Python Automation Projects That Actually Save Time
We all have better things to do than manually creating passwords or copying text from PDFs. Here are five real-world Python automations I use regularly that might just change how you work.
1. The Password Generator You’ll Actually Use
Forget “password123” – here’s how to create secure passwords programmatically:
python
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import secrets
import string
def create_password(length=12, include_special=True):
“””Generate a cryptographically strong password”””
chars = string.ascii_letters + string.digits
if include_special:
chars += string.punctuation
while True:
pwd = ”.join(secrets.choice(chars) for _ in range(length))
# Ensure it meets basic complexity requirements
if (any(c.islower() for c in pwd)
and any(c.isupper() for c in pwd)
and (not include_special or any(c in string.punctuation for c in pwd))):
return pwd
print(f”Your new password: {create_password()}”)
Why this rocks:
- Uses Python’s secrets module (safer than random)
- Guarantees mixed case and special characters
- No more password reuse across sites
2. Email Automation That Doesn’t Land in Spam
Sending batch emails without getting flagged is tricky. Here’s what works:
python
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import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
def send_email(to_addr, subject, body):
msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg[‘From’] = ‘[email protected]’
msg[‘To’] = to_addr
msg[‘Subject’] = subject
msg.attach(MIMEText(body, ‘plain’))
with smtplib.SMTP(‘smtp.gmail.com’, 587) as server:
server.starttls()
server.login(‘[email protected]’, ‘your_app_password’) # Use app password
server.send_message(msg)
print(f”Email sent to {to_addr}”)
# Usage
send_email(
to_addr=”[email protected]”,
subject=”Meeting Reminder”,
body=”Just confirming our 2pm call tomorrow”
)
Pro tips:
- Create an “App Password” in Gmail settings
- Add delays between sends (5-10 seconds)
- Always use TLS encryption
3. PDF Text Extraction That Doesn’t Suck
Extracting text from PDFs is notoriously messy. This approach handles most cases:
python
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import PyPDF2
import textract # pip install textract
def pdf_to_text(filename):
text = “”
with open(filename, ‘rb’) as f:
pdf = PyPDF2.PdfReader(f)
for page in pdf.pages:
text += page.extract_text() + “\n”
# Fallback for image-based PDFs
if len(text.strip()) < 50:
text = textract.process(filename).decode(‘utf-8’)
return text
# Save to file
with open(‘extracted.txt’, ‘w’) as f:
f.write(pdf_to_text(‘contract.pdf’))
Handles:
- Regular PDFs
- Scanned documents (requires OCR)
- Preserves basic formatting
4. News Monitoring Script
Stay updated without visiting 20 news sites:
python
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from newspaper import Article
import pandas as pd
def scrape_news(urls):
articles = []
for url in urls:
article = Article(url)
article.download()
article.parse()
articles.append({
‘title’: article.title,
‘source’: url,
‘summary’: article.summary,
‘published’: article.publish_date
})
return pd.DataFrame(articles)
# Track competitors
df = scrape_news([
‘https://techcrunch.com/startups/’,
‘https://www.theverge.com/tech’
])
df.to_csv(‘tech_news.csv’, index=False)
5. WhatsApp Automation That Works (Mostly)
Warning: WhatsApp doesn’t officially support this. Use responsibly.
python
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from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
import time
def whatsapp_msg(contact_name, message):
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get(“https://web.whatsapp.com”)
# Wait for manual QR scan
input(“Scan QR code then press Enter…”)
time.sleep(5) # Let page load
try:
# Find contact
contact = driver.find_element(
By.XPATH, f”//span[@title='{contact_name}’]”
)
contact.click()
# Type message
msg_box = driver.find_element(
By.XPATH, “//div[@contenteditable=’true’]”
)
msg_box.send_keys(message)
msg_box.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)
print(“Message sent!”)
except Exception as e:
print(f”Failed: {str(e)}”)
finally:
driver.quit()
whatsapp_msg(“Mom”, “Running late, be home soon!”)
Important notes:
- WhatsApp may temporarily ban accounts using automation
- Never spam or send bulk messages
- This is for personal convenience only
Final Thoughts
The best automations solve real pain points without creating new problems. Start small with one of these scripts, tweak it to your needs, and watch your productivity soar.
Remember: With great automation power comes great responsibility. Don’t be that person who gets their IP banned because they scraped too aggressively.
