Zapier Custom Labels Bug
Asked by Mike Moore:

I am trying to get a form to populate a card and apply labels based dynamically in two checkboxes on the form. In Zapier I can get the custom labels to apply but the way it's supposed to work Is that if the labels already exist, it uses those. When I have the two labels already created and colored, it doesn't recognize them and the zap creates duplicates with no color. The names are identical.

Would love some Trello help as I wait for Zapier to respond. This seems like such a small bug fix that it could hopefully be quick. And it's killing me that my workflow is 99.9% without this. If it was resolved I'd be all the way to form to Trello automation!


Answers:
author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) Yeah that error has existed forever, I remember it from years ago. It was a long time ago but I think I just ended up using label IDs or hacking around it with Butler or something by applying coloured labels from Zapier and then naming the labels once they were applied.

comments: author: Mike Moore
body: [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112) @I'm not sure I've found a workaround that actually meets my needs. Those other options work if I wanted every form to have the same colored label. I need the labels to be dynamic.

<br />

I'm not sure what label ids are so could you explain that? I thought of the Butler solution but the problem is the same as it needs a reference for how to apply the label. If I point it to the words Design or Print then I cannot use that word anywhere else in the form.


author: Mike Moore
body: [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112) Not great to hear this has been around for years. Seems like such an easy fix for someone who knows how to fix it.


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) it looks like there's a "find label on board" step available in Zapier, so that would also work. If you've got labels that already exist, you should be able to use that find step and then use an add label to card step, and then only create a new label if that doesn't exist using a conditional branch in Zapier. You can only find the label IDs using the API. For example you can run this Trellinator function:

<https://gist.github.com/iaindooley/fa8bce393c73058872fe7152a07b9e19>

You can run that function in BenkoBot here:

<https://app.benkobot.com/>


author: Mike Moore
body: [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112) So I have to create a multi-step zap and go through all of these steps? That could work but seems very lengthy solution for something that should work the way it's worded. If this has been an issue for a long time, it should just be fixed so it can be as easy as they want it to be!


author: Iain Dooley
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) there are lots of things that should be true ;)


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) Just started testing out Zapier so may not have understood you correctly. I fo this. Zapier seems to work ok.

3. Add Label to Card in Trello and got this "The app returned "that label is already on the card"

What help do you need on the Trello side?

comments: author: Mike Moore
body: Thanks for responding.

Its a problem with the field in the zap building side of things but with the Trello side of the zap thus why I posted.

There are two field options. Add color label and add custom label. I want one of two labels on my form both of which I've already created and set colors for on my board to be applied when the forms are submitted.

It says that if the labels don't exist they'll be created. Well I've already got them created but when I run the zap it creates them as duplicates.

When it creates them again, the color is set to none.

This really seems like a bug somewhere in the Trello Zapier connection. So I assume that's again something to get help with here?


author: milynnus
body: Can you print the zap page so I may learn about this issue? I tried several zaps to try to create a label with same name and colour but it did not allow me. Here's what I did. The run python output Name and Colour of exist label. Although it says that Label was created successfully nothing was created.

![Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.48.28 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108469iE8FB159DE040B0E0/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.48.28 PM.png")![Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.54.36 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108471iCCFB410E61641805/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.54.36 PM.png")

![Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.51.53 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108470i266C038D0FB19D72/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 10.51.53 PM.png")


author: Mike Moore
body: Here's the part that's not working right. Note that it says that "non-existing will be created." Well on my board, both "Design" and "Print" already exist as labels that are pink and blue respectively.

When I run the zap, the card gets created and the two labels get applied but not correctly. It creates duplicates of these two labels with the same names and no colors. So it's something related to the handling of the label color.

![Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 1.06.18 PM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108479iF7BA4E8D4F56A531/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-08-30 at 1.06.18 PM.png")


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091)

So far my tests in Zapier on labels are consistent with my programming in a Trello using py-Trello. The important distinction is between add and create. Add you need to identify the label object and create you supply the name and colour. In my test above I used zapier python to supply name and colour and even when label exist it does not create another. In your picture, it is not obvious to me that you have supplied both. If Requests and Design are label objects in Zapier terms that it should work but if they are just Text then it will not.   

![397E67CB-9CDA-4464-AC61-4FBFF1EEE227.jpeg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108491i7F079864D8521835/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "397E67CB-9CDA-4464-AC61-4FBFF1EEE227.jpeg")


author: Mike Moore
body: I'm going to need some help understanding what it is you're saying here. How should I be putting this in? In Zapier under Add, I have to select a color.

