folk and Zapier: what syncs, what doesn't, and how to set it up
The folk Zapier app has 8 triggers and 8 actions for people and companies. It moves leads in and field changes out. It has no steps for deals, notes, tasks or custom objects.
- Connector
- Zapier app for folk, listed on folk's integrations page and connected with a folk API key. The docs don't say who maintains it.
- Sync direction
- Two-way for people and companies: folk triggers send events out, folk actions write records in
- Setup time
- 15 minutes for the first Zap
- Availability
- Zapier lists a free tier. The folk docs I read don't say which folk plans include the API key or the Zapier app.
- Our rating
- 4 out of 5. Instant triggers and create, update and find actions for people and companies; deals, notes and tasks have no Zapier steps.
| What | Direction | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| New people and companies | folk → Zapier | Person Added and Company Added fire when a record is created or added to a group. Zapier marks both triggers as instant. You must pick a group. |
| Removed people and companies | folk → Zapier | Person Removed and Company Removed fire when a record is deleted from the workspace or removed from a group. |
| Basic field changes | folk → Zapier | Person Updated and Company Updated fire on changes to fields such as email, phone, address, URL and job title. The help article lists birthday and gender for people. |
| Custom field changes | folk → Zapier | Person Custom Field Updated and Company Custom Field Updated fire when a custom field changes. Zapier's examples include tag, status, text and assignee. You choose one field per trigger. |
| Create person or company | Zapier → folk | Create Person and Create Company write to a group you choose. Per the help article, Create Person deduplicates if the person already exists. |
| Update person or company | Zapier → folk | Update Person and Update Company need the record ID. You get the ID from a Find or Get step. |
| Find or get a record | folk → Zapier | Find a Person and Find a Company match on email or name. Get a Person and Get a Company fetch a record by ID. Zapier says company lookup matches name or email exactly. |
Setting it up
- In folk, create or open the group that will receive or send records. On the group page, click "Connect an integration".
- Create a Zapier account if you don't have one.
- For records going into folk, pick your source app as the trigger. Choose folk as the action, for example Create Person.
- Connect folk by pasting your API key. You find it at app.folk.app/settings, under "Integrations".
- For alerts going out of folk, pick a folk trigger such as Person Custom Field Updated. Select the group and the custom field.
- Add a Get a Person step with the same group and the trigger's Data Id. Then add the Slack, email or other action.
- Test the Zap with a sample record, then turn it on.
Where the integration stops
- Deals, notes, tasks, interactions and custom objects have no Zapier steps. The Zapier listing shows only person and company events. folk's developer index lists API endpoints for notes, tasks, interactions and custom objects, so these need your own API calls.
- Every step is scoped to a group. Zapier marks Group as required on every trigger and action. A person who sits in no group is out of reach, and you need one Zap per group.
- Updates take two steps. Update Person needs an ID, so the Zap must run Find or Get first. folk's own Slack example adds a Get a Person step after the trigger.
- No delete action. The listing has triggers for removals but no action that deletes a person or company.
- Contact-type custom fields can't be updated. The help article, dated 19 August 2024, says all other native and custom field types can be updated. Test your field types before you build.
- Plan requirements are not documented. None of the folk pages I read says which folk plans give you the API key or the Zapier app. Check /pricing/folk and your workspace settings.
The folk Zapier app moves people and companies between folk and the other tools in your stack. It suits teams that capture leads from forms, schedulers or payment tools. It also suits teams that want a Slack message or an email-tool update when a record changes.
The surprise is the scope. The app has 8 triggers and 8 actions, and none touches deals, notes, tasks or custom objects. Even folk's "deal won" example watches a custom field on a person.
Triggers are instant, but you pick a group first
Zapier marks every folk trigger as instant, so a Zap starts when the event happens. It does not wait for a polling interval.
Each trigger needs a group. The custom field triggers also need one named field. A Zap that should watch two statuses in two groups takes two triggers.
The trigger payload is thin. folk's own Slack example adds a Get a Person step right after the trigger to fetch the full record. Build that step into every outbound Zap.
Inbound records deduplicate, updates need an ID
Create Person writes into a group and deduplicates, per the help article. That makes it safe for form and scheduler feeds where the same person arrives twice.
Update Person and Update Company work differently. They need the record ID, so the Zap runs Find or Get first. Find a Person matches on email or full name. Find a Company matches on exact name or email.
The help article gives two formatting rules. Dates use MM/DD/YYYY. Multiple emails, phones or URLs go in as separate entries or as one comma-separated value.
Deals, notes and tasks need custom work
The Zapier listing has no step for deals, notes, tasks, interactions or custom objects. If your pipeline lives in those objects, Zapier can't read or write it.
folk's developer portal lists API endpoints for notes, tasks, interactions and custom objects. It also lists webhook pages. Those are the route for anything the Zapier app skips, and they take code or an HTTP tool.
Email history is a separate job. The folk and Gmail connection logs messages without a Zap.
What the docs don't say
The two Zapier help articles are dated 19 August 2024. The Zapier directory lists two Get actions that the Create, Find and Update list in the article omits. Treat the directory as the current list.
Neither vendor's pages state which folk plans include the API key. Check folk pricing and your workspace settings before you commit. For the Zapier side, see Zapier on WeekCRM.