© MoMo Productions/Getty Images Zapier allows you to manage workflows across popular apps, and it doesn't require coding skills. MoMo Productions/Getty Images
Zapier allows you to instantly connect Todoist with 2,000+ apps to automate your work and find productivity super powers. In just a few minutes, you can set up automated workflows (called Zaps) that connect Todoist with the other apps you use most like Google Calendar, Gmail, and Slack. In Zapier, create a new Zap. Connect to your Todoist account, and set up a zap that triggers on a new incomplete task. Now, create the action. Choose Webhooks as the action type, and select GET.
- Zapier is an automation tool that lets you easily create workflows that involve common web apps and services.
- Zapier uses a simple trigger and action for creating commands, akin to 'if this happens, then do that.'
- The service has many subscription levels from free for individual users to plans for teams and entire organizations.
- Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.
Zapier allows you to instantly connect Todoist with 2,000+ apps to automate your work and find productivity super powers. In just a few minutes, you can set up automated workflows (called Zaps) that connect Todoist with the other apps you use most like Google Calendar, Gmail, and Slack. Add Widgets To Your Wordpress Website: Download Elementor here: https://elementor.com/?re.
On the Zapier website, Zapier describes itself as 'the glue that connects thousands of web apps.' At its essence, Zapier is an automation tool that lets you easily create workflows by linking productivity apps and services together with sets of if/then commands. In this way, it's not unlike IFTTT (If This Then That), a similar tool that links unrelated services together - though Zapier is more focused on business and productivity applications, while IFTTT leans into smart devices and the Internet of Things.
How Zapier works
You use Zapier's web interface to create commands called zaps. Each zap is composed of two main parts: a trigger and an action.
The trigger is the event that kicks off the zap - in programming lingo, you can think of it as the 'if this happens…' part of the operation. Zapier works with more than 2,000 apps and services, so there are countless triggers you can base a zap on.
The action is the event that completes the zap. It's the 'then do this' part of the command and the automation that simplifies your task or workflow. For example, a zap might be written to create an event on a Google Calendar based on every new Trello card that gets added to your board, or a zap might create a to-do list in an app like Todoist based on emails you star or flag in Gmail.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider Every zap is really just a trigger and an action. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderWhen a zap runs, it processes a piece of data. Every time that happens, it counts as a task. This is important because Zapier's pricing tiers are largely based on how many tasks you run each month.
Zapier isn't a traditional programming environment and you don't need to have any knowledge of programming to use Zapier. It's more like a simplified macro editor, in which the only thing you need to do is specify the trigger and action and fill in the details of exactly how the zap should work. Zaps aren't difficult to create and they can mostly be made by selecting options from dropdown menus. But Zapier gives you the ability to extensively customize zaps, as well as to create multi-step zaps (if you pay for one of the premium subscriptions levels).
How to get started with Zapier
If you don't yet have a Zapier account, go to Zapier.com and click 'Get Started Free.'
Once you have a Zapier account, you should see the main screen, which is Zapier's dashboard. This is where you can see your existing zaps, create new ones and work with existing templates. Hover the mouse on the left side of the screen to see options to make a new zap, see your existing zaps, see apps and services you've connected to Zapier, and more.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider The Zapier dashboard is where you create zaps and manage your existing ones. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderTo make a new zap, move the mouse over the plus button at the top left and click 'Make a Zap.'
Follow the instructions to build your zap. Start by choosing the app you want to set as a trigger - for example, if you want to perform an action when you 'star' an email, choose 'Gmail' and then set 'New Starred Email' as the trigger event. After each step, click 'Continue.'
Click 'Trigger' and specify what you want to happen when an email is starred. For example, you could click 'OneNote' and then specify 'Create Note in Section' to copy the information about the email to a specific section of OneNote. You'll need to also choose what information to copy there, such as the subject, email body, or sender.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider Zaps might seem intimidating at first, but they're easy to build if you follow each step. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderWhen the zap is finished, you can click the buttons to test and then turn on the zap.
What Zapier costs
Zapier has several pricing plans, ranging from a free version to large enterprise deployments. While you can use Zapier for free, you don't get access to any of the 'premium' app integrations. Zapier places about 60 apps behind the premium paywall - premium apps include Salesforce, Zendesk, PayPal, Pinterest, and Shopify. Here are the plans you can choose from:
Free: You can use the free plan to explore Zapier and use it if your needs are very modest. You can use up to five single-step zaps that perform no more than 100 tasks per month. You can't use any 'premium' apps or services.
Starter: At $19.99 per month, the Starter plan limits you to 20 zaps and no more than 750 tasks per month. You can create multi-step zaps and can use up to three premium apps. (You can upgrade to 1,500 tasks per month for $39.)
Professional: Starting at $49 per month, you can deploy unlimited zaps. This pay level gives you 2,000 tasks per month, but you can upgrade through four pay levels to 20,000 tasks per month for $189.
Team: This tier starts at $299 per month for unlimited Zaps and 50,000 tasks per month. (There are multiple levels up to 2,000,000 tasks for $3,499 per month). This level includes a number of additional features including shared workspaces for team collaboration.
