We all have recurring, time-consuming, and, let’s face it, lifeless tasks. Tasks that utilize your time and leave you worn down consist of renaming hundreds of files, copying data from spreadsheets, scraping data from websites, and sending out typical emails.
The bright side is that you can automate several of these tasks in Python, freeing you up to concentrate on the important things. What’s the best part? Having a specialist in programming is not essential. This following article will explain in basic terms how to begin using Python to carry out automated routine tasks.
Why Use Python for Automation?
Python’s simple syntax (it reads like English), Fast of learning, and the number of libraries make automation easy to learn. Look at your ongoing digital support.
You can automate all of the following tasks:
Rename multiple files
Extract text from PDFs
Send emails automatically
Scrape websites for data
Fill out online forms
Clean and organize Excel sheets
Monitor folders or websites
1. Automating File Renaming
Problem:
You have 100 photos from a trip, and they’re named IMG_001, IMG_002… not helpful.
The Python Approach:
import os
folder = ‘C:/Users/You/Photos’
for count, filename in enumerate(os.listdir(folder)):
dst = f”vacation_{str(count+1).zfill(3)}.jpg”
src = os.path.join(folder, filename)
dst = os.path.join(folder, dst)
os.rename(src, dst)
What This Does:
This renames every single file in a folder to vacation_001.jpg, vacation_002.jpg, and more and more. Simple and representative.
2. Extracting Text from PDFs
Problem:
The issue is that you would like to copy data from a 50-page PDF report.
The Python Approach:
Use the PyPDF2 or pdfplumber library.
import pdfplumber
with pdfplumber.open(‘report.pdf’) as pdf:
for page in pdf.pages:
text = page.extract_text()
print(text)
What This Does:
This opens a PDF and prints the whole document. This can also be written to a CSV or text file.
3. Sending Automated Emails
Problem:
The issue is that you want to thank 200 people through email. By hand? Thank you, but no.
The Python Approach:
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
sender = “you@example.com”
receiver = “client@example.com”
password = “yourpassword”
message = MIMEText(“Thank you for your interest!”)
message[‘Subject’] = ‘Thanks from Our Company’
message[‘From’] = sender
message[‘To’] = receiver
with smtplib.SMTP_SSL(‘smtp.gmail.com’, 465) as server:
server.login(sender, password)
server.sendmail(sender, receiver, message.as_string())
What This Does:
This leads to your Gmail account to send an email. This can be programmed to send personalised emails to hundreds of the recipients.
4. Data Scraping from Websites
Problem:
The issue is that you dislike going to the website every day even though you want to see the stock prices or job openings every day.
The Python Approach:
Use requests + BeautifulSoup
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
url = ‘https://example.com/jobs’
response = requests.get(url)
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, ‘html.parser’)
for job in soup.find_all(‘h2′, class_=’job-title’):
print(job.text)
What This Does:
Gather job titles from a website. This can be extended to include links, descriptions, and even the capacity to save them to Excel.
5. Automatically Filling Out Forms
Problem:
The issue is that you finish the same online form every single day.
The Python Approach:
Use selenium to automate browser tasks.
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
browser = webdriver.Chrome()
browser.get(‘https://example.com/form’)
browser.find_element(By.NAME, ‘username’).send_keys(‘your_username’)
browser.find_element(By.NAME, ‘password’).send_keys(‘your_password’)
browser.find_element(By.NAME, ‘submit’).click()
What This Does:
Provides a web browser, fills out and submits a form. Uploads, searches, and logins can all be automated as much as possible.
6. Making Excel Reports Automatic
Problem:
The issue is that each week, you manually copy and paste data within Excel sheets.
The Python Approach:
Use pandas and openpyxl.
import pandas as pd
data = pd.read_excel(‘weekly_data.xlsx’)
data[‘Total’] = data[‘Price’] * data[‘Quantity’]
data.to_excel(‘updated_report.xlsx’, index=False)
What This Does:
This reads your Excel file, develops a new column, and saves it to another file. Likewise, you can add charts, pivots, as well as filters.
7. Organizing and Sorting Files
Problem:
The issue is because your download folder is unorganized.
The Python Approach:
import os, shutil
downloads = ‘C:/Users/You/Downloads’
organized = ‘C:/Users/You/Downloads/Organized’
for file in os.listdir(downloads):
if file.endswith(‘.pdf’):
shutil.move(os.path.join(downloads, file), os.path.join(organized, ‘PDFs’, file))
elif file.endswith(‘.jpg’):
shutil.move(os.path.join(downloads, file), os.path.join(organized, ‘Images’, file))
What This Does:
Files are automatically moved by default to folders such as Docs, Images, alongside PDFs.
-
8. Tracking Modifications to a File or Website
Problem:
The issue is that you want to be informed when a file or webpage changes.
The Python Approach:
import hashlib
import time
import requests
def get_hash(url):
r = requests.get(url)
return hashlib.md5(r.text.encode(‘utf-8’)).hexdigest()
url = ‘https://example.com’
prev = get_hash(url)
while True:
time.sleep(60)
new = get_hash(url)
if new != prev:
print(“Website changed!”)
break
What This Does:
Every 60 seconds, it decides whether or not the content of a web page has changed.
9. Scheduling Your Scripts
Problem:
The issue is that you want your script to run everyday at 9:00 a.m.
The Python Approach:
Use a schedule library.
import schedule
import time
def job():
print(“Running automation task…”)
schedule.every().day.at(“09:00”).do(job)
while True:
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(1)
What This Does:
runs your script at a particular time every day. Cron (Mac/Linux) and Task Scheduler (Windows) are more options.
-
10. Combining All Together: The True Power
Imagine that you want to:
Scrape new job listings.
Save them to Excel.
Email them to yourself daily.
The scripts provided above can be along to create a single smart assistant. Set it to run each morning so you can wake up to an email report that includes job listings while you’re asleep.
What You Need to Get Begin?
- Install Python from python.org
- To obtain libraries such as pandas, requests, selenium, schedule, pdfplumber, and others, use pip install.
- A text editor such as VS Code or Jupyter Notebook.
Use Cases in Real Life
- HR Teams: create payroll reports effortlessly.
- Marketers: Compile social media mentions and SEO data.
- Analysts: set up and show Excel documents.
- Freelancers: Send monthly invoices to clients automatically.
Conclusion:
Console Flare makes learning Python fun and practical, even when it comes to automating boring tasks. It allows you to save time, improve productivity, and focus on what actually matters while creating helpful coding skills in a supportive learning environment by means of instruction and practical examples.
The objective of automation does not seek to replace humans. It’s about launching yourself from repetitive work so you can think, solve, and create more. Automate one small task at a time and keep on building. Before you know it, Python becomes your sidekick program that gently takes care of the boring stuff while you do the cool work.
For more such content and regular updates, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
