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7shifts Zapier integrationAutomate 7shifts with Zapier.

The 7shifts Zapier integration gives you 9 triggers, 0 actions and 9 searches. Every trigger is instant, so a closed payroll period or a fresh time punch reaches Zapier right away. No action exists: Zapier reads 7shifts, it never writes into it.

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Overview

What the 7shifts Zapier integration actually does

Linking 7shifts to Zapier lets the things that happen on your restaurant team (a schedule going live, someone clocking in, an employee leaving) start work in your other tools. You build a Zap, the automation Zapier runs for you: one starting event, then the steps that follow every time it happens. Here the flow only goes one way, out of 7shifts.

A clock-in log you can audit. Time Punch Created fires on each punch, and a spreadsheet row keeps every clock-in in one place for the person who reviews labor.

An offboarding alarm. User Deactivated tells your ops channel the moment a manager switches someone off, so access to the POS, the group chat or the shared drive gets revoked the same day instead of whenever someone remembers.

A payroll packet for the accountant. Payroll Period Closed starts the Zap, Get Hours and Wages Report Detailed fetches the hours behind it, and an email carries the result to whoever runs payroll outside 7shifts.

What Zapier does not do with 7shifts: it cannot create a shift, edit a schedule, add an employee or fix a punch, because the app exposes no action at all. Any change still happens inside 7shifts. It also ignores everything that happened before your Zap went live.

Weighing other tools before you commit? The n8n vs Zapier and Make vs Zapier comparisons set the criteria side by side.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven words come back on every line of this page. Here they are, in plain English.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time that trigger event shows up.
Trigger
The event in an app that kicks the Zap off. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier sits and waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something for you in another app.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task equals one action your Zap finished successfully, and your plan counts those.
Polling vs instant
A polling trigger is checked on a timer. An instant trigger is pushed by the app itself the moment the event happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming data meets a condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something already stored in an app so the following steps can reuse what it found.
Cost

What it really costs

7shifts is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan. The trigger costs nothing, and neither does Zapier waiting for events.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month
  • Trigger0 tasks
  • Premium appNo
  • Instant triggers9 of 9

You pay in tasks, one per action that succeeds. A failed action is not billed. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month but only two-step Zaps: one trigger, one action. Add a search from 7shifts, a filter or a second action and the Zap becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan. The interval grid below only matters for polling triggers, and 7shifts has none, so even a free account gets every event without delay.

Connect

Connect 7shifts to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open your Apps page

    In Zapier, go to Apps. That page holds every connection, meaning an account linked once and then reused by all your Zaps. Click + Add connection at the top of the list.

  2. 02

    Find 7shifts and start

    Type 7shifts in the search box of the dialog, pick it, then click Add connection. A new browser tab then opens on the 7shifts side, where the login happens.

  3. 03

    Sign in and allow access

    Log in to 7shifts in that tab and grant Zapier access. Use an account that can see the locations, punches and payroll you want the Zap to read, not just your own profile.

First Zap

Your first Zap: every clock-in logged in a sheet

GoalEach time someone punches in, write a spreadsheet row with that punch, so the person who reviews labor reads one sheet instead of opening 7shifts.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the starting event

    Create a Zap, choose 7shifts as the app and Time Punch Created as the event. Select your connection and enter the Company ID.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent punches of the connected account, so you map the next step on a real one.

  3. 03

    Write the row

    Add the spreadsheet step and map the punch values you need into your columns. With one trigger and one action, this Zap runs on the free plan.

  4. 04

    Test the action

    Run the action test once and read the row it created before going further. A wrong column is cheaper to fix now than after a week of punches.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Click Publish to switch the Zap on. From now on, every new punch lands in the sheet. Earlier punches stay where they are.

Triggers

7shifts triggers on Zapier

9 events start a Zap when something happens in 7shifts, and 9 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

Payroll Period Closed

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a payroll period is closed. Note that the time periods for all locations must be closed before this will be triggered.”

Starts your Zap once a payroll period is closed in 7shifts, which is the cleanest moment to hand hours over to someone outside the app. Pair it with an hours report from the searches below. Since the period is already closed, the whole stretch of hours goes out together, with nobody exporting anything.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
you want the accountant or a payroll provider to get the closed period without anyone exporting a file.
Watch out
it waits until the time periods of every location are closed; one location left open and nothing fires.
2

Scheduled Published

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a schedule is published. Note that this will trigger on new and modified schedules.”

Fires when a manager publishes a schedule, so the team hears about next week's rota from wherever they actually read messages. It covers fresh schedules and edits alike, which is useful and noisy in equal parts.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
your floor staff live in a group chat and keep missing the schedule notification inside 7shifts.
Watch out
republishing a modified schedule fires again, so expect a second message after every change.
3

Time Punch Created

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a time punch is created.”

