Book Image

Automate It with Zapier

By : Kelly Goss
Book Image

Automate It with Zapier

By: Kelly Goss

Overview of this book

Zapier is an emerging no-code workflow automation technology that enables organizations to connect their cloud-based and web applications and automate data transfer between them. Zapier's built-in features and flexibility allow users to integrate thousands of business applications and create simple to complex automation to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks, thereby increasing productivity. This book is a must-have for business owners, their employees, and independent freelancers and contractors looking to use Zapier for business process automation. The book takes a hands-on approach to implementation and associated problem-solving methodologies that will have you up-and-running and productive in no time while leveling up your automation skills. You'll discover how to plan your automation building for optimal results, what are the native features available in Zapier, and the applications that connect with it, as well as how to optimally configure your workflows to automate your processes in as few steps as possible. Finally, you'll find out how to create advanced workflow automation from scratch and learn how to troubleshoot issues. By the end of this Zapier book, you'll be able to build your own advanced workflow automation using Zapier, addressing the key pain points encountered in businesses with manual and repetitive tasks.
Table of Contents (29 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with Zapier
7
Section 2: Customizing Your Zaps with Built-in Apps by Zapier – Functionality and Practical Uses
15
Section 3: Using the Features of the Formatter by Zapier Built-In App
21
Section 4: Getting the Most Out of Zapier – Business Automation Examples

Understanding field data types

Now that we've created our first Zap, it's important that we elaborate on the different types of fields that you may see in Zapier action steps.

In the last section, we covered the two general types of fields, Choose value… and Type or insert…, and how to use them to map fields in your Zaps. In addition to these two general field types, there are five different field data types that only allow you to add data in specific formats. Each field data type is represented by an icon, as shown in the following table:

Figure 3.24 – Action step field data types

These field data types are dictated by the data posting format requirements of your action app. For example, if your action app is Xero (an accounting app), and you want to create a new invoice, your invoice date field will only allow you to add date/time data values for the request to be successful.

We will discuss each of these field data types...