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DataForms.io Zapier integrationAutomate DataForms.io with Zapier.

The DataForms.io Zapier integration gives you 6 operations: 1 instant trigger, 2 actions and 3 searches. Enough to react to every submitted form straight away, spin up new forms from your templates and clear out old ones, from the free plan.

See the 6 operations

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Overview

What the DataForms.io Zapier integration does for you

DataForms.io lets a business build forms and collect the answers in one place. Through Zapier, it tells you the moment a form is submitted, creates and deletes forms, and finds an entry, a form or a template, so the next form goes out without anyone setting it up by hand.

An instant reaction to every submission. New Form Submit is an instant trigger: DataForms.io calls Zapier as soon as a form comes in, even on the free plan, with no wait for a scheduled check.

The next form ready on its own. Find Template fetches the template you always use and Create Form builds a fresh form from it, with its headline and type, for the next stage of your process.

Forms tidied away. Find Form locates a form and Delete Form removes it, so one-off forms do not pile up once their job is done. Find Entry gives later steps access to an answer already stored.

What Zapier does not do here: the only trigger is a submission, so there is nothing that reacts to a new form or a new template, no action edits a form or an entry, and no search can create what it fails to find.

Still choosing a platform? See our Make vs Zapier comparison. For a hand with the build, there is our Zapier agency.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven or eight words carry the whole page. Read them once and the rest of the page reads like plain English.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger that starts it, then one or more actions that run every time that event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that sets the Zap off. Once the Zap is published, Zapier sits and waits for that event to come up.
Action
The step that does the work after the start: it creates, sends or writes something in an app on your behalf.
Task
Zapier's billing unit. One task is one action that completed successfully, and your plan is sized as a count of those.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier asks the app for new items on a timer. Instant: the app calls Zapier itself the moment something happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when the incoming item meets a condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Connection
Your DataForms.io account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that works with DataForms.io.
Search step
A step that looks up something already stored in an app, so the steps after it can use what it found.
Cost

What a DataForms.io Zap really costs

Short version: the trigger is free, every successful action is billed, and the free plan stops at two steps.

  • Triggernever billed
  • Successful action1 task each
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Premium appno

Zapier counts in tasks. Looking for new data never costs anything, and an action that fails is not billed. Each action that succeeds counts on its own, so a Zap with three actions uses three tasks per run. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and Zaps of exactly two steps. Add a second action, a filter or a search step and the Zap turns multi-step, which needs a paid plan. DataForms.io is not a premium app: it works from the free plan. The free plan checks polling triggers every 15 minutes. That grid does not touch DataForms.io, whose only trigger is instant.

Connect

Connect DataForms.io to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open Apps and start a connection

    In your Zapier account, go to the Apps page and click + Add connection. Type DataForms.io in the search box of the dialog and pick it from the list of results.

  2. 02

    Sign in to DataForms.io

    Click Add connection. A new tab opens on the DataForms.io side: log in with the account the Zap should work with. You need an account there, plus read or write access to anything you do not own yourself.

  3. 03

    Grant access, once

    Approve the access Zapier asks for. That connection is now reusable: every DataForms.io step in every Zap picks it up, so you link the account once rather than once per Zap.

First Zap

Your first DataForms.io Zap: one form leads to the next

GoalEach submitted intake form creates the next form your process needs, built from the template you always use.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the trigger

    In the Build phase, choose DataForms.io as the trigger app and New Form Submit as the event. Select your connection and decide whether re-submitted forms should count.

  2. 02

    Test on a real submission

    Run the trigger test. Zapier brings back the three most recent submissions from your account, so you set up the rest on a real one instead of empty fields.

  3. 03

    Filter, then Find Template

    Add a Filter that lets only the intake form through, or each form the Zap creates restarts it once answered. Then add Find Template. Both make the Zap multi-step: paid plan.

  4. 04

    Set up Create Form

    Add Create Form, map the Template ID found at step two, then set a Headline and a Type. All three are required, so check none can come back empty.

  5. 05

    Test, then Publish

    Use Test on each step and open the new form in DataForms.io. Then click Publish: the Zap shows a lightning bolt and runs on every submission.

Triggers

The DataForms.io trigger: what starts a Zap

1 event starts a Zap when something happens in DataForms.io, and one of them is instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Form Submit

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a form is submitted.”

Each time someone submits a DataForms.io form, this trigger passes the submission to Zapier, ready for the next steps to act on it.

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 recruitment agency that wants the next questionnaire created the moment a candidate sends in the first one, even on the free plan.
Watch out
the trigger asks whether re-submits count. Switched on, a form edited and sent again starts the Zap a second time, and any form it creates is created twice.
Actions

DataForms.io actions: what the Zap can do

DataForms.io gives you 2 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Form

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new Form in the system.”

Builds a new form in DataForms.io from one of your templates, with the headline and type you choose.

When to use it
every new client or candidate needs their own form, built the same way each time.
Watch out
Allow Multiple Submissions only matters on a standard form, and Lock After Submission only on a collaborative one.
2

Delete Form

Action

In Zapier“Deletes a form from the system.”

Removes a form from DataForms.io. The one thing it needs is which form to delete.

