GapJump AI Workshop Series

Automated Expense Tracker

Wednesday, July 8, 2026 · Facilitator: Kevin Brookhouser · Tool: Google Workspace Studio

What to Bring

A physical receipt in your pocket or bag. We use it later to test scanning straight from your phone, so bring one with you today.

Session Objective

By the end, you will have a working flow that watches a Drive folder, reads each receipt Gemini finds there, logs the details into a spreadsheet, and pings you in Chat, plus a phone widget that scans receipts straight into the folder.

How Today Works

Overview

We are building this together in Google Workspace Studio, a visual flow builder. No code. You will connect a few steps, tell Gemini what to pull off each receipt, and let it run. We move through these together:

Set up your receipt folder and log spreadsheet
Start a new flow and set the Drive trigger
Extract the data from each receipt
Log it to your spreadsheet
Notify yourself in Chat
Test it, then turn it on

💡 Then we add a one-tap phone scanner so logging a receipt is effortless.

1 Set Up Your Folder and Sheet

12 min

In Google Drive, create a folder where receipts will live (e.g. "Receipts").
Drop a test receipt into it. Use Receipt 1 if you do not have one handy.
Make your own copy of the log spreadsheet: Make a Copy

💡 The log sheet must stay private, not shared with anyone, and not in a Shared Drive.

2 Start a New Flow

10 min

Go to studio.workspace.google.com.
Click the blue + (New Flow) and name it Receipt Logger.
Starter (Step 1): choose "When an item is added to a folder."
Click Drive, then choose the receipt folder you just created.

💡 The starter is the trigger: it is what makes the flow run on its own whenever a new receipt lands.

3 Extract the Receipt Data

15 min

Add a step and choose Extract. This is where Gemini reads specific details off the receipt.

For Content, choose + Variables, then pick "Step 1: When an item is added" and select "Link to item."
Under What to extract, add one field per row below. The name is your label; the description tells Gemini what to look for.

Field name	Description for Gemini
Date	Find the date of the transaction
Vendor	Find the name of the vendor
Description	A description of the items in the receipt
Category	Choose from: Food, Office Supplies, Subscriptions, Travel, Equipment. If something doesn't fit these categories just add "Uncategorized"
Total	The total of the transaction

💡 Notice you are not writing rules. You are describing what you want in plain language, and Gemini infers the rest.

4 Log It to Your Sheet

12 min

Add a step: Sheets > Add a row.

Click + Spreadsheet and insert the log sheet you copied.
Scroll to Add data by column. You will see a field for each header in your sheet.
Match each field to the matching variable from the Extract step: Date to Date, Vendor to Vendor, and so on.
For Link to receipt scan, choose the variable from "Step 1: When an item is added" and select "Link to item."

5 Notify Yourself in Chat

6 min

Add a step: Chat > Notify me in Chat. Write whatever you want the message to say, and drop in variables so it is specific.

Sample Notification

Logged a new receipt: [Vendor] on [Date] for [Total] ([Category]).

💡 Brackets stand in for the variables you insert from earlier steps; pick them from the variable menu rather than typing them by hand.

6 Test It, Then Turn It On

14 min

Test run: click Test run, choose a receipt (it defaults to the last one you added), and click Start. Watch it move through the steps and notice the category Gemini inferred. Then check your log sheet and Chat: did it work?

If it did not, that is normal. Look at any error message, confirm your settings, or ask Gemini in Chrome for help by pasting the error or a screenshot.

Run it for real: turn the flow on, then drop a new receipt into the folder to trigger it live. Use Receipt 2 if you need one. Watch it happen under Activity in the flow editor, then check your sheet and Chat.

💡 An error is data. Describe it clearly, with the exact message or a screenshot, and it gets solved.

Scan on the Go: Add a Drive Scan Widget

10 min

This makes logging effortless: one tap on your phone opens the scanner and files the receipt straight into your folder, which fires the whole flow automatically. Steps are for Android / Pixel.

Open the widgets menu: on your home screen, touch and hold an empty space, then tap Widgets.
Find Drive: scroll to Drive and tap to expand its widgets.
Place the scan widget: touch and hold Drive scan, then drag it onto your home screen.
Pick your account if you have more than one.
Choose the destination folder: browse to your receipt folder and highlight it. (No folder yet? Tap New Folder to make one on the spot.)
Tap Select to lock it in.

The widget shows the folder name, opens straight into document-scanner mode on tap, and files the scan into that folder automatically. Test it on a real receipt and watch your flow run.

Go Deeper and Customize

15 min

Make it yours. Then, if you have a real workflow in mind, rebuild the flow to fit it.

Change the Fields

Add a payment method, tax amount, or a reimbursable yes/no to the extract step and your sheet.

Adjust Categories

Rewrite the Category description to match how your business actually books expenses.

Change the Alert

Rewrite the Chat message, "Notify me by email," or "Draft an email" to someone else (drafts wait in your inbox until you verify and send them).

💡 Keep experimenting on the test folder and a copy of your sheet before pointing it at live data.

Q&A and Wrap-Up

Coming Up

Share what you built, what broke, and how you fixed it. The debugging stories are often the most useful part.

Homework: log a week of your real receipts through your flow and see how clean the sheet looks by Friday.

Give Feedback

Next Session: Log to a Shared Spreadsheet

Next Wednesday

Today your flow writes to a private sheet that only you can see. Next Wednesday, July 15, we bring back Apps Script to bridge that gap: sending this receipt data into a shared spreadsheet so a whole team can work from the same log.

💡 Keep your Receipt Logger flow intact; we build on it next week.