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Add conditions to Zaps with filters

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How to add filters to your Zap

Filters are a way to ensure actions get performed only on the items you want. With filters, you set a specific condition and the Zap will only continue if it meets that condition. Filters are an optional part of setting up a Zap, but they're a great way to make sure Zaps only continue for certain items. In this tutorial, we’ll teach you how to set up filters in your Zap.

Example

For instance, you can set up a filter to only capture emails that contain a specific subject line, or only customers who purchase a specific product. So when the data from your Zap meets the conditions of a filter, it proceeds to the next action in your Zap. If a filter stops an item, then no further actions are performed.

Before you can set up a filter, you’ll first need to have a trigger for your Zap.

1. Add a Filter step

  • In the Zap editor, click the + icon to add a new step.
  • Select Filter by Zapier.
  • Click Continue.

Adding a filter step

You can add a filter at any point after the trigger, and can even have multiple filters in a single Zap.

2. Customize your filter rules

  • In the Filter Setup & Testing section, set up your filter rules:
    • In the first dropdown menu, select the field that you want the filter to check.
    • In the second dropdown menu, select the condition (or logic) that you want to use.
    • In the third dropdown menu, define the value that you want to compare the field to.
  • Click Continue.

Let’s take the example of a Zap that triggers from new submissions to a form, and we only want it to run if the user who submitted has an email address that ends in `@zapier.com`. We can set up a filter that looks at the Email field from our trigger, choose the condition to be (Text) Contains, and set the value to be `@zapier.com`.

Tip

Your filter can have multiple criteria, and these criteria can be added using either “And” or “Or” logic. If you only want the filter to pass if both things are true, add a new filter using the And button. But if you want a filter to pass if either thing is true, add a new filter using the Or button.

Note

Conditions can only work for the type of data that is specified in parentheses. So any filter that begins with “(Text)” can only work for text fields and any one that begins with “(Number)” can only work with number fields. Learn about the different types of filter conditions.

3. Test your filter

If the sample data you’re testing would have passed the filter, you’ll see a confirmation message that your Zap would have continued.

If the data would have passed the filter, you will see a green message saying your Zap would have continued.

But if the sample data would not have passed the filter, you’ll see a message that your Zap would not have continued.

If the data doesn’t pass the filter, you will see a gray message saying that the Zap would not have continued.

Even when the test doesn’t pass, you can continue to set up your Zap.

After you’ve created your filter, you will need to set up one or more action steps. These actions will only happen if the filter passes. Once you’ve done that, you can turn on your Zap.

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