Hi everyone,
I’ve been working on automating task creation from spreadsheet data into ClickUp using Zapier integration. Everything works fine except for one annoying issue. All my imported tasks automatically get assigned a 6:00 AM start time, even though I don’t specify any time in my source data.
I reached out to Zapier support and spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting with them. They believe this might be related to how ClickUp’s API handles time data when no specific time is provided.
Has anyone else encountered this automatic time assignment problem? I’m looking for any solutions or workarounds to either remove the time completely or set a different default time for imported tasks.
Any help would be appreciated!
ClickUp’s API time defaults are such a headache. Hit the same wall automating our sprint planning.
Those workarounds get ugly fast once you scale or need complex logic. Latenode crushes Zapier here - you actually control the API calls.
With Latenode, I built custom logic that skips time fields entirely when my source data doesn’t have them. No formatters, no null tricks. Just don’t send the time parameter and ClickUp creates tasks without timestamps.
Moved our whole task automation to Latenode and never going back. The visual builder makes conditional time field logic dead simple, plus it’s cheaper than Zapier.
Check it out at https://latenode.com
Had this same problem about six months ago with automated project imports. ClickUp’s API hardcodes that 6:00 AM default and there’s no way around it with just Zapier. Here’s what fixed it for me: add a formatter step before creating the task that sets the time field to null or empty instead of leaving it undefined. Use ‘Formatter by Zapier’ with the Text formatter to replace any time values with blank text. This makes ClickUp create tasks without times instead of defaulting to 6:00 AM. It’s an extra step but kills those annoying timestamps completely.
ugh this drove me crazy too! try disabling the start date field completely in your clickup space settings first, then re-enable it. sounds weird but it reset the api behavior for me and stopped forcing those timestamps on automated tasks.
Yeah, ClickUp’s API assumes missing time data needs a default timestamp instead of none at all. Hit this same issue on a client project where we imported hundreds of tasks every week. Best fix I found was tweaking the date format in Zapier before it hits ClickUp. Don’t send just a date - format it as a full datetime string with midnight (00:00:00) as the time. ClickUp handles this differently than undefined time values and won’t slam you with that 6 AM default. In your Zapier step, use the Date/Time formatter to convert your date field to “YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00” before mapping to ClickUp. You get control over the timestamp without messy null formatters or custom fields. Tasks show midnight instead of 6 AM, then you can bulk-edit in ClickUp if you need to adjust.
yeah, super annoying! same thing happened to me. i fixed it by creating a custom time field in ClickUp first, then mapping that field in Zapier to whatever default i wanted instead of letting the api pick. took some trial and error but it worked.
I experienced a similar challenge with ClickUp and Zapier integration. The default behavior is for ClickUp’s API to assign a 6:00 AM start time when the input lacks specific time data. A potential workaround is to modify your Zapier configuration by including a time field and leaving it blank if you don’t need one. Alternatively, consider using ClickUp’s CSV import feature, which tends to handle cases with empty time fields more effectively, though this will shift you away from real-time automation.