25 Useful Python Automation Scripts: Real Examples for 2026

Auto-Organize Downloads Folder by File Type

import shutil
from pathlib import Path

FILE_TYPES = {
    "Images":    [".jpg",".jpeg",".png",".gif",".webp",".heic"],
    "Documents": [".pdf",".doc",".docx",".txt",".pages"],
    "Sheets":    [".xls",".xlsx",".csv",".numbers"],
    "Videos":    [".mp4",".mov",".avi",".mkv"],
    "Archives":  [".zip",".rar",".tar",".gz"],
}

def organize(folder: str) -> None:
    src = Path(folder)
    for f in src.iterdir():
        if f.is_dir(): continue
        cat = next((k for k,v in FILE_TYPES.items() if f.suffix.lower() in v), "Other")
        dest = src / cat
        dest.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
        shutil.move(str(f), str(dest / f.name))
        print(f"✅ {f.name} → {cat}/")

organize("/Users/yourname/Downloads")

Bulk Rename Files with a Date Prefix

import datetime
from pathlib import Path

folder = Path("/Users/yourname/Reports")
today  = datetime.date.today().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

for f in folder.glob("*.pdf"):
    new_name = f"{today}_{f.name}"
    f.rename(folder / new_name)
    print(f"Renamed: {f.name} → {new_name}")

Find and Remove Duplicate Files

import hashlib
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict

def md5(path):
    h = hashlib.md5()
    with open(path, "rb") as f:
        for chunk in iter(lambda: f.read(8192), b""): h.update(chunk)
    return h.hexdigest()

def find_dupes(folder):
    seen = defaultdict(list)
    for f in Path(folder).rglob("*"):
        if f.is_file(): seen[md5(f)].append(f)
    for files in seen.values():
        if len(files) > 1:
            print("🔁 Duplicates:")
            for f in files: print(f"   {f}")
            # Delete all but first: [f.unlink() for f in files[1:]]

find_dupes("/Users/yourname/Downloads")

Automated Folder Backup to ZIP

import shutil, datetime
from pathlib import Path

SOURCE  = Path("/Users/yourname/Projects/myproject")
BACKUPS = Path("/Users/yourname/Backups")
BACKUPS.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

stamp   = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M")
archive = BACKUPS / f"backup_{stamp}"

shutil.make_archive(str(archive), "zip", str(SOURCE))
print(f"✅ Backup saved: {archive}.zip")

Archive Files Older Than N Days

import shutil, datetime
from pathlib import Path

FOLDER  = Path("/Users/yourname/Work")
ARCHIVE = FOLDER / "_Archive"
DAYS    = 90
ARCHIVE.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

cutoff = datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=DAYS)

for f in FOLDER.iterdir():
    if f.is_dir(): continue
    mtime = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(f.stat().st_mtime)
    if mtime < cutoff:
        shutil.move(str(f), str(ARCHIVE / f.name))
        print(f"📦 Archived: {f.name}")

Watch a Folder and Auto-Sort New Files (watchdog)

# pip install watchdog
import time, shutil
from pathlib import Path
from watchdog.observers import Observer
from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler

WATCH  = Path("/Users/yourname/Downloads")
TYPES  = {".pdf":"Docs", ".jpg":"Images", ".png":"Images", ".mp4":"Videos"}

class Handler(FileSystemEventHandler):
    def on_created(self, event):
        if event.is_directory: return
        f    = Path(event.src_path)
        cat  = TYPES.get(f.suffix.lower(), "Other")
        dest = WATCH / cat
        dest.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
        shutil.move(str(f), str(dest / f.name))
        print(f"📂 {f.name} → {cat}/")

obs = Observer()
obs.schedule(Handler(), str(WATCH), recursive=False)
obs.start()
print("👁️ Watching... (Ctrl+C to stop)")
try:
    while True: time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    obs.stop()
obs.join()

Send an Email with an Attachment

import smtplib, os
from email.mime.multipart import MIMEMultipart
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
from email import encoders

SMTP_HOST = "smtp.gmail.com"
SMTP_PORT = 587
USER      = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")   # from .env file
PASS      = os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS")   # Gmail App Password

msg = MIMEMultipart()
msg["From"]    = USER
msg["To"]      = "recipient@example.com"
msg["Subject"] = "Monthly Report - March 2026"
msg.attach(MIMEText("Hi,\n\nPlease find the report attached.\n\nRegards", "plain"))

# Attach a file
with open("report.pdf", "rb") as f:
    part = MIMEBase("application", "octet-stream")
    part.set_payload(f.read())
encoders.encode_base64(part)
part.add_header("Content-Disposition", 'attachment; filename="report.pdf"')
msg.attach(part)

with smtplib.SMTP(SMTP_HOST, SMTP_PORT) as server:
    server.starttls()
    server.login(USER, PASS)
    server.send_message(msg)
    print("✅ Email sent.")

Send Personalized Bulk Emails from a CSV

import csv, smtplib, os
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

# contacts.csv columns: name, email, amount
TEMPLATE = """Hi {name},

Your invoice for {amount} is due on April 1, 2026.
Please contact us if you have any questions.

LearnForge Team"""

with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as server:
    server.starttls()
    server.login(os.getenv("EMAIL_USER"), os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS"))

    with open("contacts.csv") as f:
        for row in csv.DictReader(f):
            msg = MIMEText(TEMPLATE.format(**row), "plain")
            msg["Subject"] = f"Invoice for {row['name']}"
            msg["From"]    = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")
            msg["To"]      = row["email"]
            server.send_message(msg)
            print(f"✅ Sent to {row['name']} ({row['email']})")

Email Alert When a File Appears in a Folder

# pip install watchdog
import time, smtplib, os
from pathlib import Path
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from watchdog.observers import Observer
from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler

def send_alert(filename):
    msg = MIMEText(f"New file detected: {filename}")
    msg["Subject"] = f"📁 New file: {filename}"
    msg["From"] = msg["To"] = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")
    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as s:
        s.starttls(); s.login(os.getenv("EMAIL_USER"), os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS"))
        s.send_message(msg)

class Watcher(FileSystemEventHandler):
    def on_created(self, event):
        if not event.is_directory:
            send_alert(Path(event.src_path).name)
            print("📧 Alert sent")

obs = Observer()
obs.schedule(Watcher(), "/Users/yourname/Incoming", recursive=False)
obs.start()
try:
    while True: time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt: obs.stop()
obs.join()

Generate a Formatted Excel Report from a CSV

import pandas as pd
from openpyxl import load_workbook
from openpyxl.styles import Font, PatternFill, Alignment

df = pd.read_csv("sales_data.csv")
df.to_excel("report.xlsx", index=False)

wb = load_workbook("report.xlsx")
ws = wb.active

# Style header row
header_fill = PatternFill("solid", fgColor="1E40AF")
for cell in ws[1]:
    cell.font      = Font(bold=True, color="FFFFFF")
    cell.fill      = header_fill
    cell.alignment = Alignment(horizontal="center")

# Auto-fit column widths
for col in ws.columns:
    max_len = max(len(str(c.value or "")) for c in col)
    ws.column_dimensions[col[0].column_letter].width = max_len + 4

wb.save("report.xlsx")
print("✅ report.xlsx created.")

Merge Multiple Excel Files into One

import pandas as pd
from pathlib import Path

folder = Path("/Users/yourname/Monthly_Reports")
frames = []

for f in sorted(folder.glob("*.xlsx")):
    df = pd.read_excel(f)
    df["source_file"] = f.name  # track origin
    frames.append(df)
    print(f"Loaded: {f.name} ({len(df)} rows)")

merged = pd.concat(frames, ignore_index=True)
merged.to_excel("merged_report.xlsx", index=False)
print(f"✅ Merged {len(frames)} files → {len(merged)} total rows.")

Clean and Deduplicate a CSV Dataset

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("raw_data.csv")
print(f"Before: {len(df)} rows")

# Clean column names
df.columns = df.columns.str.strip().str.lower().str.replace(" ", "_")

# Strip whitespace from all string columns
df = df.apply(lambda c: c.str.strip() if c.dtype == "object" else c)

# Remove exact duplicates
df = df.drop_duplicates()

# Fill missing numeric values with 0
df = df.fillna({c: 0 for c in df.select_dtypes("number").columns})

df.to_csv("clean_data.csv", index=False)
print(f"After:  {len(df)} rows → clean_data.csv")

Send a Weekly Summary Email from Excel Data

import pandas as pd, smtplib, os
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

df    = pd.read_excel("sales.xlsx")
total = df["revenue"].sum()
count = len(df)
top   = df.nlargest(3, "revenue")[["name","revenue"]].to_string(index=False)

body = f"""Weekly Sales Summary
======================
Total revenue:  ${total:,.2f}
Total orders:   {count}

Top 3 by revenue:
{top}
"""

msg = MIMEText(body)
msg["Subject"] = "📊 Weekly Sales Summary"
msg["From"]    = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")
msg["To"]      = "boss@company.com"

with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as s:
    s.starttls(); s.login(os.getenv("EMAIL_USER"), os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS"))
    s.send_message(msg)
    print("✅ Weekly summary sent.")

