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Image-Charts Zapier integrationAutomate Image-Charts with Zapier.

The Image-Charts Zapier integration gives you 10 actions and no trigger. Each action turns data from another app into the link of a PNG image: a bar, line or pie chart, a sparkline, a QR code. Here is how to wire it, and what it costs.

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Overview

What the Image-Charts Zapier integration actually does

Image-Charts draws charts and QR codes as images you can drop into emails or PDF reports. Zapier plugs it into your other tools through a Zap: an automation that starts on an event in one app (the trigger), then does things for you (the actions). Image-Charts only brings actions, so it always comes second: data arrives elsewhere, then Image-Charts draws it.

A chart inside every report email. A row lands in your spreadsheet; Create a Bar Chart, Create a Line Chart or Create a Pie Chart turns it into the URL of a PNG image, and the next step puts that image in an email or a document. Agencies sending client reports stop pasting screenshots by hand.

A QR code for each person or order. Create a QR Code Chart encodes a link or any sentence into an image. An event organiser can give each registrant a code that points to their own page.

A trend line for your digest. Create a Sparkline Chart, one of the two actions Zapier puts forward for this app, returns a sparkline image for a digest email. For anything outside the ready-made types, Create a Chart and Create a Chart.js Chart accept a full configuration.

What Zapier does not do here: it cannot start a Zap from Image-Charts, which has no trigger, and it does not send or store the image for you. Each action returns a link; putting that link somewhere useful is the job of the next step, in another app.

Weighing another platform for this? The Image-Charts Make integration page is the companion of this one, and our Zapier review is there if you are still deciding on Zapier itself.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven words that come back on every line below, in plain English.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event that starts a Zap, like a new row in a spreadsheet. Image-Charts has none, so it always comes from another app.
Action
What the Zap does once started: the step that writes, sends or creates something for you. Every Image-Charts operation is one.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action that completes successfully. Your plan allowance is simply a count of those.
Polling vs instant
A polling trigger is checked on a timer set by your plan. An instant trigger is pushed by the app the moment the event happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when what arrived meets your condition, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something already stored in an app for later steps. Image-Charts offers none on Zapier.
Cost

What an Image-Charts Zap really costs

Drawing the chart is an action, so it is billed. Watching your spreadsheet is not.

  • Trigger (other app)Free, never counted
  • Each chart or QR code created1 task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only
  • Image-Charts on the free planYes, not a premium app

The trigger in your other app costs nothing, and checking it for new data costs nothing either. Each Image-Charts action that succeeds counts as one task, and in a Zap with several actions each one counts on its own: draw a chart, then email it, and that is two tasks per run. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but only two-step Zaps: one trigger, one action. Since a chart nearly always needs a next step to go anywhere, most useful Image-Charts Zaps are multi-step and need a paid plan. Image-Charts is not a premium app, so it runs on the free plan.

Connect

Connect Image-Charts to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In Zapier, go to Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your Image-Charts account linked once, then reused by every Zap step that draws a chart.

  2. 02

    Pick Image-Charts

    Search for Image-Charts in the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. You need an Image-Charts account of your own before the connection can go through.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    A new tab opens on Image-Charts. Sign in, then allow Zapier to use the account. Once that is done, every chart action in your Zaps runs under this connection.

First Zap

Your first Zap: a bar chart in each report email

GoalWhen a new row of figures lands in your spreadsheet, draw a bar chart from it and send the image to your client in an email.

  1. 01

    Build: set the trigger

    Create a Zap and pick your spreadsheet as the starting app, with its event for a new row. Image-Charts has no trigger, so the Zap begins where your figures arrive.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent rows, so you map the chart on real figures rather than an empty template.

  3. 03

    Add the bar chart

    Add Image-Charts with Create a Bar Chart. Choose the bar chart type (vertical or horizontal, stacked or grouped), map your figures into Dataset and set the chart size.

  4. 04

    Send the image

    Add your email tool and place the PNG link returned by the previous step in the message. Two actions make this a multi-step Zap, so it needs a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Test, then Publish

    Test each step and open the image link to check the chart looks right. Then click Publish. Each new row uses two tasks.

Actions

Image-Charts actions on Zapier

Image-Charts gives you 10 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create a Bar Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Bar Chart.”

Draws your figures as bars and returns the URL of a PNG image. Bars can stand vertically or lie horizontally, stacked or grouped.

When to use it
a sales manager compares revenue per rep in the team email.
Watch out
the bar chart type, the dataset and the chart size are all required; leave one empty and the step cannot run.
2

Create a Bubble Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Bubble Chart.”

Draws your dataset as a bubble chart and returns the image URL.

When to use it
a product team wants its feature map drawn as an image for the planning email.
Watch out
only dataset and size are required, so the work is in shaping the dataset right before this step.
3

Create a Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Chart. Advanced usage.”

The advanced route: you write every chart setting yourself, as parameters in query string format, and get back a PNG link.

When to use it
you need a chart type or an option the ready-made actions above do not offer.
Watch out
the Parameters field is required and carries the whole chart, so this action is for people comfortable with the Image-Charts documentation.
4

Create a Chart.js Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Chart.js Chart. Advanced usage.”

Renders a chart from a Chart.js configuration object and returns the image URL, for teams who already describe their charts that way.

When to use it
a developer reuses the chart setup from your web dashboard to produce the same image in emails.
Watch out
six fields are required, including the version, width, height, background color in hexadecimal and retina support.
5

Create a Line Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Line Chart.”

Plots your values as a line chart and hands back the link to the PNG it produced.

