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I want to be able to run my zaps on events that happened in the past. 

This seems like it is possible because Zapier can pull test data from previous triggers when creating the Zap.

Anyone know how to do this?

Hi @rbuckley 

Unfortunately, this is not something Zapier is built to handle events from the moment you turn it on until the moment you turn it off. The data that is loaded in the trigger is built solely to provide you with sample data for configuring the subsequent steps. 

One work around to accomplish what you are hoping to achieve might be to export the data you want to run through Zapier then use a Google Sheets trigger to trigger Zapier. The sheet would be filled with your exported data. 


It’s really interesting that it cannot do this, because it is definitely pulling legit data from my trigger source.

Click Test trigger. Zapier will attempt to find a recent item from your trigger app to use in the Zap.


Hi @rbuckley , You can trigger the Zap only on future events and not past events. However if you want to do something with past data ,there is a way you can do this. This solution may not work with all the app. Also you cannot keep this Zap running forever because this is just 1 time activity of retrieving all the past data.

 

Below is the solution -

  • Check if app has an action of searching data or list all the data. If the app has this action, than check if you can add created date time start and created date time end. 
  • For Eg - Shopify has an API of getting all the orders.and in the input you can define you want to orders created from which data till which date. 
  • On implementing above, you can than add the next action of Loops, to perform something with all the data.
  • So the Zap can be something like this - Webhooks by Zapier (Or any app just to trigger the Zap) → Action 1 - List all the items from app → Action 2  - Loops → Your further steps. .