Single Select field is not available as a Trigger in Zapier and Integromat

[itoldusoandso]

Unfortunately another roadblock. Both Zapier and Integromat do not allow selecting the SINGLE SELECT Field as a Trigger to start workflows.

Some other restrictions exist, e.g. Zapier allows Sing line text field to be a Trigger. Integromat does not allow even that, trigger can not be either text or Single Select.

I may be mistaken but I tested both and both field types are unavailable as trigger. That’s a disappointment and I’ll reach out to Zapier and Integromat to comment on that. I’ll update here once I get some feedback.

[ScottWorld]

That isn’t how you trigger automations in Zapier or Integromat.

To start with, only Integromat is fully-featured for triggering automations, so you should ideally be standardizing on Integromat whenever possible. If you use Zapier, many people need to add on On2Air: Actions.

Next, all you need to do is create a modified time field in Airtable that updates when you change your single select field. Then, have your Integromat scenario trigger based on that time field updating.

You could also use a timed search as a trigger, too.

[itoldusoandso]

Yes, the time field is the way it works. But the issue is I don’t want every record processed. I want to manually select records to process. The workflow is part of my REMOVE.BG process. But not all records I have will have images suitable to process. So I wanted to select Trigger to tell Zapier and Integromat to fire it when the trigger is selected.

Zapier trigger starts on new record, but it seems the 2nd step can be a Zapier Filter action and that action can be configured to continue the workflow if the condition is met. So basically both Zapier and Integromat should be able to work similarly up to this point. After that obviously Integromat offers more than Zapier.

I wait to see what Zapier and Integromat says. But I am thinking one way to deal with it is to create a new VIEW in AirTable. The View will be filtered based on my Trigger in AirTable. That View will be then used as Input in Zapier and Integromat.
That way I may be able to get what I want to do.

I wanted to see if Integromat and Zapier responds and if they do if there is a chance to avoid using separate View in AirTable. I got already too many views on my list. I wish I was able to HIDE some of the views I don’t really use, the ones were created for the purpose of creating filters for external applications.

[ScottWorld]

Yes, of course. Both allow you to specify a view. But Zapier will only process a record ONCE FOREVER for a view. That’s why you will need to use Integromat.

[Justin_Barrett]

itoldusoandso:

So I wanted to select Trigger to tell Zapier and Integromat to fire it when the trigger is selected.

What does “when the trigger is selected” mean in your context? You mentioned something at the top of the thread about a single select field, but didn’t specify what you’re doing with that field. Do you want to trigger the automation when the single select is set to a specific option?

[itoldusoandso]

Yes exactly. My Single Select Field has the only option to select e.g. “YES - Process image” … or whatever in that sense. The Single Select Field could have more than one option to select, it doesn’t matter, for the purpose of this I am OK with it to have just that one option to select.

Zapier and Integromat would have configured flow to trigger when the cell of the Single Select field reads “YES - Process image”.

When I first create new record, the Single Select Field is empty (default value is blank). So therefore Zapier or Integrator wouldn’t be triggered.

Once I select the in the specific cell of Single Select field the option “YES - Process image”, the text is shown in the cell and I would expect Zapier and Integromat to see it as the condition met and start the workflow.

I don’t see how it would be possible now and I believe the only way as workaround to do this now is via another VIEW. I am going to test the workaround if I don’t get any response from them. In case of Zapier I may have to add another step “Zapier Filter” and use that Filter to check if the Single Select field meets the condition above (because it would get triggered on every single record whereas Integromat would get triggered only if the Single Select field meets the condition.

I have lots of records and I don’t want that workflow to get triggered on every single record that was modified, it costs a lot of money to pay for Integromat flow (about 20 or more points) plus each image processed with remove.bg. So I want to be able to trigger the process when I see the image (in the document attachement field in Airtable) is suitable for background removale. So it’s sort of manual vetting process before I launch the workflow.

[itoldusoandso]

Yes, so I just confirmed with Integromat, they need the Date Change and Date Updated field and that’s the only way to trigger it. Integromat can watch specific VIEW, so I can handle it.

However, Zapier doesn’t have the option to filter the trigger and every new record in the table fill trigger the flow unless I add Zapier Filter. That kind of works around the same line with Integromat.

Not a big deal. I wish the Zapier trigger module was more configurable. Integromat is clearly more flexible when it comes to setting the flow…

[Justin_Barrett]

itoldusoandso:

Yes, so I just confirmed with Integromat, they need the Date Change and Date Updated field and that’s the only way to trigger it. Integromat can watch specific VIEW, so I can handle it.

You don’t need a special view. As you discovered, you can create a Last Updated Time field that checks when that single-select field is updated. That will trigger the scenario (using the “Watch Records” trigger in Integromat). In that trigger’s settings, add a formula to filter records where that field contains the value you want.

The only records the scenario will process will be those where that condition is true. If you add other options in that single-select, they’ll trigger the scenario, but fail the formula test, so nothing will happen with them. If you still want to build a view for other purposes, you can do that, but using a formula makes the view unnecessary.

[itoldusoandso]

Great, this is an elegant solution.