What's New in Willow360 v2.3: Exporting Structured Data

The Problem It Solves

Willow360 has always been good at moving documents through a process. What it could not do until now was automatically capture the data those documents contain and record it in a structured, reusable format outside the platform.

If you process invoices through a workflow, you have previously had to open each one, read the relevant figures, and enter them into a spreadsheet manually. If you run an approvals process for contracts or expenses, building an aggregated record of what was processed meant additional work after the fact.

Export Data to CSV changes this. Data collection and reporting become a natural part of the workflow itself.

What Export Data to CSV Does

Every time a file completes the Export Data to CSV action, a new row is added to a CSV file stored in SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox. The columns in that report are drawn from the metadata available in the workflow, so values extracted or collected earlier in the process flow straight through into the report without anyone having to type anything.

The output file name can be static or dynamic. Using a dynamic name such as "Invoices [Month] [Year]" means Willow360 automatically creates a separate report for each period and routes each row to the right file. Using a static name means all records accumulate in a single file over time. The right choice depends entirely on how you want to organise your data.

You can also include more than one Export Data to CSV action in a single workflow, each writing a different set of columns to a different file. This means you can serve multiple audiences from the same process. For example, the accounts team might receive a detailed payment register while management receives a concise summary, both built automatically from the same processed document.

Most Powerful When Combined with AI Data

Export Data to CSV on its own is useful. Paired with the AI Data action, it becomes a genuinely transformative combination.

AI Data reads document content automatically using OCR combined with AI, extracting values such as invoice totals, supplier names, dates, reference numbers, and whether a document has been signed, all without anyone opening the file. Those values become metadata in the workflow, and Export Data to CSV can write them directly into your report.

The result is a workflow that takes in a document, reads it, processes it, and records the key information into a structured report, from start to finish, without any manual intervention.

Practical Applications

Invoice processing: AI Data extracts invoice number, supplier, total amount, and due date. Export Data to CSV writes each invoice to a monthly register, grouped automatically. The finance team has a payment-ready report at the end of each month without compiling anything.

Contract register: AI Data extracts contract value, parties, and key dates. Export Data to CSV maintains a live contract register updated with every file processed.

Expense reporting: employees submit expense forms through a Fill in a Form workflow. Export Data to CSV accumulates every approved submission into a running summary across the month.

Compliance and audit records: every document processed by a compliance workflow adds a timestamped row to an audit log, capturing what was processed, when, and what decisions were made. The result is an audit-ready record that requires no manual preparation.

HR and onboarding: capture employee details from onboarding documents into a structured record without anyone re-entering data.

Available Now

Export Data to CSV is available to all Willow360 organisations as part of the 2.3 release. You will find it in the Export category when adding a new action to a workflow.

For full configuration guidance, see How to Use Export Data to CSV in the Help Centre. To explore how AI Data and Export Data to CSV work together, see AI Data: Let Your Documents Tell You What You Need to Know.