Reacts to each new clock-in record. That makes it the backbone of any labor log kept outside 7shifts, from a shared sheet to a dashboard someone already watches every morning.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
a general manager wants to see punches arrive during service without opening 7shifts on the office computer.
Watch out
on a busy service this trigger runs a lot, and each action after it spends a task, so check your monthly count first.
4

Time Punch Deleted

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a time punch is deleted.”

Catches the removal of a punch. Deletions are rare and they change pay, so a quiet record of them outside 7shifts is worth having when a question comes up at the end of the period.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
an owner wants a trace of every deleted punch in a log only they can edit.
Watch out
like every trigger here, it asks for the Company ID, and it only sees deletions made after the Zap is published.
5

Time Punch Modified

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a time punch is modified.”

Goes off when someone edits an existing punch, typically a forgotten clock-out corrected after the fact. Paired with the creation trigger, it keeps an outside log honest instead of frozen on the first version.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
your sheet of punches needs to reflect corrections, not just the raw clock-ins.
Watch out
every correction fires it again, so a punch fixed twice starts the Zap twice and spends tasks twice.
6

User Created

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a user is modified.”

Opens a Zap for a new person added to your 7shifts account. Hiring rarely ends inside the scheduling app: uniforms, logins, a welcome pack and a training slot all live somewhere else.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
a new hire should land on the onboarding checklist the HR lead already keeps in another tool.
Watch out
Zapier's own description of this trigger talks about a modified user, so test it with a real new hire before trusting it.
7

User Deactivated

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a user is deactivated.”

Fires when an employee is switched off in 7shifts. Departures are where small teams leak access, and this is the event that can remind someone to close the other doors.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
the person in charge of passwords and keys needs a nudge each time someone leaves.
Watch out
people who left before the Zap was published never trigger it; that backlog has to be handled by hand.
8

User Modified

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a user is modified.”

Follows changes to an existing employee profile. Useful when another system keeps a copy of your staff list and drifts out of date every time someone updates a profile in 7shifts.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
a contact sheet for the whole team should follow edits made in 7shifts.
Watch out
any edit counts, so a burst of profile changes means a burst of runs, and of tasks if actions follow.
9

User Reactivated

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a user is reactivated.”

Notices when a previously deactivated employee comes back. Returning staff skip the hiring paperwork, yet still need their logins, their place in the group chat and sometimes a refresher.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
returning team members should be put back on the same lists the offboarding Zap took them off.
Watch out
it has its own required Company ID like every other trigger here, so a copied Zap still needs that field checked.
Searches

7shifts searches: reading data mid-Zap

9 search steps look for data that already exists in 7shifts, so a later step can use it.

With no action on offer, these nine searches are how a Zap pulls extra data out of 7shifts. In the editor they sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH. Each one makes your Zap multi-step.

1

Get Daily Sales & Labor Report

Search

In Zapier“Retrieves daily sales”

Pulls the day-by-day sales and labor picture of one location between two dates, ready to drop into a message or a sheet.

When to use it
a closed payroll period should come with the sales it paid for.
Watch out
it wants a Location ID plus a start and end date in year-month-day form.
2

Get Hours and Wages Report Detailed

Search

In Zapier“Retrieves either scheduled or actual hours and wages”

Returns hours and wages for a location over a date range, using either the planned schedule or the real punches as the source.

When to use it
the accountant needs the long version, not a summary.
Watch out
the punches setting decides scheduled versus actual hours, so check it before the first live run.
3

Get Hours and Wages Report Compact

Search

In Zapier“Retrieves either scheduled or actual hours and wages per user per role”

A shorter hours and wages report, broken down per user and per role across the dates you give it.

When to use it
a role-by-role view is enough, for example to compare kitchen and front-of-house cost.
Watch out
like its detailed sibling, it switches between planned and punched hours through one required setting.
4

List Departments

Search

In Zapier“List Departments for a company”

Lists the departments set up for one location of your company in 7shifts.

When to use it
a later step needs the department names to sort messages or rows.
Watch out
both the Company ID and the Location ID are mandatory here.
5

List Locations

Search

In Zapier“List Locations for a company”

Brings back every location of the company, which is often the quickest way to find the Location ID other searches ask for.

When to use it
a group with several restaurants wants each report tagged with the right site.
Watch out
it only needs the Company ID, so it is a handy first test of your connection.
6

List Roles

Search

In Zapier“Lists roles for a company”

Lists the roles defined for one location, such as the positions your staff can be scheduled on.

When to use it
a downstream sheet groups hours by role and needs the role list to match.
Watch out
it asks for both a Company ID and a Location ID.
7

Retrieve Shift

Search

In Zapier“Retrieve a specific shift by Shift ID”

Fetches one shift when an earlier step already hands you its Shift ID.

