Zapier Beginner's Guide: Updated for 2024!

with automation providers like zapier anyone can start automating their tedious tasks without needing to write a single line of code all it takes is a few minutes of learning the basics and you'll have more time every day for the work that matters in this video I'm going to show you everything you need to know to get started with zapier and begin automating your work today hi I'm Tom from X-ray tech the workflow company at x-ray we use no code automation providers like zapier to enable our members to create more time for their teams to learn more about X-ray and our services check out our website at x-ray. Tech if you'd like to see more automation tips and tutorials every week like this video And subscribe to our Channel and turn on notifications too so you don't miss a new way to save time in this video I'm going to quickly explain what zapier is and how it works then I'll guide you through the process of building your first zap step by step so you can learn the basics firsthand after the tutorial I'll give you a quick overview of some of zapier's latest features that go beyond automation I'll also share a breakdown of zapier's pricing structure and I'll show you how this app Stacks up to the competition finally at the end of this video I'll explain some of X-Ray's services that will help you get the most out of zapier and your other automation providers we've put together this 2024 update to our zap year beginners guide because the last several months have been a period of change for zap year there's new features a new UI and even a new pricing structure so even if you've already seen our beginner guide from last year there's a lot in this video you won't want to miss now let's get started first I'll quickly answer an important question that many beginners will likely have what is zapier and what does it do zapier is an app that automates actions in the software you already use by connecting your existing web apps together it allows you to automate the work you're currently doing manually or build entirely new automated systems and even prototype your ideas for instance you could build an automation or a zap that runs whenever a zoom event ends then the automation could download a list of every attendee and find or create matching leads in HubSpot for your team to follow up with you could also set up a zap that watches Reddit for comments matching your specified terms and add the information to a Google sheet or an air table base so you can quickly answer you can even use zapier to automatically send prompts to AI making it easy to add AI generated content to any app in your workflows these examples are just scratching the surface with thousands of apps supported the possibilities are basically endless zapier also includes several other features that go beyond automation which I'll touch on briefly later on in this video but first and foremost zapier is an automation provider so that's what we're going to focus on in this beginner guide now let's take a look at building your first appap here's the automation that we'll be building today whenever a file is added to a specified folder in Google Drive send an alert in slack containing a link to the file this is a very simple Automation and its practical uses are I admit quite Limited however it's a great starting point to learn how zapier works it creates a playground where you can easily edit the automation then run a test and instantly see the output in slack these kinds of simple automations are great for trying out new ideas and seeing how the data connects note that you could also use similar alternatives to these apps if you'd like for instance you could swap out Google Drive for Microsoft One drive or Dropbox in the first part of the automation the same general principles will apply but some specific settings and terms used will be slightly different once you've got your free account set up in zapier slack and Google drive or the other apps of your choice we can get started before you create your first zap it's always a good idea to stay organized for just a moment ignore the Big Orange create button that's begging for your attention on the top left select zaps instead then click on the plus button and add a new folder give your folder a name like beginners guide then select your new folder and click create a new zap to make a new automation within your folder immediately your eyes will be drawn to this fancy new element at the top that says beta this is a pretty cool new feature in zapier that lets you build a zap with AI just by writing a quick prompt however if you're brand new to zapier then I'd recommend skipping this for now and building a zap from scratch the AI often gives you an incomplete or slightly incorrect automation once you know how to build a zap manually fixing these issues will be easy but when we're just getting started it might be more confusing than it is helpful to start off with an ai's half finished work so instead of typing anything into this window we're just going to start off by filling out our trigger manually the trigger is what starts your automation whenever this condition is fulfilled whenever this specific thing happens your zap will run that's the basic setup of every automated workflow one trigger that kicks it all off in one or more automated actions that follow follow so click on trigger to start setting up your trigger first you'll need to pick the app that you want to use to start the automation you'll see a small list of apps here and you can search the full library of about 7,000 Integrations just by entering your app's name up here you can also set your automation to run based on a schedule or to launch On Demand with web hooks but that's a more advanced topic which we've covered in a separate video if you're running a software company and you'd like to add your app to zapier just reach out to x-ray to explore your options for building a custom integration this will allow your users to automate your app with zapier completely on their own for