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  • Trigger Formidable when new entry created *only if specific form field populated*
Question

Trigger Formidable when new entry created *only if specific form field populated*

  • 17 April 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 172 views
A
Userlevel 1

Hey all! I was wondering if there’s a way to trigger a new row in a google sheet when a form is filled out via Formidable (a new entry created)… *but* the catch is, the form entry must have a certain field populated appropriately.

 

My overall goal is to only send “approved” data to this google sheet…. so my plan is to have someone fill out the form (create a new entry). Then the “approver” (myself) will go in and check the data. If I approve it, I would duplicate the entry and while doing so, type into a hidden field of the form, viewable only to me, “approve”. This would create a new entry, but with that special field “approve” populated.

 

Is there any way to do this? Or a cleaner way to send only approved form entires to a google sheet?

 

Thank you!

This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

6 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @Astro4Earth 

Good question.

Try adding a Filter step to your Zap: https://zapier.com/apps/filter/help

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
A
Userlevel 1

Thank you so much Troy! I did as you suggested, but I’m still struggling to achieve my ultimate goal, which is to send the data from the form to a google sheet, but *only* once I approve that form submission entry.

 

The issue I am facing is that Zapier only gets triggered if a new entry is made or an entry is deleted. My going in and typing “Approve” into a hidden field doesn’t seem to work, even if I then duplicate the entry, so a new entry is made. 

 

Do you have any other suggestions/work arounds… THANK YOU!

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@Astro4Earth 

You can use a main GSheet to logged all entries, then use a column to approve, which with another Zap will send the data to the desired GSheet.

 

“New or Updated Spreadsheet Row” trigger behavior

If you’re using the New or Updated Spreadsheet Row trigger and choose Any column to monitor, any change to a row will trigger your Zap. If you select a specific column, then the Zap will only trigger when there are changes on that column.

Note

Zaps using New or Updated Spreadsheet Row will also trigger for any new rows in the spreadsheet, even if the specified column is blank. To avoid triggering in those cases, add a Filter step to your Zap.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
A
Userlevel 1

Hey Troy! I really appreciate your taking the time to help me. :)

 

This was what I tried first! But I found it wasn’t working consistently, so I tried the other way. But I will get back to work on this first method. 

 

The two things I noticed seemed to be an issue: If too much time passed between when the entry arrived at the first GSheet and I changed the column to approve, things might not trigger. The other issue, if I approved two entries too close together, one might not happen. So it felt like an unstable method…. but maybe it’s my best shot!

 

I see you are a moderator and certified expert. Do you offer quick debugging sessions over zoom for a fee?

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@Astro4Earth 

Some things to be aware with for using GSheets in Zaps…

The Google Sheets trigger is marked "instant" but it still takes a few minutes to trigger

The triggers for Google Sheets are unique among Zapier triggers. When there is a trigger event in the spreadsheet, Zapier gets a notification webhook from Google about this. After that, Zapier sends Google Sheets a request for new data, so it uses both the polling and instant trigger methods. This process takes about 3 minutes overall.

While not being "instant", these triggers are faster than regular polling ones, as they don't depend on the polling interval of the plan your account uses.

 

The "Updated Spreadsheet Row" trigger stopped triggering

If you're watching for changes to a column, we only see new values in that column. If you update the column of an existing row to a value that Zapier previously saw in that column, in that row, we won't see the new value. You will need to either choose a column that will only have unique values, or make a new one which will.

For example, if you had X in the Trigger column, then changed it to Y, the Zap would trigger. If you then changed it back to X it would not trigger again, because the Zap has already seen X in that column.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
A
Userlevel 1

This explains it! Thanks! Now everything seems stable and consistent, so going to use this method.

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