I’m having trouble with Zapier messing up my data structure. I’ve got a Zap that’s supposed to handle work history info. Each entry has a job title, description, and dates.
At first, everything looks fine in the test view. The data is grouped by job just like I want it. But then things go wrong in the later steps.
Zapier takes my nicely organized data and turns it into a big mess. Instead of keeping each job as its own thing, it makes these long lists with commas. So now I’ve got one list for all the job titles, another for descriptions, and so on.
This is a real headache because now I can’t tell which pieces go together anymore. Is there any way to stop Zapier from doing this? Can I keep my data structure intact throughout the whole Zap?
If not, do I have to write some code to put everything back together again? That seems like a pain.
Has anyone else run into this problem? What did you do to fix it? I’d love to hear some tips on how to handle this kind of thing in Zapier.
Thanks for any help you can give me!
I’ve dealt with this exact problem before, and it’s definitely a pain. What worked for me was using Zapier’s ‘Storage by Zapier’ app. It lets you store complex data structures as-is, without breaking them apart.
Here’s what I did: I set up a step to store my entire work history object in Storage by Zapier. Then, in later steps, I retrieved the stored data and worked with it intact. This way, Zapier doesn’t have a chance to flatten your nested structure.
Another trick is to serialize your data into a single string field (like JSON.stringify() in JavaScript) before passing it through Zapier. Then deserialize it when you need to use it again. It’s a bit more work, but it keeps everything together.
If you’re comfortable with some light coding, the ‘Code by Zapier’ step is super helpful too. You can use it to manually process your data and keep the structure you want.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any more details on how I implemented these solutions.
I’ve encountered this issue before, and it can be frustrating. One effective solution is to use Zapier’s ‘Code’ action. By writing a custom Python or JavaScript snippet, you can maintain your JSON structure throughout the Zap. This approach allows you to process the data exactly as you need, preserving relationships between fields.
Another option is to utilize Zapier’s ‘Nested Line Items’ feature. This can help maintain the hierarchical structure of your work history data. It’s particularly useful for handling repeated sets of related information.
If coding isn’t your preference, consider using a combination of ‘Formatter’ steps to restructure your data at various points in the Zap. This method requires more setup but can be effective in preserving data relationships without writing code.
Remember, thorough testing at each step is crucial to ensure your data remains structured as intended throughout the entire Zap workflow.
ive had similar issues with zapier messing up my data. wat worked for me was using webhooks instead of built-in actions. it gives u more control over the data format. you could also try splitting ur zap into smaller steps and using ‘formatter’ action to keep the structure intact. hope this helps!