Understand triggers, actions, and Zaps — the three building blocks of every automation.
Every Zapier automation has two parts: a Trigger (something that happens) and an Action (something Zapier does in response). When someone fills out your Google Form (trigger), Zapier adds a row to your spreadsheet (action). That's it. That's automation.
A Zap is one complete trigger-action pair. You can have hundreds of Zaps running simultaneously — each one watching a different trigger and doing a different action. Most professionals end up with 10-30 active Zaps once they get going.
Zapier connects over 5,000 apps. The most useful ones for professionals: Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Typeform, Calendly, Trello, Asana, and Notion. If you use it at work, it's probably there.