When to use it
a one-off form has served its purpose and should not stay open.
Watch out
run Find Form first with multiple matches set to stop the Zap, so a vague match deletes nothing, and test on a throwaway form.
Searches

DataForms.io searches and their three settings

3 search steps look for data that already exists in DataForms.io, so a later step can use it.

A search step looks things up instead of creating them. Searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH, and some action fields offer + Add search step to slot one in just before.

1

Find Entry

Search

In Zapier“Finds an Entry in the system.”

Looks up an entry already stored in DataForms.io and hands it to the steps that follow.

When to use it
a later step needs an answer that the current trigger did not carry.
Watch out
whether it wants an exact value or something close is decided by DataForms.io, not Zapier.
2

Find Form

Search

In Zapier“Finds a Form in the system.”

Retrieves an existing form so another step can work on it, most often Delete Form.

When to use it
before deleting, to be sure the Zap targets the right form.
Watch out
if several forms match, the first one wins by default. Before a delete, set it to stop the Zap instead.
3

Find Template

Search

In Zapier“Finds a Template in the system.”

Fetches one of your DataForms.io templates, which is how a Zap gets the Template ID that Create Form insists on.

When to use it
right before Create Form, when the template should be picked by the Zap rather than fixed by hand.
Watch out
with nothing found, the default setting stops the Zap before the form is built.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    On its default, a search that finds nothing stops the run there and skips the steps that needed it. Switched on, the Zap goes on without the form, entry or template.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into find-or-create. DataForms.io offers no such variant: its three searches only find, and creating a form stays a Create Form step of its own.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    When several items match, the Zap keeps the first one by default. You can also stop the run, or pass every match on at once.
When it breaks

When a DataForms.io Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to DataForms.io, so the traps are the general ones plus what the app's fields demand.

The trigger is instant, so there is no schedule to wait for and no polling to tune. The four cases below are where things really go wrong. If a run fails anyway, start with our Zapier troubleshooting guide.

  • Past submissions are never picked up

    The Zap only reacts to forms submitted after you publish it. Answers already in DataForms.io stay there, and moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • Re-submits that double up

    With re-submits switched on, a form edited and sent again starts the Zap once more. If that Zap creates a form, you get two of them.

  • A burst of submissions held back

    A campaign that brings a huge wave of submissions at once can trip Zapier's flood protection, which may hold the batch back instead of running each one.

  • Create Form missing a field

    Template ID, Headline and Type are all required. If one arrives empty, the action fails: no task is billed, and no form is created either.
Need help

Need help automating DataForms.io with Zapier?

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FAQ

DataForms.io and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the DataForms.io Zapier integration free?
Yes, within the limits of the free plan. DataForms.io is not a premium app, so it runs without paying Zapier: 100 tasks a month and Zaps of one trigger and one action. Its trigger is instant, so the free plan does not slow it down. A Zap from New Form Submit straight to Create Form fits inside that. As soon as you add a search, a filter or a second action, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan.
02How many tasks does a DataForms.io Zap use?
One per successful action, per run. The trigger never counts, so a submission that starts the Zap costs nothing on its own. A Zap from New Form Submit to Create Form uses one task per submission. Add Delete Form and you are at two. An action that fails is not billed. Watch the re-submits setting: switched on, an edited form sent again runs the Zap a second time, and each run uses its tasks again.
03Does DataForms.io trigger Zaps in real time?
Yes. New Form Submit is an instant trigger: DataForms.io notifies Zapier as soon as a form is submitted, and the Zap starts right away. The polling grid of the plans does not apply to it, so this holds on Free as well as on Professional, Team and Enterprise. In the editor, a Zap built on it shows a lightning bolt. The type is set by the app itself and cannot be changed from Zapier.
04What do you need to connect DataForms.io to Zapier?
A DataForms.io account and a Zapier account. From the Apps page in Zapier, add a connection, pick DataForms.io, sign in on the tab that opens and grant access. If the Zap touches forms someone else owns, your login needs read or write access to them. Since Create Form needs a Template ID, have at least one template ready in DataForms.io before you build a Zap that creates forms, so the first test has something real to work with.
05Why does a DataForms.io Zap run twice for the same form?
Most likely because re-submits are switched on in the trigger. With that setting active, a form that is edited and then submitted again counts as a new submission, so the Zap runs a second time. If the Zap creates a form, you end up with two. Turn re-submits off if only the first submission matters, or keep it on and make sure the second run cannot do harm. A quick test with a form you edit and send again shows the behaviour.
06What if the DataForms.io operation you need is not in Zapier?
Then this integration cannot do it today, and no setting will unlock it. The editor offers 1 trigger, 2 actions and 3 searches for DataForms.io: submissions in, forms created or deleted, entries, forms and templates found. Nothing edits a form or an entry. Check whether the job splits into what does exist, such as a search followed by Create Form. Otherwise, handle that part inside DataForms.io itself or on another automation platform.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for DataForms.io?
Decide on criteria rather than a ranking. Zapier fits if these six operations cover your form workflow and you want an instant trigger that works even on the free plan. If you need operations missing from this list, or long Zaps where every action adds a task, check what each platform offers for DataForms.io and how it counts usage before you build. The right pick is the one whose operations match the job, at a cost you can predict.
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