What is Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work?

Automate files, spreadsheets, email drafts and web lookups, then hand the whole job to your computer's scheduler. You automate files, spreadsheets, email drafts and web lookups that eat your week. You finish with your own script that plans before it acts, keeps a log, is tested against sample data, and runs on a schedule.

Open the Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work course page

Office workers, assistants, small business owners and students who already know basic Python and want to pass repeated computer chores to scripts they can trust.

These are the prerequisites the course lists:

• Basic Python: variables, if statements, for loops, lists, dictionaries, f-strings and small functions. Lesson 3 of module 1 has a five-minute check.
• Willingness to type commands in a terminal. Lesson 2 of module 1 walks you through it.
• A computer where you are allowed to install software.

These are the tools and materials the course lists:

• A Windows, macOS or Linux computer. The examples were run on Windows and every step names the macOS and Linux equivalent.
• Python 3.10 or newer, free from python.org. The course code was tested on 3.10, 3.12 and 3.13.
• A terminal. One is built into every system, so this costs nothing.
• A plain text editor. Free choices include VS Code, Notepad++ and Thonny. Check current features before you install one.
• Three free packages installed with pip: openpyxl, requests and beautifulsoup4. The pinned versions are in lesson 2 of module 1.
• One optional free package, aiosmtpd, which gives you a local email test server in module 4.
• A spreadsheet program to open the reports. Excel works, and LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets are free.
• A mail program that can open .eml files. This is optional.
• An internet connection for installing packages. No paid subscription or paid account is needed for any core lesson.

Your Own Automation Script, Running on a Schedule. Finish the sample Monday Morning Machine, then build the same kind of tool for a real task of your own from lesson 1. Your tool must plan before it acts, rehearse with a dry run, never overwrite or delete, keep a log, survive a broken step, pass checks that you wrote, and run from your computer's scheduler. Work on copies of your own files until the checks pass. The finished deliverables are:

• Your task card from lesson 1, with the three-question score and your payback numbers.
• The tool: monday_machine.py or your own entry script, with your task added as a step that has a run() function, a dry_run switch and a small returned summary.
• A settings file with every path and address in it and no passwords.
• A launcher file, run_monday.bat or run_monday.sh, that works when started from any folder.
• The scheduled task or cron line, written out exactly as you registered it.
• check_run.py extended with at least one check for your own step, and its printed output.
• Log entries from at least two runs made by the scheduler.
• A README of about half a page: what the tool does, how to rehearse it, how to run it, where the log is, how to undo its changes, and what to look at each week.

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work has 24 lessons in 6 modules, a workbook of 10 items and a capstone project. It is planned at about 6 hours in total. The lesson text runs to roughly 18,100 words.

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work has 6 modules:

• Module 1: Start Here: Pick a Task, Set Up, and Build a Safe Playground. Choose a task that is worth automating, set up Python with a private virtual environment, learn the loop-decide-act shape that every automation shares, and build a sandbox of sample files so nothing you practise on can harm real work.
• Module 2: Files and Folders: List, Sort, Rename and De-duplicate Safely. Use Python's pathlib to list files, move them into folders by type, rename them in bulk with an undo log, and find exact duplicates. Every script plans first, rehearses with a dry run, and never deletes.
• Module 3: Spreadsheets and Data: Read, Clean, Total and Report. Read CSV files, clean messy cells without losing data, total sales by group with exact money maths, and write a formatted Excel report. The module project turns three messy weekly files into one report workbook.
• Module 4: Email Drafts: Fill Templates, Save Drafts and Send Safely. Fill a message template from a spreadsheet row, save real email drafts with attachments as .eml files, send with a rehearsal switch and a local test server, and add a small HTML table. The module project drafts customer check-ins and a weekly summary.
• Module 5: Web Lookups: Fetch, Read and Watch a Page Politely. Fetch a page with the requests package, read a JSON API, pull one fact out of an HTML page, and make your lookups patient and polite with timeouts, retries and robots.txt. All practice runs against a small website on your own computer.
• Module 6: Put It Together and Run It on a Schedule. Turn the pieces into one tool with a settings file and command-line options, add a logbook and graceful failure, hand it to your computer's scheduler, and prove it works with four simple checks. The module ends with the capstone: your own automation running on a schedule.