When to use it
the steps that follow need the full planned shift, not just its number.
Watch out
without a Shift ID mapped from an earlier step, there is nothing to look up.
8

Retrieve Time Punch

Search

In Zapier“Retrieve a specific time punch by time punch ID”

Gets a single punch back from its Time Punch ID, so a Zap started by another event can read the punch in full.

When to use it
a modified punch needs its latest state written to an outside log.
Watch out
both the Company ID and the Time Punch ID are required.
9

Retrieve User

Search

In Zapier“Retrieve a specific user by User ID”

Looks up one employee from a User ID and hands the profile to the steps that follow.

When to use it
an earlier step gives you a User ID and the message should name a person.
Watch out
the Company ID the user belongs to is required along with the User ID.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left as is, a search that comes back empty stops the Zap and the dependent steps are skipped. Turn it on to let the Zap go on without the result.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into find-or-create. None of the 7shifts searches has that variant, so the box does not concern you here.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three exits when several items match: keep the first, which is the default, stop the Zap, or pass every match on at once.
When it breaks

Where a 7shifts Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to 7shifts and lists no app-specific rate limit. What breaks comes from how the triggers behave and from Zapier's general rules.

Four situations account for most surprises. If a Zap stops for a reason not listed here, the Zapier troubleshooting guide walks through the usual suspects.

  • Nothing from before the Zap

    A Zap only reacts to events after it is published. Last month's punches or people who already left are never picked up; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • A schedule edit fires twice

    Scheduled Published reacts to new and modified schedules. Every correction a manager republishes starts the Zap again and spends tasks again.

  • Payroll waits for every location

    Payroll Period Closed only fires once the periods of all locations are closed. A single site left open holds the whole Zap back.

  • Bulk imports get throttled

    A sudden flood of events, after importing a whole staff list for instance, can be held back by Zapier's flood protection instead of running at once.
Need help

Need help automating 7shifts with Zapier?

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FAQ

7shifts and Zapier: common questions

01Is the 7shifts Zapier integration free?
Yes, to start. 7shifts is not a premium app, so it runs on the free Zapier plan. That plan covers 100 tasks a month and Zaps of two steps only: one trigger and one action. Since 7shifts has no action, the action has to come from another app, for example a chat or a spreadsheet. The moment you add one of the nine 7shifts searches, a filter or a second action, the Zap turns multi-step and needs a paid plan. Waiting for events and running the trigger never cost anything.
02How many tasks does a 7shifts Zap use?
One task per action that completes successfully, and nothing for the trigger. A Zap that posts each new punch to a channel spends one task per punch. Add a second action and each punch costs two. Failed actions are not billed. Busy triggers such as Time Punch Created or User Modified can add up fast during a full week of service, so it is worth estimating the number of events before you choose a plan.
03Does 7shifts trigger Zaps in real time?
Yes. All nine 7shifts triggers are instant: the app pushes the event to Zapier as soon as it happens, and the Zap shows a lightning bolt in the editor. The plan interval grid, from 15 minutes on Free down to 1 minute on Team and Enterprise, applies to polling triggers only, so it does not slow anything here. Even a free account gets each event right away. Two exceptions are worth knowing: payroll closes only after every location closes, and schedule edits fire again.
04What does it take to connect 7shifts to Zapier?
A 7shifts account, plus access to every location, punch or payroll record the Zap should read. The connection itself takes three moves from the Apps page in Zapier: add a connection, pick 7shifts, then sign in and grant access in the tab that opens. Before building anything, find your Company ID in 7shifts under Company Settings, Developer Tools and the Resource IDs tab. Every trigger asks for it, and so do most searches.
05Can Zapier create shifts or employees in 7shifts?
No. The 7shifts app on Zapier offers 9 triggers and 9 searches but not a single action, so no Zap can add a shift, publish a schedule, create an employee or correct a punch. Data flows out of 7shifts toward your other tools, never back in. A useful side effect: a 7shifts Zap cannot loop on itself by writing where its own trigger watches. Anything that has to change in 7shifts still gets done in 7shifts.
06What if the 7shifts operation you need does not exist?
Then the editor simply will not offer it, and it is better to know before building. The list on this page is exactly what Zapier exposes for 7shifts today: 9 triggers, 9 searches, no action. If the missing piece is a way to write into 7shifts, no Zap setting will add it. Check whether one of the searches already returns the data you need, or whether another automation platform covers that operation for 7shifts.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for 7shifts?
It depends on your criteria rather than on a winner. On Zapier, 7shifts gives instant triggers on a free account and a set of reports to read, which suits a team that wants simple outbound alerts without hosting anything. If you need to write into 7shifts, check first whether the other platform exposes such an operation. Weigh how many events a month you expect, who will maintain the Zaps, and whether multi-step flows push you onto a paid plan anyway.
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