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Context:

  • I am using Zapier to connect an Airtable base to a transactional email provider (Mailersend)
    • Trigger: Airtable form submission
    • Action: Send a welcome email
  • I need to grab data from the Airtable to populate into the welcome message
  • Some fields in the Airtable may be empty depending on if the user filled it out or not

 

Problem:

  • When Zapier sends the payload to the Destination app in the action step, it ignores all variables that are empty, null, or empty string “”
    • It literally pretends like the field doesn’t exist, instead of sending an empty variable in the payload which is what it SHOULD do
  • The email provider throws an error and doesn’t send the email because it didn’t receive the required payload

 

I need Zapier to send an empty or null variable to the destination and stop ignoring it! This is infuriating me.

Attached:

  • A screenshot that Zapier Support sent me. They retrieved the raw payload that they are sending to the destination, and confirmed for me that Zapier does indeed seem to be ignoring empty variables. The variable that should be there that isn’t is called “custom_rejection_reason”
  • A screenshot of my Zapier setup, showing that custom_rejection_reason is declared, but may or may not be empty (in the screenshot its empty since that Airtable record doesn’t have it)

 

Zapier Customer Support has offered no other useful help other than to apologize.

 

 

 

Hi @taykcrane 

NOTE: Most Zap apps are created and managed by the app developer using the Zapier Developer Platform.

So the issue may be with how MailerSend has configured their Zap app integration (if they own it).

 

From the Airtable API:

Returned records do not include any fields with "empty" values, e.g. "", e], or false.

 

In you have the Beta Feature for Logs in your Zap Runs, then you can see the DATA IN/OUT for each Zap step to help you troubleshoot.

 

 

You may need to add Zap steps to set a default value for fields form Airtable that may meet the above criteria..

Action: Formatter > Text > Default Value

 

Or you can use a Code step to check if a variable has a value and return the desired default variable value.

Hi @Troy Tessalone Thank you for weighing in.

 

  1. Although it is frustrating that Airtable ignores empty fields when sending data to Zapier, that is not the root of the issue. Because as you note…
  2. I can use a Code Step to detect that the variable is missing and then declare it AND set a default value
  3. The problem still persists, when I set the default value via a Code Step or the Formatter to null or “”, Zapier still drops it when sending the payload to Mailersend
  4. I need to send the data to Mailersend as null, it cannot have a value, but the variable MUST be declared
  5. I’ve already attached a screenshot of the “Data Out” from the logs
  6. I have contacted Mailersend about this issue, and they tell me there is nothing they can do because Zapier’s payload is dropping the required variables. They say it’s out of their control.

@taykcrane 

You may have to use an advanced approach with the MailerSend API: https://developers.mailersend.com/

 

 

Thanks @Troy Tessalone. Why are you assuming this is a Mailersend issue though? Isn’t this clearly an issue with Zapier not properly sending the correct payload to Mailersend in the first place? They’re dropping any variable that is empty.

@taykcrane

I don’t know who owns the MailerSend Zap app integration either MailerSend or Zapier.

Zapier only owns a small subset of the 7k Zap apps.

You can try reaching out to Zapier Support to get guidance about who owns the MailerSend Zap app.

 

NOTE: Most Zap apps are created and managed by the app developer using the Zapier Developer Platform.

So the issue may be with how MailerSend has configured their Zap app integration (if they own it).

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