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Placetel Zapier integrationAutomate Placetel with Zapier.

The Placetel Zapier integration gives you 5 triggers, 4 actions and 2 searches. The four call triggers are instant; the fax one is checked on a timer. On the other side, Zapier can add a contact, start a call, send a fax or text someone.

See the 11 operations

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Overview

What the Placetel Zapier integration actually does

It connects Placetel, a cloud phone system for businesses with more than 150 telephony features, to Zapier. Zapier runs automations between apps. Here it works both ways: a call or a fax in Placetel can start something elsewhere, and an event elsewhere can make Placetel call, text, fax or file a contact.

Three typical results. No caller left without a reply: Hungup Call starts a Zap when a call ends, and Send SMS can follow up with a text. A call log that writes itself: Incoming Call, Accepted Call and Outgoing Call push each call into a spreadsheet or a CRM, with Find Contact to match the number with a known person. Calls and faxes launched from other tools: Initate Call rings a number from a user's line, and Sends a Fax sends a PDF when a document is ready.

What Zapier does not do for this app: there is no action to edit or delete a contact, and no trigger for text messages coming in. The fax trigger also works differently from the call triggers: it is polled, so a fax can wait for the next check. Anything outside these eleven operations needs another route (or a manual step in Placetel).

The same app on Make has its own page, Placetel Make integration, and the tools are compared in Make vs Zapier.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words come back all over this page. Here they are, once, in plain English.

Zap
The automation you build in 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 on, Zapier waits for it: here, a call or a fax.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something for you, like a text or a fax.
Task
The unit Zapier bills you for: one action completed successfully. Your plan counts those and nothing else.
Polling trigger
A trigger Zapier checks on a timer, asking the app for new items at a fixed interval and keeping only what it has not seen.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports by itself: it calls Zapier when the event happens, so nothing waits for a scheduled check.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when the incoming item meets the condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists in an app, so the steps after it can use what it found.
Cost

What a Placetel Zap costs you

Placetel is not reserved for paid plans: it works from the free plan. You spend tasks, and a task is only counted when an action succeeds.

  • Trigger0 tasks
  • Each successful action1 task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Paid plan required for PlacetelNo

The trigger never costs a task, and a failed action is not counted. A Zap that texts a caller after each hang-up spends one task per text. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps only: a filter, a search or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. The interval grid only concerns Incoming Fax, the one polled trigger; the four call triggers ignore it entirely.

Connect

Connect Placetel to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open Apps and start a connection

    Log in to Zapier and go to the Apps page of your account. Click + Add connection: a dialog opens where you search for the app you want to link, Placetel included.

  2. 02

    Pick Placetel

    Type Placetel in the dialog, select it in the results, then click Add connection. You need an existing Placetel account at this point: the connection links one, it never opens one.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to Placetel in the tab that opens and grant Zapier access to the account. If your Zaps will use lines or contacts you do not own, make sure your Placetel user can read or change them first.

First Zap

Your first Placetel Zap: a text once a call ends

GoalWhen a call of the type you pick ends and meets your condition, the caller gets a text from your Placetel number, with no one typing it.

  1. 01

    Set the trigger

    Start building: pick Placetel as the app that starts the Zap, Hungup Call as the event, your connection, then the required Type that sorts hang-up events.

  2. 02

    Test on a real call

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items of the connected account; pick a real call, since the next steps are mapped on what it contains.

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    From the plus icon, add a Filter step: the field to look at, the rule, the value. Use a text rule for text and a number rule for numbers, or it never passes.

  4. 04

    Add the text message

    Pick Placetel again with Send SMS. Map the caller's number from the test item into Recipient, then write the Message, both required.

  5. 05

    Test and publish

    Test each step and read what came back, then click Publish to switch the Zap on. Only calls that end after that will start it.

Triggers

Placetel triggers on Zapier

5 events start a Zap when something happens in Placetel, and 4 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

Accepted Call

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a call is accepted.”

Starts your Zap when someone picks up a call in Placetel. Unlike a ringing phone, an accepted call means a conversation is really happening, which is the right moment to open a record or log who answered.

