Abhishek Gawade This workflow corresponds to n8n.io template #16331 — we link there as the canonical source.
This workflow follows the Chainllm → Gmail Trigger recipe pattern — see all workflows that pair these two integrations.
The workflow JSON
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{
"meta": {
"templateCredsSetupCompleted": false
},
"name": "AI Invoice & Receipt Extractor: email PDF \u2192 structured data \u2192 bookkeeping sheet + approval",
"tags": [],
"nodes": [
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0001-4a10-9a01-cc3333330001",
"name": "Overview",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-1280,
40
],
"parameters": {
"width": 540,
"height": 760,
"content": "## \ud83d\udcc4 AI Invoice & Receipt Extractor\n\n**Who it's for:** Small businesses, bookkeepers, finance & ops teams that get invoices and receipts by email and re-type them into a spreadsheet by hand.\n\n**What it does:** When an email with a PDF attachment arrives, it reads the document, an AI extracts the key fields (vendor, invoice number, dates, totals, tax, category), appends a clean row to your bookkeeping sheet, and sends high-value invoices to an approver in Slack.\n\n### How it works\n1. **New Invoice Email** triggers on inbound mail with attachments.\n2. **Extract Text from PDF** reads the attached document.\n3. **Extract Invoice Fields** returns `{ vendor_name, invoice_number, invoice_date, due_date, currency, subtotal, tax_amount, total_amount, category, summary }`.\n4. **Log to Bookkeeping Sheet** appends the row.\n5. **High-Value?** routes invoices over your threshold to **Send for Approval** in Slack.\n\n### Setup (~10 min)\n- Connect **Gmail**, **OpenAI**, **Google Sheets** & **Slack** credentials.\n- In **New Invoice Email**, adjust the search filter (e.g. a label or sender).\n- Set the approval threshold in **High-Value?** and pick your Slack channel.\n- Activate."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0002-4a10-9a01-cc3333330002",
"name": "Warning",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-1280,
820
],
"parameters": {
"color": 3,
"width": 540,
"height": 220,
"content": "## \u26a0\ufe0f Before you run\n- This template reads the **first PDF attachment** (`attachment_0`). For multi-file emails, add a loop / adjust the binary property.\n- Scanned image-only PDFs need OCR \u2014 swap **Extract Text from PDF** for an OCR / OpenAI vision step.\n- Always keep a human approval step for payments \u2014 the AI extracts, it does **not** pay.\n- Use a cheap model (e.g. `gpt-4o-mini`). This template ships **without credentials** \u2014 connect your own Gmail, OpenAI, Google Sheets & Slack accounts."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0003-4a10-9a01-cc3333330003",
"name": "Section: Capture",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-680,
-20
],
"parameters": {
"color": 4,
"width": 620,
"height": 600,
"content": "## 1 \u00b7 Capture the document\nTrigger on incoming email with an attachment and pull the text out of the PDF.\n**Tune the email filter in \"New Invoice Email\".**"
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0004-4a10-9a01-cc3333330004",
"name": "Section: Extract",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
-40,
-20
],
"parameters": {
"color": 5,
"width": 360,
"height": 600,
"content": "## 2 \u00b7 Extract fields with AI\nTurn the raw invoice text into clean, structured data: vendor, invoice number, dates, currency, subtotal, tax, total and a spend category."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0005-4a10-9a01-cc3333330005",
"name": "Section: Record",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
"position": [
340,
-20
],
"parameters": {
"color": 6,
"width": 540,
"height": 600,
"content": "## 3 \u00b7 Record & approve\nAppend a row to your bookkeeping sheet, and send invoices above your threshold to an approver in Slack before they get paid."
