Make.com Automation Guide — Complete Beginner to Pro
Quick summary
This Make.com automation guide walks you from signing up to building production automations: triggers, modules, routers, iterators, error handling, security, and AI integrations. Includes downloadable PPT, code snippets, and templates.
Download PPT — Full Slide Deck
- Estimated reading: 12–18 minutes
- Skill level: Beginner → Advanced
- Primary keyword: Make.com automation guide
Core concepts & terminology
Understand the building blocks before building: Scenario, Module, Trigger, Action, Mapping, Router, Iterator. These terms appear throughout Make’s interface and community docs.
Scenarios
Complete automation flows. Think of a scenario as a program composed of sequential modules.
Modules
Pre-built connectors (Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack) or HTTP/webhook endpoints for custom APIs.
Triggers & Actions
Triggers start scenarios (email received, webhook call). Actions do the work (create row, send message).
Routers & Filters
Branching and conditions — route items by priority, content, or metadata.
Step-by-step: Build your first automation (Example)
- Create account & explore templates. Use a Gmail → Google Sheets template to learn mapping quickly.
- Add trigger: Watch emails with a subject filter.
- Parse content: Use text functions and regex if needed to extract order IDs or names.
- Write row: Add structured data to Google Sheets and add internal tracking fields like
status. - Branch with Router: If email contains “urgent” → send Slack alert to #alerts.
- Error route: Add an Error Handler to log failures to an admin sheet and retry policy.
Optimization tip: Filter as early as possible to reduce operation counts and cost.
Advanced topics
Subscenarios & modular workflows
Extract repeated logic into subscenarios to reduce complexity and improve maintainability.
API and HTTP usage
Use HTTP module for services without native connectors. Secure keys via Make’s connection manager and rotate credentials regularly.
AI & OpenAI
Integrate OpenAI via HTTP to summarize emails, classify leads, or generate responses. Example use-case: auto-score leads with a prompt and add score to Google Sheets for triage.
Security, performance & cost control
- Secure connections: Always use OAuth where possible, store API keys in secrets managers.
- Performance: Use aggregators and batch requests where supported to cut operations.
- Cost: Track operation counts; use filters early and avoid redundant modules.
- Legal: Mask or avoid storing PII; follow GDPR/local rules when storing user data.
Resources & downloads
Get the full slide deck, sample scenario JSON snippets, and checklist PDF.
Download Full Slide Deck (PPTX)Also available: sample Google Sheet, webhook test URLs, and example HTTP call templates.