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 support team wants every answered call to create a line in its ticket tracker, so no conversation goes unrecorded.
Watch out
it ignores calls nobody answered; to see every call, answered or not, Incoming Call is the one to use.
2

Hungup Call

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a call is hung up.”

Fires when a call ends with a hang-up. It is the trigger for anything that has to happen after the conversation, from a summary to a follow-up text, because by then the call is over.

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 small agency texts each caller once the call is over, with the next step in writing, so nobody has to remember what was said.
Watch out
a Type setting is required to sort hang-up events, so pick it with care; the wrong type keeps the Zap waiting for calls that never match.
3

Incoming Call

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new call is coming in.”

Reacts to a new call coming in to your Placetel system, before anyone answers. This is the earliest point of the call, handy to show who is calling or to log every attempt, answered or not.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
the sales manager wants every inbound call listed in a spreadsheet, including the ones that ring out.
Watch out
one call can then start several Zaps, as Incoming, Accepted and Hungup each react to their own moment of the same call.
4

Incoming Fax

Polling trigger

In Zapier“When a new fax is incoming”

Picks up new faxes received by your Placetel account. It is the only one of the five that Zapier has to go and look for, which makes it slower than the call triggers whatever the plan.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
a medical practice still receives prescriptions by fax and wants each one copied to a shared folder for the front desk.
Watch out
do not promise anyone that a fax reaches them right away; on the free plan it can wait a full interval.
5

Outgoing Call

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new outbound call is placed.”

Starts a Zap each time a new outbound call is placed from Placetel. It follows the calls your team makes rather than receives, which is what a sales lead tracking activity usually wants.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
each prospecting call made by a rep gets logged against the account in the CRM, without the rep filling in a form.
Watch out
a Zap that uses Initate Call places outbound calls itself, and those can set this trigger off again.
Actions

Placetel actions on Zapier

Placetel gives you 4 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Contact

Action

In Zapier“Creates a contact for later use”

Adds a contact to Placetel so the person is known the next time they call or you call them.

When to use it
a new customer signs up in your shop and should show up by name in the phone system from day one.
Watch out
first name and last name are both required, so a source that only holds a phone number will not do.
2

Initate Call

Action

In Zapier“Initiates a call”

Places a call from Placetel to a number you supply, from a given user's line. The spelling of the name is Zapier's own.

When to use it
a lead fills in a callback form and the on-duty rep's phone rings to connect them while the request is fresh.
Watch out
it needs both the target number and the SipUID of the line that calls; Find SipUser can supply the second.
3

Sends a Fax

Action

In Zapier“Send a fax to number”

Sends a fax from Placetel to a number, using a PDF that another step provides.

When to use it
a signed order generated in another tool has to go to a supplier that still works by fax.
Watch out
From, To, Email and File are all required, and the file must be a PDF in the encoded form the field describes, so read the field help before mapping.
4

Send SMS

Action

In Zapier“Send a SMS to recipient”

Texts a recipient from Placetel, with the message written or mapped in the Zap.

When to use it
a client books an appointment online and gets a confirmation text from the same number they would call.
Watch out
Recipient and Message are both required, so check that the number reaching this step is never empty.
Searches

Placetel searches on Zapier

2 search steps look for data that already exists in Placetel, so a later step can use it.

Placetel offers two search steps. They sit at the bottom of the action-event list, under SEARCH, and adding one makes the Zap multi-step. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not the one you expected.

1

Find Contact

Search

In Zapier“Finds a contact by its phonenumber”

Looks up a Placetel contact from a phone number, so a call or a text can carry a name further down the Zap.

When to use it
after Incoming Call, the receptionist's chat message says who is calling rather than showing a bare number.
Watch out
the Number field is required, and whether it must match exactly is decided by Placetel, not Zapier.
2

Find SipUser

Search

In Zapier“FInds a SipUser”

Finds a Placetel SIP user, the line a person calls from, so the next step knows which phone to use.

