Conditions, Filters & Routers

Those features are only available in Workflows.
Routing and Filters are advanced yet valuable features that clean the data before sending it to another automation or a Google sheet.
Those are of 2 types:
- Routing: also called a "branch" or 2-way operation, this will split the data into two flows based on a condition
- Filter: it will filter and only send the remaining data to the next stage when matching a condition
Here you can use all the variables derived from any automation in a workflow as a condition comparison key.
Those are the parameters we will check upon those conditions.
Those conditions can be of many types:
Text:
- Contains
- Does not contain
- Exactly matches
- Does not exactly match
- Is in (text fragment inside a word)
- Is not in
- Starts with
- Does not starts with
- Ends with
- Does not ends with

Ex: If a LinkedIn profile job title contains "CEO" or "VP", then do this. Goal: process only those profiles to the next step.
For text-based conditions, you MUST use quotation marks for the terms or keywords used in the compare value field, even for single queries.
Ex: "CEO"
Those terms aren't case-sensitive. You can capitalize or use lowercase as you want.
You can also use multiple terms. But you should type those terms in lowercase, like in the example below:
Ex: "CEO" or "VP" or "Founder" and "Saas"
Again, this is ONLY for text-based conditions, not numbers or other types.
Number:
- Equals
- Greater than
- Less than
- Greater than equals
- Less than equals

Ex: If an Instagram profile follower count is above 2000, then do this. Goal: only process IG profiles that has over 2000 followers.
Date:
- Equals
- Greater than
- Less than
- Greater than equals
- Less than equals

Ex: If a Facebook post date is anterior to a specific date, then do this. Goal: only filter posts before a specific date.
Boolean:
- True
- False

If the returned email is valid (verified = true), then do this. Goal: only process valid emails to improve deliverability.
A workflow can have branches similar to Zapier, Integromat, Integrately, or Pabbly use routers or paths.
The only difference here is that it's a bi-directional routing process in TexAu:
IF the condition is matched for this automation, THEN do this, ELSE do that:

If the profile connected with us, send a LinkedIn message, otherwise send it to an email campaign if TexAu finds an email.
In TexAu, you will find this in the right tab of each automation setting inside the workflow builder:


IF the condition below is met ...

THEN process this new automation ...

ELSE process this automation instead

One of many practical use cases of this can be illustrated like this:
Linkedin:
A widespread use case you will use often is routing to withdraw pending connection requests that have not been accepted.
For this, you need to use routing so that in one way, it will only process connections that have been accepted and remove those who haven't in the other way:

- IF a connection request is accepted (condition: "connected" is true)
- THEN send a LinkedIn message
- ELSE withdrew the pending connection request


Facebook:
- IF a comment from a group post contains the terms: "bad" or "horrible" or "terrible" or "doesn't work" (condition: "textContent" contains)
- THEN extract the post commenters' profiles
- ELSE scrape the likers of that post


Instagram:
One classic use of routing in Instagram is to segment profiles you followed but don't follow back and those who do after x number of days:


Here we use the automation Scrape an Instagram Profile after a Delay automation to split the flow into two routes.
- IF the profile follows you back after x days
- THEN like a recent post from this profile
- ELSE unfollow the profile
Another example to segment a workflow based on the content of a post:
- IF a post with the hashtag #marketing contains the term "automation" in its content (condition: "description" contains "automation")
- THEN auto-follow the poster's profile
- ELSE like the other posts that don't contain that term


Twitter:


Very similar to the Instagram use case above, here we are using the automation Scrape a Twitter profile automation after a Delay automation to split the flow into two routes based on the following condition:
- IF the profile follows you back after x days
- THEN like a recent tweet from this profile
- ELSE unfollow the profile and remove it from the workflow
Google Maps:
- IF a Google Maps business had a rating below equal 4 (condition: "averageRating" is less than equal 4)
- THEN collect the Google Maps reviews and send data to a Google sheet
- ELSE send other listed maps businesses with a rating above 4 to a separate Google sheet


Later on, we will revamp this module in a Zapier-like fashion, not addressing bi-directional routing only.
VERY IMPORTANT: While TexAu allows a great range of possibilities using the routing technique described above, please keep in mind that the more branches and automation you add to your workflow, the more dependencies, and risks of breakage may occur if one automation fails (if the target web page you want to scrape changes its code, etc...). So try as much as possible to make your workflow as compact and efficient as possible. Sometimes it's better to do two smaller workflows that work than a huge one that fails because one node went down—just a thought.
Filters in TexAu follow the same logic as conditions in routing. The difference is that instead of a 2-way branch processing, it will only process data that matches a condition to the next step.
IF the condition is fulfilled, THEN do this.
Illustration in the examples below:
IF LinkedIn group members' profile contains "CEO" or "Founder" and "SaaS" in their headline, THEN only output the results matching the condition and send it as input to the next automation for scraping their profile details.

IF a profile email is verified (verified variable, condition: boolean is true), THEN only output valid emails. Ex: send the data to Zapier via webhooks to create a new contact in the CRM.

IF a Twitter profile follows you (followsYou variable, condition: boolean is true), THEN like or retweet.


Note that you can also use variables in the condition field. But the same applies to keywords. You should wrap those around " " quotation marks.

There are many different creative ways to use filters or routing in your workflows. A tutorial alone won't be enough to cover all the possibilities. The goal here is more about understanding the logic behind those and applying it to your use cases.
Last Tip: To remove a filter, click the first blue line in the dropdown.
