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Olark Zapier integrationAutomate Olark with Zapier.

Olark Zapier integration: 2 triggers, both instant, 0 actions and 0 searches. Every live chat on your site can start a Zap that files the transcript, alerts a teammate or feeds your CRM, as long as you pick the right trigger and watch the task count.

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Overview

What the Olark Zapier integration does for you

The Olark Zapier integration connects Olark, the live chat you add to your website, to Zapier, which runs automations between apps without code. Each automation is a Zap. Olark brings two starting points to it: one when a chat transcript comes in, one for every message inside that transcript. What happens next is done by your other apps.

Chats your sales team actually reads. New Transcript starts the Zap once per conversation, and a message in your team chat tool shows who asked what, so a hot lead does not sit unread in the Olark history.

A support log you can search. The same trigger adds one row per chat to a spreadsheet, which gives you a running record of what visitors ask about, ready whenever you want to review it.

Message-level analysis. New Message fires once for each line of the transcript, so every visitor question can be sorted, tagged or counted on its own in another tool.

What Zapier cannot do with Olark matters as much. There is no Olark action: a Zap cannot open a chat, send a reply or change an operator's status. There is no search either, so a Zap cannot fetch an older conversation. And chats that ended before the Zap was switched on are never picked up.

Weighing other automation tools? See Make vs Zapier and n8n vs Zapier.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven words you will meet on this page and in the editor.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. With Olark, that is a new transcript or a new message within one.
Action
What the Zap does once started. Olark offers none, so every action comes from another app, like your CRM or chat tool.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan's allowance is a count of these.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports itself: it calls Zapier the moment the event happens, so nothing waits for a timed check.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap go on only when what arrived meets the condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes one, and it then needs a paid plan.
Cost

What an Olark Zap really costs

The Olark trigger never costs a task. Only the actions that follow in your other apps count, one task each time one succeeds.

  • Trigger0 tasks
  • Each successful action1 task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Premium appNo, works on the free plan

A transcript Zap with one action costs one task per chat. A New Message Zap costs one task per message, which adds up much faster on long conversations. Failed actions are not counted. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and builds two-step Zaps: one trigger, one action. A filter or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. Olark is not a premium app, so the free plan accepts it. Both triggers are instant, so the polling grid below does not apply to them.

Connect

Connect Olark to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open Apps and start a connection

    In Zapier, open the Apps page and click + Add connection. You need an Olark account, plus access to any chat data you do not own yourself but want the Zap to read.

  2. 02

    Pick Olark

    Search for Olark in the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. A new tab then opens on the Olark side so that you can sign in to your account.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Log in to Olark in that tab and let Zapier access the account. The connection is saved for good, and every Olark trigger you set up later will reuse it.

First Zap

Build your first Olark Zap

GoalEvery Olark chat that passes your filter becomes a row in a shared spreadsheet.

  1. 01

    Pick the trigger

    Start a new Zap, choose Olark as the app that starts it and New Transcript as the event, then select your Olark connection.

  2. 02

    Test on a real chat

    Run the trigger test. Zapier brings back the three most recent transcripts of the account, so you map the next steps on a real conversation.

  3. 03

    Add a filter

    From the plus icon, add a Filter: the field to look at, the rule, and the value to compare. A text rule only works on text, so match the rule to the field.

  4. 04

    Add the spreadsheet action

    Add the action that creates a row in your spreadsheet app, then map the transcript details into its columns. Test the step and check the row it wrote.

  5. 05

    Publish

    With a filter, this is a multi-step Zap, so it needs a paid plan. Publish it to switch it on; chats from then on go through it.

Triggers

Olark triggers: what can start a Zap

2 events start a Zap when something happens in Olark, and 2 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers once for each message when we get a transcript.”

New Message runs the Zap once for every single message of a conversation. According to Zapier's description, those messages come through when Olark receives the transcript, so they arrive together rather than live during the chat.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
when each visitor question has to be handled on its own, for instance sorted into a spreadsheet you use to spot recurring topics.
Watch out
a chat means one run per line, and every action in each run is a task, so a long conversation can drain a free plan quickly.
2

New Transcript

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers once when we get a new transcript.”

