The concept of automation triggers

IFTTT is a freemium app. The name is an acronym for IF This Then That. In other words, if <this thing> happens, then <this other thing> happens.

To put it in context:

IF This: the trigger here is an article posted on our JD Supra profile.

Then That: a reminder is created on my calendar that alerts me in 1 week, 1 month, 1 year.

So, an article is posted to our JD Supra profile, then alerts are set up to remind me to grab stats at those intervals – ALL WITHOUT ME HAVING TO DO IT.

Sweet, right? Here’s how to do it.

Setting up automations

Here’s an example of an automation.

Step 1: Grab your firm’s JD Supra RSS URL

You don’t have to know what “RSS” or URL” stands for to do this!

1. Go to your firm’s JD Supra portfolio (the public-facing profile, not your dashboard).
2. Scroll down a bit to find the RSS icon under your left-side profile.

3. Copy that RSS URL (hover your mouse over the RSS icon and right click > copy). Keep it handy or save it somewhere you can find it.

Step 2: Head to Zapier or IFTTT

I’ll use Zapier as an example. I’m skipping over the “how to sign up part.” Make sure that you follow along with the directions to approve your calendar authentication with Zapier (it’ll walk you through).

1. Once you’re logged into Zapier, hit Make a Zap (first button on the upper left side). “Zap” is Zapier’s cutesy name for automation.

2. On the new screen, locate “RSS” and click on it.

3. On the new page, use the drop-down menu to select “New Item in Feed” as your trigger event. Then select Continue.

4. Grab your JD Supra RSS URL and paste in the “Feed URL” field. You can ignore the rest – hit Continue.

5. Here’s where you can test your Feed URL. If you hit “Test Trigger,” Zapier will tell you whether it can pull data from the URL to successfully complete your action. If all looks good (like below), hit Continue.

6. Next we set up our action (the “then that” part). You can either search for your calendar of choice or select one on the screen. For this example, I’ll use Google Calendar.

7. If you haven’t connected to your calendar app to Zapier yet, this is where you’ll do it. Just follow the directions to authenticate. Then, select the type of event you want to create. Quick Add Event just uses a title – no date. For this specific automation, select “Create Detailed Event.” Hit Continue.

8. Once you connect, select the calendar account you’d like to use for your reminder (you may have only one option). Hit Continue.

9. This next part looks overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with the tool. Don’t be intimidated! Look for the little red “(required)” fields (on the right side of the pane) – that’s all you need to fill out to make it work.

Your first action is to choose your calendar. (The first calendar in the field above was your account, as you can connect multiple Google accounts if you wish.)

The next set of data is slightly irrelevant, though you may want to add a note in your calendar event. I’d skip this part for this automation.

Next set is the timing of the event. Both the start and end date/time are required for automation. Once you click on the field entry, you’ll get a drop-down menu: ignore it. Type in BOTH fields “in 1 week” (yes, you’ll have to create more than one of these, more on that later). Because it’s more of a reminder for me, I don’t require a block of time (also, I don’t want to do the math).

The rest I ignore. Though if you’re part of a team, you can use the “Attendees” field to remind other folks.

Hit Continue when you’ve filled out what you need.

10. The next section is the final test! Scroll down to the bottom and hit “Test & Continue.

11. Once you’ve tested your Zap, it will let you know whether it worked.

You’ll need to turn it on after the test, otherwise, it sits as a draft. Select either the blue “Turn on Zap” button or the switch that sits at the bottom of the browser window.

Before you go: make sure to label it! (Upper left corner with the little pencil) You’ll need it (you’ll never remember it later).