more complex example could be to say "if I have a new file with a .xlsx extension that has the word report in it and has a file size over five megabytes, then Send it to Department File Path and send me a notification on my Slack account."

Managing rules typically involves setting priority for each; enabling or disabling them; keeping logs to see who did what and when. Some common mistakes people make include having too generic of rules that can override a more specific rule or having multiple rules that conflict with each other.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to organise and categorise files in Google Drive using AI?

AI scans PDF and other documents to extract text via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology; it scans for keywords in documents using Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology; and it processes images using Computer Vision technology.

Automated categorization of files in Google Drive occurs when the probability of a file belonging to a particular category is greater than 85%. Files that do not meet this threshold will be placed in a folder designated for manual review by a human being. Due to the high processing power of servers and the use of paid application programming interfaces (APIs), this process will require significant resources. It should be noted that there are limitations to the accuracy of automated categorization, therefore, it is necessary to monitor the accuracy of results generated through automation. Additionally, the quality of the original scans will affect the ability of the system to recognize files.

Automating Your File Movement Within Google Drive

Utilizing the File.update method in the Google Drive API, it is possible to move files by removing the previous parent folder and adding a new parent folder. If the previous parent folder is not removed, then the file will reside in multiple locations; however, this may serve a functional purpose for users setting up shortcuts but will not benefit individuals who seek strictly organized file systems.

How Does Automating the Categorization of Your Files Benefit File Management?

According to the McKinsey Global Institute (2023), automating routine processes increases the productivity of an office worker by 20% to 30% through reduced manual labor and errors. In the context of file management, this represents a significant reduction in the amount of time required to manage files, which may add up to months of savings for an entire team.

As an illustration, manually sorting 100 files each day typically takes at least 20 minutes. Over a calendar year that is approximately 83 hours, which is equivalent to two weeks of work. The time savings provided by automation may result in a near-instantaneous sorting process. For example, a contractor that was manually sorting 50 to 70 PDF files and images daily using an automated solution saw the time to complete the task reduced from 20 minutes to approximately 2 minutes. Each audit that the company's accountant performed saved him approximately 75 hours annually.

More Benefits of Automated File Management:

• Automation of folder structure improves the file searchability.
• Automation of folder structure reduces errors and related stress.
• Automation of folder structure is consistent and efficient.

Testimonials:

"We connected ASCN.AI NoCode to eliminate one hour of routine sorting each day; therefore, we converted to an automated process that only takes a couple of minutes. In three months, we saved 60 hours of work!"

"In a construction environment, we generated 50 to 70 PDF files per day and sorting our files used to take us 20 minutes per file, now it takes us only a couple of minutes to verify the sorting. We have no lost files."

"Clients provide files in multiple formats and languages. We have created rules that utilize keywords, and every so often the system automatically sorts the files into their proper folders; what a convenience."

Closing Thoughts

Deciding which file automation solution is best for your needs will depend upon the number of files you need to manage, the complexity of your rules for the categorization of files, and your budget. If you are managing fewer than 100 files each month and have a straightforward rule set, you can likely get away with using a basic tool like those available via Google Drive or by creating a series of scripts. For businesses managing between 100 and 1,000 files, either ASCN.AI NoCode or Make is preferable. For businesses managing over 1,000 files requiring some level of AI analysis or Web3 integration, ASCN.AI NoCode with AI agents is your best option.

To get started, the process is quite simple: register on the platform, connect with Google Drive using OAuth, and create your first rule. Once you see the advantages, you will want to expand your rules and track how effective the automation is. A good recommendation is to begin with one type of file to make setup easier and to handle potential errors during the initial stage.