now just pick Google drive as your trigger app then you'll see this panel open up on the right where you can configure your trigger this is typically how zapier's visual editor works you can add and reorder steps in this flowchart like area to the left then edit each step in the panel on the right next you'll need to specify the event this is the specific condition that will prompt the automation to run you'll often see several options here so just pick the one that's the best fit for what you're trying to automate in our case that will be new file in folder since we want this automation to run whenever a file is added to a specific folder once you've chosen your event click continue to move on to the account section then you'll be prompted to sign in with your trigger app in this case Google Drive click on sign in and Grant zapier the permission it needs you'll always need to sign into your apps and authorize them the first time you connect them to zapier in order for zapier to work it needs to be able to act automatically on your behalf through your accounts if you'd like to learn more about zapier's security practices you can check out our video exploring the topic in depth once you've signed in with Google Drive click on continue in this trigger section you can specify the data that your trigger should watch for Google Drive that means specifying the drive and folder to monitor zapier will typically provide help text under each field to give more context for Drive they explain that if this field is left empty it will default to just using your personal Drive the one listed as my drive in Google Drive so I'll just leave it blank and use that in folder you'll need to specify the folder that zapier should watch if you don't have a folder to use open up Google Drive in a new tab and make one now back in zapier you can navigate through your folders and select one based on its name but whenever possible I'd recommend avoiding identifying items by their name in automations when you can it's best to use an ID instead since IDs remain constant while file names and folders could change in the future go back to drive and open up the folder you want to use if you look at the URL bar for your folder you'll see see this string of characters after folders that's your folders ID copy it to your clipboard then go back to zapier select the folder field and choose custom now you can paste your folders ID into this field for this tutorial it's fine to either use the ID or select the folder from the list but I'd recommend trying to use the ID first techniques like this that create more stable maintainable automations are a key step to be becoming a zapier expert once you've specified the folder you want to use with either method it's time to run a test but wait just a second before clicking on test trigger before you test a trigger in zapier you need to have test data to work with for this automation that means we'll need to have a file already in the folder since the trigger is set to watch for new files in the folder in other words if there is no file in this folder the test will fail always make sure to have at least one document record or other piece of data you can use as a test when you're building your zap if you don't have test data to use you won't be able to test your trigger and it will be very difficult or even impossible to build your automation I'll add a file in Google Drive called test proposal once your test data is all set go back to zapier and test your trigger after a couple of seconds zapier should give you a list of up to three files found in your folder zapier triggers will always return a lot of data this will include things like the file's URL its contents its created time and a lot more note that different apps will return different data in the trigger if you're using alternate apps as you follow along here expect to see data unique to the app that you're using each piece of data or variable is broken down into labels and values the labels are in the blue rectangles on the left while the values for this specific record or to the right every Google drive file pulled into zapier will have all of the same variables with all of the same labels but the values for those variables can be different each time the automation runs for instance every file will have a title but that exact title will depend on the doc in question this is called Dynamic data and it's a key part of how zapier works we'll touch more on this later but for now let's continue with this test record and add an automated action to our zap you can also click on the plus sign to add an action to your zap you'll need to pick an app and an event in pretty much the same way you did for the trigger search for the app you want to automate in our case that's slack then choose the event you want the automation to perform for example send Channel message is a pretty good match for what we want to do so click continue once again you'll need to sign in to the relevant app and authorize zapier I'll sign in to slack and allow zapier to access what it needs continue again and now you can configure your automated action the available fields and settings for the automated action will vary depending on the app but you can use zapier's help Tex to figure out what information you need to provide also note that the required Fields will be marked with an asterisk so you can always start by filling out those for this slack message you'll need to identify the channel you want to use and compose the message you want to send with the channel we can once again either pick from a list or use the Channel's ID I'll grab the tutorials Channel ID from slack then I'll go back to zapier and click custom and paste the ID here but again choosing from the list is fine too just make sure to use a channel that you don't mind sending test messages to now you can compose the message in text Fields like this you can provide both static text and dynamic data retrieved from the trigger or earlier steps in this automation I'll start with some static text I'll just