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Hey Zapier Community,

I’m running a Zap that creates Google Slides from a Google Form submission — it’s for a high school football recruiting profile workflow.

I’ve got everything working:

  • Google Form collects player info and a photo (via file upload)

  • Formatter step builds a direct download link from the Google Drive file:

     

    bash

    CopyEdit

    https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=FILE_ID

  • Google Slides uses a {{Player_Picture}} text placeholder
    (and Google auto-renders the image from the link — no image placeholder needed)

✅ What Works:

  • First submission: player info + image appear perfectly

  • Slide is created and image shows up embedded as expected

🚨 What’s NOT Working:

When I submit a new form with a new image, the slide is created, the player info updates…
But the image stays the same as the first submission.

It looks like Zapier is somehow caching the first image and reusing it instead of inserting the new image URL. Even though the Formatter step is generating a fresh direct download link each time, the image in the slide is always the first one.

🧪 Setup Summary:

  • Google Form → Google Sheet (with file upload)

  • Formatter Step 1 → extract file ID from image URL

  • Formatter Step 2 → build direct download URL

  • Google Slides step → uses {{Player_Picture}} text box and maps the Formatter output

❓What I need help with:

  • How can I force Zapier/Slides to pull in the new image on each submission?

  • Is there a way to bypass whatever caching or embedding behavior is causing this?

  • Do I need to “clear” or reset something between submissions?

Any insight or clever workarounds would be a huge help — I’m so close!

Thanks 🙏
– Gerardo

I’m honestly not sure how you got the first one working to begin with! I cannot replicate that behavior.

I’d stick to using SlidesApp in Google Apps Script for this one!

 

I’m honestly not sure how you got the first one working to begin with! I cannot replicate that behavior.

I’d stick to using SlidesApp in Google Apps Script for this one!

 

Hello Tood,'

I actually got help from someone in this community and he gave me the steps on how to do it.  Thank you for your advice!

Hi ​@El Profe Gancz,

Before we dig deeper into this, would you mind sharing a detailed screenshot of how your Zap is configured? Also, please share a screenshot of the Google Slides step that shows all of its fields.

Please don't include personal information in the screenshot, or be sure blur out any personal information.

Thanks!

 

Hi ​@El Profe Gancz 

To help us have more info, post these screenshots in EDIT mode with the field mappings visible from the CONFIGURE tab:

  • how Zap step 6 is configured and explain the purpose of that step
  • how Zap step 7 is configured

 

Help link for using files in Zaps: https://zapier.com/help/create/basics/send-files-in-zaps

Make sure the image file is a publicly accessible direct download link.

Tool to use to get the correct GDrive File link format to use: https://sites.google.com/site/gdocs2direct/

 

 

Thanks Troy! Appreciate the help.

✅ Here are the screenshots in EDIT mode with mappings shown:

  • Step 6 – Webhooks by Zapier (POST):
    This step is used to convert the Google Drive image link into a direct download URL. I’m pulling the file ID from the form submission and building the full direct link using https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=....

  • Step 7 – Google Slides (Create from Template):
    I’m using the direct image link output from Step 6 and mapping it into a text placeholder ({{Player_Picture}}) inside the slide. This was the only way I could get the image to show consistently — the image placeholder didn’t work for me.

Let me know if you'd like to see the Formatter step too (that builds the final image URL), or if there's a better way to streamline this!

Thanks again 🙌

​@El Profe Gancz 

For the Player_Picture field, the value is part static and part dynamic via a variable, but the resulting value is not valid as it appears the resulting output from Zap step 3 is a full URL instead of just the ID of the file. (see screenshot)

 

Hi ​@El Profe Gancz,
 
We just wanted to see how everything is going with your Zap. Did Troy's recommendation get the job done? Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance with your Zap. We're glad to address any concerns and assist you.
 
We're looking forward to your response.

Hello, 

Yes Troy’s recommendation did help and I was able to upload the picture!

Reply


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