How to Build an Automation Workflow

Learn How to Build Pline's Automated Data Workflow to Gather Large Datasets Effortlessly

Pline's Automated Data Extraction mode helps you streamline your data collection process. It quickly gathers large amounts of data automatically without needing manual interventions. Seamlessly extract hundreds of records within a few minutes with Pline—no coding required.

A workflow is a custom template you create for extracting data from web pages. 
It defines the structure for the data extraction process.

Launch the Pline Extension

• Go to the website where you want to extract data.

• Open Pline Extension.

• Select “Automated Data Extraction Mode” to get started.

Building an Automation Workflow

In this guide, we'll extract men's shoes data from Amazon.com

• Click on "Build Workflow" to get started.

Step 1: Select Page Type

Webpages present data in various layouts, such as Vertical Lists, Grid Layouts, or Horizontal Lists.

• Choose the layout that matches the page structure (e.g., Grid List).

Step 2: Grouping Similar Items

Grouping items enables Pline to recognize and select similar data points across the page, such as product names, prices, or ratings, while ignoring unrelated elements.

This focused approach reduces the chance of capturing irrelevant information, making the extraction more accurate and efficient.

By narrowing down the selection to a specific area, grouping helps automate data extraction across similar items on the page, saving time and enhancing data quality, especially when working with large lists of comparable entries like products or services.

• Select two similar items from the page (e.g., product image).

Pline automatically identifies and groups similar data points, ensuring accurate and focused extraction.

Step 3: Select Data Fields

In this step, we’ll specify the data fields to extract from the Amazon page.

Pline supports seamless handling of multiple data formats within a single workflow for a more streamlined extraction experience.

Select the required fields directly from the page and choose your desired data type. For example, enter a field name like “Product_name,” then open the Extract drop-down menu and select the type, such as “Text.”

1

Identify and click the data points you want to extract (e.g., product name, price, or URL).

2

Add a field name (e.g., "Product_name").

3

Select the data type from the drop-down menu (e.g., "Text").

If multiple data types (e.g., Link) are required for the selected attribute, follow these steps:

1. Click on the checkbox before Get Link and provide the appropriate field name.

2. Click the check mark (✓) to proceed.

Once you have selected multiple data types for required attributes with appropriate field names, select Save to continue.

For a detailed guide on selecting multiple data types within a workflow and the supported data types, refer to Multi-Type Data Selector.

4

Preview the sample data. If correct, save the selection.

Repeat this process for all required fields.

• When done, click “Next” . You can choose as many data fields from the same page as you want for web scraping. Once you have selected all the required data fields, click Next.

Step 4. Select Pagination Type

Now, we'll choose the pagination type, which varies depending on the pagination style of the target website.

• As Amazon uses the Next pagination, we'll select the "Next Button" on the Pline extension panel.

• Tag the "Next Button" or configure it accordingly to complete this step.

• You can skip this step for now. Or, if you want to learn inner page extraction, click here.

Your workflow is ready for data extraction!

• Click "View sample data" to see a small sample of captured data.

Step 5: Save the Workflow

Preview the sample data extracted with this workflow. If it meets your expectations, add a workflow name and click "Save workflow" to save your Automation workflow.

• Use the workflow immediately or save it for future use.

Saved workflows are stored under the My Workflow tab.