type a simple message a new file has been added to the proposals folder and I'll include some labels for the dynamic data I'd like to provide file title file link download PDF to include Dynamic data in your zaps just use this insert data panel the data will be organized by the step that it came from in this zap the only previous step is the trigger so that is all we see for now in longer zaps it's easier to see how the data is broken up into Step 1 2 3 Etc to find a specific variable you can enter a search term here I want the file's title so I'll search for title and there it is a variable called title with the value of test proposal I'll insert that into my message now the message will include the title of whatever file triggered the automation to run in the first place if that's test proposal it will say test proposal if the file that triggered the zap is called contra contract for fake Co it will say contract for fake Co here note that while you're building in zapier you can see both the variable name and the variable value but when the message sends in slack you just see the value that's why I added a label for file title myself as static text now I'll do the same thing for file link just note that the main URL for a Google drive file is called the alternate link so that's the one we want to use here don't ask me why it's called alternate but it's the one you want to use finally I'll put a link where the users can download this doc as a PDF that variable is called PDF URL now the message is all set those are the only required Fields but it's always a good idea to review the optional settings as well I'll send this message as a bot and I'll give it a unique name new file Freddy sounds pretty good then I'll give it an icon using slack syntax for an emoji I'll make sure that include a link to this app is set to yes whenever sending automated messages it's always convenient to know where that message is coming from then I'll set auto expand links to no so the messages won't show previews for all these links we're adding that would take up a lot of space and I'd rather keep Freddy here nice and trim I'll just leave the remaining settings to their defaults once your action is fully configured click on continue click on test step to test your automated action the step will immediately run us using the data you selected in the trigger zapier gives us a success message with a summary of the data that was sent but it's always best to check your apps to see what everything looks like in the wild I'll open up slack and I see the message right here in the tutorials Channel it provides the file name a file URL and a PDF download URL I click on the drive URL and it opens up in my browser and when I click on the PDF download link it starts downloading right away everything looks good but before we wrap up this tutorial I'd recommend running a live test click on publish and your zap will be turned on to run a live test just perform your trigger condition while the zap is on in this case that means I just need to add another file to this Google drive folder on zapier's free plan you'll need to wait 15 minutes for your zaps to run so take a quick break and check back in 15 minutes after a little wait I can see the black message with links to my newly added file this automation is all set but there's one last thing I want to show you before moving on to managing your zaps I've mentioned that zapier has a new visual editor with drag and drop functionality but twostep zaps don't really illustrate its capabilities very well so I've opened up this multi-step zap to show you how it works once you have several actions in your zap you can rearrange them just by clicking one and moving it to wherever you want you can even move actions from one condition path to another just make sure you don't move actions before the steps they need to pull data from although zapier Will usually warn you if you try to do this note that while you will be able to build a multi-step zap like this on the free plan you won't be able to publish it and turn it on unless you upgrade to a paid plan now that you've built your first zap let's quickly go over your main resources for viewing maintaining and managing your automations in zapier whenever you log into zapier you'll be Tak by default to this dashboard which will show you your most recent zaps and some recommendations for building new ones this can be nice when you're first getting started but once you've got dozens of zaps running you'll need a more organized way to view them if you click on zaps you'll see a list of every zap you've made sorted into user created folders I'd strongly recommend using these folders to keep your zaps neatly organized in any folder you can see your zaps and turn a zap on or off open the editor to update your zap duplicate the zap run it manually view its run history turn it into a template and more under zap history you can see a summary of every zap's activity on your account you can filter the entries by date range specific zaps the apps involved and more to easily find what you're looking for most importantly you can also use the search bar to search within both the titles of your zaps and the data that the zaps processed once you've pulled up the history you're looking for you can click any of these entries to see more information zap history is the best place to start troubleshooting when a zap is encountering errors or just not working as expected if you click on apps you'll see every app connected to your zapier account these will be apps that you're using zapier to automate with like Google Drive slack LinkedIn HubSpot or any app that you use every day you can click on any individual app to see the specific accounts that are connected to zapier note that you can add several accounts for the same app in zapier from there you can test each connection reconnect it if the credentials have expired or rename the connection to help distinguish it from different accounts you can also click on view zaps to see the automations that use this specific