All 24 lesson titles, module by module:

• Module 1: Start Here: Pick a Task, Set Up, and Build a Safe Playground. 1.1 Pick a Task Worth Automating; 1.2 Set Up Your Workshop: Python and a Virtual Environment; 1.3 Loop, Decide, Act: The Shape of Every Automation; 1.4 Build a Safe Playground: Sample Files and the Dry-Run Habit.
• Module 2: Files and Folders: List, Sort, Rename and De-duplicate Safely. 2.1 Look Inside a Folder with pathlib; 2.2 Move Files into Folders by Type, Rehearsal First; 2.3 Rename in Bulk with a Plan, a Conflict Check and an Undo Log; 2.4 Find Duplicate Files with a Fingerprint.
• Module 3: Spreadsheets and Data: Read, Clean, Total and Report. 3.1 Read and Write CSV Files; 3.2 Clean Messy Cells Without Losing Data; 3.3 Group and Total: A Weekly Summary; 3.4 Write a Real Excel Report with openpyxl.
• Module 4: Email Drafts: Fill Templates, Save Drafts and Send Safely. 4.1 Fill a Message Template from a Row; 4.2 Save a Real Draft as an .eml File; 4.3 Send Safely: A Rehearsal Switch and a Local Test Server; 4.4 Plain Text Plus a Small HTML Table.
• Module 5: Web Lookups: Fetch, Read and Watch a Page Politely. 5.1 Ask a Web Server for a Page; 5.2 Read Data from a JSON API; 5.3 Pull One Fact Out of an HTML Page; 5.4 Be Patient and Polite: Timeouts, Retries and robots.txt.
• Module 6: Put It Together and Run It on a Schedule. 6.1 One Entry Point: A Settings File and Command-Line Options; 6.2 A Logbook: Logging, Failing Gently and Exit Codes; 6.3 Run It on a Schedule; 6.4 Prove It Works Before You Trust It.

The course is listed at beginner level and planned at about 6 hours in total. It has 24 lessons, each with objectives you can check yourself against.

Lesson 1 is "Pick a Task Worth Automating" (Module 1, Start Here: Pick a Task, Set Up, and Build a Safe Playground). By the end of it the course says you will be able to:

• Test any task with three questions: is it often, is it rule-based, can I check it
• Work out how many runs it takes for a script to pay for itself
• Choose the one real task you will automate during this course

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work defines 35 terms in plain words: Automation, Script, terminal, Virtual environment (venv), Package, pip, Pinning a version, Sandbox, dry run, Path, Relative path, Regular expression (regex), Fingerprint (hash), CSV, Decimal, Reject list, Formula, Template, Attachment, .eml file, SMTP, Environment variable, HTML, CSS selector, API, JSON, Status code, Timeout, Backoff, robots.txt, Log, traceback, Exit code, Scheduler and Launcher.

AutomationScriptterminalVirtual environment (venv)PackagepipPinning a versionSandboxdry runPathRelative pathRegular expression (regex)Fingerprint (hash)CSVDecimalReject listFormulaTemplateAttachment.eml fileSMTPEnvironment variableHTMLCSS selectorAPIJSONStatus codeTimeoutBackoffrobots.txtLogtracebackExit codeSchedulerLauncher

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work lists 17 official sources that were opened and checked while it was written, from 9 websites.

• docs.python.org
• openpyxl.readthedocs.io
• requests.readthedocs.io
• crummy.com
• learn.microsoft.com
• man7.org
• rfc-editor.org
• developer.mozilla.org
• python.org

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work costs $39 (USD) as The Codex, the full written course with its workbook and templates. Studio (narrated video lessons) and the Full Operator path are not on sale yet.

How much do courses cost?

Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work was prepared by Apex Flow Labs with AI assistance and checked before it was published. Every code sample, formula and command the course includes was run before it went in, the course records 19 verification checks, and it lists 17 official sources it checked. Do not take the label on trust: open the sources and run the examples yourself.

How Apex Flow Academy checks its courses

Yes for the core lessons, according to the course's own requirements list: "No paid subscription or paid account is needed for any core lesson." The list also names optional extras or costs outside the core lessons, so read it in full. Tool plans and prices change, so check each tool's current terms before you sign up.

It is listed at beginner level, and it asks for this before you begin:

• Basic Python: variables, if statements, for loops, lists, dictionaries, f-strings and small functions. Lesson 3 of module 1 has a five-minute check.
• Willingness to type commands in a terminal. Lesson 2 of module 1 walks you through it.
• A computer where you are allowed to install software.

No. Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work teaches and checks a skill, but it cannot promise an outcome. The course's own disclosure reads: "Created by Apex Flow Academy with AI assistance. For education only; not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Results depend on your effort and circumstances."

Yes. Python Automation: Make the Computer Do Your Boring Work includes a verifiable Certificate of Completion, issued by Apex Flow Academy when you finish every lesson, resolve every quiz question with at least 50% right on the first try, and tick the capstone checklist. It has a unique ID and a public verification page. It is a completion certificate, not a degree, licence, accreditation or exam result. The Full Operator path, with a final exam and capstone review, opens later with its own separate, stronger credential.

Is there a certificate?