Referencing Pipeline ID in Zapier.

  • 25 July 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 56 views
L

Hello dear community !

 

I discovered both Copper and Zapier not so long ago, and been really impressed by the ways it could work together ! So I tried different links between apps, and I think I might be facing a problem with Copper.

In Zapier, I am creating a Zap that links a google sheet (drive) to Copper. To update an opportunity in Copper, I need to refer to the Pipeline ID. When I specifically look for the pipeline ID and give it as the value, I’ve got an error 422. 

The Zapier support told me that it’s a recurring problem, and that it is a issue due to Copper and Zapier communication.

Do you know when this will be solved ?

Kind regards,

9 replies

Michelle from Copper
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Userlevel 7
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Hi @LGermanicus, thanks for posting! I’m a big fan of Zapier as well.

Just want to confirm that you’re referring to Pipeline ID specifically, and not Opportunity ID?

I can do some preliminary digging on this. There’s a chance I’ll need to patch you over to our support or success team but I’ll let you know if that’s the case. In the meantime, can you give me a bit more information on what data you have in that spreadsheet, and what exactly you want to update on the Opportunity?

- Michelle from Copper
L

Hi @Michelle from Copper, thank you for your short response time !

I am indeed referring to the Pipeline ID. I want to update a lot of custom fields in Copper. I have done a lot of different tests. Changing dates do not give me errors, but do not update as well, same when I change the format date. Values update work. But half of characters fields (related to an ID) work and update, the other work but do not update.

 

Whenever I try to refer the Pipeline ID, it gives me the 422 error. I tried to update nothing once just by referring the match value, the name, principal contact and the pipeline, and it gives me thatr 422 error so it must be the problem’s source.

This is even weirder because I added a step that looks for the opportunity to update’s ID, I referred it and it still error 422. I can provide screenshots if you need clearer explanation.

Kind regards,

Michelle from Copper
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Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @LGermanicus, thanks for the additional detail. I’m checking with the team if there’s an issue with Pipeline ID.

In the meantime, I’m wondering if we can get around the Pipeline ID altogether. Some questions for you -

  1. Are you looking to change the Opp’s Pipeline and Stage, or just the other fields?
  2. What Match-by type are you using? Opp ID? Name?
  3. Are you using the action called “Update Opportunity in Copper” or the one called “Update Opportunity by ID in Copper” ?

If you’re not changing the Opp’s Pipeline or Stage, I recommend leaving those two fields completely blank in your Zap. That worked well in my test runs just a few minutes ago.

If you are using Opp ID for the Match By type, I recommend using the action “Update Opportunity by ID in Copper.” That action is simpler/better than “Update Opportunity in Copper” because “Update Opportunity in Copper” requires you to enter the Opp’s current Name and the Primary Contact’s ID in addition to the actual Match-by Value. And if you have a mis-match it can cause an error. Whereas for “Update Opportunity by ID in Copper,” you just need the Opp ID to proceed.

If you’re not using Opp ID for the Match-by Type, that’s something I recommend you consider. Depending on the previous steps in your Zap, you might already have the Opp ID available as an input. And if not, you can use the action “Search for an Opportunity” to find it using the whichever Match-by Type you are using. This is what it would look like:

(The downside to this setup is it uses an additional Task in each Zap. The upside is a more reliable Zap)

Let me know if these suggestions are workable for you, or if you are trying to get the Zap to change the Pipeline or Stage for these Opps. Thanks LGermanicus!

- Michelle from Copper
L

Hi @Michelle from Copper , I hope you’re doing well !

I just applied your advice, and all the data I want to update into Copper is working now ! I owe you a huge “thanks !!” !

But of course, as for every project, with one progress come a lot of other hardships. I am now facing new difficulties.

Do you have any idea on how I could update several opportunites in Copper with only one “check” button in a shared google sheet ? For now, I managed to do this with one opportunity at a time (Updated file → Lookup updated row → if check = true, then update the whole row into Copper.) But as I tried

 

Do you know any trick to update everything at once ? Or is it only the “test action” that can update only one opportunity with returning several rows ? (The lookup updated row step returns several rows)

Thank you again for the huge progress you helped me achieve.

Best regards

Michelle from Copper
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Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@LGermanicus glad it worked!! :)

For your next question - I’m trying to understand how you would like it to work.

Let’s say you add 5 Opportunities to the spreadsheet. Each one is its own row. But you don’t want Zapier to make any changes to the Opportunity in Copper right away. You want to double-check those 5 rows in the spreadsheet and make some changes. Then, only after you’ve confirmed everything, you want to say to Zapier: now you can update all 5 of these Opportunities in Copper.

Did I understand that right? Just want to make sure I’m looking into the right thing.

If you can provide a screenshot of your spreadsheet that would be helpful too :) Thanks LGermanicus!

- Michelle from Copper
L

Hi Michelle !

I thank you again for your very short time to reply ! 

You perfectly understood the situation. Ideally, the step in which i communicate to Zapier to update the modified opportunities (rows) in Copper would be a button like a true/false. If you think this could work, or if you think it could be optimized, let me know !

Thank you again for your dedication !

Best regards

Michelle from Copper
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@LGermanicus gotcha, thanks for confirming. In my example I said 5 rows/Opportunities. How many would you usually have in one batch?

To be honest, the easiest way to do this is using the “Check” button you have for each row. So you’d confirm the changes on all your rows, and then click the checkbox for all of them at once. This could work if you are working on less than 100 rows/Opps at a time. Otherwise you will run into Zapier’s flood limit, which just sends you an email asking you to confirm that you want to run 100+ items.

Another option would be using Zapier’s digest feature. This basically tells Zapier to wait until you say Yes, do the changes now. I don’t have any experience with this feature so I don’t know all the exact details. But according to this article, you can do this using a “Manual” digest.

Manual: allows you to use another Zap to release your digest. This option requires you to create a separate Zap with a ‘Release Existing Digest’ action step.

It sounds like you’d have to add the digest as a step in your current Zap, and then create a completely separate Zap that “releases” the digest. I don’t have any direct experience with this feature so I won’t be able to provide any further guidance.

Generally speaking, I recommend keeping it as simple as possible. So if you can do it directly using your checkboxes and without the digest, I recommend that. But again, it will also depend on how many rows/Opps you are working with at once.

- Michelle from Copper
L

Thanks a lot for your recommendations.

I’d be working with less than 100 opportunites at a time. For the moment, it works when i have only 1 checkbox marked, so to update one opportunity. 

From your experience, do you know if it is possible to update all of the opportunities in one Zap, or is it only possible to update one opportuniy per zap, so the zap will be triggered everytime one checkbox is changed ?

Here is what I did so far. I can’t look up for more than one row, or the data in a column will concatenate and the update phase will be triggered in only one opportunity (can’t understand why btw)

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

Michelle from Copper
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @LGermanicus, hope you had a good weekend! To answer your question, I have only seen a normal Zap work with one spreadsheet row / Opportunity at a time. However, I do recommend you look into Zapier digests to see if that will do what you’re looking for. I don’t have any experience with that feature, but from reading it sounds like it may allow you to send the updates in batches.

I also recommend asking the Zapier support team about this--they would know more about their digest feature.

I hope that helps :)

- Michelle from Copper

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