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Automation in the Age of Imagination: Everything we launched at ZapConnect '24

Build automated workflows with code in Functions, make your Zaps smarter with AI by Zapier, and turn words into diagrams with AI Copilot in Canvas. Plus, approve Zaps with Zapier Enterprise.

By Jane Zhang · September 26, 2024
Collage of Zaps, Tables, Interfaces, and AI workflows built on Zapier.

In a time where AI is changing work as we know it, the gap between dreaming and doing has never been smaller. We've officially entered the Age of Imagination—where your boldest ideas can become reality overnight, with the new Zapier.

At ZapConnect 2024, we unveiled a suite of powerful new features and products designed to help you bring your most innovative ideas to life through the power of automation and AI. With nearly 10,000 attendees from 100 countries and insights from over 40 speakers, this year's event was our biggest yet—and for good reason.

Zapier has evolved from a workflow automation tool to a complete automation platform. Now, you can build custom software solutions without writing a single line of code (though if you can code, we have you covered). Whether you're a solopreneur or part of a thousand-person team, we're giving you the tools to automate like you.

If you haven't been keeping up, we've gone way beyond just Zaps. Let's dive into everything we announced at ZapConnect 2024.

Missed the ZapConnect 2024 opening keynote? We'll post the full replay here after ZapConnect for real-life automation inspiration and product demos.

Jump ahead

  • Automation Platform: Build complete solutions your way

  • Unbreakable workflows: Reintroducing Zapier Enterprise

  • Effortless automation: A refreshed, AI-powered editor experience

  • AI Automation: Put AI to work with Zapier

  • Code-first automation: Introducing Zapier Functions

Automation Platform: Build complete solutions your way

The cornerstone of your success in the Age of Imagination is the ability to create custom software that fits your business like a glove. Our Automation Platform brings together Zaps, Tables, and Interfaces so you can build end-to-end solutions. Check out how:

What's new:

  • Linked Records for Tables: Create relationships in your data with just a few clicks. Perfect for building your own customer relationship management (CRM) or inventory system. Learn more about Linked Records in this help article

  • Payments component for Interfaces: Accept payments directly through your custom interfaces. Ideal for selling products, services, or—like you saw in that video—cooking classes! Learn more about accepting payments through Interfaces in this help article

Zapier contributes to an overhead savings of around $500,000+ on an annual basis, and it's growing every day!

Tyler Diogo, Operations Manager at Arden Insurance

Unbreakable workflows: Reintroducing Zapier Enterprise

For big organizations, going faster can feel like resisting gravity. You have more people, more tools, and more processes weighing you down. 

Automation should lighten the load. But so many companies struggle to scale automation to deliver the speed their business wants, with the safety IT needs.

This April, we launched Zapier Enterprise, so you can have both. When you have the right guardrails, IT can empower instead of gate-keep, and departments can build solutions themselves. Everybody wins. 

Without Zapier, we'd likely have needed to double our 1,700 employee headcount to sustain our growth. But if we had to double our teams, we probably wouldn't exist anymore because the weight of the operational complexity would have likely crushed us.

Marcelo Lebre, President and Co-founder at Remote.com

What's new:

  • Zap approvals: Review and authorize Zaps before they go live, ensuring quality and compliance across your organization.

  • Role-based permissions: Control access to sensitive data and features by assigning specific roles to team members, maintaining security as you scale.

  • Comprehensive analytics and audit logs: Gain full visibility into your automation ecosystem with detailed usage metrics and a complete history of account activities.

Just last month, we had 1,100 help desk requests. Normally, that many requests would overwhelm our team of three, but through our help desk workflows in Zapier, we resolved them easily. Our team of three is able to perform like a team of 10.

Marcus Saito, Director of IT at Remote.com

If you're ready to scale automation across your entire organization, learn more about Zapier Enterprise or talk to our sales team

Whether you're on a free plan or an Enterprise plan, automation should be fast and unbreakable. Here are three new tools across all plans to help your workflows stay online: 

  • Set up custom error handling paths to proactively handle errors before they arise and escalate important errors to your team, so you can quickly troubleshoot and recover from errors. 

  • You can now replay entire Zaps to pinpoint errors and even edit trigger data to replay your Zaps. 

  • Leverage AI to troubleshoot your Zaps. Get AI-powered guidance with step-by-step instructions to resolve your issue.

