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The Zapier Manager guide: How to add automation to your Zapier account

By Tyler Robertson · October 7, 2021
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If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you're already an automation superhero: You've got Zaps set up to power your workflows and save time each week. With business-critical automation working behind the scenes, you may find yourself wondering how to best keep track of your Zaps—and whether you can automate your automation.

That's where Zapier Manager comes in.

Zapier Manager helps you automate processes that would otherwise require logging into zapier.com. You can use Zapier Manager to create Zaps for your Zaps, which I think is pretty neat. You can use it to turn Zaps off and on, monitor for errors, and help you manage your team, all automatically. 

If you're new to Zapier, or haven't built any Zaps yet, we recommend starting by automating away tasks that likely take up too much of your time. Zapier Manager works best when you have a few Zaps already set up, and becomes especially useful if you're using Zapier on a team.

Zapier Manager has a variety of triggers and actions, which you can mix and match depending on what you'd like to accomplish. 

For example, if you'd like your Zap to do something in another app—such as send a notification or create a spreadsheet row—when something happens in Zapier, you would add Zapier Manager as the trigger of a new Zap.

A screenshot of the Zapier editor, choosing a Zapier Manager trigger. The events shown include New Public App, New Team Member, New Zap Error, New Halted Task, Task Usage Limit Reached, New Invoice, and New Folder.

If you want to do something to a Zap, you would add Zapier Manager as the action instead.

A screenshot of the Zapier editor while setting up a Zapier Manager action step. Shown are events including Create Team Invitation, Turn Zap On/Off, Create Zap Report (Beta), Find App, and Find Zap.

What permissions do I need?

Zapier Manager can only do things that you would be able to do while logged into Zapier. For example, it can only affect Zaps that you can edit, or receive information about invoices that you have access to. 

If you're on a Teams account, and find that Zapier Manager isn't showing you something that you're looking for, it may be that your account doesn't have the right permissions. You'll want to reach out to your account admin or owner to see if they can grant you the permissions you need.

Not sure who your team's admins are? Head to your team account's settings page and select Members. There, you can see your whole team, and use the Search option to list all admins.

Here are some examples of how Zapier Manager can be used to automate your automations. Click the button whenever you see an automation you'd like to try yourself, or create a new Zap to get started.

Here's what we'll cover:

Be notified of important changes with your Zaps

Error notifications

Errors happen even to the best of us—and it's important to know when something goes wrong. In addition to being notified by email, you can use Zapier Manager's New Zap Error trigger to ensure that you and your team learn right away—wherever you spend the most time—if something goes wrong in a Zap.

After selecting the trigger, you can narrow down which Account, Folder, and Zap you want to monitor. Leaving them all blank will cause the Zap to trigger any time any of your Zaps encounters an error, while selecting from the dropdowns will allow it to be more specific.

A screenshot of the trigger setup for a Zap to notify you of new errors in a Zap.

Using the Folder field is especially helpful if you have multiple teams with their own folders, as you can have a Zap specifically for notifying that team about their Zaps.

Send Slack notifications if your Zaps run into errors

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    We hope this Zap never triggers! But if errors occurred, we want to help you resolve them as soon as possible. Be the first to know when something goes wrong with your Zap or when your accounts lose connections. Use this Zap to send yourself or your team a Slack message when Zapier Manager detects a new error in your account.

    Send SMS messages for new Zap errors

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      When managing integrations, speedy error notifications are imperative to optimize performance. This integration helps by automatically sending an SMS message when there is a new Zap error. You'll have the updates you need to make timely fixes to your integrations.

      Send Slack channel messages for new halted tasks

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        When you manage the automation that runs your business, you'll want to know if there are any halted tasks. Let Zapier help you by sending channel messages in Slack to notify you when a task has been halted. Now you can effectively manage when a task is halted.

        Send emails with new Zap errors

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          If you're already using Zapier, you know the benefits of time saved. Get still more time back when you use this integration, which automatically sends an email message when a Zap in your account encounters an error. Get a head start on troubleshooting without wasting your energy on a manual message.

          Be notified when a Zap is turned off

          Zaps can be turned off for a variety of reasons—sometimes it's due to an error, sometimes it's an accident, and sometimes (like if you're using Zapier Manager), it can even be on purpose! With this Zap template, you can automatically message your time any time a Zap is turned off, with settings to monitor a specific Zap, a whole folder, or any Zap on your account. That way, they'll be the first to know if a Zap loses power.

          Post newly turned off Zaps to Slack

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            Need to know when a zap has been turned off? We have an integration for that of course. After set up, turned off zaps will be sent as messages to a Slack channel. Keep your team informed, without any extra effort.

