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I have a Zap that creates new records in a Notion database for every Google Calendar event that matches certain criteria. I am having difficulty correctly adding data to the Content field of the Create Database Item in Notion action.

In particular, if the content includes an email address, these seem to be replaced with unicode encoded content. For example, example@email.com shows up as:

support@zapier.com

I’ve used a Python step to try various encodings as well as playing with Markdown formatting, none of which end up simply writing out the email address into the text of the created page.

Below are a set of examples of what I have tried and haven’t worked. Any suggestions on how to debug this further?

Thanks!

 

These show up encoded as described above:

example@email.com 

(example@email.com)

<example@email.com>

texample@email.com]

These show up as is (not encoded, but not formatted as an email address either)

example%40email.com 

example @ email.com

example\@email.com

example\\@email.com

`example@email.com`

``example@email.com``

```example@email.com```

 

This post has been edited by a moderator to remove sensitive information. Please remember to not share any personally identifiable information when posting as this is a public forum. 

Hey there @Ar3m3f!

It appears you’ve run into a bug with the Notion integration that was recently discovered. I’ve added you to the list of affected users so as soon as it’s been resolved we’ll contact you right away!    

That said, I’ve done some testing and it seems that the Update Database Item action can correct this encoding issue for email addresses. So if the Create Database item includes an email it will be displayed like this: 
0b31615b85343857f29e1e9f9d8d57c4.png
But if we then add a Update Database Item action (and use the Custom value option to select the ID field from the previous Create Database item action):
b578c48a73c51826f753d826d02c3279.png
It will then update the item and display the email address correctly:
9270d5ef100488d87e385c979e3d2771.png

I know it’s not a super ideal workaround as it would incur an extra task when the Zap runs, but may be worth using while this bug is still causing issues for the Create Database item action.

Hopefully the above suggestion helps to keep things running for you in the meantime! :relaxed:

Thanks @samB I can confirm this work around corrects the issue, albeit requiring consumption of 2x the number of tasks for each run. Any idea when the bug itself will be fixed?

 Glad to hear it works, @Ar3m3f! Unfortunately I don’t have any estimates that I can share as to when it would be resolved by.

The only other workaround I can think of that might not incur any additional tasks is to use a single Webhooks by Zapier action to create the database item instead. I’ve not tested this myself but, in theory, you could set up a webhook to connect to Notion’s API that may get around the encoding issue.

If that’s something you’d be interested in exploring I’d recommend checking out the following:


Hope that helps! 🤞

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