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This is one part general question, one part troubleshooting.

 

  1. I’m currently using a google sheet to draft social media posts which then sync to Buffer via Zapier and buffer then pushes those posts to my social media accounts.
  2. In Buffer I have a social media posting schedule created.
  3. I first draft in one google sheet and then paste the completed rows into the google sheet that syncs to buffer via zapier (so there are no premature syncs/pushes of data before I finish drafting, plus i can paste links to posts I want to share or whatnot as I come across them and then go back and type up the post text later. So I use the drafting sheet as a way to collate content as well
  4. In the google sheet that actually syncs to Buffer, I paste the rows in the schedule order. That is, if in buffer I have 3 post slots for Twitter - Monday at 10 am, Wed at 4 pm, and Friday at noon, then I paste the rows in the sync sheet such that the monday post is row 1, and wed post is row 2, and friday post is post 3 when I paste the rows. So just based on row order, the content should line up with my buffer schedule
  5. Plus in the sync sheet I have a date/time field for when the post should be scheduled for
  6. And this all worked when I first started, but a few months ago, the schedule is jumbled by the time it reaches buffer. Half the time when I paste to the google sheet and then the posts hit buffer there will be multiple posts scheduled for the time slot, some posts go out immediatley, and the posts are generally out of order.
  7. I have started drafting the posts out of order in the drafting sheet - I put the schedule into the drafting sheet (the date/times to post) and then filter the sheet by type of content (e.g. if I post a certain meme on wednesdays I will filter the drafting sheet by the “type” column and fill out all the wed meme rows for the next month. Then I might go back and filter by “type” for a different type of content that I post on mondays and fill out all the monday post content for the next 4 weeks. I’m wondering if buffer is actually ordering the rows/posts by the date/time the row was filled out/last updated rather than by the order in which the rows are pasted in the google sheet and that’s the issue and I need to go back to filling out the rows sequentially instead of jumping around? If so, if there a way around that?

Hi @TBruce 

Good question.

To help you troubleshoot, check your Zap Runs history details to see the DATA IN/OUT for each Zap step: https://zapier.com/app/get-help

@Troy Tessalone  thanks for the response! What specifically am I looking for in the Zap Runs data in/out / what will that tell me?

 

--Terri

@TBruce

It will help you understand the data that is being sent to Buffer from the GSheet, which may help you understand why Buffer is posting the way it is.

 

Best to take specific examples and trace the data flow between the apps to see if you can isolate the issue.

@Troy Tessalone 

I've checked the zap history/data in and out as well as the zap set up fields (actions available) when configuring the Zap and there is no provision (in the UI) for passing the “last updated” date from the google sheet (no provision for date/time fields of any kind either in/from the spreadsheet nor in the buffer action fields). So I don’t know if that is being taken into consideration on the back end; otherwise, it appears the google sheet rows should be pushed to buffer in order of row # and then queued up by Buffer into sequential schedule slots. If so, then this would appear to be a bug (either google isn’t pushing the data in row order or buffer isn’t taking the data in row order) (?).

@TBruce 

At this point, we’d need to see how your Zap steps are configured in detail in order to have context.

 

Hi @TerriBruce!

In addition to Troy’s question, which will help us to understand how your Zap should be working, you could try doing a test to see what the Zap is going. 

If it were me, I would create a new Buffer queue and copy your spreadsheet. Set the buffer queue so it wont immediately post things on your social media (so you don’t send something out by accident). Then set up a Zap that sends new rows from the copy of your spreadsheet to the buffer queue. Add around 5 rows to your sheet and wait for them to be added to the Buffer queue. Finally, take a look at the queue in Buffer, are the rows in the correct order? If they are that suggests the issue is with how Buffer is queuing the posts, if they’re in the wrong order then we know it’s on the Zapier side. 

 

I hope that helps, let us know how you get on!

I submitted a request to Zapier support and this is the answer I got back:

“ Looking at our integration for Google Sheets, it doesn't pull rows in a specific order, especially when multiple rows are triggered at the same time. This is why the items are sent Buffer without a specific order. At this time there isn't a way to force an order for Zap triggers other than to space out each triggering event by 15 mins or more so each triggering event happens after the previous one has successfully triggered the Zap.”

 

However, in the past my zap/sync worked fine with content queued up in the buffer queue per google sheet row order. A few weeks ago, Buffer had a bad day where it wouldn’t load/I couldn’t get into my account, when I did finally get in it was super slow and I had to give up. They were clearly having technical difficulties. From that point on, the google sheet-buffer sync via Zapier  started having the above trouble. Now, as of last night, it seems to be working again where content is queued up in buffer per google sheet row order. So despite Zapier support saying that the content is pushed from google to buffer in random order, I suspect that it actually does sync in row order but buffer had a technical glitch that broke that for a while and it’s since been fixed?

 

Either way, seems to be working again and it seems it’s not user error or anything I can control so I guess I”m good for now. Thank you all for diving in and attempting to help me troubleshoot!

 

--Terri

Hi @TBruce, thanks for sharing that update here!

Sounds like maybe it was just a temporary glitch that caused the content to be queued in the incorrect order then. Glad to hear it’s working again now. 🙂 

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