Skip to main content

I have a zap that is updating the description of a Google Calendar event. When updating, it keeps the old description and adds a new line with some info. However, when the zap is triggered on the same events multiple times (minutes apart), sometimes the zap updates an old version of the description. I’ll give an example:

 

I have a Calendar event where the description has one line with the text “line 1”

When the zap runs it adds a new line “line 2” to the description, so now the full description is:

line 1

line 2

 

Running the zap again it adds a new line “line 3” to the description, so now the full description is:

line 1

line 2

line 3

 

Now, running the zap again, where a new line “line 4” needs to be added under the old description, I’m getting in the description:

line 1

line 2

line 4

 

So instead of taking the current description and adding the new line, it takes one of the old descriptions and adding the line to that. It’s not clear to me how such a thing could happen, because the old description is not “there” anymore in the calendar. I guess it’s saved in the “backoffice” of Google Calendar and Zap somehow gets to it?

This is happening randomly. It could happen in the second or third run of the zap on the same event, or after 8 runs. I couldn’t find anything systematic.

 

Am I missing something here? Is there any solution?

Hi @Sagi_Guy 

We would need to see detailed screenshots with how your Zap steps are outlined and configured to have full context.


Hi @Sagi_Guy 

We would need to see detailed screenshots with how your Zap steps are outlined and configured to have full context.

Here are screenshots of the full zap and also the details of the 5th step, where I change the description of the Calendar event

 

 


@Sagi_Guy 

Looks like you have 2 GCal Find Event steps. (one of which is using a legacy GCal Zap app version that should be updated)

We would need to see how each Zap step is configured.

 


@Sagi_Guy

Looks like you have 2 GCal Find Event steps. (one of which is using a legacy GCal Zap app version that should be updated)

We would need to see how each Zap step is configured.

 

Yes, the 4th step finds the event I need (or creates it if it doesn’t exist) and the 5th step updates the event I found (or created). Here are the screenshots. Tell me if you need screenshots of specific configurations of the steps.


@Sagi_Guy 

The GCal Find Event issue may be related to the date formats being provided.

 

Is the event created on the wrong date, specifically with the month and day switched?

Regardless of the settings in your Google Calendar, data sent through their API (as Zapier does) must be in MM/DD/YYYY format.
So, if you try to send an event for April 7, 2021 as 07/04/2021, Google Calendar will interpret that as July 4, 2021.
The dates need to be in MM/DD/YYYY format to ensure Google Calendar adds the event to the correct date(s).
If your trigger is sending the data in DD/MM format, you can use a Formatter step to reformat the date.

 

 


@Troy Tessalone

There's no issue with the date. The event is cremated in the correct date. 


@Sagi_Guy 

Best to troubleshoot the description issue by reviewing your Zap Runs: https://zapier.com/app/history/

Check the timestamps of the steps to see when those processed.

Check the DATA IN/OUT for each Zap step to help you trace the data flow.

 

 


Reply