account you can also add another connection here if you'd like but you'll typically be adding new connections as you're building a zap that uses the app in question when you've only got a zap or two in your library these organ izational features might not seem very important but as you start building a larger automated infrastructure you'll need to refer back to these options frequently by now you should have a decent grasp of how zapier automation works but zapier has been extending their platform Beyond automation with several additional features emerging in the last year if you'd like to learn more about any of these features you can check out the other videos on our channel that cover each topic specifically I'll link them on screen as they come up and I've also added them to this video's x-ray workflow resources board in the description with zapier tables you can create simple tables for your zaps to reference these tables essentially can be used like any spreadsheet or database app like Excel Google Sheets or air table but they have very limited functionality in comparison they're most useful if used along with zapier interfaces with interfaces you can create simple custom web pages with a drag and drop Builder your interfaces can include links to your zaps forms connected to zap your tables buttons to launch automations and more interfaces can be a useful way to package and deliver an automation to a client or for your team but they offer much less flexibility than web pages built in apps like webflow Squarespace Wix softer or even WordPress one of the most appealing features of zappier interfaces is the ability to add a custom AI chatbot these chatbots now have their own menu in zapier's dashboard and are an easy way to set up a sharable chat bot to interact with your clients and leads of course not all chatbots are created equal this feature is still in beta and will not be replacing open AI chatbase or bot press anytime soon finally zapier canvas offers a unique way to create basic flow charts while dedicated apps like Lucid chart are generally much better for creating diagrams canvas gives you the ability to add your existing zaps to each flowchart then you'll see every step of the zap in the diagram making it a convenient way to document your zaps in the context of larger workflows if you'd like to see how zap your canvas compares to apps like Meo in Lucid chart check out our rundown of the five best flow charting apps for planning your automations all of these features provide some exciting opportunities for enhancing your automations but none of these are essential for building zaps you should also note that using many of these features will involve an additional charge on top of your monthly subscription for automations you can check out our other videos to explore each feature as you continue learning to use zapier while we're on the subject of cost let's take a look at zapier's pricing structure zapier recently overhauled their pricing structure so this is worth a glance even if you've used zapier in the past first I want to quickly explain the term tasks since it's an important part of every zapier plan I've added a page from zapier's help docs to this video's resources board that explains tasks in more detail but here's the gist of it most successful automated actions count as one task zapier's formatter steps and paths do not count as tasks and neither do triggers so finding a file in Google Drive to launch a zap does not consume a task but sending a message in slack does consume a task just keep that in mind as we look at each plan and its limits you can check your task usage in the bottom left corner at any time also note that all plans shown here offer a 33% discount if you pay annually but we'll be showing you the base monthly price without the discount zapier's free plan isn't really going to give you much practical functionality with two step zaps only and just 100 tasks a month you won't be able to do much except try zap your out for $30 a month the starter plan unlocks zapier's basic features but limits you to 750 tasks a month 15minute wait times to run zaps in only three premium apps total you can check out zapier's site for a full list of premium apps but know that it includes some popular software like Shopify Salesforce and PayPal the starter plan can be great for an individual Builder who's getting started but if you're looking to extensively automate your work you probably need to consider the professional plan at just under $75 a month the Pro Plan unlocks unlimited premium apps conditional logic in your zaps and 2,000 tasks each month your zaps will also run every two minutes for a solo Builder this will be everything you need to build any automation you want but for good collaboration features you'll need to check out the team plan or the company plan these plans which start at just over $100 a month offer shared workspaces shared app connections a one minute wait time to run zaps and several other Advanced features you can add more tasks to any of your paid plans for an additional monthly charge just open up zapier's pricing page and select the amount of tasks you want to see how it affects the price note that while tasks are tracked and limited in every zap your plan there is no charge for data being sent other automation providers often limit the amount of data you can process making zapier a good choice for automating tasks involving large files and data sets ultimately if you're just getting started with zapier you can use the free plan to follow along with this tutorial then if you'd like to explore zapier further you can try out the starter plan but there's really no need to jump to the Pro Plan unless you're already using several zaps to automate your work now let's examine zaping Year's unique benefits as well as its downsides there are many automation providers available so I want to show you what makes zapier stand out and where it falls short first zapier has an unmatched library of Integrations with about 7,000 supported apps odds are if it's a commercially available web app zapier can automate it so if you're looking to automate a wide range of software zapier will be your safest pick zapier is also very easy to use as you've seen following along with this tutorial every option is laid out clear in a simple visual editor you can build all sorts of automations without needing to write a single line of code in addition to automation zapier includes several other features like tables canvas and the ability to build zaps with AI prompts these kinds of extra tools are not very common among zapier's competitors the main downside of zapier is the price with its new pricing structure zapier may be more affordable for many use cases but the Bas plan still comes in at a higher price than the competition if you're looking for a cheaper alternative you'll likely want to consider make formerly known as integromat make has fewer Integrations than zapier but still boasts support for over 1,500 popular web apps it likely won't be as intuitive as zapier for no coders but make is arguably easier to use for users with some technical background you won't find as many extras like Canvas OR interfaces though make has recently added the ability to build automations with AI you can learn more about make in our make beginners guide linked on your screen now and in the resources board in the description if you're a Microsoft Office power user or if your organization is already fully on board with Microsoft apps then you'll probably want to check out power automate built by Microsoft power automate includes lots of features for integrating neatly with their other software you can check out our power automate beginners guide to learn more and get started if you'd like to explore which automation providers support the apps that you use every day just go to x-ray. tools and search for your software we've indexed zapier make Power automate workato Bine and n8n so you can compare top automation providers in one place triggers to triggers and actions to actions with no code automation providers like zapier anyone can start automating their work to save time however if you're looking to support an Enterprise team or a rapidly scaling company then you should consider a chief workflow officer membership with x-ray building an automation that handles one user or one team is simple with tools like zapier but creating an automated system that supports several teams and users with different permission levels becomes much more complicated ultimately it might not be the right strategic choice to design build and maintain all of your automations yourself after all it's probably not in your job description with a membership x-ray designs and implements automated workflows so your team can focus on getting their work done faster and more consistently than ever over time time will extend your workflows with new features to adapt to your evolving goals and challenges the membership is about the cost of a senior employees salary each year but will amplify the output of everyone on your team you can think of X-ray as a force multiplier that your company can rely on to make your best people even better just go to our website x-ray. Tech to learn more and schedule a free Discovery meeting you can also find that website and booking Link in the resources board in this video's description on that same board you'll also see a link to lcod engineers.com low Cod Engineers is x-ray solution for quickly connecting small businesses and Freelancers to vetted automation experts through this platform you can schedule remote calls for low code support build on a convenient hourly basis so whether you're looking for long-term automation support or just need some help fixing bugs in your zaps we've got you covered open up that resources board and explore your options with an easy to use interface and massive library of Integrations zapier makes it simple for anyone to start automating the apps they use every day build on what you've learned in this beginner's guide and try creating your own automated workflows you can check out our other videos for inspiration or let us know in the comments below if there's a topic you'd like to see us cover your suggestion could become our next video if you've enjoyed this video prove you're human like And subscribe for more automation tips every week if you'd like to learn more about low code Automation and workflow design follow us on LinkedIn Twitter or Facebook and you can find all of our content on our website at x-ray. Tech you can find all all those links in the X-ray workflow resources board down below and as always find your focus and stay in flow trying to futureproof yourself start designing the way your team works with no code tools Automation and AI in X-Ray's workflow designer course we'll show you how to break down every part of a process to find the best opportunities for Automation and how to integrate those automations into your team's daily work you'll learn how to create time for your entire team get more reliable results and give everyone a newfound Clarity and confidence in their work just go to this URL to learn more the entire package includes over 2 hours of Premium video content challenging example projects and tons of helpful resources the course costs just $250 and gives you lifetime access to a slack community of workflow designers Building Systems in dozens of different Industries space is limited so join the free waiting list today to get notified as soon as the course is live later this year thanks for watching watching and we hope to see you soon in our workflow designer course

Channel: XRay Automation

Views: 18,612

Keywords: no code, low code, Zapier, integromat, xray.tech, xray, automation, mindfulness at work, mindful work, airtable, slack, workflow, power automate, google drive, google docs, how to build a zap, how to automate, how zapier works, pricing, comparison, zapier ai, tables, interfaces, chatbots

Id: -DtyCYwtpwY

Length: 29min 33sec (1773 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2024