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How to create charts in Zapier from your data

With Zapier you connect your tools in no time: a form, your CRM, a spreadsheet. But when you want to show numbers (sales, leads, survey answers), a message full of figures is hard to read. A chart, on the other hand, is understood in a second.

Zapier has no action for creating charts. The answer is Webhooks by Zapier, which calls the Cofferdock API with your data and gives you back the chart, ready to send.

What you'll get

A bar, line, pie, doughnut or radar chart built from your Zap's data, which you can post to Slack, attach to a Gmail email or save to Google Drive.

What you need

• A Cofferdock account (the free plan gives you 50 credits a month, no card needed).
• Your API key, which you create in the dashboard with "+ Create key".
• Webhooks by Zapier, which is included in Zapier's paid plans.

Step by step with Webhooks by Zapier

Add a Webhooks by Zapier action and choose the Custom Request event. Fill it in like this:

• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.cofferdock.com/chart
• Headers: add x-api-key with your key and Content-Type with application/json.
• Data: the chart JSON (below).

Here's an example with data from an earlier step (for example, a Google Sheets row with four weeks of sales):

{
  "type": "line",
  "title": "Sales this month",
  "labels": ["Week 1", "Week 2", "Week 3", "Week 4"],
  "series": [
    { "name": "Sales", "data": [1200, 950, 1430, 1610] }
  ],
  "width": 800,
  "height": 500,
  "output": "url"
}

Replace the numbers with the fields from your earlier step: put the cursor where each number goes and pick it from Zapier's data dropdown. They go without quotes, because they're numbers.

Why "output": "url"

Webhooks by Zapier works with text responses, not files. With "output": "url", Cofferdock stores the image and returns a download link in the url field.

That link lasts 15 minutes, so use it in the next steps of the same Zap, not to save it and open it days later. If you want to keep the image, the next step can upload it to Google Drive.

What to do with the chart

In the next step of your Zap, use the Url field returned by Webhooks by Zapier:

• Slack → Send Channel Message: paste the link into the message and Slack will show the image.
• Gmail → Send Email: map the Url field into Attachments; Zapier downloads the file and attaches it.
• Google Drive → Upload File: map the Url field into File to keep a permanent copy.

A complete example

A weekly update for the team:

1. Schedule by Zapier: every Monday at 9:00.
2. Google Sheets → Lookup Spreadsheet Row: the row with the week's figures.
3. Webhooks by Zapier → Custom Request: creates the chart.
4. Slack → Send Channel Message: "Here's how the week went" plus the chart.

Options you can change

How much does it cost?

Each chart uses 1 credit from your plan. The same balance covers every other Cofferdock tool: HTML to image, PDFs, website screenshots and more.

FAQ

Does Zapier have an action for creating charts? No. You do it with Webhooks by Zapier calling the Cofferdock API.

It returns a 400 error. Check the JSON: extra commas, numbers in quotes, or a series with a different number of values than labels. The response explains which field is wrong.

Why doesn't the link work the next day? Because it expires after 15 minutes. If you need to keep the image, upload it to Google Drive in the same Zap.

Try it

Every option is on the chart tool page. If you don't have an account yet, create one for free and build your first automatic update.