Mechanically format textual content the best way you need

So close to, and but to date. That is the sensation as a rule when making an attempt to get apps to work collectively. You export knowledge out of 1 app, attempt to import it into one other—and it seems to be excellent, proper till it does not. Seems, the textual content is within the fallacious format or order, names are collectively when they need to be break up into first and final, dates and cellphone numbers are formatted incorrectly, and so forth.

Again to the drafting board. You can manually edit all the things, splitting first and final names by hand or typing in every date line by line—however that’d take without end. The higher possibility is to get your apps to do the give you the results you want.

There are sometimes a number of methods to do this. You can reformat the textual content in your laptop, or you possibly can velocity issues up with Zapier’s Formatter instrument, which might robotically format your textual content the best way you need. Listed here are a number of the hottest methods to reformat textual content together with step-by-step directions.

Desk of contents

What’s Zapier Formatter?

First, a fast intro. You wish to transfer knowledge—say, your contact checklist—from one app to a different, proper? Zapier‘s the instrument for that. It is a workflow automation instrument that connects hundreds of apps—from Airtable to Zoho CRM and all the things in between—so when somebody new buys your merchandise or fills out your kind or the rest, Zapier can copy that knowledge and add it to the right app.

Typically getting the information in the proper format wants a little bit of assist, which is the place Formatter is available in. Formatter’s a built-in Zapier instrument that tweaks your knowledge to get it working the best way you want.

Say it’s worthwhile to copy Shopify prospects right into a Mailchimp mailing checklist. Shopify exhibits your prospects’ full names and the detailed time and date they purchased your product—however all you need is their first identify and the day of the week. Simply add a Formatter step to your Zap, and Zapier can format textual content the best way you need earlier than including it to Mailchimp.

Now let’s be taught to make use of Formatter to edit your textual content so it is good.

Methods to break up names and different textual content

You’ve got all the information you want from one app—however it’s multi functional subject, and it’s worthwhile to break up it up earlier than you may add it to a different app. You do not want a full identify; you want first and final names. You do not want the entire handle; you simply want the postal code and nation.

Formatter may help with that. First, add a Formatter step to your Zap, choose the Textual content motion occasion, then select the Break up Textual content rework possibility. Add the textual content you wish to break up to the Enter subject. (To map dynamic knowledge from earlier steps, click on the + button or kind a ahead slash (/), which opens a modal that lets you choose and insert values.) Then add the delimiter that is splitting up the textual content to the Separator subject.

Within the Phase Index subject, choose which a part of the textual content you wish to pull—you may select the primary, second, final, or next-to-last a part of the textual content. Then take a look at your motion to verify it really works the best way you need. Need to pull all the segments? Simply add extra Formatter steps, every time choosing the right section you need.

Lastly, add the motion steps you wish to put your newly break up textual content to work in your different apps.

Methods to extract e mail addresses, web site hyperlinks, and numbers

Somebody emailed you a hyperlink, and also you’d love to repeat the hyperlink and put it aside someplace—solely you need to do this robotically with out copying. Or possibly it’s worthwhile to pull cellphone numbers out of a doc or e mail addresses out of a word.

Formatter may help there, too. It consists of Extract E-mail Deal with, Extract URL, Extract Cellphone Quantity, and Extract quantity transforms to discover these objects out of your textual content. Choose the rework possibility for the merchandise you wish to discover. Then, within the Enter subject, choose the textual content you wish to discover by mapping knowledge from a earlier step.

Check the motion, and Zapier will discover the primary URL, e mail handle, or quantity it comes throughout in your textual content. You should utilize that in your subsequent motion step to avoid wasting the URL, ship an e mail, add the quantity to your stock, and extra.

Need to discover the second hyperlink, e mail, or quantity in that textual content? Simply add a Formatter textual content substitute step to take away that first merchandise you discovered, adopted by one other Formatter textual content extract step to search out the subsequent merchandise.

Methods to capitalize textual content the best way you need

You are speeding to put in writing a weblog submit, and all the things seems to be nice at a fast look, so that you hit publish. Solely later do you discover that your complete title is in all caps—apparently you hit Caps Lock as a substitute of Shift. Or possibly it is one thing easier. Maybe you simply wish to robotically share weblog posts to Bluesky and Fb, however wish to make your submit title look extra pure as a substitute of an ordinary capitalized title.

Formatter’s acquired your again. Add a Formatter Textual content motion to your Zap, then choose the Capitalize, Lowercase, Titlecase, or Uppercase rework choices to format your textual content the best way you need. Zapier will then robotically test your textual content capitalization, repair something that is off, after which ship the formatted textual content to your different motion apps. It is like spellcheck to your fashion information.

Methods to discover and substitute textual content

Maintain misspelling a phrase again and again, and wish to test all the things you write earlier than you publish it? Must be sure to do not by chance put final 12 months’s date in subsequent 12 months’s paperwork? Or do you simply wish to substitute the commas in an inventory with a special delimiter, like a pipe (|)?

The substitute perform in Formatter can try this for you. Add a Formatter motion to your Zap, select Textual content as your motion occasion, choose the Substitute rework, and inform Zapier what textual content you wish to search via. Then inform the Zap what you wish to discover—something from textual content to areas to line breaks. Lastly, add what you wish to substitute that textual content with. (Or go away the alternative clean in the event you simply wish to delete that textual content.)

It is a good way to wash up your textual content earlier than issues get revealed or added to your different apps.

