Presentation of Office 365 calendar in a chatbot via Zapier
HI Community.
First question - is there any way I can contact an actual Zapier representative to ask a technical question??
I seem to find the only way to get information about a very specific requirement is to ask the community!
Anyway, my company needs to be able to present a calendar in a chatbot, and take the date entered by the visitor, and send it together with message to an Office 365 calendar via Zapier.
Can anyone tell me if this is possible, or if they have actually done this or something similar?
many thanks in advance.
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Hey there! Welcome to the community! This is actually not even a question I’m sure the community can answer
What you’re asking falls outside the bounds of zapier and lands in the category of general web-development, or customisation of chatbots.
As a Zapier expert, I wouldn’t take on this type of work, for example, because it’s not really got anything to do with Zapier - It sounds like the problem you have is creating the calendar on the front-end, if I’m not mistaken?
But I can give you some pointers:
Your chatbot - Is it extensible? Does the company running your chatbot allow you to add a calendar field, or build custom code inside it?
Do you have a developer that can code you a calendar and have the selection trigger a webhook to zapier
Is the answer to the calendar selection stored anywhere (e.g. a database?)
If you can build the calendar, and have a way to store that data somewhere (e.g. Airtable, Google Sheets etc), you can certainly send the message with Office 365 - That will be the easy part, thanks to Zapier.
I think the hard-part is first creating the calendar/chatbot/storage solution
I hope that helps!
Hi. Thanks for your answer. We’re in the concept/requirement stage, and are looking for a simple - haha - solution to present a calendar within a chatbot, the data, of which should be sent to a calendar, e.g. Office 365 Calendar, or alternatively Calendly.
We are looking at Snatchbot right now, which interfaces with Zapier. Zapier can link to Office 365. I’m just checking that Zapier can take the data from Snatchbot and pass it to Office 365 Calendar. (If it’s simpler, then we can use Calendly, which is an app consumed by Zapier.)
Simple as that!! :)))
In that case - You’re in luck - Calendly definitely integrates very well with Zapier, and I’ve built a number of solutions that do the very thing you’re asking.
Snatchbot - I’m less familiar with, and I don’t see a zapier app in the directory or the Snatchbot plugin directory: https://snatchbot.me/plugins
Hi. I’ve been to-ing and fro-ing with Snatchbot support and they assure me that Snatchbot integrates well with Zapier. Digging a bit further I found this …
Exporting Chatbot Data through Zapier
Data export is one of the most important features business owners look for when deciding to create chatbots. It allows them to easily export contact information, orders or customer inquiries or feedback.
The powerful combination of a chatbot created on the SnatchBot platform and Zapier automation service allows you to save and process the data that your chatbot has generated. Depending on your needs you can export data to:
1.
Google Sheets;
2.
Almost a dozen CRM apps;
3.
MailChimp;
4.
Various support and co-working apps;
5.
… And more than 75 other apps across the web.
In this tutorial, we will explain to you how to establish a connection between your chatbot and a desired app on the Zapier platform. Start by creating a chatbot or choosing the one that you have already built.
So I know it’s doable. I also found a page dealing with Calendly → Office 365, which, although complicated, may be the solution we’re looking for, inasmuch that Calendly presents its calendar to Snatchbot user via Zapier, then takes the data via zapier and sends an email to Office 365 via Zapier as well!
Great! So...Do you have any other questions?
As the resident expert, do you believe that the above process flow will work?
Yes. I do, but I never recommend G-Sheets to my clients. It’s honestly a rabbit hole, and so tempromental to automate from - It can work, and I have several automations using it - It’s just the cause of so much pain once you begin to scale.
I’d recommend, if you can, using Snatchbot to Airtable - Because you’ll be set up for longevity.
Otherwise, the flow, as described, (Google Sheets or not) should definitely allow you to update an event in Office 365.
Sorry, I didn’t mean the example I sent. Ignore Google Sheets. I meant the previous process flow, i.e. …
Calendly presented via Zapier to Snachbot to User.
User data taken from Snatchbot/Calendly via Zapier, and then passed to Office 365 via Zapier.
That’s not the flow as I understood it:
Calendly presented via Snatchbot to Zapier. Calendly triggers zap and zap passes off to Office 365
Originally, I was looking for Office 365 calendar presenting to Snatchbot user via Zapier and data taken back via Zapier to Office 365.
If this is not possible then we will look at using Calendly to present the calendar and take data, then passing to Offcie 365.
Which, in your opinion, will work, if not both?
Either will work! The point I just wanted to make clear was that Zapier would be the app that handles the data, and I wouldn’t recommend building a solution that involves zapier showing a calendar to users based on criteria. If you can get the data to Zapier, it can do the rest.
That’s great. Thank you! When the time comes, and if we need technical help with the Zapier stages of the operation, I will be in touch with you to engage your professional services.