Scrape Product Prices from a Website

import csv, requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

URL = "https://example-shop.com/products"
HDR = {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"}

soup  = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(URL, headers=HDR).text, "lxml")
items = []

for card in soup.select(".product-card"):
    name  = card.select_one(".product-name")
    price = card.select_one(".product-price")
    if name and price:
        items.append({"name": name.text.strip(), "price": price.text.strip()})

with open("prices.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=["name","price"]).writerows(items) if items else None
    if items: list(csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=["name","price"]).writeheader() or [])

import pandas as pd
pd.DataFrame(items).to_csv("prices.csv", index=False)
print(f"✅ {len(items)} products → prices.csv")

Price Drop Alert Script

import requests, smtplib, os, time, re
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

URL       = "https://example-shop.com/product/123"
TARGET    = 49.99   # alert if price drops below this
CHECK_SEC = 3600    # check every hour

def get_price():
    soup  = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(URL, headers={"User-Agent":"Mozilla/5.0"}).text, "lxml")
    price = soup.select_one(".price")
    return float(re.sub(r"[^\d.]", "", price.text)) if price else None

def alert(price):
    msg = MIMEText(f"Price dropped to ${price:.2f}!\n{URL}")
    msg["Subject"] = f"🔔 Price Alert: ${price:.2f}"
    msg["From"] = msg["To"] = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")
    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as s:
        s.starttls(); s.login(os.getenv("EMAIL_USER"), os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS"))
        s.send_message(msg)

while True:
    p = get_price()
    print(f"Current price: ${p}")
    if p and p < TARGET:
        alert(p); break
    time.sleep(CHECK_SEC)

Download All Images from a Web Page

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from pathlib import Path
from urllib.parse import urljoin

URL    = "https://example.com/gallery"
OUTDIR = Path("downloaded_images")
OUTDIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
HDR    = {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"}

soup = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(URL, headers=HDR).text, "lxml")

for i, img in enumerate(soup.find_all("img", src=True)):
    img_url  = urljoin(URL, img["src"])
    ext      = Path(img_url).suffix.split("?")[0] or ".jpg"
    filename = OUTDIR / f"image_{i:04d}{ext}"
    with open(filename, "wb") as f:
        f.write(requests.get(img_url, headers=HDR).content)
    print(f"⬇️  {filename.name}")

print(f"✅ Downloaded {i+1} images.")

Fetch Data from a REST API and Save to JSON

import requests, json, datetime
from pathlib import Path

API_URL = "https://api.exchangerate.host/latest?base=CAD"

response = requests.get(API_URL, timeout=10)
response.raise_for_status()
data     = response.json()

# Add a timestamp
data["fetched_at"] = datetime.datetime.now().isoformat()

output = Path(f"rates_{datetime.date.today()}.json")
output.write_text(json.dumps(data, indent=2))
print(f"✅ Saved {len(data.get('rates', {}))} rates → {output.name}")

Website Uptime Monitor with Email Alert

import requests, smtplib, os, time
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

SITES    = ["https://learnforge.dev", "https://yoursite.com"]
INTERVAL = 300  # 5 minutes

def send_alert(url, error):
    msg = MIMEText(f"🚨 DOWN: {url}\nError: {error}")
    msg["Subject"] = f"🚨 Site Down: {url}"
    msg["From"] = msg["To"] = os.getenv("EMAIL_USER")
    with smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587) as s:
        s.starttls(); s.login(os.getenv("EMAIL_USER"), os.getenv("EMAIL_PASS"))
        s.send_message(msg)

while True:
    for url in SITES:
        try:
            r = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
            if r.status_code >= 400: send_alert(url, f"HTTP {r.status_code}")
            else: print(f"✅ {url} — OK")
        except Exception as e:
            send_alert(url, str(e)); print(f"❌ {url} — {e}")
    time.sleep(INTERVAL)

Merge Multiple PDFs into One

# pip install pypdf2
from PyPDF2 import PdfMerger
from pathlib import Path

folder = Path("/Users/yourname/Invoices")
merger = PdfMerger()

for pdf in sorted(folder.glob("*.pdf")):
    merger.append(str(pdf))
    print(f"Added: {pdf.name}")

merger.write("merged_invoices.pdf")
merger.close()
print("✅ merged_invoices.pdf created.")

