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How to set Queue Title in Delay After Queue?

  • 14 September 2022
  • 12 replies
  • 379 views

Hi, everyone

 

This is my first post on the community. I got cofunsed by the Delay After Queue setting-Queue Title, which might be the cause that leads to the similar outcome as this OP has encountered:

 

 

I added a delay after queue at the end of the Zap, but the data are still being sent all at once.

 

--@kevinpg the OP

 

The Queue Title should be a static/hardcoded value (not a mapped dynamic variable).

 

 --@Troy Tessalone the answerer

 

So my question is: can I set the Queue Title to whatever value I like as long as it is “fixed”?

 

e.g. Apple, Banana, Pear…

 

I am running a zap creating Tweets triggered by Reddit new hot posts.

 

my zap settings

 

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Best answer by Danvers 4 October 2022, 13:26

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12 replies

delay doesn’t work

p.s.

 

As the image shows (from the Zap Run Details panel), 2 Tweets are scheduled around the same time and date. 🤔

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @Saul

Good question.

 

 Check your Zap Runs: https://zapier.com/app/history/

There you will see the timestamp for when the Zap action step runs AFTER the Delay After Queue.

 

This shows the Zap step is in a Status of “Waiting” due to the Delay After Queue functionality.

 

So my question is: can I set the Queue Title to whatever value I like as long as it is “fixed”?

Yes, it can be a fixed value or a dynamic value, but it should not be a unique value each time if dynamic.

 

Delay After Queue help article: https://zapier.com/help/create/customize/add-delays-to-zaps#delay-after-queue

delay doesn’t work

p.s.

 

As the image shows (from the Zap Run Details panel), 2 Tweets are scheduled around the same time and date. 🤔

 

Hi @Troy Tessalone

 

Sorry. I just realized where the problem is. If only I can put the Delay action ahead of the Reddit Trigger; thus, I can control the frequency of the Zap starting as a whole. Or, it’ll just stack many Reddit posts to be waiting (as quoted)...

 

 

Is this possible?

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@Saul 

The Delay app cannot be used as a Zap trigger.

 

Here’s an example that will hopefully illustrate how the Delay After Queue works…

 

3 Zap Runs were triggered within a few seconds of each other. (see first screenshot below)

These Zap Runs have a Delay After Queue step set to 1 minute.

Then take note of the timestamps in each of the following Zap Run examples. (see screenshots below)

 

 

Zap Run: 1

Timestamps are ~1 minute apart

 

Zap Run: 2

Timestamps are ~2 minutes apart

 

Zap Run: 3

Timestamps are ~3 minutes apart

 

@Troy Tessalone Well, that really frustrated me coz my setting looks perfect alread but I still got wrong timestamps which are not coordinated to the Delay setting. You can try 12 hours to see what would happen. (Plz ignore the error signal, once I found the data out timestamps are wrong I turned off the zap. You know the results won’t be different.)

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@Saul 

FYI: The release at timestamp is not accurate.

 

Try testing and letting the full Zap Runs process thru the queue.

@Troy Tessalone 

 

Hi, yesterday I did let the full Zap Runs process through the queue. Unfortunately, here for example, the 2 adjacent Tweets were sent about 20 minutes apart. And till now, Zapier has sent 5 Tweets to my Twitter page today.

 

 

BTW I don’t understand why is that the newer appointed Zap was complete before the older one. In my case, the Delay After Queue time assignment seems to be such a mess.

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@Saul 

It’s probably best for you to reach out to Zapier Support for additional assistance with using the Delay After Queue, since I’ve shown examples where it works as expected.

 

Waiting

Zap runs can have a status of Waiting for one of two reasons:

  • Delayed: if the Zap run has a delay step that is waiting to run, it will appear as Waiting / Delayed.

@Troy Tessalone 

 

Okay. I’ll try. Thank you, bro!

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hey @Saul!

I see that you reached out to our Support team and they concluded that you’re being affected by a known issue with Delay by Zapier. As they mentioned, you’ve been added to the bug report so you’ll be notified when it’s been fixed.

Sorry you’re experiencing this problem, but at least we’ve been able to diagnose the issue!

If you can explain your ideal outcome, maybe we can come up with some workarounds that can get you there :) 

Hi @nicksimard!

 

Thanks for bearing with me. Okay, now let me be clear about how I expect this Zap to go:

 

Zapier got a new Reddit hot post “A” (2022-9-21 00:00)

Post A passed filter settings

Delay After Queue (delay for values: 12 hours)

(A Tweet will be sent around 2022-9-21 12:00)

Zapier gets another new Reddit hot post “B” (2022-9-21 00:25)

Post B passed filter settings

Delay After Queue (delay for values: 12 hours)

(A Tweet will be sent around 2022-9-22 00:00, 12 hours after the last Delay data-out

 

That’s how I understand Delay After Queue would function. However, I have to turn off the Zap with so many Tweets flushing in. Thank you.

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @Saul!

It looks like you want to spread out each post so that your twitter account is only sharing one post every 12 hours, regardless of when the Reddit posts come in, is that right? 

 

If so, Storage by Zapier might be a better fit for this task. Storage allows you to store and retrieve information from a list, so you could add the posts from Reddit as they come in and then use a second Zap to time the release of your tweets. If you want the tweets to be released every 12 hours here’s how you could set that up. 

Zap 1 - Collects posts and adds them to Storage

  1. Reddit - New Hot Post in Subreddit
  2. Storage by Zapier - Push Value Onto List

Zap 2 - Posts tweets at 12 hour intervals

  1. Schedule by Zapier - set to trigger the Zap every hours
  2. Filter by Zapier - set the filter so that the Zap will only continue at the times you want (eg only continue if the time is 00:00 or 12:00)
  3. Storage by Zapier - Pop Value From List 
  4. Twitter - Create Tweet

 

Storage by Zapier is a little advanced so if you’ve not used it before, I recommend checking out this help guide.

 

What do you think, will that work the way that you need it to?