I just need to know how I'm supposed to enter this in Zapier. It doesn't make sense the way it's currently implemented.


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) to be clear, Design and Print are label terms and not just text. They are being generated by my form. So they should work if you look at the screenshots I posted. I am putting these form fields in the Custom Labels section because it will not let me put them in Add Label section where I can only type or insert a color name.


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) also I just noticed your first screenshot is for the step "Add Label in Trello." That's not the step I'm running. I'm having this issue in the "Create Card in Trello" step. That's where I'm hoping you're looking to see if this can be fixed.


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112)

I hope I understood your situation correctly.

I used Run Python to represent what the form needed to have done. -\>output a label name and colour and have Zapier Find or Create Label. Here it will only create a new label if one of that Name \& colour does not exist. Then the next zap pickup the Label object which will be available as Name(color).

If I change python to supply only the name. A new label is created with with no colour background.

output = \[{'name': 'Design', 'color': ''}\]

I do not know how you can create a Trello Label object outside of Trello via your form.

![Screen Shot 2020-08-31 at 11.19.32 AM.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/108501iF38B81642BE6889C/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screen Shot 2020-08-31 at 11.19.32 AM.png")


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) I think I found out what are referring to as Custom Label. I found it in Create Card. I am investigating .


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112) It appears that Zapier/Trello does prevent new labels to be created on the board but not in the way we expected it. **Since the same name can be used with different coloured labels, the system would not be able to know what to create on the card.** It does, however, avoid duplicating labels for the same Name with no colour background.

The colour selection option just before Custom Label is still a bit of mysterious. it adds a label that matches colour but it does appear to add it in an alphabetic order.

My earlier sequence of Zaps would approximate how I would handle labels in cards with predefined set of board labels.

All the best in finding a solution that works for you.


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) thank you for investigating but I'm confused if you're saying that you are done being able to help.

Now that I think you see the issue, where do I go to get this remedied? Is this a Zapier conversation? Doesn't Atlassian control what fields appear and how things are set up in Zapier? It would seem you could just add under or to the Custom Label field the ability to pick a color or something like that. I don't know.

I feel stuck!


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) [@Iain Dooley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1416112)

I actually sent this to you this morning. There has been some issues for the forum app. I lost a number of post. Here's the solution i have created.

If you need to talk through this, I have a contact form in my profile.   
<https://youtu.be/O-Emf8lN0_g>


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) wow thank you so much for taking the time to make that video. Super helpful and now I understand more of how it all works.

So for future clarity, this kind of thing needs a paid Zapier account for those additional steps. This is something I'll be doing so I can follow the steps you suggested.

Would love a free solution for it to work on a single step but I get why that's not currently possible.

Thank you!


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) yes, it does mean you need a paid plan to do this. I am on a trial. So I will not be able to prototype for others with questions soon. It helps that I have been doing api development on Wayscript with py-Trello which is free at this moment. It is my go-to platform for automation on Trello for my services work.


author: Mike Moore
body: Ok so here's an update.

Still not all the way there. The way you showed in the video [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) does enable a single label to be applied with a color. The problem returns to the beginning of what I'm trying to solve though.

I have a multi checkbox field with "Design" and "Print" as options. I can't figure out without using Zapier Paths how to make the zap apply the design label only when that's checked and the print label only when that's checked.

With a paid Starter account, Paths are not available and this makes it complex anyways.

Does anyone have an idea of how I can accomplish this?


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) Want to me online. Use my contact form in my profile. I am available for the next hour


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) I just submitted the form.


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) ?


author: Mike Moore
body: [@milynnus](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3947182) hello! Because of the time difference, I won't be able to connect in person today but I'm still needing more clarity on what you sent last night.

I cannot get the Python thing to work the way you did.

If somehow you have capacity to make another video and show on screen all of the Zapier step information that would be awesome. I tried a lot of options but cannot understand how you got multiple labels to apply to the card in one zap.

I've been back and forth with Zapier again today and making no progress so you may be the only one that's figured this thing out!


author: milynnus
body: [@Mike Moore](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4068091) Here's the demo you requested

<https://youtu.be/sCjt5W3wYfw>

I am tempted to do a demo with Wayscript and py-trello :)


Tags: forms

zapier