How to automate chart creation with Zapier

Create and share charts

InstaCharts can create a chart within Zapier and automatically send the result to a coworker or another workflow step. The integration connects your charts to more than 8,000 apps with three actions: Generate Chart Image, Add Data Row, and Get Chart Image.

TLDR: Sign up for a free account!

This article has been adapted from our Zapier Integration guide.

Generate dynamic chart images with Zapier and InstaCharts

Charts help communicate complex information clearly in reports, presentations, and social media content. The Zapier integration for InstaCharts automates the process of generating chart images directly from a workflow.

Here’s how to set up and use the integration.

Prerequisites

• An active InstaCharts account
• A Zapier account

Which action should I use?

• I want a fresh image built from data in my trigger app. Use Generate Chart Image, covered in the next section.
• I want to feed new data into a chart I already built. Use Add Data Row.
• I want the current image of a chart I already built. Use Get Chart Image.

Setup a Generate Chart Image action with Zapier

These steps allow you to generate a chart image using Zapier. At the end, you will receive an image url to use in another step of your zap. You can email the image url, embed it in another app, download to a Google Drive folder or whatever your workflow needs!

Images are securely stored by Zapier for a week.

Create a New Zap

1. Log into your Zapier account
2. Click “Create Zap”
3. Choose your desired trigger app and event. In our example above, we’ve chosen Schedule By Zapier, so we can produce a chart once a month.

Configure InstaCharts Action - Setup

1. Select “InstaCharts” as your action app
2. On the Setup Tab, Choose “Generate Chart Image” as the action event
3. Connect your InstaCharts account if you haven’t already

Configure Chart Settings

On the next screen, Configure, you will choose all of your chart options to send to InstaCharts.

Pick a template

The first dropdown allows you to pick a template from your InstaCharts account. Since InstaCharts allows over 100 options to be specified per chart, it can be a real timesaver to set up a chart template using the UI instead of manually entering chart options.

Read this guide to learn more about how to Setup a template

If you have not yet created a template, no worries - choose the Default Template.

Enter in data

There are two main ways to send data to InstaCharts.

Basic Input (Unaggregated)

Below is a screenshot of Basic input.

For our Bar chart, we’ve chosen 3 values for the X-Axis, mobile, desktop and tablet - each entered separately on a different line. The Y-Axis values are in an array [100000,150000,450000], but you can also set them separately like the X-Axis values.

Make sure the X-Axis and the Y-Axis have the same number of values.

Series Input (Separate Series)

When using grouped charts (charts that allow multiple series to be graphed), like a stacked bar chart or grouped line chart, you have a choice of how you’d like to input your data.

Most people will want to choose a Data Format of Separate Series. Choose Un-aggregated if you are entering in raw unaggregated data from a file source.

A screenshot of using separate series is below.

An extra option will pop up, allowing you to select the number of series.

• Number of Series Choose how many series you’d like to add. In our example, we’ve chosen 2 series.

For our Stacked Bar Chart, we’d like to compare Site Traffic by month, so we’ll add series data that reflects device traffic by month.

As before, we’ve chosen 3 values for the X-Axis, mobile, desktop and tablet - each entered separately on a different line.

The Series 1 values are Jan for our series label (this will show in the legend) and 25000 20000 and 100000 as our values. The Series 2 values are Feb for our series label and 31000 250000 and 150000 as our values.

Choose Text Options

A variety of text options are available, all are optional.

• Chart title Enter a title for your chart
• Chart Subtitle Enter a subtitle to be shown under the title
• Show Data Labels Defaults to true. Bar charts and pie charts will have labeled pieces
• X-Axis Title Enter an axis title for the X-Axis
• Y-Axis Title Enter an axis title for the Y-Axis
• Legend Title Enter a title for the legend

Other Overrides

InstaCharts has many more customization options that don’t fit within the Zapier UI. Use the Chart Overrides text box to enter them in.

A list of available parameters can be found here.

To set the bar chart horizontal and change the color scheme of the chart, you would enter this in the Chart Overrides text box:

colorScheme=magma&switchAxis=true

Note: Separate multiple override params with an &

Testing

Once all required params are entered on the Configure screen, press Continue to go to the Test screen.

Test the integration by pressing the Test button. If its successful, you should be sent an Image Url.

Next Steps

Add another step in Zapier to do something with your image.

You could save it to a folder in Google Drive, embed it in an email, or integrate it with your other workflows.

Example Scenario

Let’s say you want to generate a weekly sales report chart and email it to your team.

1. Trigger: “Schedule by Zapier” (run weekly).
2. Action: “Google Sheets” (get weekly sales data).
3. Action: “InstaCharts” (create a bar chart using the sales data).
4. Action: “Gmail” (send an email with the embedded chart image).

Benefits of Using InstaCharts with Zapier:

• Automation: Eliminate the manual effort of creating charts.
• Consistency: Ensure consistent chart formatting and branding.
• Efficiency: Save time and improve productivity.
• Integration: Add charts directly into existing workflows.
• Dynamic Data: Automatically update charts with the latest data.

Using Zapier and InstaCharts together automates the creation and distribution of chart images across a workflow.

Keep a chart current with Add Data Row

The Add Data Row action adds a row of data to an existing InstaCharts sheet. Every chart and dashboard built on that sheet updates with the new data, so a live chart stays current as new records arrive, such as a new spreadsheet row, a form response, or a sale.

1. Create a Zap and choose the trigger that produces the new data, such as a new Google Sheets row, a new Typeform response, or a new Stripe payment.
2. Add InstaCharts as the action app and choose “Add Data Row” as the action event.
3. Choose the Workspace that contains your sheet, then choose the Sheet.
4. InstaCharts adds one field for each column in the sheet, labeled with your column names. Map the data from your trigger into each column. Fields are optional, and a blank field stores an empty value.
5. Press Test to append a new row to your sheet.

You need a sheet already set up in InstaCharts to use this action. See the Add Data Row guide for details.

Send a chart you already built with Get Chart Image

The Get Chart Image action returns a hosted image URL for a chart that already exists in your InstaCharts account. Pick the Workspace, the Sheet, and the Chart, and InstaCharts renders the chart’s current state. Use the image URL in later steps of your Zap to attach it to an email, post it to Slack or Microsoft Teams, save it to Google Drive, or add it to a Notion page.

Because the chart stays connected to its data, scheduling this action delivers an up-to-date snapshot every time the Zap runs, which suits weekly reports. See the Get Chart Image guide for the steps.

Tasks and limits

Each action run counts as one task against your workspace’s monthly task allowance. Free accounts have 100 tasks a month to try out the integration, and paid plans add tasks for each seat in the workspace. See the Tasks documentation for how tasks are counted.

Read More

Read more about using Zapier: Zaps Quick Start Guide

Read the Full Chart Template Docs

Read how to Generate Charts using Templates

How to Re-sync data with Google Sheets

How to Download Chart Images

How to Share a Chart via a link

Give it a try

InstaCharts is a powerful tool that can help you create and share professional-looking charts in seconds. Signup for a free account today!

Zapier Workflows

Below is a Zapier widget to help you get started generating chart images with InstaCharts!