When to use it
before Initate Call, to fetch the SipUID of the rep on duty instead of typing it into the Zap.
Watch out
it requires a SIP URI to search with, so keep your users' SIP addresses at hand.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there and skips the steps that depended on it. Switch it on and the Zap carries on empty-handed.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into a find-or-create. Neither Placetel search has that variant, so the box does not apply on this app.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several items match: keep the first one, which is the default, stop the Zap, or hand all of them on at once.
When it breaks

When your Placetel Zap breaks

Most problems with a Placetel Zap are not bugs. They come from timing, loops and volume.

Zapier attaches no help article of its own to Placetel, so the cases below are the general limits that apply to it, seen from a phone system. For a broken Zap in general, there is Zapier troubleshooting.

  • Past calls are never picked up

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Calls and faxes from before stay out of it; moving that history is a separate job.

  • The Zap keeps setting itself off

    A Zap that writes where its own trigger watches restarts again and again and eats tasks. Outgoing Call followed by Initate Call is the pairing to test first.

  • A fax shows up late

    Incoming Fax is polled. On the free plan Zapier checks every 15 minutes, so a fax can wait that long before the Zap starts.

  • A burst of items gets held back

    After a mass import or a migration, a trigger that suddenly sends a huge batch can be paused by Zapier's flood protection rather than run item by item.
Need help

Need help automating Placetel with Zapier?

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FAQ

Placetel and Zapier: common questions

01Is the Placetel Zapier integration free?
Yes, as long as the Zap stays at two steps. Placetel is not reserved for paid plans, so it runs on Zapier's free plan, which gives 100 tasks a month and an unlimited number of Zaps. The limit is the shape of the Zap: one trigger and one action. A filter, a search such as Find Contact, or a second action turns it into a multi-step Zap, and that needs a paid plan. A Zap such as Hungup Call followed by Send SMS fits within the free plan.
02How many tasks does a Placetel Zap use?
One per action that succeeds, each time the Zap runs. The trigger costs nothing, call or fax, and an action that fails is not counted. A Zap that sends a text after every hang-up spends one task per text; add Create Contact and each call costs two. Since the call triggers can fire on every call your team handles, compare your monthly call volume with the 100 tasks a month of the free plan before publishing, and narrow the Zap if needed.
03Are Placetel triggers on Zapier real time?
Four out of five are. Accepted Call, Hungup Call, Incoming Call and Outgoing Call are instant: Placetel tells Zapier when the event happens, and the Zap starts straight away, whatever the plan. Incoming Fax is the exception. It is a polling trigger, so Zapier checks for new faxes at an interval set by the plan: 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, 1 on Team and Enterprise. In the editor, a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt.
04What does connecting Placetel to Zapier require?
A Placetel account and a Zapier account. From the Apps page in Zapier, click + Add connection, search for Placetel, sign in and grant access. If the Zaps will use lines or contacts you do not own, your Placetel user needs the matching rights. Some steps then ask for details from your Placetel setup: Initate Call needs a SipUID, Find SipUser needs a SIP URI, and Sends a Fax needs a sender, a recipient, an email and a PDF file.
05Why does one Placetel call start several Zaps?
Because each call trigger reacts to its own moment of the same call. An inbound call can fire Incoming Call when it rings, Accepted Call when someone answers, and Hungup Call when it ends. If you built a Zap on each, all three run, and each successful action spends a task. Pick the single moment that matters for the job: ringing to log attempts, accepted to record conversations, hung up for follow-ups.
06What if the Placetel operation you need is not on Zapier?
Then Zapier cannot do it for this app today. The list holds five triggers, four actions and two searches: no step edits or deletes a contact, and nothing reacts to incoming text messages. Check first whether the job can be split differently, for example creating a fresh contact rather than editing one. If not, the work stays in Placetel or goes through another automation tool, and the app page on Zapier shows the current list.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Placetel?
Decide on criteria rather than reputation. On Zapier, the four call triggers are instant, the fax trigger is polled, and the app works on the free plan for two-step Zaps. The questions that settle it: do you need a search like Find Contact or a filter in most of your Zaps, which means a paid Zapier plan? Do you rely on faxes arriving quickly? Do you need operations missing from the Zapier list? Weigh those needs against what each tool offers for Placetel.
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