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Automating Excel Screenshots and WeCom Messaging with Trae Work

How Annoying This Task Really Is

Recently, a colleague at my company mentioned that every day they need to process data in an Excel sheet (I won't go into detail about the Excel processing here; for special reasons, this task isn't suitable for being turned into a program), then filter it by person's name, take a screenshot, and send it to the corresponding person on WeCom one by one. Actually, this kind of task is quite common. For example, HR often needs to send specific, private messages like reimbursement data to specific people.

The overall process sounds very simple: adjust the table format → mark the data that needs to be highlighted in red → filter by name → take a screenshot → open WeCom → search for the name → send the image → add a "Please check" message → click send.

But the list has over 30 people.

Going through this process for one person takes about two or three minutes. For 30 people, that's over an hour. The worst part is that this task has no technical content; it's purely manual labor, but you can't zone out—sending it to the wrong person is embarrassing, missing someone means you have to resend, and if the screenshot is cut off, the recipient will ask, "Why is this data incomplete?"

When I heard about this, I knew I had to use Trae Work!

What Needs to Be Done

The requirements were actually quite clear:

I have an Excel file with a name column and several data columns. I want TRAE Work to do three things for me:

  1. Make the Excel format look nice—adjust column widths and row heights so all content is visible, and mark the cells that need to be red.
  2. Filter by each person's name one by one and take a screenshot of each.
  3. Open WeCom, search for the person's name, send the screenshot, and include the text "Please check."

But there was one prerequisite: I couldn't send them all out at once. I had to send one first as a test, and only after I confirmed it was correct could I send the rest in batch. After all, you can't recall a sent message, so it's better to be cautious.

How to Do It

My First Attempt at Screenshots, See the Specific Steps Below (Watermark Removed, Make Do with This)

image_653843523610476.png

1. Process the Excel First

I threw the Excel file at TRAE Work and told it:

This is an Excel file with a name column and several data columns. Help me: 1) Read all the data 2) Automatically adjust column widths and row heights so all text is fully displayed without ellipsis 3) Mark cells with values below 60 in red 4) Deduplicate the name column and tell me the total number of people.

It used the xlsx skill to process it. First, it read the data, then set the column width based on the longest content in each column, leaving a margin of two or three characters, with the row height following the content. Cells meeting the condition had their background filled red. Finally, it listed the unique values in the name column and told me there were 32 people in total.

There was a detail I didn't notice at first: Initially, the cell text overflowed and was hidden, so the screenshot content was incomplete. After I had the AI fix it, the second time, a few cells in the remarks column had particularly long content. If I just maxed out the column width, the screenshot would be absurdly wide and hard to view on a phone. Later, I told it, "Set the remarks column to wrap text automatically, with a maximum column width of 35 characters, and let the row height follow the number of wrapped lines." This way, the screenshot was both complete and not too wide.

So, wider column widths are not always better. For long text columns, you need the combination of automatic text wrapping + a width limit, with the row height increasing accordingly.

2. Filter by Name + Screenshot

After the Excel was ready, I continued with the instructions:

Filter the data by each person's name one by one, and take a screenshot of each filtered result. Only capture the data area, not the full screen. Include the column headers, and name the file after the person's name.

TRAE Work started looping: set filter conditions → adjust display area → take screenshot → save as "Name.png". 32 people, 32 images.

There was a problem on the first run: it captured the entire screen, including a lot of irrelevant stuff like the Excel toolbar and taskbar. I told it to "only capture the visible data area," and the second version was clean.

Whether this step can be done well depends entirely on how well the formatting was adjusted in the previous step. If the column widths and row heights aren't set properly, the screenshots will have truncated text, which looks unprofessional when sent. So, the formatting step cannot be skipped or done lazily.

3. Sending via WeCom

This step was the most complex, as it required controlling the WeCom desktop application. I told TRAE Work the specific steps:

Open WeCom → Use Ctrl+F to open the search box → Enter the person's name in the search box → Press Enter twice to open the chat → Put the screenshot into the chat window → Type "Please check" → Click send.

First, only send to the first person. Stop after sending and wait for my confirmation. If there are no problems, continue sending to the rest.

Why press Enter twice? WeCom's response isn't always consistent. Pressing Enter once might open a group chat window instead of a personal chat window.

Then came the most important design—sending one as a test first. After the first image was sent, TRAE Work stopped and asked me, "Please confirm if the screenshot content and recipient are correct. If there are no problems, I will continue." I checked the screenshot; the format was fine and the person was correct, so I let it continue with the batch send.

This step is not redundant. Think about it: if there's a problem with the screenshot, or the WeCom window isn't activated, or the text is typed wrong, you can catch it by sending just one. If you sent all 32 at once and then discovered a mistake, that would be a real disaster.

What Were the Results

Let's talk numbers directly: Previously, for over 30 people, it took more than an hour manually. Now, I just throw in an Excel file and say one sentence, and it's all done in 15 minutes, including the time for my confirmation.

More importantly, the probability of errors dropped significantly. When doing it manually, you get numb after sending to so many people, and all sorts of mistakes happen. Now, every step has verification: the WeCom search result is confirmed, and the first image is confirmed. It's basically impossible to send it wrong.

And after generating a skill, reusability is great. Next month, with a new Excel file, I can just run the same instructions again without having to redo everything each time.

Stuff You Can Copy Directly

If you have a similar "Excel splitting + batch notification" need, you can directly use the following.

Instruction Template for Excel Format Adjustment:

Please process the Excel file I uploaded:
1. Read all data, count the number of rows and columns
2. Automatically adjust column width: set based on the maximum number of characters in each column, with an upper limit of [X] characters. Wrap text automatically for content exceeding this limit.
3. Automatically adjust row height: set based on the number of wrapped lines in the content to ensure complete display.
4. Conditional red marking: [Describe your condition for marking red, e.g., "value is below X" or "status column contains 'incomplete'"]
5. Extract unique values from the name column and list all names.

Just replace it with your own red-marking conditions and column names, and it's ready to use.

Three Points to Note for Screenshots:

Key Steps for Sending via WeCom:

A Safety Design You Must Add:

First, send only to the first person. Pause after sending and wait for my confirmation.
After confirming there are no errors, batch send to the remaining people.

It's better to have one extra confirmation step than to go all-in at once.

Pitfalls I Encountered:

Final Words

This task itself isn't difficult; anyone can do it, but it's just too time-consuming and boring. After solving it with TRAE Work: from now on, I don't have to do this kind of repetitive manual labor myself. I can just throw it to the tool and slack off a bit. Of course, if your data source is fixed, you can add a few more processes:

  1. Use TRAE Work to set up a scheduled task.
  2. The scheduled task opens a browser (it is recommended to use Kimi Webbridge), gets the data, and automatically generates an Excel file.
  3. Process the Excel data.
  4. Continue with the process from the earlier part of this article. You won't even need to type a command.

One last thing: After you get it working once, make sure to have TRAE Work generate a skill for this fixed process to avoid having to redo it every time. Special note: TRAE Work can't figure out the skill's path on its own. You must tell it to place the skill in the global skill directory; otherwise, you might not find this skill the next time you create a new task.

If you also have similar batch operation needs, the instruction template above can be directly taken and modified for your use. Replace the Excel file with your own, change the red-marking conditions to your own, swap the name column for your own, and just copy the rest of the process.