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Happy new year!

Have you ever wanted to pause a zap (let's call it zap A), trigger another zap (zap 😎 and wait for it to finish before resuming the zap A? I don’t know what techniques you might be using to build this kind of workflow but I know that one way of building it is to split the zap A into 2 zaps and have the second zap trigger the second half once it finished its work.

While this might work fine, having a way to pause a zap and resume it at a later time would be nice!

Pause and Resume is a custom integration I built just for that. If you would like to give it a try, you can find an invite link at the end of this post.

Usage:

Assuming that you have 2 zaps: A and B where A triggers B at some point. The trigger for the zap B has to be Webhook by Zapier.

1. In A, when you want to trigger the zap B:

  • Add a Pause Zap step.
  • Set the webhook URL to be the webhook URL for zap B.
  • Set the payload to whatever you want, it will be sent to zap B.
  • Test this step and add the steps that would run when the zap is resumed.

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2. In B, after testing the trigger step, you should be able to see a key called callback_urlthat was sent from Zap A test. We'll need this one in the next step.

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3. Now, at the end of the zap B:

  • Add a Resume Zap step.
  • Map callback_url from the trigger step to Zap Callback URL field.
  • Set the payload to whatever you want. It will be sent back to the zap A when this step runs.

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That’s it! You can now turn both of the zaps on and see if it works. When the task is paused, it would look like this:

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Feel free to let me know if you find any issues. I built this today so I didn’t have enough time to test it in more scenarios.

That’s all I have for today. Enjoy!

Invite link: https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/124204/c005983626e92e607e5194ce0769044c/

 

 

ZAPIER SAYS: This is an invite-only integration, created by a dedicated member of the Zapier Community. It is not publicly available, nor is it created by Zapier directly. Any questions/suggestions should be addressed to the creator, as they would be the best person to act on the feedback 🙂 Thanks@ikbelkirasan for your hard work and for sharing with the community!

That’s all I have for today. Enjoy!

I’d say it’s quite a lot and not just “that’s all”. Great job, @ikbelkirasan!

Do you have a particular use case in mind for this? I guess it’s a more surefire way to ensure that Zap A can use the information from what you’ve done in Zap B, instead of triggering two Zaps from the same trigger and adding a delay in Zap A, right?


This is huge! This saves a lot of complexity in Zaps!


Nice one Ikbel! This is awesome! How have Zapier not hired you yet?


@ikbelkirasan 

This is seriously impressive stuff. Bravo!


Tip for accessing Zap B’s Payload within Zap A:

If you have difficulty accessing the payload from Zap B within Zap A, you should copy the Paused: true output and change it from {{111176037__paused}} to {{111176037__expiration}} where the number 111176037 is different for every Zap and expiration is the payload I want to receive.

Anyway, this is an amazing integration @ikbelkirasan!


Ok! Thanks for the reply. I’m using subzaps now! 👍🏻


Hey @ikbelkirasan -- we really appreciate your pioneering work here!

Just today we’ve launched something really similar but with a few more native bells and whistles, give it a shot!

 


i really like to try this intergration!


Hello, this still exists. It does not appear

 

 


Hey @Bravo films

The Pause and Resume integration is still available. :)

You need to click the invite link that’s mentioned at the bottom of ikbelkirasan‘s post:

Invite link: https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/124204/c005983626e92e607e5194ce0769044c/ 


Then click on the Accept Invite & Build a Zap button to get it added to your Zapier account:

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Hope that helps!


I just tried to create this exact function using a combination of Continue buttons in tables and a couple of Interface tricks, but this is PERFECT - thank you!!


Thanks guys! :)

Haha Good question, Andy! I don't know why lol :sweat_smile:


Briljant! Thank you so much! 

 

Before I change heaps of Zap's. Can I rely on this App to stay available for years? i'm using it for core business processmanagement (being an SME). 

 

If not, is it possible for me to obtain the source code so I can make my own custom App to garantee continuation?

 

Looking forward to a reaction!

 


Thanks @nicksimard! :)

Yeah, I think it would work better than a zap with a delay step when the delay amount is unknown beforehand or when it needs to wait for a specific event to occur somewhere else before continuing.


Briljant! Thank you so much! 

 

Before I change heaps of Zap's. Can I rely on this App to stay available for years? i'm using it for core business processmanagement (being an SME). 

 

If not, is it possible for me to obtain the source code so I can make my own custom App to garantee continuation?

 

Looking forward to a reaction!

 

Nevermind, forgot about Sub-Zap… Same principle…


Just seen this. Very useful. Thanks🙏


Hi @RolandB - Sorry for the delayed response!

Pause and Resume was created before Sub-Zaps so since we have Sub-Zaps now, you should use them instead.


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