Sending files through Zapier webhook endpoint

Other Questions Zapier
1

Can you send file uploads to a Zapier webhook using a POST request? I’m having trouble making this work properly.

I have a form with regular text fields like fullname and contact info, plus a file upload field <input type="file" name="resume" />. Here’s the JavaScript I’m using:

$('#myForm').submit(function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();
  
  var formData = new FormData(this);
  console.log(formData.get('resume'));
  
  $.ajax({
    url: 'https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/12345/abcdef/',
    method: 'POST',
    data: formData,
    processData: false,
    contentType: false,
    cache: false
  });
});

The file gets included in the request and I can see it in the browser’s network tab:

------WebKitFormBoundary9xyz123abc456def
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fullname"

Jane Smith
------WebKitFormBoundary9xyz123abc456def
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="school"

Sample University
------WebKitFormBoundary9xyz123abc456def
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="contact"

[email protected]
------WebKitFormBoundary9xyz123abc456def
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="resume"; filename="resume.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

------WebKitFormBoundary9xyz123abc456def--

But when I check what Zapier receives, the file field is missing:

fullname: Jane Smith
school: Sample University
contact: [email protected]

The resume field just doesn’t show up at all. Is there something I’m missing about how Zapier handles file uploads?

2

Yeah, Zapier webhooks can’t handle file uploads with multipart form data. The webhook endpoint only accepts simple key-value pairs and strips out any file attachments. I hit this same problem about six months ago with a job application form. What worked for me was converting the file to base64 first, then sending it as regular text. You can use the FileReader API in your JavaScript to encode the file before making the AJAX call. Just heads up though - there are size limits with this method. Anything over a few MB will probably break. For bigger files, you’re better off going with the cloud storage option someone mentioned earlier.

3

yep, so zapier webhooks can’t take file uploads as is. u might wanna upload it to s3 or google drive 1st, then just send that url to zapier. that’s what many folks do.

4

Yeah, this trips up tons of developers. Zapier webhooks can’t handle multipart/form-data requests - that’s why your file vanishes even though the network tab shows everything’s fine. Hit this same wall last year building a feedback system. The webhook just strips out anything that’s not a basic string. Here’s what worked for me: use a two-step approach. Upload your file to temporary storage first (Cloudinary works great, or just a simple server endpoint), grab the URL it gives you, then send that URL with your other form data to Zapier. Now Zapier gets a clean string it can handle, and you can still pull the actual file using the URL in your workflow.