We’ve Updated Our Zapier Integration!

This post was updated on July 3, 2020.

MeisterTask just updated its Zapier integration, and the result… magic! Users can now create Zaps that are packed with additional information, such as: attachments, due date, tags and completion prompts! 

We’ve Updated Our Zapier Integration!

Quick Recap

If you’ve never come across or used Zapier before, it’s probably good to get you up to speed by first giving you a quick overview. We’ve created a little Zapier glossary just for that purpose. It will not only help you understand the terminology, but it will also give you a general idea of how it actually works.

Zapier Glossary

  • Zapier is a web-based service that offers end-users (like you and me) an easy solution to automate certain parts of your workflow. Certain tasks require the help of two or three different programs in order to be completed. Say you need to create a task every time someone fills in a contact form on your website. This is a manual and time-consuming process. But, using Zapier to connect MeisterTask to your form tool can automate this step. You can do this for another 2,000 applications with Zapier, not just your email client. What’s more, you don’t need any coding or programming experience to do so!
  • Automate is a word used to describe the action of programming a machine or computer to do something instead of a person doing it manually. Think of a chatbot as an example. A lot of chatbots are programmed to send an automatic reply whenever a customer sends a message. The action of sending the reply is what’s been automated. 
  • Workflow is the name given to the entire process that a piece of work goes through from initiation to completion. An example of a basic workflow is: when this happens (choose app & event) > then do this.
  • Zap is what you call the step or action in your workflow that you’ve chosen to automate using Zapier.
  • Trigger is the prompt that signals your Zap to begin automating a step. It could be a potential customer filling out a contact form for Sales.
  • Action is what you call the result that you want out of your Zap — an email sent, a post published or task created. 

In a nutshell, MeisterTask’s Zapier integration means that users have access to a multitude of applications so that they can automate recurring steps in their workflow. This means less manual work and more time to focus on the projects that are really important to you. See… magic!

So What’s New?

What does this particular update mean? It means you now have more options available to you when it comes to creating MeisterTask Zaps on Zapier. We’ve added in additional data points (sounds very technical) which means that you have endless configuration options. More robust and content-rich tasks. More dynamic and customized workflows. Here are the updates in a little more detail:

Zap Your Tasks to Completion

You can now create a Zap that will change a task’s status. This means, no more going into MeisterTask to manually mark a task as complete, archived or trashed. Why would I want to do that? 

Say you’ve integrated Zapier with your company Facebook account, and each task in your MeisterTask project represents a Facebook post. Up until now, you’ve been able to automate that:

  • the task description becomes the post text
  • the task attachments become the post image 
  • when the task is moved into a particular section on your project board, the post gets published

So your Facebook post was published and your work completed. But you still had to go back into MeisterTask and mark the task complete. Not anymore! Add another level to your Zap and this, too, will be automated for you.  

MeisterTip: For the Facebook-averse out there, this was just an example, and also works with tons of other apps. Try having a sent email or finished calendar event mark a task as complete.

Use a Zap to Add Attachments to Tasks Automatically

Who would need to use this? Anyone, but one prime example is someone who works in finance. The end of every month for someone working in finance often means an inbox flooded with invoices. Keeping track of what’s been settled versus what still needs to be paid is hard enough without the added risk of missing something that could result in a key supplier not getting paid. 

So much time spent sifting through emails, requesting invoices, and sending replies. Don’t forget about manually uploading all invoices to your MeisterTask accounts project. This can all be grouped into work that needs to get done before the actual work gets done. But with Zapier, and MeisterTask’s new integration update, this can all be automated. Simply create a Zap that can do this for you!

You Can Add More Info to Tasks That You Create On Zapier

Such as due date and custom fields. Once upon a time, adding a due date to a task created using Zapier had to be done separately on MeisterTask, after the task had been added to your project. Those days are over. Our new update allows you to add your due date directly into the Zap you’re creating. Set incoming sales leads for follow up as soon as they’re added to your project board by using this Zap:

Also pre-fill in your custom fields — with an email address or a phone number perhaps? All that is now available directly from the Zap dialog.

Filter Tasks By Tags

If you’ve added tags to your project in MeisterTask, you can now filter by those tags when creating a Zap on Zapier. How would one use this? Well here’s a great example: If you, like so many others, use MeisterTask to manage your social media content calendar, you probably have a project dedicated to this with a specific section for “to be published”. You probably also use tags, either to differentiate the type of content (video, tweet, post, etc.) or to represent the different platforms (Twitter, Facebook etc.).

Gathering everything you need for a social media post often involves multiple team members or departments — a picture or video from graphics, a clever caption from marketing and input from the online marketing team regarding whether or not it will be “boosted”. Once tasks have been through this workflow and moved into the “to be published” section, your social media manager probably had to physically log in to the social media platform and manually publish the post. Now, Zapier allows you to automate this step. If you filter by tags according to type of content or platform, you’ll ensure that the right content always gets posted to the right platform.

ProTip: Don’t have a Zapier account yet? Sign up now, it’s free!

Monitor Tracked Time

If you track time, this update is for you. We’ve added in a time tracking field to tasks created on Zapier — an additional data point for us, more customization options for you. First, you can get information about the amount of time spent on tasks. But wait, there’s more — you can also trigger emails to get sent the minute a task exceeds a certain amount of time. Use this template below or, alternatively, create your own: 

And Finally: A New Trigger Helps You Stay Informed

Last but certainly not least, our new Zapier update allows you to make sure that you remain on top of and informed about changes and updates made to work that you are interested in. This is because we know how easy it is for important updates to get lost in the noise of everything else. 

Create a Zap that’ll trigger every time changes are made to a task that you’re following: like an sms or an instant message for every new comment. The sky’s the limit. To create this Zap, all you have to do is select “new comment” from the trigger event dropdown (pictured above). Then, select the application that best suits your notification preferences (email, sms, instant message). Viola. 

Here’s a Zap template to help you get started: