Dovetail Zapier integrationAutomate Dovetail with Zapier.
The Dovetail Zapier integration has 2 triggers and 5 actions. It reacts when a project is created or updated, and it pushes data, docs, contacts and timestamped data points into Dovetail from your other tools. Works on the free plan too.
Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency
What the Dovetail Zapier integration does for your research ops
Dovetail pulls together customer feedback scattered across sales, support and research, and turns it into insight you can back with evidence. Hooking it up to Zapier means nobody copies that feedback over by hand anymore: a robot drops it into the right project as soon as it shows up in your other tools.
Think of it as three pipes. One carries raw material: support tickets or call notes land in an existing project through Add Data to Project, and new content can be appended under an existing title instead of creating a near copy. Another carries a steady stream of timestamped feedback into a channel or a source, through Add Data Point to Channel and Add Data Point to Source. The last one sets up each new study: New Project followed by Add Doc to Project gives every project a starter doc from day one.
What Zapier does not do for Dovetail: start from anything other than a project. Both triggers watch projects being created or updated, nothing else. They poll, so Zapier checks on a timer, every 15 minutes on the free plan. There are no searches either, which means a Zap cannot look up an existing Dovetail contact or doc and reuse it further down. Sketch your workflow with those limits in view.
Zapier terms in plain English
Eight words and the rest of this page reads easily.
- Zap
- The automation you build in Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that play out every time the event happens.
- Trigger
- The event that starts the Zap, such as a new project in Dovetail. Once the Zap is live, Zapier watches for it.
- Action
- What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something for you, like adding a contact to Dovetail.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan's allowance is counted in these.
- Polling trigger
- A trigger Zapier checks on a fixed schedule, keeping only what it has not seen yet. Both Dovetail triggers work this way.
- Instant trigger
- A trigger the app reports to Zapier on its own, the moment the event happens. Dovetail offers none on Zapier.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap keep going only when the incoming data meets your condition. Otherwise it stops right there.
- Connection
- Your Dovetail account, linked to Zapier once, then picked up by every Dovetail step in all your Zaps.
What it really costs
The trigger is free. Every successful action counts.
- Free plan100 tasks a month, two steps per Zap
- Dovetail triggersPolling, no cost
- Failed actionNot counted
- DovetailUsable on the free plan
Zapier never bills the trigger, nor the checks it runs on Dovetail to spot a new or changed project. Each successful action uses one task, and a failed action is not counted. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and polls Dovetail every 15 minutes, but each Zap is capped at two steps there. A filter or a second action makes it a multi-step Zap, and that needs a paid plan before it can go live.
Connect your Dovetail account
- 01
Head to Apps
In Zapier, open the Apps page of your account and click + Add connection. All of your connections live on that page, one for each account you link to Zapier.
- 02
Find Dovetail
Search for Dovetail by name in the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. You need an existing Dovetail account to get any further than this step.
- 03
Sign in and authorize
Log in to Dovetail in the tab that opens and grant Zapier access. For projects you do not own, you need read or write rights before the Zap can touch them.
Your first Zap: seed every new study with starter data
GoalEach project created in Dovetail that passes your rule gets its starter data added automatically, so researchers never begin from a blank page.
- 01
Set the trigger
In Build, pick Dovetail and New Project. When you test, Zapier brings back the three most recent projects on the account, so you set everything up on a real one.
- 02
Add a filter
Use the plus icon to add Filter, choose the field to look at, the rule and the value, then Configure & test. Projects that fail the rule stop here.
- 03
Add the data
Plug in Add Data to Project and map the project from the trigger into the required Project field. Write the starter content you want every study to open with.
- 04
Test every step
In Test, run each step once and read what came back before moving on. New to this? See our Zapier training. Check that each field holds what you expected.
- 05
Publish
Click Publish to switch it on. The filter makes this a three-step Zap, so it needs a paid plan. Drop the filter and it fits the free plan.
The 2 Dovetail triggers
2 events start a Zap when something happens in Dovetail. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.
New Project
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new project is created”
Spots each project created in your Dovetail workspace and starts the Zap with that project in hand. It is the natural way in when you want every study prepared the moment it exists, without relying on someone to remember.
Updated Project
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a project is updated.”
Fires when a project is updated, not just when it is created. The same project can therefore start the Zap more than once over its lifetime.
The 5 Dovetail actions
Dovetail gives you 5 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Add Data Point to Channel
ActionIn Zapier“Adds a data point to a channel.”
Sends one data point into a Dovetail channel. The channel and the timestamp, meaning the creation date of the data point, are both required.
Add Doc to Project
ActionIn Zapier“Adds a doc to an existing project.”
Places a doc inside an existing project, chosen in the required field. You can publish it straight away or keep it as a draft.
Add Data to Project
ActionIn Zapier“Adds data to an existing project.”
Drops raw data into an existing project, picked in the required Project field. This is the material your team will analyze later.
Add Contact
ActionIn Zapier“Adds a contact to the contacts database.”
Puts a person into the Dovetail contacts database, so the people your team talks to sit in the same workspace as the research.
Add Data Point to Source
ActionIn Zapier“Adds a data point to a Zapier source in your workspace.”
Adds a data point to a Zapier source inside your Dovetail workspace. Source and timestamp are both required.
When it breaks
Zapier documents no limit specific to Dovetail. The general rules apply, and they are enough to surprise you.
Four general Zapier rules apply to Dovetail as to any app. To check them one by one, see the Zapier troubleshooting page; if you are still weighing tools, there is also n8n vs Zapier.
Existing projects are skipped
A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Projects already in Dovetail are not picked up, and catching up on the backlog is a separate job.The Zap keeps restarting
A Zap on Updated Project that writes into that same project changes it, so it fires again, and again. Your task allowance melts fast.A big wave gets held
After a migration or a bulk import of projects, the trigger may return a huge batch at once. Zapier's flood protection can hold it back.Each new project runs once
On New Project, Zapier remembers the projects it has already seen through polling. The same project never fires that trigger a second time.
Need help automating Dovetail with Zapier?
A person reads every message.
