Zapier is an app automation tool that connects Knack to the other apps you use throughout your day. With Zapier, you build “Zaps”—simple automations that don't require any code—that move your data from one app to another automatically.

Need to attach a paid invoice to an existing record? No sweat, there's a Zap for that. You can even move data out of your Knack database and share it elsewhere. For example, get a notification via a Twilio SMS whenever a record is updated.

What Knack Triggers and Actions are Supported?

Supported Triggers

• New Form Submission - Triggers when a form is submitted in a Live App.
• Updated Record - Triggers when an existing record is directly updated in a Live App.
• New Record - Triggers when a new record is directly created in a Live App.
• Deleted Record - Triggers when an existing record is deleted in a Live App.

Supported Actions

• Update Record - Updates a record in your Knack database.
• Create Record - Creates a new record to your Knack database.
• Find Record - Finds a record in your Knack database and returns all of its field values.

How to Get Started with Knack

When setting up your Zap, you'll be asked to connect your Knack account.

You will be prompted to name your account and add your Knack Application ID and API Key. To locate these login to your Knack account: https://builder.knack.com

Choose an app from your dashboard.Then click the “Settings” link from the top left and select the API & Code link from the menu.

You can copy the Application ID and API key and paste them in the corresponding fields in the Zapier form.

Paste your Application ID and API key back into Zapier and click “Yes, continue”. You should now see your Knack app in the list of available Knack accounts.

If you’re having any issues adding your app, please contact us at support@knack.com. 

Working with Triggers

The “New Form Submission” trigger lets you select one specific form that will trigger the zap. If you want all of your forms to trigger a zap, use the “New Record” or “Updated Record” triggers instead.

When using the “New Record”, “Updated Record”, or “Deleted Record”  triggers, note that only user-driven actions in the Live App will trigger the zap. This means form edits, table inline edits, calendar inserts / edits, etc.

Note: These triggers are not initiated by API activity or Builder updates such as tasks and record rules. Payment views also currently do not trigger Zaps.

Working with Actions

Create Record

To create a record from Zapier, first select the object the new record will belong to:

Zapier lets you map to any field that is not read-only (equations, text formulas, etc. can not be written to).

Update Record

In order to update an existing Knack record your object will need a unique field.

Select the unique field to be used in the record search.

Next, select the search value. This value will be used in the search field to look up the unique record:

Once you have a search field and search value configured you can set the values to be updated:

Note: On an Update Record action, if the record is not found in the search, the current Zap run will be halted.

Find Record

The “Find Record” action requires a search field and search value as described in the “Update Record” action above. The main difference between these two actions is that “Find Record” does not create / update anything in Knack; it simply returns the field values so you can use them in further Zap steps.

Working with Fields

Knack uses very specific field types to ensure maximum utility within your Knack database. Some of these fields have multiple components, like name and address fields. For example, a name field can be split into first and last names.

When using Knack as a trigger you can choose to use the formatted value of these fields, or you can use the individual components.

When using a Zap to create a new Knack record you’ll have to fill in the individual components for these fields to ensure they are added to your database correctly.

For example, the “First” and “Last” names of a “Contact” name field can be used when submitting to a service requiring separate name fields:

If you need to submit a full name to a connected service, you can combine these fields:

When using the full field, it will follow the formatting parameters you’ve set for that field. For example, if your Name field uses the format “Last, First Middle”  then your Zap should submit the name in that order.

Files and Images

Physical file transfers are currently not possible with Zapier and Knack.

You can still connect with services like Dropbox and Box to store your images and files and link to these files in your Knack app.

In this Dropbox example, you can choose the “Share Link” or the “Direct Media Link” to copy the image URL to a Knack image field.

You will need to update your image field in your Knack app to use the external URL as the Image Source:

When using files and images in triggers, you can use the “File URL” property to pass it on to other services:

Notes & Troubleshooting

Some of my Knack app's objects aren't showing up

Because of the way Knack's authentication works, you choose a specific application when you connect Knack to Zapier. Since we need the Application ID to connect to Knack, we aren't able to show objects from multiple Knack apps in the same dropdown. The objects from the connected app are the only ones you'll see when you're creating a Zap.

If you need objects from a different Knack app, just make a new connection to your Knack account, and that will allow your Zap to show the objects from that newly-connected app.

New or updated records aren't triggering my zap

Knack only triggers notifications from actions that happen in your Live App, not actions from the Builder or through the API.

When inserting records, only records from form submissions will trigger a Zap. Records created through form record rules or through an action of "insert connected record" on an action link will not trigger a Zap.

The Update / Find Zaps aren’t finding my record

You must be sure to use a unique field to identify the correct record. If you don't have a unique field in your object, then you can create one using an auto increment field.

There is no physical limitation to the number of characters in a value that can be used to identify a record, but it is more practical to use a unique and short identification field if possible. Longer and concatenated field values leave more room for differences in values between the Trigger and Action apps.

How do I use a form that works with the logged-in user?

Forms with built-in user access are not available as triggers. You can, however, use regular forms that contain record rules to set the logged-in user. See our How-To for an example.

How do Zaps work with values updated on a form and from record rules?

As mentioned above under the Working with Triggers section, Zaps can only be triggered from forms or inline edits, not from value updates from record rules. That being said, it can be a little confusing on which values will be passed along in a Zap setup if values in an object are both being updated on a form and from record rules on that form.

Since record rules run after form submits, any values that are updated in the record rules will be what are passed to the Zap.