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Question

Is it possible to use a Zap to add voice tasks to ClickUp via Amazon Alexa?


Clickup discontinued the Alexa skill which, though flawed, allowed me to add a voice task to a default list by simply speaking to my Echo.  They just pulled it, leaving users in the lurch.  
They told people to use Zapier.  Which I am brand new to and am very frustrated by.

Can anyone help?  Thank you

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13 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @LER 

Try using this Zap trigger: Amazon Alexa - Trigger Phrase Spoken

 

Try using this Zap action: ClickUp - Create Task

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Thank you. I haven’t even learned the basics yet so I will try to figure that out. Appreciate it!  

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @LER,

 

We just wanted to see how everything is going with your Zap. Did Troy's recommendation get the job done? If you need any assistance, feel free to reach out. We're happy to address any concerns and assist you.

 

We're looking forward to your response.

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Hi, thank you.    It’s on the list to do.  TBH I’ve got some other things going on and am just too exhausted to get to learning another program. I do want to set up the voice commands - it’s really important to be able to do that.   I just don’t know Zapier and will have to set aside time to learn the basics. I will definitely follow up with this though, it’s very important.  I’m just behind on everything.  NOT happy that Clickup pulled this capability from their users, creating more work by tellling them to use Zapier.  Thanks for checking back.  I’ll update.

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Thanks for your patience. I’m trying to set it up.  Have to test it still.  Haven’t gotten it to work yet, still working on it. 

Here’s what I would like to do.  

  1. Add a task to clickup in a default list.  Easily, without a lot of back and forth.  Just one quick voice command:  Also, be able to assign to a list:  Alexa add task “wash the car” to list “household.”
  2. Even better, say ‘wash the car” at 6 pm on Sunday, add to list household.”
  3. Even better, Say “wash the car at 6 pm on Sunday, add to list household, status “to do,” or tag “car”.  
  4. Add subtasks “pick up car wash soap,” “find bucket” and “research detailers.”
  5. Add a note to a task in the description field.  “John Smith Detailers, (line break) 123 Elm Street.”
  6. Over the top, but… when the task is done, change status to complete.
  7. Then, without twenty questions back and forth or starting over, say ‘next task.’  “Add eggs and butter to list ‘shopping’. “
  8.  Create a new list
  9. Create a new folder.

But I’ll settle for being able to easily add multiple tasks to a default list.  Thank you. =)

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I still can’t figure this out can anyone from zapier support look at my account and tell me what I’m doing wrong? Thank you

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

It won’t let me edit - but I must have been so tired I hit ‘best answer’ by mistake. That was unintentional.

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi there, @LER 👋

No worries, I’ve unmarked the post that was accidentally marked as the best answer for you now. Us folks in the Community aren’t able to look into your Zaps or account, the Support team can, but I’d be happy to offer some suggestions for this in the meantime. 🙂

I wonder if you could set the trigger phrase to be something like “Zapier add task” and set it to ask an additional prompt like “what task would you like to add?” and when it asks that, you could say “wash the car at 6 pm on Sunday, add to list household”. I’m thinking that should capture the information a Zap would need. Then you could use a Formatter (Text > Extract Pattern) or Code by Zapier action to split that information up into separate fields that you could then select in the Create Task (ClickUp) action. Note: if you’re not familiar with coding check out our Generate a Code step using AI (Beta) guide to learn how to have our Code with AI feature to generate it for you! 

In order to have the task added to the correct list it might be necessary to add a Formatter (Utilities > Lookup Table) action to the Zap to convert the name of the list (output by the Formatter or Code action), into it’s corresponding ClickUp ID. Then in the List field on the Create Task action, you’d choose the Custom value option and select the ID that’s output by the Formatter action which should ensure that the task is added to the correct list in ClickUp. 

And what you could also do is use Paths by Zapier to carry out different actions depending on the information that’s been extracted. For example if the word “folder” is extracted you could have a path that uses a Create Folder (ClickUp) action. If you’ve not used paths in Zaps before you can learn more about it here: Add branching logic to Zaps with paths

Hope that helps to get you pointed in the right direction. If I’ve misunderstood things here or if you run into any trouble on that approach do let me know - happy to assist further! 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I cannot get it connected to ALexa.  Have added the skill, linked the account, signed in, rebooted devices multiple times, disabled and re-enabled the skill, and all it says is “sorry, I’m having trouble accessing your zapier skill right now.”

It does not work on my ipad or my echo.

Can someone confirm this actually does work with Alexa?  ty

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I am working on the things that have been suggested but can’t get the thing to work with Alexa to add a task.  Anyone out there have an Alexa that they can test it on? 

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

I’m so sorry for the delay in my reply here @LER

I just tested this using the Alexa app on my phone and it was able to trigger a Zap successfully. Can you confirm at what point Alexa is giving you that “sorry, I’m having trouble accessing your zapier skill right now” error?

Is it when you say a start phrase like “Alexa, open Zapier” or “Alexa, ask Zapier to trigger a Zap”? Or does it say that error after that, once you’ve said the trigger phrase you’ve set up for your Zap?

Thanks, I look forward to your reply! 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Hi, it’s right at the beginning.  With both of those phrases.  “Sorry, I”m having trouble accessing your Zapier skill right now.”

Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Thanks for confirming that @LER. I’ve been doing some further digging on this end and found a case where someone was also running into a similar “Sorry, I’m having trouble accessing your Zapier skill right now” error.

For that case the issue was caused by one of the actions in the Zap that was erroring, rather than an issue with the skill setup itself. So I’m wondering if that could be the issue here too. 🤔

Can you head over to the Zap and run a quick test of all the actions in your Zap to confirm that they are able to run successfully?