            Send Gmail emails for new Zaps turned off

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              When you manage the automation that runs your business, you'll want to know when integrations are turned off. Let Zapier help you by sending Gmail emails to notify you when a Zap has been turned off. Now you can effectively manage when an integration is off purposefully or not and make changes if needed.

              Manage your Zapier account

              Task usage alerts 

              Any time a Zap successfully performs an action for you, such as creating a spreadsheet row or sending an email, that uses one Task. Each of Zapier's plans supports a different number of tasks per month, so keeping track of how many tasks your Zaps are using is the best way to make sure you're on the best plan for your needs. 

              You can track task usage manually using the Zap History page, or you can use Zapier Manager's Task Usage Limit Reached trigger to alert you automatically. When setting it up, you can even specify specific thresholds, so it can message you when your account reaches 50% or 75% of your monthly limit. Here's a Zap Template to help get you started!

              Send Slack channel messages for new task usage limits being reached

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                When managing integrations, proactive usage limit notifications are imperative to optimize performance. This integration helps by automatically sending a channel message in Slack when there is a new task usage limit reached. You'll have the updates you need to make any adjustments to your integration usage.

                Send emails when new task usage limits are reached

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                  This integration sends emails when new task usage limits are reached.

                  Send direct messages in Slack for new task usage limits reached

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                    This integration sends direct messages in Slack for new task usage limits reached.

                    Billing management

                    Once you've got your sweet new automations up and running, probably the last thing you want to think about is invoices. And in some cases—maybe where you're part of an operations team that sets up Zaps for your company but where accounts payable handles invoices—you might not even be the person that the invoices should go to.

                    With Zapier Manager's New Invoice trigger, you can receive the amount due for each new invoice, as well as a link to a PDF copy of the document. From there, you can send it to whoever needs it with a Send Email or Send Message action in your app of choice, like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, or Google Chat.

                    Turn Zaps on or off

                    Most of my team's communication happens through Slack, and knowing whether someone is available to read your message can be crucial to getting work done quickly. The problem is that most apps don't have an "Out of Office" reminder, to tell your team that you're out for the day, or let your customers know that it's after business hours. 

                    With Zapier, you can have one Zap that automatically replies to new incoming messages, calls, or emails, and then use Zapier Manager to turn that Zap on or off during business hours. Check out the Zapier Community for an example of setting up a custom automated reply, and use the Zap Templates below to get started with Zapier Manager.

                    Turn on a Zap during business hours

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                      Add more flexibility to your Zaps by turning them on by the time of day. Toggle Zaps on when your team gets to the office or when business opens. Use this with another Zap that turns off your automation when business hour ends to build customized workflows based on your schedule.

                      Turn off a Zap after business hours

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                        Use Zapier Manager to automatically turn off time sensitive Zaps by business hours. You can switch off auto-responder Zaps when business hours start or turn off SMS notification Zaps after business hours.

                        Team management

                        Zapier for Teams lets you and your teammates (or friends, or family) share, maintain, and create new Zaps together, all in one place (it's great, you should try it). Using Zapier Manager's Create Team Invitation action, you can automate the process of adding new members to the team, meaning one less repetitive task for your friendly neighborhood admin to take care of! 

                        Looking for more tips for your Zapier account? Check out these organization tips for your Zaps so you can automate more efficiently across your company.

                        The Zap Template below helps you automatically add new team members to your Zapier team when they join your company's Slack workspace. If you don't use Slack, you could swap the trigger out for Microsoft Teams' New Team Member trigger, Discord's New User Added, or any trigger that receives information about your new teammate—including human resources platforms.

                        Invite new users to join your Zapier team when they are added to your company Slack

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                          Tired of manually adding every new person at your company to your Zapier team? Automate the process with Zapier Manager by adding every new Slack user to your Zapier team account.

                          Invite new employees in BambooHR to join your Zapier team account

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                            Automate onboarding tasks, including joining the Zapier team account, to help your teammate quickly get up to speed. Use this Zap to automatically send a Zapier team account invite when new employees are created in BambooHR.

                            Invite new users to join your Zapier team when they are added to People HR

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                              Help your new employees be more efficient from day 1 by giving them the power of your Zapier team account. Just use Zapier Manager to automatically invite every new employee in your People HR account to your Zapier team.

                              Curious to see what else Zapier Manager can help you automate? Check out its app page to review all of the available triggers and actions, as well as the most popular Zap Templates to help you get up and running. 

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                              A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'