Extract Text from All PDFs in a Folder

from PyPDF2 import PdfReader
from pathlib import Path

folder = Path("/Users/yourname/PDFs")
output = folder / "extracted_text"
output.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

for pdf_path in folder.glob("*.pdf"):
    reader = PdfReader(str(pdf_path))
    text   = "\n".join(p.extract_text() or "" for p in reader.pages)
    (output / f"{pdf_path.stem}.txt").write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
    print(f"Extracted: {pdf_path.name} ({len(reader.pages)} pages)")

print("✅ All text extracted.")

Find and Replace Text in Multiple Files

from pathlib import Path

FOLDER   = Path("/Users/yourname/Docs")
OLD_TEXT = "LearnForge Canada"
NEW_TEXT = "LearnForge"
PATTERN  = "**/*.txt"  # change to "**/*.html" etc.

changed = 0
for f in FOLDER.glob(PATTERN):
    content = f.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
    if OLD_TEXT in content:
        f.write_text(content.replace(OLD_TEXT, NEW_TEXT), encoding="utf-8")
        print(f"Updated: {f.name}")
        changed += 1

print(f"✅ Updated {changed} file(s).")

Run Any Script on a Schedule (no cron needed)

# pip install schedule
import schedule, time

def backup():
    print("🗂️  Running backup...")
    # call your backup function here

def send_report():
    print("📊 Sending weekly report...")
    # call your report function here

schedule.every().day.at("09:00").do(backup)
schedule.every().monday.at("08:00").do(send_report)
schedule.every(30).minutes.do(backup)  # every 30 min

print("⏰ Scheduler running... (Ctrl+C to stop)")
while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(30)

Log System Info to a File Every Hour

# pip install psutil
import psutil, datetime, time

LOG_FILE = "system_log.txt"

def log_stats():
    ts  = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
    cpu = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
    mem = psutil.virtual_memory().percent
    dsk = psutil.disk_usage("/").percent
    line = f"{ts} | CPU: {cpu:5.1f}% | RAM: {mem:5.1f}% | Disk: {dsk:5.1f}%\n"
    with open(LOG_FILE, "a") as f: f.write(line)
    print(line.strip())

while True:
    log_stats()
    time.sleep(3600)  # every hour

Auto-Generate a Daily Work Log

import datetime
from pathlib import Path

today   = datetime.date.today()
LOGDIR  = Path("/Users/yourname/WorkLogs")
LOGDIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
outfile = LOGDIR / f"{today}.md"

if outfile.exists():
    print(f"Log already exists: {outfile.name}")
else:
    content = f"""# Work Log — {today.strftime('%A, %B %d %Y')}

## ✅ Tasks for Today
- [ ]
- [ ]
- [ ]

## 📝 Notes


## 🔁 Tomorrow

"""
    outfile.write_text(content)
    print(f"✅ Created: {outfile.name}")

Desktop Screenshot on a Schedule

# pip install pillow
import time, datetime
from pathlib import Path
from PIL import ImageGrab

OUTDIR   = Path("screenshots")
INTERVAL = 1800  # 30 minutes
OUTDIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

print("📸 Screenshot recorder running... (Ctrl+C to stop)")
while True:
    stamp    = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
    filename = OUTDIR / f"screen_{stamp}.png"
    ImageGrab.grab().save(str(filename))
    print(f"✅ Saved: {filename.name}")
    time.sleep(INTERVAL)

What are the most useful Python automation scripts?

The most practical everyday scripts are: file organizer, bulk renamer, email sender, Excel report generator, web scraper, price monitor, PDF merger, duplicate finder, scheduled backup, and uptime monitor. All 25 scripts in this guide are real, working, and copy-paste ready.

How do I run a Python automation script automatically?

On Mac/Linux: crontab -e and add 0 9 * * * python3 /path/to/script.py. On Windows: Task Scheduler → Create Basic Task → daily trigger → point to python.exe + your script path. Or use the schedule library (Script 22) to run tasks inside Python itself.

Do Python automation scripts require installing extra packages?

Many don't — scripts 1–5, 7–8, 21, 24 use only built-in Python. For web scraping: pip install requests beautifulsoup4. For Excel: pip install openpyxl pandas. For PDF: pip install pypdf2. For folder watching: pip install watchdog. For scheduling: pip install schedule.

What Python skills do I need to write automation scripts?

Basic Python is enough: variables, loops, if/else, functions, and reading files. Most scripts here are under 30 lines. If you can read a for loop and understand what a function does, you can copy, adapt, and run any of these scripts today.