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0010-4a10-9a01-cc3333330010",
"name": "New Invoice Email",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.gmailTrigger",
"position": [
-620,
240
],
"parameters": {
"simple": false,
"filters": {
"q": "has:attachment"
},
"options": {
"downloadAttachments": true
},
"pollTimes": {
"item": [
{
"mode": "everyMinute"
}
]
}
},
"typeVersion": 1.2
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0011-4a10-9a01-cc3333330011",
"name": "Extract Text from PDF",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.extractFromFile",
"position": [
-340,
240
],
"parameters": {
"options": {},
"operation": "pdf",
"binaryPropertyName": "attachment_0"
},
"typeVersion": 1
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0012-4a10-9a01-cc3333330012",
"name": "Extract Invoice Fields",
"type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.chainLlm",
"position": [
0,
240
],
"parameters": {
"text": "=Extract the invoice/receipt data from the document text below. If a field is missing, use an empty string (or 0 for numbers). Use ISO dates (YYYY-MM-DD).\n\nDocument text:\n{{ $json.text }}\n\nReturn:\n- vendor_name\n- invoice_number\n- invoice_date\n- due_date\n- currency (ISO code, e.g. USD)\n- subtotal (number)\n- tax_amount (number)\n- total_amount (number)\n- category: best-guess spend category (e.g. Software, Travel, Office, Marketing, Utilities, Other)\n- summary: one short line describing the purchase.",
"promptType": "define",
"hasOutputParser": true
},
"typeVersion": 1.5
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0013-4a10-9a01-cc3333330013",
"name": "OpenAI Chat Model",
"type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmChatOpenAi",
"position": [
-40,
480
],
"parameters": {
"model": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "list",
"value": "gpt-4o-mini",
"cachedResultName": "gpt-4o-mini"
},
"options": {}
},
"typeVersion": 1.2
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0014-4a10-9a01-cc3333330014",
"name": "Parse Invoice (JSON)",
"type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.outputParserStructured",
"position": [
140,
480
],
"parameters": {
"jsonSchemaExample": "{\n \"vendor_name\": \"Acme SaaS Inc.\",\n \"invoice_number\": \"INV-2026-0042\",\n \"invoice_date\": \"2026-06-01\",\n \"due_date\": \"2026-06-15\",\n \"currency\": \"USD\",\n \"subtotal\": 200.00,\n \"tax_amount\": 18.00,\n \"total_amount\": 218.00,\n \"category\": \"Software\",\n \"summary\": \"Monthly subscription \u2013 Pro plan\"\n}"
},
"typeVersion": 1.2
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0015-4a10-9a01-cc3333330015",
"name": "Log to Bookkeeping Sheet",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets",
"position": [
560,
120
],
"parameters": {
"columns": {
"value": {
"Tax": "={{ $json.output.tax_amount }}",
"Total": "={{ $json.output.total_amount }}",
"Status": "Unpaid",
"Vendor": "={{ $json.output.vendor_name }}",
"Category": "={{ $json.output.category }}",
"Currency": "={{ $json.output.currency }}",
"Due Date": "={{ $json.output.due_date }}",
"Received": "={{ $now.toISO() }}",
"Invoice #": "={{ $json.output.invoice_number }}",
"Invoice Date": "={{ $json.output.invoice_date }}"
},
"schema": [],
"mappingMode": "defineBelow",
"matchingColumns": []
},
"options": {},
"operation": "append",
"sheetName": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "id",
"value": "gid=0",
"cachedResultName": "Invoices"
},
"documentId": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "id",
"value": "YOUR_GOOGLE_SHEET_ID"
}
},
"typeVersion": 4.5
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0016-4a10-9a01-cc3333330016",
"name": "High-Value?",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.if",
"position": [
560,
360
],
"parameters": {
"options": {},
"conditions": {
"options": {
"version": 2,
"caseSensitive": true,
"typeValidation": "loose"
},
"combinator": "and",
"conditions": [
{
"id": "cond-highvalue",
"operator": {
"type": "number",
"operation": "gte"
},
"leftValue": "={{ $json.output.total_amount }}",
"rightValue": 1000
}
]
}
},
"typeVersion": 2.2
},
{
"id": "c3d4e5f6-0017-4a10-9a01-cc3333330017",
"name": "Send for Approval",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.slack",
"position": [
840,
360
],
"parameters": {
"text": "=:heavy_dollar_sign: *Invoice needs approval*\n*{{ $json.output.vendor_name }}* \u2014 {{ $json.output.currency }} {{ $json.output.total_amount }}\nInvoice {{ $json.output.invoice_number }} \u00b7 due {{ $json.output.due_date }} \u00b7 {{ $json.output.category }}\n{{ $json.output.summary }}",
"select": "channel",
"resource": "message",
"channelId": {
"__rl": true,
"mode": "list",
"value": "",
"cachedResultName": ""
},
"operation": "post",
"otherOptions": {}
},
"typeVersion": 2.3
}
],
"settings": {
"executionOrder": "v1"
},
"connections": {
"High-Value?": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Send for Approval",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
],
[]
]
},
"New Invoice Email": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Extract Text from PDF",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"OpenAI Chat Model": {
"ai_languageModel": [
[
{
"node": "Extract Invoice Fields",
"type": "ai_languageModel",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Parse Invoice (JSON)": {
"ai_outputParser": [
[
{
"node": "Extract Invoice Fields",
"type": "ai_outputParser",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Extract Text from PDF": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Extract Invoice Fields",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Extract Invoice Fields": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Log to Bookkeeping Sheet",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
},
{
"node": "High-Value?",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
}
}
}
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About this workflow
This workflow monitors Gmail for emails with PDF attachments, extracts invoice fields with OpenAI, logs the results to a Google Sheets bookkeeping spreadsheet, and posts high-value invoices to Slack for approval. Triggers every minute when Gmail finds a new email matching the…
Source: https://n8n.io/workflows/16331/ — original creator credit. Request a take-down →
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