Question

Zaps only trigger once per new record in view Airtable- any thoughts on a workaround?

  • 28 October 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 1322 views

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

I use the Airtable new record in view trigger for a few different Zaps and it's frustrating that Zaps will only trigger the first time a record enters that view. If a record enters a view, then leaves and then comes back into it, the Zap will only trigger the first time.


Let's say I'm using Airtable to check on monthly invoices. If I need to send a reminder to someone, I check a box to move a record to a 'Reminder sent' view. Later, when I receive the invoice, I uncheck the box and the record is removed from view. Next month I want to send another reminder so I check the box again, it enters the view but wont trigger the Zap.

Has anyone come across this before? What ways could you work around this?



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5 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +3

uhm, i know a guy..... :)


On2Air: Actions | Openside

We do some pretty advanced stuff with this product and have 100+ customers using it.


You're use case is pretty standard with our tool. Let me know if you want a demo of it or any questions.


Dan



Userlevel 7
Badge +10

I have a different solution where I trigger on the 5 minute mark and then do a webhook call to the Airtable API to check for all records in the view.

I then do whatever I need to with each record and switch a column value to true (which excludes it from the view) Or I have a filter in airtable that says the last modified time may not be today etc.

The Airtable API is very well documented and is simple for calling a view and getting all records in the view. once you have all the records you so do whatever you want to with the information, just be sure to do something to the record that removes it from the view so that it will not find that view on the next pass.


I did find that I needed to specify the User-Agent in the header of the webhook because Airtable's API does some different things when the User-Agent is set to Zapier which it is by default... you can use anything other than Zapier for the User-Agent for it to work.


Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Can back up @Openside here - have been using his solution (On2Air: Actions) for a few months with a client to generate daily project status updates by simply clicking a checkbox in Airtable and it works beautifully. You can trigger the same checkbox unlimited times 👌


Userlevel 5

Ohhhhhhh interesting. I hadn't seen On2Air: Actions before. Thanks for sharing, @Openside. And thanks for the validation, @alex! (and the question, @Danvers!) Seriously... this community gets better all the time!


Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Such great answers from everyone, thank you 😃

On2Air looks so cool, thanks for sharing @Openside!

I have a distinctly low-tech solution that I'm currently using - have (at least) two views: an 'unprocessed' view and then the one that will trigger the Zap, let's call it 'checked'.

When the Zap is triggered by a new record in the 'checked' view as well as doing everything that the Zap would normally do, it also creates a new record in the 'unprocessed' view. This new record is an exact copy of the record that triggered the Zap. So, basically, you're cloning the original record so that you can use it to trigger the Zap again.

It's not something that you could use in every scenario, but it's a simple no-code solution that works for some.