Advanced Zapier tutorial

This topic describes how to configure an example two-Zap workflow for Zapier. The example workflow extracts data from emailed documents and uploads them as spreadsheets to Google Drive.

Sensible supports two-step Zapier workflows as follows:

The first Zap extracts the document and returns a WAITING extraction status.
The second Zap triggers when the extraction status is COMPLETE and takes action on the extraction.

You can use the example Zaps in this topic as templates. For example, modify this workflow to trigger extractions based on other file actions in Zapier-support apps (for example, a new document uploaded to Google Drive instead of a new email in Gmail). Or, output to different destinations (for example, a database record instead of spreadsheet files in Google Drive).

Zap 1

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Every time you receive an email in Gmail with a 1040 document attached, Zapier triggers Sensible to start extracting data from it.

Zap 2

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Every time Sensible completes extracting from a document, Zapier checks if the extraction was triggered by Zap 1. If it is, Zapier triggers Sensible to create a spreadsheet of the extracted data, and uploads the spreadsheet to a folder in Google Drive.

Take the following steps to run these Zaps with example data, then modify them for your needs.

Prerequisite: Configure 1040 extractions in Sensible

Follow the steps in Getting started with out-of-the-box extractions to clone the 1040s document type to your account.

Prerequisite: Configure Google accounts

Choose a Gmail account for the Zaps. Send a test email to it with an example 1040 document attached and make sure the subject line includes the text 1040.
Create an empty Google Drive folder as a destination for the spreadsheets of extracted data. Name it 1040s_extracted.
(Optional) In the Google Drive folder, create a spreadsheet named Zapier-Sensible Extractions Logs to log each time the Zaps run. Create columns to record information about each extraction, for example, Extraction ID , Extraction Date , and Extraction link.

Zap 1: Extract emailed 1040 doc with Sensible

See the following steps to configure Zap 1:

Create a new Zap.
For the trigger, take the following steps:
1. Setup:
  1. App: Gmail
  2. Trigger event: New Attachment
  3. Account: Your Google account.
2. Configure:
  1. Label or mailbox: Inbox and all labels
  2. Search keywords: subject:1040 (This triggers on each attachment if the email's subject contains "1040")
3. Test:
  1. Before you click Test trigger, ensure you sent an email to your Gmail account with an attached 1040 document and the subject "1040".
  2. Select the email attachment you sent.
For the action, take the following steps:
1. Setup:
  1. Search for and select Sensible.
  2. Action event: Extract document
  3. Account: Select your Sensible account.
2. Configure:
  1. Document type: 1040s
  2. Environment: Production
  3. Document: Attachment (Exists but not shown). This specifies to extract from the email attachment.
  4. Reference: Attachment (Exists but not shown). Note that if you were working in Google Drive, you'd select "File". You'll use this reference to connect Zap 1 and Zap 2 in a succeeding step.
  5. (Optional): You can specify additional references to log additional information. For example, if you specify the email URL as a reference, you can use it in a succeeding optional logging step.
3. Test:
  1. Click test, then verify that the extraction is in WAITING status
  2. Click Publish.

Zap 2: Upload extraction as spreadsheet to Google drive

See the following steps to configure Zap 2.

Create a new Zap.
For the trigger, take the following steps:
1. Setup:
  1. Search for and select Sensible.
  2. Trigger event: New Document Extraction
  3. Account: Select your Sensible account.
  4. Configure:
    1. Document type: 1040s
    2. Environment: Production
    3. Status: Complete
    4. Create Excel output: True. This creates an Excel spreadsheet from the extracted document data and stores it at URL.
  5. Test:
    1. Click Test trigger.
      1. Select the extraction you triggered in the previous Zap. Verify its status is now COMPLETE and that the parsed_document object contains extracted data from the example document you emailed in a previous step. For example, Parsed Document Year Value is 2021.
For the action, take the following steps:
1. Filter:
  1. Search for Filter and select Filter conditions.
  2. Only continue if: Webhook Payload Reference 1
  3. Condition: Exists. This ensures that you take action on the same extraction that was triggered in the previous Zap.
2. Setup:
  1. Search for and select Google Drive.
  2. Action event: Upload file. This will upload the Excel file of extracted document data you created in the previous Zap.
  3. Account: Select your Google account.
3. Configure:
  1. Drive: Select your Google drive
  2. Folder: Select the 1040s_extracted folder you created in a previous step.
  3. File: Select New Document Extraction in Sensible, then select Excel Output to select the Excel file you created in a previous Zap.
  4. Convert to Document: True
  5. File Name: Choose New Document Extraction in Sensible, then select ID to name the uploaded file after the Sensible extraction ID.
4. Test:
  1. Click Test Step.
  2. Navigate to the 1040s_extracted Google Drive folder you created in a previous step and verify it now contains a spreadsheet with extracted document data, for example:
(Optional): To log when Zap 1 and Zap 2 run, take the following actions:
1. Setup:
  1. Click Edit Zap to edit the Zap 2.
  2. Click Add step
  3. Search for and select Google Sheets.
  4. Event: Create Spreadsheet Row
  5. Account: Select your Google account.
2. Configure:
  1. Drive: Select your Google Drive.
  2. Spreadsheet: Select the Zapier-Sensible Extractions Logs spreadsheet you created in a previous step.
  3. Worksheet: Select the sheet in which you created column headings in a previous step.
  4. For each column heading you created, select the corresponding extraction information. For example:
    1. extraction id: ID
    2. extraction date: Completed
    3. Extraction link: Embed Link
    4. Use additional references and webhook payloads to log more information from Zap 1. For example, if you want to include a column containing links back to the original email URLs, you'd need to create an additional reference in Zap 1 that includes the email URL, and additionally select the corresponding webhook payload reference in Zap 2.

(Optional) Test your integration

Congratulations, your integration is now published and running! Take the following steps to continue populating a Google folder from example documents:

Download example 1040 documents from the Sensible library.
Email the example 1040 documents to the Gmail account, ensuring that they match the search criteria you created in Zapier.
Zapier can take up to 15 minutes to pull data from Sensible. To avoid waiting, navigate to the Zaps tab in Zapier, right-click the Zap's ellipsis (...) icon and click Run.
Wait a few minutes, then verify the extractions show up in your Google Drive folder as spreadsheets:
Verify the extractions show up in your optionally configured logs:

Notes

General Limitations

You can configure single-value field output with the Sensible-Zapier integration. For multi-value output such as tables and sections, you can compile document extractions into a spreadsheet or CSV file using Sensible's API. For more information, see SenseML to Excel reference.
You can extract from single-document files with Zapier. If you want to extract from portfolio files (documents that contain multiple documents, for example, insurance application bundles), use the Sensible app, API, or SDK.

Sensible action limitations

If you select New file in folder event in Google Drive folder as the trigger for the Sensible action, Zapier ignores uploaded files whose create or modified date is older than 4 days.
Run an extraction on the file you intend to use for your Zapier sample setup a minute or so before you start configuring Zap 2. Otherwise, Zapier can return an incomplete example extraction.