Automation - How to download and save multiple pdf statements?

jgallcash

I'm in the process of having to go back through the past few years to download statements from my main bank account, my joint account and my credit card.  That's 100+ separate links, download pdf, save document as, renaming by month and filing in the correct folder.  As you can imagine, that's going to be hours of work, and I've been putting it off for some time.

Could anybody suggest anyway that I can automate any of this at all?  Even if it was just the downloading of all the statements and saving would save hours without renaming or even signposting me to a place where I can get specific advice would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance

forgotmyname

Download manager, they can grab any links on a page and download them all in one go.

Check the addons for your browser.  Renaming will need to be done manually though. Some will rename the file
adding the downloaded date but it will not know what month the file refers to unless the date is already in the filename.

IvanOpinion

I went through this several years back.  I used to have many lever arch files and two large plastic trunks to hold various paperwork.  After having to search for a receipt (took me several hours to not find it) I decided to scan everything in and download anything missing (if possible).  It took me several weekends but it was worth it.  I now scan important items in at the end of each month and all remaining paperwork now lives in a single A4 file.

It takes time and getting the naming convention right is important, but it is time well spent. Good luck

On-the-coast

You're describing a classic "software engineers dilemma!"
For approximately 100 links from a typical bank, it's going to take  you around half a minute each to save them in the right place.
Say 1 hour if you allow for a few mistakes and a much needed tea break.
Now... the question your typical techie will ask him/herself is "can i automate this task in less than an hour?"...
... well can they?
What normally happens is that they spend an hour google / chatting / experimenting, and then do it manually anyway. However if this is a task that is going to repeat itself every week/month, or perhaps one that contained 10,000 links they would try and find a way.
Most banks do not make this task easy in my experience - so in your case i'd go with manual - for what sounds like a one-off, and a managably small list of PDF's
Good luck!

Andy_L

Do they provide a multiple download option or large date range option (possibly for a fee)

KingL2

Have you done this already?  I have some thoughts, but won't spend the time typing it out if you have already done the job.  Also - what operating system.

jgallcash

KingL2 said:

Have you done this already?  I have some thoughts, but won't spend the time typing it out if you have already done the job.  Also - what operating system.

I've been building up the courage to do this for about three months.  There's been some useful advice above which I'm looking into, but I've not yet acted upon, so please do share any thoughts you might have.

My operating system is Windows but have Android phone/tablet too if that opens any other avenues

jgallcash

forgotmyname said:

Download manager, they can grab any links on a page and download them all in one go.

Check the addons for your browser.  Renaming will need to be done manually though. Some will rename the file
adding the downloaded date but it will not know what month the file refers to unless the date is already in the filename.

Thanks for your reply. Could you me any more specific on which download managers are good?  I'm using both chrome and Firefox

KingL2

jgallcash said:

KingL2 said:

Have you done this already?  I have some thoughts, but won't spend the time typing it out if you have already done the job.  Also - what operating system.

I've been building up the courage to do this for about three months.  There's been some useful advice above which I'm looking into, but I've not yet acted upon, so please do share any thoughts you might have.

My operating system is Windows but have Android phone/tablet too if that opens any other avenues

OK, I'll make a post later.  Is the default filenames of the pdfs that your bank delivers somehow meaningful? (at least sequential)

mksysb

Are they all on the same page?  If so something like this would do it

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/simple-mass-downloader/abdkkegmcbiomijcbdaodaflgehfffed

KingL2

If your pdf statements are linked directly from a single page, then a bulk downloader may help you. I have used DownThemAll in the past. You can set it up to download all files linked from a page by clicking a single button in your browser toolbar. (As long as the filenames that your bank gives you are somewhat meaningful (i.e. sequential), we can easily bulk-rename them in your preferred format later on). 

In most of my banks, the link in the main 'statements' page doesn't go to directly to the pdf, if just goes to a second html page which then contains a link to the pdf.  If your bank has three levels of abstraction like this, then a bulk downloader isn't going to help you. You would have to download each file manually.  We could lighten the load of doing that, via some browser settings and using an script in Autohotkey to automate your keystrokes, but more on that later, if required.

But for now, let's assume that you have successfully autodownloaded all your Savings accounts, the banks naming convention for the files is logical (sequential), but you want to rename them to your preferred format, which includes the dates.

Bulk Rename Utility is a very powerful tool that lets you rename thousands of files in a flash. You can do things like adding a prefix to them (for example, the year), using Search-and-Replace functions like you use in a word processor, or adding sequential numbers in many different formats.  The function that you would use here is the ability to feed it a text file with the old and your custom-made new names
oldname1.pdf|newname1.pdf
oldname2.pdf|newname2.pdf

To do this:

Get the old filenames from using directory printers like
Printfolders
https://printfolder.en.softonic.com/
or
Karen
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-directory-printer
or by using the Windows Command line Interface to pipe a DIRectory enquiry out to a textfile.
e.g. open a commandline window, navigate to the folder that contains your files then type
dir /b > "00 FilesInThisFolder.txt"
Shout if you need more guidance on this, but it is much easier just to use Printfolders
Make sure you select the option to include the file _extensions_ .pdf

Use this spreadsheet to format the filenames to your specification:

https://file.io/NiOuysz9tgLX



Paste the old filenames in column A
Fiddle around with column B,C,D to get the format you want in Column E. You can change the formula in column E to customise it further (an ampersand (&) links two cells; &"freetext"& lets you add freetext between fields).
When you are happy, copy-paste column F into a text file and save it somewhere.

Install Bulk Rename Utility.
https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

Navigate (in the tree-vie directory window) to your folder of pdfs, then use the menu option
Actions>Import Rename Pairs
and navigate to your text file of old and new filenames.
Load it
In the main window of the Bulk Reame Utility app it should show you two columns with your old and new names (new names in green), if it doesn't, click in the main (big) Window then Cntl+a to select all. When you are happy, click the 'rename' button, bottom right and Boom, you are done. 

(there is more about Rename Pairs in the BRU usermanual page 103 (edit: err, that's 310) if you need it
https://www.s3.tgrmn.com/bru/other/Bulk_Rename_Utility_Operations_Manual_by_Tim_Mongeon_USA_2nd_Edition.pdf


Go back to the start and do it all over again with the Joint Account.

Obviously, the renaming tool is just blindly renaming one set of (old) filenames with another.  You will need to first ensure that you haven't missed out downloading any one month's pdf or you will be renaming all the later ones wrongly.


I can make another post later about some options to somewhat automate the downloading of the original pdfs using Autohotkeys, but first check whether you can do it automatically using DownThemAll or similar.