Methods to format dates and instances

To illustrate that Shopify exhibits your buyer purchased your product at 2026-08-19T16:34:00-4:00, however you’d moderately know that they purchased your product on Friday, Aug nineteenth. Or possibly you are making an attempt to schedule appointments together with your prospects, however your U.S.-based calendar app has bother determining what date your buyer means once they kind 06/08/2026 in worldwide format.

Formatter’s date and time formatting perform may help. Simply add a Formatter step with a Date/Time motion occasion to your Zap, and choose Format because the Rework. Map the date that must be modified to the Enter subject, then choose the date fashion you need within the To Format subject.

You will get as particular as you need. Zapier consists of a variety of default date/time types, like January 22, 2022 or 09-22-2026, which you can select from. Or choose Use a Customized Worth and kind within the date and time format you need. Simply need the day of the week? Sort dddd within the subject. Need 22/Sep/2026? Sort YY/MMM/YYYY as a substitute. Examine this desk in our Formatter assist docs for all of the customized date and time types you may select from.

Zapier will usually guess the unique date and time format you are changing from. However you may set that as nicely in the event you want. You can too set authentic and new time zones as a fast method to change these Pacific instances from Shopify to Jap if you would like, too.

Methods to convert Markdown textual content to HTML or a doc

Write in Phrase or Google Docs’ wealthy formatting and duplicate it over to your weblog, and you may doubtless lose some formatting within the course of. Write in HTML, and it is all too simple to overlook a closing tag or another tiny character.

Markdown is the very best of each worlds. It is easy to put in writing in, with *single asterisks* for italics or - dashes for bullet factors. You may write Markdown textual content in any textual content editor or phrase processor, even out of your cellphone, and embrace all of the formatting simply.

All that is left is to transform that textual content to HTML and publish it in your web site—or to transform it to a formatted PDF and maybe print it out. Formatter to the rescue once more.

First add a Formatter step to your Zap. Choose Textual content as your motion occasion and choose Convert Markdown to HTML within the Rework subject. Subsequent, add your Markdown textual content—maybe from an Evernote word, e mail, or perhaps a word in your CRM or challenge administration app. Zapier will then flip that Markdown into normal HTML you should utilize anyplace. Have Zapier add that to WordPress or put it aside as an HTML file in Dropbox that syncs to your web site. Or, if you'd like a PDF model, ship the HTML to PDF.co, which might convert it into a sophisticated PDF file and put it aside to Google Drive for simple sharing.

This is a pre-made Zap that will help you take new points from GitHub, flip the Markdown into HTML, and submit it to your web site utilizing Ghost:

Methods to discover associated knowledge

A buyer messages with Bob in your group, however he is consumer a932sz922 in Salesforce, @bobthebob in Slack, and @bobtester in Assist Scout. Your prospects do not know that—they solely know they should contact Bob.

The identical factor occurs with orders, the place widget may be product 0137204 in your stock and WIDGET_V2 in your accounting software program. Or in your calendar, which doesn’t know lunch means 12PM. And on and on. The identical knowledge can have extensively completely different names in several apps.

Zapier's Lookup Desk formatter perform makes positive Zapier all the time finds the proper knowledge. You add every of the entries that can are available from the primary app on the left column, and their equal in one other app on the proper—and add a fallback possibility simply in case Zapier does not discover any match. Then the subsequent time somebody asks to talk with Bob or desires to order a widget, Zapier seems to be up Bob or widget within the checklist, finds out what the opposite app thinks it is known as, and sends the right knowledge to that app as a substitute of sending the precise factor your buyer typed.

That is not all. Formatter may also trim whitespace, truncate textual content, pluralize English phrases, format foreign money and cellphone numbers, add or subtract time from dates, run normal spreadsheet capabilities, and rather more.

Formatter vs in-line formatting

Zapier provides you two methods to format your knowledge: Formatter steps and in-line formulation. Neither prices any duties, and each can reformat your textual content (for instance, make textual content lowercase, uppercase, or all caps), extract e mail addresses, numbers, and URLs, and trim areas or strip out undesirable characters.

The primary distinction: in-line formulation are somewhat quicker to arrange. As an alternative of including a devoted Formatter step, you may apply a system proper the place you map knowledge in a Zap step. In any subject, simply click on the + button, choose Formulation, and select from the accessible choices.

That stated, there's nothing fallacious with sticking to Formatter steps. You may want them if:

• You need your Zap workflows to be simple for you and your group to scan. Having a devoted Formatter step may help make it apparent the place formatting is getting utilized.

• You want entry to Formatter's full vary of transformations. Inline formulation presently embrace 16 capabilities. For different choices—like working with dates, instances, currencies, or lookup tables—you will want to make use of Formatter by Zapier.

• You desire a separate, clearly labeled output you may map anyplace in your Zap. Inline formulation solely rework the sector the place you place them. Formatter steps generate reusable outputs you may drop into a number of later steps.

To be taught extra about inline formulation, take a look at these assist docs.

Rework the look of your knowledge

While you're making an attempt to automate something in Zapier, and might't work out the way to get two apps to suit collectively, Formatter's the instrument that is almost certainly to assist. Simply add it to your Zap, and with somewhat tweaking you need to be capable of get your textual content the best way you want earlier than sending it to the subsequent app.

Formatter's not the one highly effective built-in Zapier instrument—there are dozens of different useful options included, from instruments to ship SMS messages or emails to filters to type via your knowledge. Study extra about methods to make use of Zapier's built-in instruments.

This text was initially written in September 2017 by Matthew Guay with later updates from Tyler Robertson and Will Harris. It was most not too long ago up to date in June 2026.