Summary: Zapier allows for building integrations between Ziflow and different third-party online applications. These automated tasks may work in two ways:
When something happens in Ziflow, Zapier can trigger an action in a third-party application;
If an event is triggered at an external application, Ziflow action starts.
Available for: Users with Admin rights on Pro & Enterprise editions.
Follow the instructions on how to:
How to connect Zapier with Ziflow
To connect Zapier with Ziflow, you can open the directory of your apps in Zapier, search for Ziflow and click the Connect button that will appear.
Copy the API key from your Ziflow profile and enter it in the Zapier connection window.
Once the connection is established, you may start working on your Zaps, which will automate Ziflow with any Zapier-supported online applications.
Build a Zap where an event happens on the Ziflow side and action occurs in an external application.
Setting up the Ziflow event trigger
If you'd like to trigger an action in one of your used applications based on some Ziflow event, please start creating a new Zap with the Ziflow app selected as your trigger.
Go to the Zaps tab on the left side panel of your Zapier account, click on the Create button in the upper right corner, and then select a New Zap.
Search for Ziflow in the app event field and select it as your trigger app.
Once set, you'll need to decide which Ziflow event will be a starting point for the whole automation. There are three different Ziflow events you may choose from:
Proof Created - select if you want to trigger an action based on new proof being created;
Reviewer Comment - choose if you want to trigger an action based on new comments being added to any created proofs;
Reviewer Decision - pick if you'd like to trigger an action based on the reviewer decision being submitted.
When the event type is selected, you'll need to:
I. Choose account - decide to which Ziflow account this Zap will be connected. Usually, if you don't use multiple Ziflow tenants, the account you initially connected Zapier with will show as the only choice;
II. Set up trigger - name your webhook;
III. Test trigger - this will fetch some test data from your Ziflow account to ensure that the sync between Zapier and Ziflow is working. In the example below, Zapier fetched some proof metadata for Proof Created as a trigger event.
The whole trigger configuration process is done! You can watch the entire trigger configuration process in the GIF below:
Configuring an action that Zap performs after an event is triggered
The second part of the Zap configuration is the action setup. An action is an event that Zap performs after it starts. The starting point will be selecting what application you want to use for your Zap (automation).
Note: Before this step, we recommend connecting the application you want to use with your Zapier account. The following steps (and available options) depend on the selected application.
I. In the App event field, please type in the name of the chosen application and click on it. In our example, we selected Slack to send a Slack message to a channel whenever someone creates a new proof in the Ziflow account.
II. Once you've picked your action application, you'll need to set an event type. In our scenario, it is a Send Channel Message action (performed when the Zap runs).
III. The next step is choosing the application account. If you have multiple Slack accounts connected to Zapier, select the one you want to build the automation with.
IV. The last part consists of filling out all necessary fields for the action selected two steps before. In this example, I want to notify people from the #test-slack-integration channel about new proofs created in Ziflow.
V. You may now test if the configured Zap does its job and if the triggered action may be seen on the application level.
The result of the test should already be sent to the chosen application.
You may now publish the Zap and expect the action to kick in every time the event trigger occurs on the Ziflow side.
Create a Zap to start a Ziflow action based on external application events.
With Zapier, you can also build automation where the trigger is on external app side events, and the action takes place on the Ziflow side.
Setting up the external app event trigger
If you want to perform an action in Ziflow based on an event triggered in one of your used applications, please start creating a new Zap with the needed application selected as your trigger.
Note: Before this step, we recommend connecting the application you want to use with your Zapier account. The following steps (and available options) depend on the selected application.
In our showcase scenario, we will build a Zap to create a new proof in Ziflow based on the Dropbox upload event.
I. Start creating a Zap by choosing Dropbox as the trigger app.
II. Select the event type which will be the trigger.
III. The next step is to choose the application account. If you have multiple Dropbox accounts connected to Zapier, select the one you want to build the automation with.
IV. Set up trigger - you need to confirm which folder should be used in the Dropbox trigger configuration.
IV. Test trigger and see if it finds the items from the chosen folder of your drive.
Once you're done with configuring your Trigger settings, you can start working on the second part of Zap configuration, which is an Action event.
Configuring a Ziflow action that Zap performs after an event is triggered
The action configuration consists of five steps:
I. Type in and select Ziflow in the Action configuration window in Zapier;
II. Choose what action event should be performed by the Zap (there are two options - Create Proof and Create a folder);
III. Choose the action account. If you have multiple Ziflow accounts connected to Zapier, select the one you want to build the automation with;
IV. Configure action details. Since, in our scenario, we want to create a new proof each time someone uploads a new file to Dropbox, we need to set the proof's details (workflow and settings).
Each of the settings works the same way as you would be creating a new proof from the Ziflow portal level. If you'd like to know more about a specific setting, please visit the Uploading Assets for Review article.
Proof name - using the insert data option, you can fetch some data mapped from the application used in your Zap. In our example, we selected a Google Drive Title field which will become a proof name when Zap is triggered.
File source URL - one of the required fields necessary for the proof creation. With this URL, you'll provide a file that will become a future proof image.
File type - select what type of proof you want to create. For example, if you want new proofs to be live websites instead of snapshots, please choose the correct file type.
Owner - pick a user who will become a proof owner.
Folder ID - go to Ziflow and copy a folder ID where proof should be placed after creation. The ID can be copied from the browsers address bar (eg. https://ziflow.io/#/folders/ee0e0c83-a398-4196-abf8-bd5f1d95e568)
Workflow template - decide if you want to apply your existing workflows to the proof. Read more about workflow templates.
Minor version - in many cases, creative assets must be reviewed internally before being shared with external team members or clients. Most online proofing applications will label versions using the standard pattern V1, V2, and V3. Depending on your workflow, this may not be ideal - by the time a proof is shared externally, you could be sharing what is now known as V3. It could confuse external reviewers and raise questions about what happened to V1 and V2. Enable this setting to make the proof a minor version (e.g., V0.1, V0.2, V0.3, etc.).
Lock the proof when all decisions are made - once a decision is made, proofs or stages can be locked to prevent reviewers from taking further actions (like adding comments or decisions). The only people able to unlock it are proof owners and managers. They also can manually lock the proof at any point. More detailed info can be found in the Manually lock & unlock proofs article.
Allow download of the original file - if this feature is on, reviewers can download the proof's original file. A download icon is visible inside the Proof Viewer and on the Proof Details page.
Just so you know, multiple files inside a proof will be downloaded as a zip file.
Suppress proof created/failed email - proof creators may not want to receive an email informing them that a new proof is created/failed since they are making the proof. For that reason, Ziflow allows them to opt out of that email notification.
Allow subscription - with a proof subscription enabled on a proof level, reviewers can add themselves to the proof. Then, depending on the options selected during proof creation, those reviewers can comment & make decisions.
Electronic signatures - with this setting enabled, you'll only be allowed to share the proof with user reviewers. In addition, invited reviewers will be asked to sign their decisions on this proof electronically. I'd like you to please read more about electronic signatures in the following article.
Proof security - the Proof Security Settings allow customers to securely share proofs, not only with users but with guest reviewers as well. This functionality ensures that only designated reviewers can access proofs. After selecting reviewers, determine whether or not they need to authenticate to access the proof.
V. Once the action configuration is saved, test the Zap and see if the test result (proof creation) passes through and if the proof is created on the Ziflow end.
Check your Ziflow account and see if the proof appeared in a selected location.
With configured and published Zap, you may expect the automation to kick in every time the event action is triggered.
Additional information:
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