Prefills allow you to define the input fields on behalf of the user, simplifying the experience of setting up their Zap.
Simplifying Zap setup is one of the most effective ways to make sure the workflows created work as desired. As integration owners, you can likely pre-fill some of the Zap fields on behalf of your users; making Zap setup faster, easier and more reliable.
Pre-filled workflows are URLs with field values added as parameters, which you can use to direct users to the Zap editor with some input fields already filled. Place these URLs inside your product or within an embedded Zap editor to facilitate users creating and publishing workflows.The following is an example of a simple pre-filled Zap that sends the weather to a Slack direct message every day. The latitude and longitude inputs have been pre-filled in this case.
The UI-based generator within the Zapier Developer Platform facilitates constructing pre-filled Zap workflows. Start by selecting your app and navigating to Embed → Pre-filled Zap workflows and scroll down to the generator.
Screenshot of Pre-filled Zap workflows tab
1
Select an app
Start by selecting an app and event for both the trigger and action to see
the fields you can pre-fill. If no fields appear, the event has no input
fields.
Screenshot of generator trigger step setup
2
Select the fields you want to pre-fill
If you do not want to pre-fill the field, leave the box unchecked. In the
Zap, the field will be empty or set to a default value, if there is one.
If there’s a static value for a field that applies to every user’s Zap
(like the title of an email), check the field and provide the value in the
text field.
If the values are dynamic or you do not know them yet, replace the
placeholders in curly brackets (for example, {TRIGGER_LIST_ID}) in the
generated URL before using it in your app. This could be something like an
account or list ID field. The placeholder serves as a reminder to replace
the value at runtime.
If the field is greyed out, it requires a complex field value and cannot
be pre-filled.
Screenshot of prefill input field options
Fields denoting (required) are required for turning the Zap on, not
required to be pre-filled.
3
Test the Zap
Use the handy test button to make sure the resulting Zap is what you
intended. You’ll need to connect app accounts on both steps to see the
pre-filled fields.
Copy the code and embed it inside your app to make setting up a Zap
easier and faster for users.
The generator only supports creating 2-step Zap workflows, but you can construct multi-step workflows by building upon the generated URL and adding steps parameters with increased indeces.
Before you start: you need to know the required input fields for each trigger or action step. You can find the fields as defined in your Zapier integration.
1
Fetch the Zap template's create_url
Get the appropriate create_url property from the specific Zap template desired. This can be retrieved from the zap-templates endpoint. It follows the following format: https://api.zapier.com/v1/embed/{app_name}/create/{template_id}
2
Define the input values
The url params should be defines as follows; step[{step_index}][params][{param_name}]- with steps being zero-indexed. As an example, Trello could prefill the name of a Trello card name in the second step of the Zap template using the following:https://api.zapier.com/v1/embed/trello/create/113?steps[1][params][name]=hellowhere the create_url of https://api.zapier.com/v1/embed/trello/create/113 was retrieved from the zap-templates endpoint, and input fields defined in their Zapier integration.
Here’s what it would look like in the editor:
Zap editor showing hello pre-filled into the name field of a new Zap titled Create Card in Trello
You can pre-fill multiple values for the user. In this example, name and desc are pre-filled:
Zap editor showing yoyoyo pre-filled into the name field, and yeehaw pre-filled into the description field of a new Zap titled Create Card in Trello
You can provide a label for pre-filled dropdown fields. Zapier does not load every page of dropdown choices until the user opens the dropdown, so the label shows the user which option is selected:
