Question

E-mail - sheet - Slack


Hey guys!

I’ve got a problem with automating stuff in zapier. Basically I’m receiving emails in which I have attachments.Attachments include emails, but every time it’s a different emaiI (that’s why I wanted to create new sheets every time the task is triggered). I was trying to upload this attachment into google drive then associate that email with slack users email and it worked but for the first time only. I wasn’t able to select custom values for the spreadsheet, therefore, it uses the same one with the same data. So the question is:

  1. Can I somehow use custom value for spreadsheet and worksheet Id?

  2. Have you got any other idea? Maybe it’s simple but I’m not that good at zapier (yet 😀)

Thank you in advance!


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11 replies

Userlevel 2
Badge +2

So help me understand what you are trying to do here…

 

You say, “Attachments include emails, but every time it’s a different emaiI”

Are the emails you are receiving contain attachment files that are emails (i.e. msg files)?

“but ever time it’s a different email” - Can you explain a little bit more here? Different From address, Different To address, multiple email messages?

Hey!

So, I receive e-mails with excel files, those files include 1 email which I want to use and send a slack message to. Every single file has different email in it.

Userlevel 2
Badge +2

OK. So at a high level...

  1. Trigger on receiving an email (Email by Zapier or Gmail or...)
  2. Use Microsoft Excel to Create the spreadsheet from the attachment(s) in the trigger. See https://zapier.com/apps/excel for more details
  3. Use Microsoft Excel to do a search action for the specific row in the spreadsheet
  4. Use Slack app to send the message

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply!

Well, that’s what I’m doing, however, how can zapier search for a specific row if it’s unable to find the new spreadsheet, custom values are not working for worksheet/spreadsheet ids

Userlevel 2
Badge +2

Are you able to invoke the Microsoft Excel “Create Spreadsheet” action?

Wouldn’t that give you a handle on the spreadsheet to find specific row?

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@papcior I think I see the trouble here - when you try to use the ID of the spreadsheet that was created as a custom value in the Find row step, it wont give you the fields that you need - is that right?

 

If that’s the case then there is a workaround, but it only works if every sheet that you create has the same columns. 

  1. Create a Worksheet in Excel with the same columns that would be created when your Zap triggers. You’ll also want to add an example row in there for your Zap to find.
  2. In your Find Row step, select that sheet. That will give all the fields that you need to set up the step.
  3. Set up the Step and test it (so that you have the information that you need for the following steps).
  4. Change the worksheet to the custom value from the previous step
  5. This will make all the information that you’ve added in the step disappear - DON’T PANIC! It’s still there all there in the Zap’s memory. 

You can then add on any other steps that you need. 

 

​I hope that's clear, please let me know if you have any questions!

 

And thanks @Matt for helping us to to get this far 🙌

Hey, thank you so much for replying!

I’m not sure what to do with the 4th step that you described:
“Change the worksheet to the custom value from the previous step”

Could you tell me what exactly do you mean? I’m unable to select custom value with a worksheet ID, I’ve only got options from previous steps. I’ll describe all of the steps that I’m doing below:|
1.New email matching in gmail
2.Upload file in google drive (uploading it to drive as google sheet)
3.Create spreadsheet column (I’m just putting an additional column called for_zapier)
4.Update spreadhseet row (I’m updating the row under for_zapier with some word)
5.Lookup spreadsheet row in google sheets (thanks to the additional columns I’m able to find info that I need)
6.Find user by email in slack (I’ve got email and the link to what I need to send that person there - it allows me to send it through slack)
7.Send message by slack

That’s the whole workflow, I’m not sure if that’s the right way but that’s the one I figured out :D If you have any other idea, please share it. 

Thanks for suggestions!

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Change the worksheet to the custom value from the previous step”

Could you tell me what exactly do you mean? 

If you had used the Create Worksheet action in a previous step, there would be a worksheet ID that you could then use in an update row step. 

 

It sounds like you’ve found a good way to do this be creating a new column instead of a whole sheet, so you don’t need the steps that I outlined my previous reply. If your Zap is working and doing what you need it, then I’d say you’re all set - nice work!

Well the issue is that it still does not work :D

It creates the spreadsheet and works for the first time only, then it’s unable to find this spreadsheet whenever zapier is trying to locate and add column. It simply searches for the first spreadsheet

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @papcior I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this! Can I take a step back and check that I’ve understood what you’re looking to do?

 

You’re getting an email that has attachments. The attachments are spreadsheets and the sheets have an email address in them. You want to a) save the sheets to Google Drive and b) get the email address from the sheets. Is that right?

 

And can you confirm the file type that you’re receiving? Are they Excel files? Google Sheets? Or a CSV?  If it’s not already a Google Sheets file, after testing the Google Drive Upload File step, when you look at the test information (in ‘Test and Review), is there a file ID there? And if you look at the file in Google Drive (looking at the list of files, don’t open it) what type of file is it?

 

That information should help us to get on the same page, thanks!

 

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi @papcior!

Since this was a little while ago, I wanted to check in to see if you’d managed to solve this or whether you still needed help here. Please let us know!