Send a request from a Zap
A request asks one named recipient to complete a form. Add a Create Request step to a Zap, prefill the recipient's name so they cannot change it, and hand the link to the next step.
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Before you start
You need a Formstep connection in Zapier and a published form. What a request is, and what it can carry, is in Creating requests. The steps here show where each option sits in Zapier.
For an approval, open Templates in Formstep and pick Approval. It holds a Decision question with Approve, Decline and Request changes, a text box for the changes, and a signature for approval.
For what the app is good for, and how it replaces Approval by Zapier, see Formstep for Zapier.
1. Add the Create Request step
Start with the trigger that should send the request, such as a deal marked won in your CRM or a new row in Google Sheets. Add an action, choose Formstep, and pick Create Request.
2. Pick the form, the recipient and the delivery
Form is the form the recipient completes. It must be published.
Recipient Email and Recipient Name usually come from the trigger. The email is needed for email delivery and for reminders.
Language is one of the form’s published languages, like
de. Leave it empty for the form’s default.Delivery decides who sends the link. Email lets Formstep send the invitation and reminders, on Pro and Business. None, the default, sends no invitation: a later step of your Zap sends the Request URL by Slack, SMS or your own email tool. That makes the Zap three steps, which needs a paid Zapier plan.
With a Recipient Email, Formstep still emails the form’s scheduled reminders even when Delivery is None. To send none, leave Recipient Email empty.
3. Prefill and lock what you already know
Once you pick the form, each question you can prefill appears below as a field. Fill in any answer you already have. Add a question to Read-only fields to lock it. Fields marked (context) are the form’s hidden fields, and a Documents field takes files from earlier steps when the form has a Documents block. What each of these does is in Prefill, locked fields and hidden fields.
The recipient opens the link and finds their name filled in and locked:
4. Set an External ID
Put your own id for this piece of work in External ID, like the deal number deal-1042. A later Zap can then
find the request by it. If Zapier runs the step again with the same External ID and the same inputs, you get
the same request back instead of a second one. Use a new External ID for each request, and a fresh one when you change a test step’s
inputs.
Reminders, Expires At and Metadata are optional. For expiry and reminder defaults, see Invitations, reminders and expiry.
5. Test the step
Click Test step. Formstep creates the request and returns it. Request URL is the link for the recipient; map it into the step that sends it.
Testing the step creates a real request
Unless Test Request is on, the test is a real request: with Email delivery, the recipient gets the invitation. Turn Test Request on while you build the Zap. A test request sends no email, counts nowhere, and does not start any Zap with a request trigger. Turn it off before you publish.
To test the whole path, turn Test Request off, set Delivery to None, use your own email and open the Request URL yourself.
Find, remind and cancel requests
Four more Formstep actions work on a request that already exists. A typical Zap finds the request by the id your system knows it by, then reminds or cancels it. The same actions are on the Requests page.
Find a request by External ID
Your CRM knows the deal as deal-1042, not by Formstep’s request ID. Add a Formstep action with the event
Find Request and map your id into External ID:
Form narrows the search to one form. Leave it empty to search the whole workspace.
Include Test Requests is off by default, so a test request is not found. Turn it on while you build the Zap.
If several requests share the External ID, the newest comes first, and Zapier uses it unless you change If multiple search results are found.
The result is the whole request: its status, outcome, recipient, dates, and what you prefilled and locked.
Read the answers with Get Request
Get Request takes a Request: map the Request ID from a Create Request step, a Find Request step or a request trigger. It returns the request, its link, and the answers once it is completed. Pick the request’s form under Form so the answers are labelled with the question titles.
Send a reminder with Remind Request
Remind Request emails the recipient a reminder now, on Pro and Business. Scheduled reminders still go out as planned. The request must be pending and have a recipient email, and a test request is never reminded. How often you can remind someone is in Invitations, reminders and expiry.
Withdraw a request with Cancel Request
Cancel Request withdraws a pending request. The link stops working, and the recipient sees a withdrawn notice instead of the form. Fill in Reason to record why: the Request Canceled trigger carries it, so another Zap can tell your team. A request that is already completed, expired or canceled stays as it is, and the step fails.