Skip to main content
Best answer

Salesforce - Create or Update Records in one Zap rather than two

  • October 22, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 1752 views

Hi!

I essentially have the same use-case of this post - 

https://community.zapier.com/general-questions-3/create-or-update-salesforce-record-from-excel-timesheet-6586

, with the difference that my trigger is from Demio.

I was hoping to have just the one Zap. In that thread there are two solutions:

  1. Simply place an Update action after the “Find or Create” Action. However, wouldn’t this always trigger an immediate Update if in the previous step a Create Action was triggered?
  2. Use a Filter to select “where zap data is found = true” - I don’t see any option like that when I add that step? Or am I just selecting “ID (Text) Exactly matches” <blank>”

Thanks!

Ross

Best answer by SamBBest answer by SamB

Hey @ross.hopkins,

It’s been a while so you may have already got this figured out but I thought I’d jump in here just in case!

It looks like only a few options are being shown in the dropdown menu. If you click the Show all options link on the dropdown menu it should reveal more options, including the _zap_search_was_found_status field

707b5ce8cfa00b57842e7911b9ac6c08.png

It’s the _zap_search_was_found_status field that you’ll want the Filter to check as that will give either a true or false value which will indicate whether an existing record was found or not. :)

View original
Did this topic help you find an answer to your question?
This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

5 replies

SamB
Community Manager
Forum|alt.badge.img+11
  • Community Manager
  • 7396 replies
  • Answer
  • November 11, 2021

Hey @ross.hopkins,

It’s been a while so you may have already got this figured out but I thought I’d jump in here just in case!

It looks like only a few options are being shown in the dropdown menu. If you click the Show all options link on the dropdown menu it should reveal more options, including the _zap_search_was_found_status field

707b5ce8cfa00b57842e7911b9ac6c08.png

It’s the _zap_search_was_found_status field that you’ll want the Filter to check as that will give either a true or false value which will indicate whether an existing record was found or not. :)


Troy Tessalone
Forum|alt.badge.img+14
  • Zapier Expert
  • 30854 replies
  • November 11, 2021

Hi @ross.hopkins 

Something to consider…

If you have a lot of records that would be “updated”, then by using the Filter step, you’d actually be using more Tasks in your Zap vs just having the Zap find/create + update.


  • Author
  • Beginner
  • 7 replies
  • November 11, 2021

Thanks Sam - I did eventually find the Zapier variable (and felt a bit silly for missing it! :grinning: ).

And thanks, Troy. I did consider that seeing as the field mapping isn’t shared that there isn’t that much to be gained from having the one Zap vs two, other than being able to view a whole process. It is very rare we’d update a Lead though so think I’m ok on the volume front.

The only issue I’ve really run into is Salesforce’s fuzzy matching to stop duplicate Leads after the “Find and Create” Action didn’t find a record; I wish there was a graceful way to handle that occurrence.

 


jeffernst
Forum|alt.badge.img
  • Beginner
  • 12 replies
  • February 6, 2022

@SamB @Troy Tessalone 

I have this same need, and I’m looking to save my customers from having to map the same 40 fields twice in the zap. Will it work if I have the “Find and Create” action just create the record with the bare minimum fields, and then have the Update event update all the fields?


Troy Tessalone
Forum|alt.badge.img+14

@jeffernst 

Yes, that’s an approach to take, but depends on the logic you are trying to implement.

 

For example, should a record be updated if it already exists?

 

  1. Find/Create Record
  2. Update Record