Company: The highest tier starts at $599 per month for 100,000 tasks but scales up to $3,599 for 2,000,000 tasks. It includes advanced enterprise administrative features like single sign-on and account consolidation, as well as live training services.
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Todoist is a productivity app that makes managing your tasks and projects easy. And because it’s web-based, it also allows you to access your to-do list from just about anywhere using any OS.
Another major benefit to being web-based is the ability to integrate with services like IFTTT and Zapier. This allows you to integrate many aspects of your digital (and even your physical) life with your task manager and create tasks automatically, which can be a huge time saver and a way to make sure that you don’t forget about anything that you’re supposed to do.
Let’s take a look at how to integrate IFTTT and Todoist first.
Adding tasks from IFTTT
The very first thing you need to do is go to ifttt.com and log in with your IFTTT account information. Once you’re logged in, search for “Todoist” (or click here) to find the Todoist IFTTT channel. On this page, you’ll find lots of “Applets” that you can use to pipe things into Todoist automatically. But before you can activate these, you need to connect your Todoist account. To do this, click Connect and enter your Todoist credentials on the following screen. You’ll also need to grant IFTTT permission to view your user data as well as “read and write your app data, including projects, tasks, notes, labels, and filters.” Click Agree and you’ll be returned to the Todoist IFTTT channel.
Now that you have your IFTTT and Todoist accounts connected, you can use an IFTTT trigger action to automatically create tasks inside of Todoist. The Todoist channel has several recommended recipes to get you started, including:
- Add a reminder for missed phone calls (Android only)
But, if you can’t find the one you’re looking for, you can always build one from scratch. Let’s create an Applet that adds a task to Todoist whenever our check engine light comes on in our car. To get started, click My Applets in the menu bar, and then click New Applet.

Next, select the trigger action by clicking the word this. In this example, we’re going to connect the Automatic smart driving assistant to Todoist in order to create a task automatically whenever our check engine light comes on. From the services screen, scroll down and select the Automatic Classic channel (if you have the Automatic Pro, you’d select the Automatic Pro channel instead).
Next, select the Check engine light is turned on action, which will return you to the create Applet screen. Next, select the action you want to take by clicking the word that and selecting the Todoist channel.
Next, select the Create task option. This will take you to the Complete action fields screen where you can customize what the task will look like when added to Todoist.
From here, you can customize the task the way you want it to appear in Todoist. Todoist’s IFTTT integration allows you to customize the following information:
- Specific project the task gets added to
- Task name
- Any additional notes for the task (requires a premium Todoist subscription)
- Due date
- Priority level
Once you have this just the way you want it, click the Create action button at the bottom. On the next screen, review the Applet you just created and select whether you want to receive notifications every time it runs before clicking the Finish button to activate it.
Done! Just like that, you’ve set up an automatic workflow for creating an action item to have your engine checked whenever the check engine light comes on.
Adding tasks from Zapier
You can also add tasks automatically to Todoist using Zapier. If you’re not familiar with Zapier, it’s very similar to IFTTT but targeted more toward business users. It integrates with many additional niche business apps and, as of this writing, connects over 750 different web applications.
Just like IFTTT, you must first log in with your Zapier account information. Once you’re logged in, click Connected Accounts and type Todoist in the search box to connect your Todoist account. Once you select Todoist from the list, you need to grant Zapier permission to access your Todoist account. Click Agree to finish connecting your Todoist account.
Now that your Todoist account is connected, you can add “zaps” in Zapier from the recommended list or create your own. Let’s create a zap that creates a Todoist task whenever an event gets added to our calendar. To get started, click the orange MAKE A ZAP! button at the top of your Zapier dashboard.
Next, select the Trigger for the zap. Select Google Calendar, then select New Event and click Save + Continue.
Next, select the correct Google account you want connected to the zap and click Save + Continue again. Once you have the correct account connected, you’ll need to test this step by clicking Fetch + Continue. If everything is working, you’ll see a confirmation message, and you can click Continue to move on to the next step (setting up the Action).
Next, select Todoist as the trigger app and choose Create Task as the action. Select the Todoist account that you connected to Zapier, and then fill in the task information.
You’ll notice that Zapier has a few additional options available for task data, so in addition to things like task name and due date, you’ll also be able to add who the task is assigned to and any labels you want applied to the task.
Todoist Integrations
Zapier also allows you to parse the data associated with the Trigger and use this information when creating the task name. Click Title and you’ll see all the information Zapier could identify associated with the test Google Calendar event it found when you identified your Google Calendar account as the Trigger. This allows you to really customize your Todoist task, but in this example we’ll just select the Summary option to have our calendar event title show up as the task name.
Once you have your task Trigger set up the way you want, click Continue at the bottom. Test the account once again on the next screen and click Finish to create your zap. Type in the name of the zap on the next screen, toggle the zap on, and your zap is now active.
Done again! As you can see, both IFTTT and Zapier offer incredibly easy and powerful tools for setting up custom workflows that make you more productive.
Todoist And Outlook
We have more useful workflow examples right here.