Keep track of Trello with Zapier and seven

Trello simplifies the organization and task planning in teams. However, the boards can become cluttered. Moreover, if you don’t have the app open all the time, you might miss important notifications or comments. To avoid this, an additional notification is a good idea. And what better way to do that than with the most reliable and global service of all – SMS?

What is Trello, anyway?

Simply put, Trello is a digital pinboard to which tasks, ideas or plans are posted. Especially small and medium-sized businesses use the service. The basic version is free of charge, those who want to activate more additional functions have to pay for it – but the price is quite reasonable. Large companies mostly rely on powerful solutions with more functions. But these cost correspondingly more. Trello is ideal for companies with a limited budget or for individual teams within a company.

Well, a lot of people are too busy to keep an eye on Trello all the time. Or their tasks require that a team member is not constantly on their computer. On the other hand, most of us have our smartphone or mobile phone with us all the time, whether in our pockets or on the desk in front of us. Zapier allows – in combination with Trello and a powerful SMS gateway – to set up SMS notifications of news.

A few words about Zapier

Zapier is a platform that allows thousands of apps to interact with each other without requiring programming knowledge. For companies as well as for private users, certain processes can be automated in a simple way.

Ever since the release of our API as a beta version on Zapier, we have also reported on several applications. For example, we have explained how you can get informed about new files in your dropbox. And for those who miss appointments from time to time, we showed how to get your Google Calendar events sent to you in time via SMS.

How to set up Trello notifications via SMS

To add our app to your Zapier account, just follow the link below. If you are already logged in to Zapier, it will directly start the setup of an automation – a “Zap” – with seven as the responding app. Please note: you may occasionally still run across apps that refer to sms77 instead of seven.

Assign Trello as the trigger

The setup of a zap is always the same. In the first step you need a trigger. Depending on which app this is, you have different options for setting it up. It is important that you link the accounts with each other. Zapier also actively requests this. In the case of Trello, you have the possibility to select a new card, general new activity or a new notification as trigger. For this example I have chosen a notification.

Tell Zapier how seven should react to Trello

Our app is set up for sending SMS on Zapier. To link your account, you need to enter your API Key. Afterwards, you can specify a single recipient or an entire contact list. You can specify whether a normal SMS is to be sent, or a flash message. You can also customize the text of your SMS and the Sender ID that should be displayed. For example, I have specified myself as recipient so that I will be informed about new notification on my Trello account via SMS.

Add a filter (optional)

Depending on what your tasks are or how large your team is, it may be useful to insert a filter between the first and second step. For example, you can specify that only notifications or comments from a specific team member – such as your boss – are used as triggers. In the same way, you can select specific boards or cards for observation. On the one hand, this reduces the amount of SMS sent. On the other, you can also avoid being informed about news that are unimportant for you and your tasks.

Briefly summarised

Thanks to Zapier you can set up an automatic notification for your Trello boards. You don’t need to learn programming first, all you need is an account for each of the three platforms – Trello, Zapier and seven.

Depending on which trigger you have set and which filters you have interposed, you will receive live notifications about certain events on Trello. Even if you have no access to the Internet at the moment.

The automations on Zapier are not cast in Stone, by the way. You can disable or adjust them any time. For example, you can deactivate the notifications so that you’re not disturbed on vacation. Or you can change the trigger or filter if something has changed. The possibilities are almost endless.

Edits on 08/17/2022: Updated Zapier screenshots