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Question

Error: Failed to find checklist in Trello

  • 1 February 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 136 views
M
Userlevel 1

The goal… a multi step zap whereby I will checkoff items in a Trello Checklist if there is a corresponding file in Google Drive however I’m stuck at finding the Checklist:

TRIGGER: New Activity in Trello works

ACTION: Find Checklist in Trello fails

 

 

I think the sticking point is what I enter into the “Search (required)” box. I was looking for something pulled from the Card in Step 1 like “1.Checklist Name: Purchase Documents” but all I can see that references checklists is:

When I test that option I get this message:

 

I also tried just typing my checklist name “Purchase Documents” into the “Search (required)” box, but that didn’t work either.

The other steps of the zap are dependent upon this working, so can anyone give me a hint?

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.

7 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @millermiller 

Good question.

For the Card field, try mapping the Card ID instead of the ID, which is related to the Activity.

 

 

 

 

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

This post has been edited by a moderator to remove personal information. Please remember that this is a public forum and to remove any sensitive information prior to posting.

Thanks for your help Troy, that definitely got me going in the right direction. In fact I got my full zap to work, and it did check off the intended checklist item in Trello, however if the file wasn’t found in google drive it still checked it off. Here is the complete zap:

 

In step 3 I have FALSE selected so if it doesn’t find a file called PNC, it shouldn’t carry out steps 4,5,6&7.

Here is Step 3

Any ideas why the zap isn’t ending here when a file named PNC is not found?

Thank you!

SamB
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi there, @millermiller! 👋

The subsequent steps would only be halted if they were dependant on data from step 3 to carry out the action. For example if the search value used in step 4 was taken from step 3, when the Zap runs, step 4 wouldn’t find a card in Trello as it would have no value to search for.

To ensure that those subsequent steps don’t run, you’ll want to add in a Filter by Zapier action to halt the Zap. With a filter you can set it to only continue if step 3 finds a file. You can find out more about how to set up filters here: Add conditions to Zaps with filters   

If you try adding that filter and that solves it please do let us know. Want to make sure you’re all set here! 

M
Userlevel 1

Thanks Sam! That totally did it. One last question… if my file in google drive is labelled PNC - 123 Penrith Ave.pdf… is there a wildcard in Zapier that I can use to represent the address portion? Like PNC*? Currently for my zap to work my file has to be named PNC exactly. 

M
Userlevel 1

Ha ha… answered my own question * is the wildcard I was looking for. Thanks everyone!

M
Userlevel 1

I was feeling SO PROUD, I got my 7 step + a filter zap to work and check off an item in a Trello checklist if the document existed in the google drive folder. Then I proceeded to set up a zap for each item in the checklist. 12 items. Boom 84 TASKS, test the checklist zap a few times and suddenly I AM AT MY QUOTA of 750 tasks per month. I haven’t even started “using” my automations and I need to pay more. Ooof, so deflated. As a small business owner I can justify the starter plan, maybe even the second level of the starter plan, but it’s just not practical to get into higher levels than that for simple tasks that I can do myself like check off a checklist.

I was so stoked about automating everything that I could in order to make our business workflow ultra smooth, now I feel like I just wasted a bunch of time and agrivation. I’m really going to have to keep my zaps to 2 tasks max and only use them for important functions that are a pain to do manually. 

I’d get to work on that now but my task allowance doesn’t reset for another 3 weeks. I feel like a kid who just tried crack and liked it but knows that it’s not worth it to dive in. Not for this business.

SamB
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Ah, great work with sussing out that wildcard @millermiller! 😄

Sorry to hear you’ve already used up your Tasks allowance for the month! Was this due to the filter not correctly stopping the subsequent actions from running? Or was the Zap correct in running those actions, it’s just that it used up a lot of tasks? 

If the Zap was running correctly, I’m wondering if you could simplify the workflow a bit to help reduce the number of Tasks used. Looking at your earlier screenshots showing what information we get back from the Trello trigger, it seems like you already get the Card ID for the checklist so perhaps you can get rid of the Find Checklist action and select the Card ID from the trigger in the Complete Checklist Item in Card action instead?

And if you’re able to get the Checklist ID from the trigger as well, then you could get rid of the Find Checklist in Trello action and just use that Checklist ID and the Card ID (from the trigger) in the Find Checklist Item action. You’d likely need to keep the Find Checklist Item action to search for the ID of the corresponding checklist item to be completed so it can pass that value to the Complete Checklist Item in Card action.

So it’s not a massive saving in tasks but would help to reduce it a bit. Do you think that could help? 

As you’ve maxed out your Tasks by accident I’d suggest reaching out to our Support Team to see if there’s anything they can do to help with that. You can contact them here: https://zapier.com/app/get-help. And they may also be able to spot further ways to help reduce the number of tasks used when the Zap runs! 

Hopefully that helps. Please do report back on how you get on with this! 

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