Zapier is a tool that helps you automate repetitive tasks between two or more apps all without any code or technical resources.  When an event happens in one app, Zapier can tell another app to perform (or do) a particular action. Over 5,000 apps are integrated into Zapier, opening up a world of possibilities in how you can automate document processing workflows with Affinda. 

Triggers and Actions

Zapier automates workflows using the 'Zaps'. A 'Zap' follows the simple command of "When this happens (i.e. trigger), do that (i.e. action)." Every Zap has a trigger and one or more actions. A trigger is an event that starts a Zap and an action is what your Zap does for you. 

You can automate your document processing workflows and integrate Affinda into your existing systems and platforms with the following events:

1. Upload Document (Action): Uploads a document to the Affinda platform where the data is extracted using our AI models.
2. Document Finished Parsing (Trigger): Triggers when Affinda's AI models have completed parsing the data from a document 
3. Document Validated (Trigger): Triggers when a document has been marked as validated within Affinda's platform

Suggested workflows

Affinda's triggers and actions available within Zapier enable users to complete the full end-to-end journey for a document when it is being processed. A document can be uploaded, validated (if applicable) and exported using Zaps to further reduce the time it takes to process high-frequency documents.

Setting up Zaps

Action: Upload Document

Using this action within Zapier automates the manual document upload process. To use this action, all you need is a trigger from an app that outputs a file (e.g. Gmail, Google Drive, OneDrive, Outlook, Dropbox, etc.).

Step 0: Create an account in Zapier

Sign up with Zapier to get started. You can start with a free account at Zapier to test out how it works, before progressing to a paid account with a richer set of features and a larger amount of tasks per month. 

Step 1: Create a new Zap

Once you have created your account, go to the Zap editor and click create a new Zap.

Step 2: Set up the trigger

"Upload Document" is an action and therefore follows a trigger that must be created first. Search for the app that should provide the trigger and select it. In this example case shown, it is OneDrive.

Each app will have a range of triggers and actions. Once an app is selected, you must choose the relevant (in this case) trigger. We want a file as the output and the "New File" trigger within the OneDrive app provides this.

Once you have selected the app and the trigger, generally the first step; is to provide authentication or log in details. This may be by signing in or by providing an API key. 

Once authenticated, the next step in this workflow is to specify the account and folder to look for a new file. We select "Yes" to "Include file object" as we want the file as an output.

Once you have completed these steps, Zapier will test your trigger to make sure it is configured as required and working as hoped. The output of this test will be used to test the action, so make sure that the file is of a type that will work within the Affinda app. 

Step 3: Set up the 'Upload Document' action

Setting up an action follows much the same process as setting up a trigger.

First, select the Affinda app and then choose 'Upload Document' as the event. 

Then, authenticate your account by adding your API key. You can find your API key within the Settings page of the Affinda web app. 

Once authenticated, you can set up the action. Specify if the document you are uploading is either a resume or invoice and then select the file and file name from the available options. These will be pre-populated with the results from the test trigger. 

If you would like to set up a three-event Zap, select 'Wait for result' = True. This means that you can export the data to a different app (see Step 4). If you would like that export to be of a file in JSON, XML or Excel file type, select True for 'Export result'.

If you would like to just set up a two-event Zap, select 'Wait for result' = False. You can then export the result later, either after the document has been parsed or validated through another Zap (or other means).

Once this is set up, you can test this trigger. Note, that this trigger will upload a document to Affinda. 

Step 4: Set up a third document to export the data (optional)

If you want to upload a document and export it as soon as it is parsed, you can add a third action. Select 'Wait for result' = True in the previous step, and then follow Step 2 onwards below in 'Trigger: Document Finished Parsing'.

2. Trigger: Document Finished Parsing

Using this action within Zapier automates the document export process. As soon as a document is parsed by Affinda, Zapier will trigger the Zap to export data to another app. 

Step 1: Create a new Zap

Once you have created your account, go to the Zap editor and click create a new Zap.

Step 2: Set up the 'Document Finished Parsing' trigger

Follow the prompts to choose the Affinda app, select the action and authenticate your account (as in Step 3 of the 'Upload Document instructions').

Once complete, you can set up your trigger. Simply select which document type you wish to export (either Resume or Invoice) and decide if you wish to export the data as a file or not. Selecting 'True' on 'Export Result' will allow you to export the results in the format of your choice into the downstream app. You will also have the option to map specific fields from the output against fields in the downstream app, rather than just exporting the entire file.

Step 3: Set up the action to export the data or data file to another app

With the trigger setup, we need to set up the action to export the data to a different app. As with other events, search for the app you want to send the data to, select the appropriate action and authenticate your account. 

Once done, you can choose where and how the data exported will sit within this app. 

Example 1: OneDrive - export JSON file to a folder in OneDrive

Search for the app OneDrive and select the action 'Upload File'.

To set up the action, select the folder within OneDrive that you would like the file to be uploaded to. Under 'File', select 'Export Result' to include the JSON file that was exported as part of the trigger (note, you must select 'Export Result' = 'True' in the trigger. Optionally, select which field should be included as the file name. 

Example 2: AirTable - create a new row in AirTable

Search for the app AirTable and select the action 'Create Record'. 

To set up the action, select the base and table to create the new record within. Once this is done, Zapier will show the fields in the table that you can then map data from the export against. For each column in the table, select the most appropriate field from the data and this data will be populated as a new row in the table.

3. Trigger: Document Validated

The 'Document Validated' trigger works in exactly the same way as the 'Document Finished Parsing' trigger, with the exception of what actually triggers the process. Instead of triggering when the document is parsed, this trigger accounts for the case where a document needs to be first validated to ensure 100% accuracy before being exported. As such, the Zap will trigger when the document is marked as validated within the Affinda web app.