Skip to main content

Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits

Workflow preview

Workflow preview
100%
Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits preview
Open on n8n.io

1. Workflow Overview

What This Workflow Does Snap a photo of a business card – or a whole stack laid out on a desk – and get back a Google Sheets row for every contact plus a file you can tap to add directly to your iP...

Best for

  • Document Extraction automation workflows
  • AI Summarization automation workflows
  • advanced n8n builders looking for reusable templates

Tools used

n8n-nodes-base.code, n8n-nodes-base.googlesheets, n8n-nodes-base.telegramtrigger, @easybits/n8n-nodes-extractor.easybitsextractor, n8n-nodes-base.splitout, n8n-nodes-base.set, n8n-nodes-base.merge, n8n-nodes-base.telegram

Source and attribution

This workflow is cataloged by N8N Workflows and links back to its original n8n.io source page by Felix.

Original n8n.io source

1.1 Workflow description

Title
Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits
Workflow name
Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits

What This Workflow Does

Snap a photo of a business card – or a whole stack laid out on a desk – and get back a Google Sheets row for every contact plus a .vcf file you can tap to add directly to your iPhone

Built for the moment you come back from a conference with 30 cards in your pocket. Lay them out, take one photo, and your contacts are in your phone before you finish your coffee.


How it works

  1. Telegram bot receives a photo of one or more business cards
  2. easybits Extractor reads every card in the image and returns structured contact data (name, title, company, email, phone, website, address, notes)
  3. Deduplication check compares each new contact against existing rows in the sheet – already-saved contacts are filtered out automatically
  4. Google Sheets gets a new row for every new contact
  5. Individual vCard files are sent back via Telegram, one per new contact – tap any of them to add directly to your phone

What you need

  • An n8n instance (Cloud or self-hosted)
  • A Telegram bot (free, takes 2 minutes to create via @BotFather)
  • A Google Sheet with these column headers: timestamp · name · title · company · email · phone · website · address · notes
  • An easybits account at easybits.tech – your Pipeline ID and API Key from the pipeline details page

Setting up the easybits Extractor in n8n

The easybits Extractor is a verified community node, so it's available on n8n Cloud out of the box – just search for "easybits Extractor" in the node panel and start using it. No installation needed.

On a self-hosted instance, go to Settings → Community Nodes → Install and enter: @easybits/n8n-nodes-extractor

Once added to your canvas, you only need two values from your easybits pipeline details page:

  • Pipeline ID
  • API Key

Leave Input Type on Binary Files (the default) – it reads the photo binary directly from the Telegram node, no encoding step needed.


Dedup logic

Contacts are matched by email when available, otherwise by name + company. If a contact already exists in the sheet, it won't be re-added or sent back as a vCard – only genuinely new contacts come through.

1.2 Logical Blocks

This catalog entry is organized from the workflow JSON. The node-level section below shows the executable blocks available for review before importing the template.

2. Block-by-Block Analysis

Block 1 - Build vCard File

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.code - code
Config choices
Version 2

Block 2 - Read Existing Contacts

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.7

Block 3 - New Photo from Telegram

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.telegramTrigger - telegramTrigger
Config choices
Version 1.1

Block 4 - easybits: Extract Contacts

Type / Role
@easybits/n8n-nodes-extractor.easybitsExtractor - easybitsExtractor
Config choices
Version 2

Block 5 - Split Into Individual Contacts

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.splitOut - splitOut
Config choices
Version 1

Block 6 - Add Match Key (New Contacts)

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.set - set
Config choices
Version 3.4

Block 7 - Add Match Key (Existing)

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.set - set
Config choices
Version 3.4

Block 8 - Filter Out Duplicates

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.merge - merge
Config choices
Version 3.2

Block 9 - Save to Google Sheets

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets - googleSheets
Config choices
Version 4.5

Block 10 - Send vCard to Telegram

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.telegram - telegram
Config choices
Version 1.2

Block 11 - Sticky Note

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 12 - Sticky Note1

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 13 - Sticky Note2

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 14 - Sticky Note3

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 15 - Sticky Note4

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 16 - Sticky Note5

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 17 - Sticky Note6

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 18 - Sticky Note7

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 19 - Sticky Note8

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

Block 20 - Sticky Note9

Type / Role
n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote - stickyNote
Config choices
Version 1

3. Summary Table

Workflow Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits
Complexity advanced
Nodes 20
Categories Document Extraction, AI Summarization
Author Felix
Published 07 May 2026

4. Reproducing the Workflow from Scratch

  1. 1. Download the workflow JSON

    Use the JSON export at /data/workflows/15530/15530.json as the source template for this automation.

  2. 2. Import the template into n8n

    Open n8n, import the downloaded JSON, and review each node before activating the workflow.

  3. 3. Configure credentials and variables

    Replace placeholder credentials, API keys, webhook URLs, account IDs, and environment-specific values with your own settings.

  4. 4. Test with sample data

    Run the workflow manually or in a staging workspace, inspect node output, and confirm downstream systems receive the expected data.

  5. 5. Activate and monitor

    Enable the workflow only after testing, then monitor executions, errors, and rate limits during the first production runs.

5. General Notes & Resources

Review imported nodes carefully before activation. This catalog entry is intended to help you inspect the workflow structure, understand required services, and find related templates faster.

Node names, credentials, schedules, webhook paths, and external service limits may need adjustment for your workspace.

Frequently asked questions

What does Scan business cards to Google Sheets and iPhone contacts with Telegram and easybits do?

What This Workflow Does Snap a photo of a business card – or a whole stack laid out on a desk – and get back a Google Sheets row for every contact plus a file you can tap to add directly to your iP...

What do I need before importing this workflow?

Review the workflow JSON, configure any required credentials in n8n, and test the automation in a safe workspace before using it in production.

Can I customize this workflow?

Yes. Use the block-by-block analysis and the downloadable JSON to inspect each node, then adjust credentials, prompts, schedules, filters, or destinations for your Document Extraction, AI Summarization use case.