One run per conversation: New Transcript starts the Zap once when Olark gets a new transcript. It is the natural choice for anything that treats a chat as a whole, like a log entry, a CRM note or a team alert.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
to send each finished chat to the place your team already looks, such as a sales channel or a shared support log.
Watch out
it fires on the transcript, not on the first visitor message, so it is not the trigger for answering a visitor who is still waiting.
When it breaks

When an Olark Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Olark, and the source lists no limit of its own. The failures to expect are the general ones, plus one that comes from how New Message works.

Most surprises come from what a Zap does not see, or sees many times over. When a run looks wrong, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the next stop.

  • Old chats are not replayed

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Conversations that ended before stay in Olark; moving that history is a separate job.

  • New Message multiplies tasks

    This trigger fires once per message of a transcript. Each run repeats every action of the Zap, so a busy chat window can use far more tasks than you planned.

  • Bulk arrivals held back

    If a trigger suddenly delivers a huge batch at once, Zapier's flood protection can hold the runs back instead of firing them all.

  • Free plan stops at two steps

    Olark plus one action fits the free plan. Add a filter or a second action and the Zap needs a paid plan before it can be published.
Need help

Need help automating Olark with Zapier?

A person reads every message.

FAQ

Olark Zapier integration: frequently asked questions

01Is the Olark Zapier integration free?
Yes, for a simple Zap. Olark is not a premium app, so the free Zapier plan accepts it. That plan gives you 100 tasks a month and builds two-step Zaps: one trigger and one action. New Transcript followed by one action in another app fits exactly. Add a filter to keep only some chats, or a second action, and the Zap becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan before you can publish it.
02How many tasks does an Olark Zap use?
The Olark trigger itself costs nothing; each successful action that follows costs one task. With New Transcript and one action, that is one task per chat. With New Message, the Zap runs once per message, so even with a single action, a conversation costs as many tasks as it has messages. Failed actions are not counted. If you only need the conversation as a whole, New Transcript is by far the cheaper trigger.
03Is the Olark Zapier integration real time?
Yes, in the sense Zapier uses: both Olark triggers are instant. Olark tells Zapier when the event happens, and the Zap starts straight away whatever your plan, with no polling interval. The event, though, is the transcript: both New Transcript and New Message are described as firing when Olark gets a transcript. So the Zap reacts once the transcript exists, not at the first visitor message. A Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt in the editor.
04What does it take to connect Olark to Zapier?
An Olark account, and access to any chat data you do not own but want the Zap to read. In Zapier, open the Apps page, click + Add connection, search for Olark, and click Add connection. Sign in to Olark in the tab that opens and grant Zapier access to the account. If the trigger test brings nothing back, the account has no transcript yet; once published, the Zap only sees chats that happen after that.
05New Message or New Transcript: which Olark trigger fits?
Pick New Transcript when the chat matters as a whole: a log row, a CRM note, an alert to the team. It runs once per conversation, so it costs one task per action. Pick New Message only when each line has to be handled on its own, like sorting visitor questions by topic. It runs once per message, which multiplies the task count by the length of the chat. When in doubt, start with New Transcript.
06What if the Olark operation you need is not in Zapier?
Olark offers two visible operations in Zapier, both triggers: New Message and New Transcript. There is no action, so a Zap cannot send a chat reply or change anything in Olark, and no search, so it cannot fetch an older conversation. If your scenario needs one of these, that part stays a manual job inside Olark. The Zap can still take care of everything that happens after a chat, in your other apps.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Olark?
Choose on criteria, not reputation. This page only covers Zapier: two instant triggers, no action, and a free plan that handles a two-step Zap. If your need is one chat transcript sent to one other app, Zapier does it without paying. If you work message by message, count the tasks per chat and the plan that implies. Then check whether the other tool offers the same Olark triggers, and whether they react as quickly.
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