What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to Business Process Automation with Zapier, initially focuses on the basic principles of business process automation with Zapier and then covers features, functionality, and key terminology used to help familiarize you with the Zapier platform.

Chapter 2, Preparing to Automate Your Processes, explores how to brainstorm your processes, simplify them, and assess what can be automated. We cover the process to establish how your apps work with Zapier and explain how to use the Zapier app ecosystem directory.

Chapter 3, Building Your First Automated Workflow (Zap), dives into how best to strategize and plan your workflows ahead of working through a step-by-step process of creating your first Zap. We explore how to connect your apps to Zapier, use the Zap editor, work with different field types, and use pre-built workflows.

Chapter 4, Managing Your Zaps, takes you through the best ways to keep your Zapier account organized. We discuss how to keep your Zaps and folders organized, how to manage your connected apps, and help you to understand Zap statuses. Lastly, we cover some collaboration tips for users working in teams.

Chapter 5, Troubleshooting and Handling Zap Errors, covers typical Zap behavior and the best ways to handle and troubleshoot errors. We discuss how to set up Zaps to report on Zap issues and app status changes and how to use Zap History information effectively, and we explore the various channels of support available.

Chapter 6, Creating Multi-Step Zaps and Using Built-in Apps, teaches you how to set up and customize multi-step Zaps using multiple action and search steps. We also introduce you to all the built-in Apps by Zapier. You will be able to test your knowledge by building your first multi-step Zap.

Chapter 7, Getting Started with Built-in Apps, explores the most commonly used built-in Zapier apps and covers specific functions such as using conditional logic (filtering and paths) and delays in your Zaps, as well as scheduling your Zaps to run as intervals. You will be able to test your knowledge by building a multi-step Zap using some of these built-in apps.

Chapter 8, Built-In Communication Apps, introduces communication-specific built-in Zapier apps such as for sending and receiving emails and sending SMS messages.

Chapter 9, Exploring Built-In Apps for Extracting and Compiling Data, covers how to extract data from emails, use RSS feed readers in your automations, and compile data into digests. You will be able to test your knowledge by building a multi-step Zap using some of these built-in apps.

Chapter 10, Other Useful Built-In Apps by Zapier, describes how to initiate workflows from web pages, shorten URLs, translate text, score lead information, and use weather and astrological predictions in your Zaps.

Chapter 11, Advanced Built-In Apps by Zapier, briefly explores the more advanced functionality in some of the built-in Apps by Zapier, such as using webhooks and code in your Zaps, as well as saving and storing data.

Chapter 12, Managing Your Zapier Account with Built-in Apps, teaches you how to get notifications on integration issues, manage errors with your Zaps, and monitor Zapier account changes.

Chapter 13, Newly Released Apps and Features, covers new Zapier built-in apps and features such as looping through data sets, modular Sub-Zaps, Web Parser data extraction, bulk data transfers, custom Interfaces, and built-in Tables.

Chapter 14, Formatting Date and Time, introduces the versatile Formatter app and covers how to format date and time values and add or subtract time. We provide practical tips on how to use each of the date and time formatter functions.

Chapter 15, Formatting Numbers, dives into the functionality available to format numbers, phone numbers, currencies, and to use spreadsheet-type formulas and math operations.

Chapter 16, Text Formatting Functions in Zapier – Part 1, describes the extensive functionality available to format text. We cover a range of text formatting actions, such as capitalizing and pluralizing text; applying title case, uppercase, and lowercase; finding and replacing text; trimming whitespace; and counting characters and words.

Chapter 17, Text Formatting Functions in Zapier – Part 2, covers more functionality available to format text. We explore how to split and truncate text; remove HTML; assign default values; extract data such as patterns, URLs, and email addresses; and use a superhero name. We also briefly cover more advanced text manipulation features such as how to convert Markdown to HTML, URL Encode and Decode, and converting text to ASCII.

Chapter 18, Zapier’s Utilities Functions, explores the Utilities functions within the Formatter app. We cover line-item creation and customization, converting text to line-items and vice versa, using lookup tables and picklists, and importing CSV files.

Chapter 19, AI and Automation, covers how to increase efficiency by merging AI and automation using Zapier’s AI-integrated features, AI app integrations, natural language, and AI actions with tools such as the Zapier Chrome extension and ChatGPT plugin, and best practices for GPT prompting.

Chapter 20, Automating Your Marketing Processes, explores some examples of marketing processes that can be automated using Zapier. We will provide practical tips on how to get started with automating these processes. We will also cover how to automate marketing processes with Facebook Pages integration.

Chapter 21, Automating Your Sales Processes, covers some examples of sales processes that can be automated using Zapier. We will provide practical tips on how to get started with automating these processes. We will also cover how to automate sales processes with Pipedrive integration.

Chapter 22, Automating Your Operations Processes, dives into some examples of operations processes that can be automated using Zapier. We provide practical tips on how to address automating these processes. We also cover how to automate operations processes with Google Docs integration.

Chapter 23, Automating Your Finance and Reporting Processes, takes you through some examples of finance and reporting processes that can be automated using Zapier. We provide practical tips on how to tackle automating these processes. We also explore how to automate accounting processes with Xero integration.

Chapter 24, Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices to Enhance Your Productivity, focuses on best practices for utilizing Zapier effectively and builds on the tips and tricks we have presented in each chapter.

Chapter 25, Challenge Your Problem-Solving and Zap-Building Skills, presents you with three scenarios that describe a specific problem that can be solved by using Zapier. We will work through each example practically with tips being given along the way. The scenarios are classified by skill level and you will have the opportunity to test your knowledge while adapting your problem-solving and Zap-building skills.