Best answer

Retaining formatting from Wordpress to LinkedIn and Facebook

  • 25 September 2020
  • 8 replies
  • 437 views

Userlevel 1

Hi,

I have configured a Zap to take short notes published on my Wordpress website and publish those on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What I would like to do is keep the text formatting produced by HTML tags.

For example, here’s the original text, as produced by Wordpress:

<p>Some text of a couple of lines</p><p>Some more text, with maybe something in <b>bold</b></p><p>Even more text, but maybe with a line break in the middle.<br>And then more content on the next line</p> 
Here’s what I would like to post on LinkedIn:
Some text of a couple of lines Some more text, with maybe something in bold Even more text, but maybe with a line break in the middle.And then more content on the next line
 How do I do that? Removing the HTML tags removes the formatting. Thank you for your help!
icon

Best answer by jesse 3 March 2021, 23:44

View original

8 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Formatter by Zapier is your friend. The Text action can remove HTML.

Userlevel 1

My question is: does it retain the useful text formatting? I don’t it does - it strips the text of HTML tags.

Userlevel 1

I just noticed the formatting in the original post is all messed up.

What I want is this:

 

Some text of a couple of lines

 

Some more text, with maybe something in bold

 

Even more text, but maybe with a line break in the middle.

And then more content on the next line

Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Easiest thing to do would be to run a test on an existing post and see what it spits out. I rarely get that granular with variable text in Formatter, but it’s always good to run a trial and see what you can get!

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hi @Vincent 

Just checking in - did you manage to get this sorted?

Userlevel 1

Unfortunately not. The formatter strips HTML and that’s it. Thanks for checking.

Hi there - I have exactly the same problem. I am using Zapier to send posts through to LinkedIn from Wordpress and onto the description or excerpt I have <p> tags appearing beforehand and &#8217 appearing instead of apostrophe ‘. 

 

I looked at the formatter, but it says there are no integrations between Zapier and LinkedIn?

 

On the text screen in wordpress, the leading <p> is not shown.

 

Any advice on how to fix please?

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Hey @Vincent, just wanted to re-open this thread and talk through the issue a bit more. I understand that you’re wanting to strip the HTML tags but keep the formatting (line breaks, bold text, italics, etc.). Generally, to get to the outcome you’re after, the action app would need to support handing this kind of formatting. Let’s look at Slack as an example. Slack does support formatting through Zapier but to do so, you’d have to format things in a way Slack is expecting: https://zapier.com/help/doc/tips-formatting-your-slack-messages. For Facebook and LinkedIn, they look to only be accepting plain, unformatted text, at least through their Zapier integrations, which is why what you’re after likely isn’t possible here, I’m sorry to say. I wish I could recommend a workaround but in order for formatting to work, the action app needs to be set up and ready to receive it. 

@Tania I’m not sure if that speaks to the issue you’re running into here. It sounds like you’re looking for help setting up the right workflow to strip HTML tags before the text gets sent to LinkedIn. If that’s the case, you will need to set up your Trigger step, add the “Formatter” as an action to strip the HTML, and then add a LinkedIn action step afterward. You can then use the output of the Formatter step to use in your LinkedIn action,

If either of y’all run into any issues or have further questions, just let us know!

Reply