A trigger is the starting point of every flow in Zoho Flow. It defines the event or condition that, when met, sets the entire automation in motion. Zoho Flow supports six distinct trigger types, each suited to different integration scenarios. Choosing the right trigger is fundamental to building an automation that responds at the right moment and receives the correct data.
An app trigger starts a flow when a specific event occurs within a connected application. This is the most commonly used trigger type and covers events such as a new record being created, an existing record being updated, a payment being received, a ticket being raised, or a meeting being scheduled. Zoho Flow connects to the application and listens for the defined event, initiating the flow each time it occurs.
App triggers can be either instant (webhook-based, firing in real time) or polled (checking the app at regular intervals for new events). The trigger's documentation for each app specifies which type it uses.
A schedule trigger starts a flow at a specific time or at regular intervals, rather than in response to an event. This is ideal for automations that need to run periodically, such as generating and sending a daily report, performing a weekly data sync between two systems, or checking for records that meet a condition at a set time each day.
You can configure schedule triggers to run at a precise time, on specific days of the week or month, or at recurring intervals such as every hour or every 15 minutes, depending on your subscription plan.
A webhook trigger starts a flow when it receives data from an external application or service via a unique webhook URL generated by Zoho Flow. When you set up a webhook trigger, Zoho Flow provides you with a URL that you configure in the external system. Whenever that system sends a payload to the URL, the flow fires immediately using the incoming data.
This trigger type is particularly useful for connecting to applications that are not natively listed in the Zoho Flow app library, or for receiving real-time event notifications from any system that supports outgoing webhooks.
An email trigger initiates a flow when an email is received at a dedicated Zoho Flow email address. The platform parses the incoming email and extracts data from it, such as the sender's address, subject line, and body content, making these values available as variables for use in subsequent steps of the flow.
This trigger is well suited to processes where notifications or data are delivered by email rather than through an application's API. For example, a flow could be triggered by an incoming order confirmation email and automatically create a corresponding record in your CRM or issue a task in your project management tool.
A URL trigger allows you to start a flow when new data is added to or updated at an API-backed URL that you have configured. Zoho Flow sends GET requests to the specified REST API endpoint at defined intervals and processes the response data as the trigger payload. Any new entries in the API response since the last poll are treated as trigger events.
This trigger type is useful for pulling data from third-party REST APIs that do not have a native Zoho Flow connector, turning any publicly accessible API endpoint into a trigger source for your automations.
An RSS/Atom feed trigger monitors a structured content feed and starts the flow whenever new content is published. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and Atom are widely used standards for distributing frequently updated content, such as blog posts, news articles, podcast episodes, and product updates.
By configuring an RSS/Atom trigger, you can automatically process or distribute new content as it is published, for example by posting a notification to a messaging platform whenever a new article appears on a monitored website.
| Trigger Type | Best Used When |
|---|---|
| App Trigger | A specific event occurs in a connected application |
| Schedule Trigger | The flow must run at a fixed time or on a recurring basis |
| Webhook Trigger | An external system needs to push data to Zoho Flow in real time |
| Email Trigger | Incoming emails carry the data that should start the automation |
| URL Trigger | Data is available via a REST API endpoint without a native connector |
| RSS/Atom Trigger | New content published to a feed should initiate the flow |