Effortless automation: A refreshed, AI-powered editor experience

We've reimagined the Zap building experience to make it more visual, simpler to configure, and snappier than ever. It's never been this easy to build powerful workflows in Zapier. Check it out:

What's new:

  • Redesigned Zap editor: Use the expandable sidebar and full-screen focus mode to customize your workspace for building or viewing your Zap. Plus, see your data more clearly in dropdowns that now swing to the side. 

  • Copilot (beta) in the Zap editor: Copilot is your AI-powered assistant for building workflows. In the Zap editor, simply describe what you want to automate, and Copilot will suggest a Zap outline, connect your accounts, map your data, and even test each step. Copilot can also teach you technical terms, so you never get stuck. Keep chatting with Copilot until your Zap is perfect. When it's ready, simply review and publish.

  • Copilot (beta) in Zapier Canvas: Need to map out entire workflows with Zaps, Tables, Interfaces, and Chatbots? Now, Copilot works in Canvas too! Describe your process, and Copilot will generate a visual diagram of your entire workflow. 

We hope these updates make it easier than ever to build powerful workflows, whether you're new to automation or a seasoned pro.

AI Automation: Put AI to work with Zapier

AI is the buzziest word in business right now—but with Zapier, it's a practical tool for getting real work done. Over the last year, more than 800,000 of you have used AI to automate work within Zapier. In fact, you've delegated over 100 million tasks to AI. 

I think it's just an amazing time to be running or starting any kind of business. You can scale with increasing capabilities in automation and AI. Right now we're around 40 people and we'd probably be at least 60 or 70, without a culture of automation.

Siqi Chen, CEO at Runway

The numbers don't lie. You all are putting AI to work on Zapier—and we're making it easier than ever to incorporate AI into your workflows.

What's new:

  • AI by Zapier: Pull the power of GPT-4o mini into your Zaps for free—without your own ChatGPT API key. Extract data, generate content, and analyze information using AI—we'll even write the prompt for you. AI by Zapier is available on all paid accounts; each step counts as a single Zapier task. Try AI by Zapier in one of your Zaps today.

  • Zapier Chatbots: Build AI-powered chatbots for customer support, FAQs, or personalized coaching—no coding required. You can now train your chatbots on web pages like your website or help center, and set a schedule to check for updates. Try it out—build your first chatbot now.  

  • Zapier Central: Chat with your personal AI assistant and have it do work across 7,000+ apps. Central works great for tasks like analyzing data, drafting emails, and pulling reports—all on its own. Bring it anywhere on the internet with our Chrome extension to scrape web pages or delegate work to one of your assistants from any screen. Create your first AI assistant today.

The team at Girlology built Dr. Momfidence, an AI chatbot for girl moms. Founded by two mom doctors, Girlology is tackling a problem that every parent goes through: how to talk your preteens about sensitive topics like puberty, body image, and mental health. By combining Chatbots with a Central assistant, they created an intelligent system that gets smarter over time, helping thousands of parents access instant, expert help.

Looking for AI inspiration? Join the Zapier Wizards Guild, our free community for AI enthusiasts, to explore more AI use cases and connect with fellow automators.

Code-first automation: Introducing Zapier Functions

For those who prefer to automate with code, we're excited to announce our newest product, Zapier Functions. Zapier has always been the home for no-code automation. But over the last year alone, we've seen 500,000 of you create Zaps with Webhooks and Code steps. Clearly, some of you prefer to code.

That's why we're bringing you Functions: a sleek web interface in Zapier where you write your automation logic directly in Python.

And here's the real magic: Because your functions live in the Zapier ecosystem of over 7,000 integrations, we deal with all the plumbing. No wrangling APIs, no gnarly auth management, no deployment nightmares. You just worry about what you need to build. Check it out here:

Whether you're an IT pro, a full-time engineer, or someone who just likes to tinker, Functions lets you focus on solving problems without the infrastructure headaches that slow you down.

Zapier Functions is now in beta. You can try it out by joining our Early Access program

Turn your imagination into automation

ZapConnect 2024 brings us to a new era for Zapier and for you. We've evolved from connecting apps to empowering you to build entire systems tailored to your unique needs.

Build powerful workflows using Zaps, Tables, Interfaces, and 7,000+ apps. Document your workflows in Canvas, build code-first automations in Functions, and put AI to work using Central and Chatbots.

Whether you're looking to:

  • Reinvent your customer onboarding process,

  • Scale automation to more teammates safely, or

  • Launch that billion-dollar business you've been dreaming about,

Zapier is here to help you make it happen, your way.

Ready to start building? Jump back into Zapier and create your next great solution.

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A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'