This guide explains how to automatically forward incoming WhatsApp Business messages to your email inbox using Zapier. This is useful if you want to monitor customer messages within your email client, create a backup of conversations, or route messages to a team inbox for tracking. In this guide we’ll use Gmail for the email action but you can swap it out for a different email app.
Step-by-step guide
- Set up your trigger. Create a new Zap and for the trigger, search for the WhatsApp Business app and choose the New Message Received trigger.
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Connect your WhatsApp account. Select an existing WhatsApp connection or add a new one, then click Continue.
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Configure trigger options (optional). Leave all fields blank to receive all messages, or:
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Set Message types to receive only specific types (text, image, video, document, audio)
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Set From phone number to filter messages from a specific customer (use international format)
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Check Only replies to receive only messages that reply to messages you sent
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Test the step. Click Test step to load a sample message as a test record.
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Add the Gmail action. Click the plus icon to add a new action step, then search for and select the Gmail app.
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Select the action event. Choose Send Email from the Action event dropdown menu.
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Connect your Gmail account. Select an existing Gmail connection or add a new one, then click Continue.
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Set the To field. Enter the email address you want messages forwarded to.
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Set the Subject field. Enter a label such as "New WhatsApp message" and optionally map the sender's phone number from the trigger data.
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Set the Body field. Map the Body output from the WhatsApp Business trigger so the message text appears in the email.
- Test and turn on your Zap. Click the Test step button to send a test email and confirm the email appears correctly. Once the test passes, click Publish to turn on the Zap.
Notes and limitations
- WhatsApp Business is a premium app on Zapier which is only available to use on paid plans.
- You must have a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) with a registered phone number through Meta Business Manager.
- Your WABA display name must be approved by Meta before messages can be sent or received through Zapier.
FAQs
Q: Does this work with a personal WhatsApp number?
A: No. Personal WhatsApp numbers are not supported by the API that powers this integration.
Q: Can I forward WhatsApp Business messages using a different email provider instead of Gmail?
A: Yes. Instead of the Gmail action, you’d use the equivalent "Send Email" action for another email app available on Zapier. The setup is much the same, you’d just connect your email account and map the WhatsApp message body to the email body field.
Q: Will the Zap forward every message, or can I filter by sender or keyword?
A: By default, the Zap forwards every incoming message. You can filter at the trigger level using the From phone number or Message types fields in step 3, or add a Filter by Zapier step after the trigger to filter by message content or other criteria.
Q: What happens if someone sends me an image or document on WhatsApp?
A: The New Message Received trigger includes a media URL field for attachments. Map that URL to the Attachments field in the Gmail Send Email action to include the file in the forwarded email. Audio and video files are also supported via the same media URL field.
