Introduction
Welcome to the final unit of the Introduction to Modules course.
Previously, you learned about search modules and action modules in Make.
In this unit, you’ll explore another category of modules in Make: trigger modules.
In this unit you will learn:
- what trigger modules are
- the two types of trigger modules in Make
- how each trigger module works, and their differences
What is a trigger module?
A trigger module gets new or updated data from an application for your scenario. It must be the first module because it tells Make what kind of new data to watch for.
You can only use one trigger module in a scenario. This is because Make needs one clear starting point to know when to run the scenario.
There are two types of trigger modules:
- Polling triggers check the application at regular intervals to see if there is anything new.
- Instant triggers do not check. The application sends new data to Make as soon as it happens.
This is different from search modules, which look for existing data in an application. You can set up filters to find only new data with a search module, but you need to configure it carefully.
With a trigger module, Make automatically knows what is new, so you do not need to handle that yourself.
What is a polling trigger?
Polling triggers check an application for new data every time your scenario runs. When the application has new data since the last check, the polling trigger picks it up and sends it into your scenario.
For example, the Gmail → Watch Emails (polling trigger) checks your inbox for new emails.
If new emails arrived since the last check, the polling trigger sends these data items into your scenario. If no new emails arrived, the polling trigger sends nothing and the scenario stops running.
Your scenario runs at regular times you set in the Schedule setting. The Schedule tells Make how often to run your scenario. For example, every 15 minutes, every few hours, or once a day.
A polling trigger is like going to the library at the same time every day to see if any new books have arrived. If not, you try again the next day.
You learned about the scenario Schedule setting in Make Foundation - Overview of scheduling.
Here’s a quick reminder: you can open Schedule settings in two ways:
- Click the icon on the first module (this is usually a clock).
- Click Schedule settings in the toolbar (this usually says Every 15 minutes).
These settings control how often your scenario runs.
What is an instant trigger?
Instant triggers respond to specific events in an application, like when someone submits a form.
With a polling trigger, Make checks the application at regular intervals. An instant trigger works differently. The application sends the new information to Make as soon as the event happens.
Let’s use Jotform as an example. This application lets you quickly create, share, and manage online forms so you can collect information easily.
In Make, Jotform → Watch for Submissions is an instant trigger. When someone submits a form, the trigger sends the submission directly to your scenario.
An instant trigger is like asking the librarian to message you as soon as the book arrives.
How to identify a trigger module
Trigger modules usually start with the word Watch.
Some examples are:
- Jotform → Watch for Submissions
- Triggers when a new submission comes and fires the scenario automatically after a new submission message is received.
- Gmail → Watch Emails
- Triggers when a new email is received to be processed according to specified criteria.
Instant trigger modules always have an INSTANT tag. If a module starts with watch and does not have this tag, it is a polling trigger.
Use case 1 – polling trigger example
Paul wants to add details of all new emails from his inbox to a Google Sheet. The sheet will record the sender’s email address and the subject.
You won’t build this example. Instead, focus on how a polling trigger module helps make this use case possible.
Note: You’ll learn more about trigger modules later in the Make Academy, and you’ll build scenarios that include them.
Scenario overview – polling trigger
This scenario checks for new emails in an inbox, every 15 minutes, and adds them to the Google Sheet.
Gmail → Watch Emails (Trigger Module)
This module finds and returns new emails that arrived since the last time your scenario ran. For example, if you receive five new emails, the Gmail → Watch Emails module will find them and create five separate bundles for your scenario. In this example, the module will find one new email. If the module does not find any new emails, the scenario run ends.
Note: this is a polling trigger.
The scenario runs every 15 minutes. Each time it runs, the Gmail → Watch Emails trigger module checks the inbox for new emails. The schedule setting is configured to “Run scenario: At regular intervals” for “15 Minutes”.
Google Sheets → Add a Row (Action Module)
This module adds a new row to the Google Sheet for each new email found by the Gmail → Watch Emails module. Each new row includes the sender’s email address and the email subject.
Note: this is an action module.
Let’s see the polling trigger in action!
The demonstration shows how a polling trigger updates a Google Sheet.
The Google Sheet starts out empty.
The scenario runs every 15 minutes. In one of those 15-minute intervals, two emails arrived.
Information from the two emails that arrived during that 15-minute interval now appear in the Google Sheet.
Use case 2 – instant trigger example
Paul creates a Jotform that collects customer information including First name, Last name, email address, and a personal feedback message for his business.
When someone submits the Jotform, the scenario automatically adds the data to the Google Sheet right away.
You won’t build this scenario. Instead, focus on how the trigger module works in this setup.
Jotform
The Jotform collects the following data:
- First name
- Last name
- Feedback message
Google Sheet
When someone submits the form, Make adds the information to the Google Sheet right away.
The scenario will add each Jotform response to the Google Sheet as a new row.
Scenario overview – instant trigger
This scenario runs right away whenever a new form is submitted in Jotform and adds the form details to the Google Sheet.
Jotform: Watch for Submissions
When someone submits an online form, Jotform sends the form responses to your scenario.
Note: this is an instant trigger.
The Schedule setting for this scenario is Immediately. This option is only available for scenarios with an instant trigger because Jotform sends new data as soon as someone submits a form. The scenario runs right away when someone submits a form.
Google Sheets: Add a Row
This module adds a new row to a Google Sheet for each form response it receives from the Jotform module. It adds the First name, Last name, E-mail, and a Feedback message.
Note: this is an action module.
Let’s see the instant trigger in action!
Watch the scenario add the Jotform submission to the Google Sheet right away. The scenario uses a Jotform module set to Watch for Submissions as an instant trigger, followed by a Google Sheets module to Add a Row.
Wrap up
Search
Search modules find data from an application. They find all records that match your filter conditions, or all data if you don’t use a filter. For example, if you don’t use a filter, you will get all the rows (all the data) from a Google Sheet as bundles in your scenario.
Action
Action modules let you create, get, update, or delete data in an application. For example, using Google Sheet, you can add a row, get the data from a specific cell, update a row with new data, and delete a row.
Trigger
You can use only one trigger module in a scenario, and it must be the first module. Make has two types of trigger modules. Polling triggers check for new data in an application. Instant triggers receive new data from the application right away, for example, when someone submits a form.