When to use it
a SaaS founder wants signups over the past period drawn into an investor update without opening a spreadsheet.
Watch out
dataset and size are required, and the dataset has to follow the format Image-Charts documents, which it calls Awesome format.
6

Create a Pie Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Pie Chart.”

Splits a total into slices and returns the image link. You pick the style: a classic pie, a doughnut, a polar area or a concentric pie.

When to use it
a marketing lead shows the share of leads per channel in a client report.
Watch out
the pie chart type is a required choice on top of the dataset and the size.
7

Create a QR Code Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a QR Code Chart.”

Turns a link or any sentence into a QR code image and returns its URL. It is one of the two actions Zapier highlights for this app.

When to use it
each new attendee gets a code pointing to their own check-in page, ready to print on a badge.
Watch out
the data to encode and the chart size are both required.
8

Create a Radar Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Radar Chart.”

Turns your dataset into a radar chart and returns the image link.

When to use it
a training company sends each learner a picture of their scores across skills after an assessment.
Watch out
dataset and size are the two required fields, so check what your earlier step really sends before mapping it.
9

Create a Scatter Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Scatter Chart.”

Plots every pair of values in your dataset as a scatter chart and returns the PNG link.

When to use it
an analyst wants ad spend against conversions per campaign as an image in the weekly report thread.
Watch out
dataset and size are mandatory, and the dataset follows the format Image-Charts documents.
10

Create a Sparkline Chart

Action

In Zapier“Creates a URL of a PNG image displaying a Sparkline Chart.”

Produces a sparkline, a compact line chart, and returns the link to its PNG. Zapier puts it forward with the QR code action.

When to use it
a digest email lists your key numbers, each with its own small trend image.
Watch out
only the dataset and the chart size are required, and both must be filled before the step can run.
When it breaks

When an Image-Charts Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Image-Charts, so the cases below are the general ones of Zapier, as they play out with this app.

These are not specific to Image-Charts, but each one shows up differently when the job is drawing images. If you would rather hand the diagnosis to someone, see our Zapier troubleshooting page.

  • Old rows never get a chart

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. The rows already in your spreadsheet are not replayed; charting them is a separate job.

  • The Zap keeps setting itself off

    Write the chart link back into the same sheet your trigger watches, and each write can start the Zap again, burning through your tasks fast.

  • A bulk import holds the Zap back

    When the trigger suddenly returns a huge batch, after an import or a migration, Zapier's flood protection can hold the runs instead of firing them all.

  • The same row is not charted twice

    On a polling trigger, Zapier remembers what it has already seen, so the same item does not start the Zap twice. One row, one chart.

  • The size is not in the expected format

    Eight actions require a chart size written {width}x{height}. Write it in that form, with your own numbers, before you test the step.

  • A failed chart costs nothing

    An action that does not go through is not billed, so a wrong size or a broken dataset spares your tasks. Test each step before you publish.
Need help

Need help automating Image-Charts with Zapier?

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FAQ

Image-Charts Zapier integration: common questions

01Is the Image-Charts Zapier integration free?
On the Zapier side, yes. Image-Charts is not a premium app, so it works on the free Zapier plan, which includes 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The limit is the shape of the Zap: on the free plan a Zap has two steps, one trigger in another app and one Image-Charts action. Since a chart usually needs a further step to reach an email or a document, most useful Image-Charts Zaps end up multi-step, and those require a paid plan.
02How many tasks does an Image-Charts Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, every time the Zap runs. The trigger in your other app costs nothing, and checking it for new data costs nothing either. A Zap that draws a bar chart and then emails it uses two tasks per run: one for the chart, one for the email. An action that fails is not counted. A few apps and actions take more than one task when they complete, so keep that in mind for the other apps in the Zap.
03Does Image-Charts work in real time on Zapier?
It depends on the app that starts the Zap, because Image-Charts has no trigger of its own. If that app offers an instant trigger, it tells Zapier the moment new data appears and the chart is drawn straight away, on any plan. If it uses a polling trigger, Zapier checks at an interval set by your plan: every 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, and 1 on Team and Enterprise. Choose your starting app with that in mind.
04What does it take to connect Image-Charts to Zapier?
An Image-Charts account and a Zapier account. In Zapier, open Apps, click + Add connection, search for Image-Charts, click Add connection, then sign in to Image-Charts in the tab that opens and grant access. The connection is made once and reused by every chart step in every Zap. Before building, also check the format your figures must follow, since most actions require a dataset and a chart size. Nothing else is needed on the Zapier side.
05Why does Create a Chart.js Chart ask for so many fields?
Because it renders a chart from a full Chart.js setup rather than from a simple dataset. Six fields are required: the Chart.js configuration object, the Chart.js version, the width, the height, the background color in hexadecimal and the retina support. That makes it the most demanding action of the ten. If your chart fits one of the ready-made types, such as bar, line or pie, start there instead: they only ask for a dataset, a size and sometimes a type.
06What if the Image-Charts action you want is not in Zapier?
Then it is not available as a ready-made action in this integration today. Zapier offers ten Image-Charts actions: seven chart types, a QR code, and two advanced ones. Before giving up, look at Create a Chart, which takes every setting as parameters in query string format, and Create a Chart.js Chart, which takes a full Chart.js configuration. Both are marked as advanced usage and rely on the Image-Charts or Chart.js documentation.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Image-Charts?
It depends on your criteria rather than on a winner. On Zapier the facts are known: ten actions, no trigger, the integration runs on the free plan, and every successful action counts as one task. For Make and n8n, check the same points on their side: which Image-Charts operations they offer, how they bill each run, and how easily the image link flows into the next step. Then keep the platform whose operations match your reports.
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