This step-by-step guide will walk you through setting up an automated data extraction from a packing list to Google Sheets using Bitskout and Zapier. This can be particularly useful for those in shipping or warehouse operations who regularly need to extract and manage data from packing lists received via email.

Begin by creating a new Zap in Zapier.

Set Gmail as the trigger app for this Zap, assuming you receive packing lists via email. You can specify the trigger as receiving an email with a specific subject line, in this case, a packing list.

The next step is to add BitScout to your Zap. Choose the 'Run Plugin for Files' event, which allows Bitskout to extract data from the files in your email.

Go back to BitScout and select the packing list template. This is a pre-designed format that can extract all the basic information from your packing list, including the line items detailing what's inside the package. Press Use Template.

Within Bitskout, choose Zapier as an output. Now your plugin is created and can be used in Zap scenario.

Back in Zapier, select the Bitskout plugin you've created (in this case, 'Packing List'), and choose your file. This should be the attachment from the email which contains the packing list.

Press continue and test your action to ensure that the data is being extracted correctly.

The final step is to write this data to Google Sheets. Choose Google Sheets as your action app, and specify the drive and spreadsheet to which the data should be written to. You can then map the extracted data directly from Bitskout to the appropriate columns in your spreadsheet.

Mapping data to a spreadsheet is done by selecting columns from the Bitskout extraction step.

Now your Zap is ready. You can turn it on and it will start extracting data from packing lists automatically.

Thus, by spending 10 minutes and with only 3 steps you can automate significant portions of meaningless tasks. Using Bitskout together with Zapier is straightforward, and does not require any extra technical skills.