NileDesk Zapier integrationAutomate NileDesk with Zapier.
The NileDesk Zapier integration gives you 2 triggers, both instant, and 4 actions, with no search step. Below, you get what each one does, what it costs on each plan, how to connect your account and the cases where a Zap stops.
Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency
What the NileDesk Zapier integration does for you
NileDesk is a low-code tool for designing process workflows. Connecting it to Zapier means one of two things: a task you placed in NileDesk hands work over to another app, or another app drops a new item into a NileDesk board or process flow, either as a draft or straight into processing.
Three results you can build with what Zapier offers today. First, a hand-off point: Board Integration Task Executes or Process Flow Integration Task Executes starts a Zap when NileDesk runs that task, and the next step happens in another tool. Second, a draft waiting for review: Create Draft Board Item and Create Draft Process Flow Item fill in a new item and save it without sending it on, so that someone checks it in NileDesk first. Third, an item that starts moving: Initiate New Board Item and Initiate New Process Flow Item create the item and submit it for processing right away.
What Zapier does not do with NileDesk: there is no search step, so a Zap cannot look up an item that already exists. None of the 4 actions edits or removes an item, and none of the triggers watches a timer.
Not sure Zapier is the right tool for this at all? Open our Make vs Zapier comparison before you build.
Zapier words in one minute
Eight words come back on this page. Here they are in plain English, once.
- Zap
- The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
- Trigger
- The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier waits for that event and nothing else.
- Action
- What the Zap does after it starts: the step that creates, sends or moves something in an app on your behalf.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action your Zap completed successfully, and your plan counts those.
- Polling vs instant
- A polling trigger is checked on a timer. An instant trigger is reported by the app itself, the moment the event happens.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap carry on only when what arrived meets the condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
- Search step
- A step that finds something already stored in an app so later steps can use it. NileDesk has none on Zapier.
- Multi-step Zap
- Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes it one, and it then needs a paid plan.
What a NileDesk Zap really costs
NileDesk is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan. The trigger costs nothing: only a completed action is counted as a task.
- Premium appNo, available on the free plan
- Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
- What countsEach successful action, never the trigger
Each action that succeeds counts on its own, so a Zap with two actions uses twice as many tasks per run. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but each Zap stops at two steps: one trigger, one action. A filter or a second action makes it a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan.
The grid below is how often Zapier checks a polling trigger on each plan. It does not apply to NileDesk's two triggers, which are both instant.
Connect NileDesk to Zapier in three steps
- 01
Open the Apps page
In your Zapier account, go to Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your NileDesk account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step that touches NileDesk.
- 02
Pick NileDesk
Type NileDesk in the search box of the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. A new tab opens on the NileDesk side so you can sign in to your account.
- 03
Sign in and grant access
Sign in to NileDesk and give Zapier access to the account. You need an account on the app, plus read or write access on anything you do not own yourself and want the Zap to touch.
Your first NileDesk Zap, step by step
GoalWhen a board task runs in NileDesk, save a draft process flow item, then add a row to your spreadsheet.
- 01
Create the Zap
Start a new Zap and pick NileDesk as the app that starts it, with Board Integration Task Executes as the event. Choose your connection, then fill Select Template and Select Task.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items from the connected account, so you map fields on a real one rather than on a guess.
- 03
Add the NileDesk action
Add Create Draft Process Flow Item, pick its template, and map the values the trigger test brought back into its fields. Check at the test which values actually arrive.
- 04
Add the second action
Add your spreadsheet step and map what you want to keep. With two actions this is a multi-step Zap, so it needs a paid plan, and each run counts two tasks.
- 05
Test, then publish
Run each step once and read what came back. When both actions look right, click Publish to switch the Zap on. Our Zapier training is there if you want to go further.
NileDesk triggers on Zapier
2 events start a Zap when something happens in NileDesk, and 2 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.
Board Integration Task Executes
Instant triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a Board Integration Task is executed in the NileDesk process flow, initiating the corresponding event.”
Starts your Zap each time NileDesk runs a Board Integration Task, so a step you placed on a board becomes the point where another app takes over the work.
Process Flow Integration Task Executes
Instant triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a Process Flow Integration Task is executed in the NileDesk process flow, initiating the corresponding event.”
Listens to a process flow instead of a board: when NileDesk executes a Process Flow Integration Task, Zapier gets the signal and your actions run.
NileDesk actions on Zapier
NileDesk gives you 4 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Create Draft Board Item
ActionIn Zapier“Create a new item for the selected Board, populate the field values, and save it as a draft.”
Creates a new item on the board you select, fills in its field values and saves it as a draft rather than sending it on.
Initiate New Board Item
ActionIn Zapier“Create a new item for the selected Board, populate the field values, and submit it for processing.”
Builds a new board item from the values you map and submits it for processing straight away, with no draft stage.
Create Draft Process Flow Item
ActionIn Zapier“Create a new item for the selected process Flow, populate the field values, and save it as a draft.”
Opens a new item in the process flow you pick, populates its fields and leaves it as a draft instead of submitting it.
Initiate New Process Flow Item
ActionIn Zapier“Create a new item for the selected process Flow, populate the field values, and submit it for processing.”
Creates an item in the selected process flow, fills in its values and submits it for processing instead of leaving it as a draft.
When a NileDesk Zap stops working
Zapier does not attach a help article to NileDesk, and no limit specific to the app is documented. What remains are three general rules that apply to every Zap.
Read these before you rely on the Zap. If a run fails anyway, see our Zapier troubleshooting guide.
Nothing before the switch-on
A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Tasks NileDesk ran earlier are not picked up, and moving that backlog is a separate job.A Zap that sets itself off
As a general precaution: a Zap that writes into the place its own trigger watches can start itself again and again, and use up tasks fast.A sudden flood
If a trigger suddenly sends a huge batch, after a bulk import or a migration for example, Zapier's flood protection can hold those runs back.
Need help automating NileDesk with Zapier?
A person reads every message.
