This step by step guide will show you how to use Zapier to capture Common Paper webhook notifications and send them to Slack.
NOTE: If you haven't already performed the steps in this guide, do them first.
Continue (or edit) the Zap that's receiving webhook information from Common Paper.
Add a new action, and select Slack.
For the event, choose Send Channel Message, then hit Continue.
NOTE: You CAN post to individual users if you want, but for this example let's stick with Channel message.
The next step is to connect your Slack account. Click the Connect button, or choose the Slack account you want to use if it’s already connected. The Slack connection can use anyone’s account - just be sure the user you pick has access to the channels you wish to post to.
Once connected, click Continue. The next step is setting up what you would like to post to Slack.
For the Channel, choose the channel you created in the prerequisites section. You can change this later once you get everything working.
For the Message field, you want to put together a template that weaves together plain text and the information coming from the event webhook.
You can add variables from the Webhook using the Insert Data menu:
As you add items, you can type additional text around the variable to provide structure and context. The field also supports some formatting options supported by Slack. For example, surrounding text with asterisks will bold items, while underscores will italicize items.
Here’s an example - each of the bracketed items represents a variable from the webhook. I’ve included some bolding and a link to the agreement.
*[Agreement Type] with [Recipient Organization] | [Recipient Name] ([Recipient Email])*
[Event Description]
<[URL]|View Agreement>
And here’s what it looks like when you replace each of the bracketed terms with the variables from the webhook.
Here are some additional recommendations for this Slack configuration:
Leave Send as Bot set to Yes
Set a Bot Name - ‘Common Paper Updates’ for instance. This will show in Slack
For the Bot Icon, you can leave it blank, or choose an icon from Slack. It uses the :icon: structure, so for instance you could use something like :tada: or :moneybag: Having a unique icon makes it visually distinct in Slack.
Change Include Link to this Zap to No
Once you've made all the changes, click Continue to move to test the Slack message.
Click Test Step and return to your Slack account. Look in the channel you’ve chosen and you should hopefully see something like this:
If anything needs tweaking, just return to the Action and make your changes. Then re-test.
Once you are happy with your message, return to the Action and if needed, change the Channel to point at the final home for these messages (if it is not already).
The last step is to Publish the zap and Turn On the zap- this makes it so that it will start receiving webhooks and sending the messages to Slack.
Note: if you haven’t signed up for a paid plan yet for Zapier, the system will not let you publish it.