What you'll build
A Zap that triggers every time a Vinyl meeting ends and posts the summary to the right Slack channel — automatically, based on whether it was a client meeting or an internal one.
Client meetings → posted to your client updates or account management channel
Internal meetings → posted to your team or general channel
Private meetings → nothing sent
This article assumes you've completed Vinyl + Zapier: Getting started with email triggers and Use AI to classify your meetings.
What you'll need
A Zapier account (Starter plan or above for multi-step Zaps)
Slack connected to Zapier — go to My Apps in Zapier, search for Slack, and authorise with your workspace
Setting up the Client path (Path A)
Inside your Path A — Client branch, add a Slack → Send Channel Message step.
Set Channel to wherever client meeting updates should land — for example
#client-updates,#account-management, or#meetings.Set the Message Text. Here's a format that works well in Slack:
:memo: *Client meeting summary**Meeting:* [Subject field from email][Body Plain field from email]
The Body Plain field from the Vinyl email contains the full summary — Overview, Key Discussion Points, and Action Items — in clean plain text. Slack renders line breaks correctly so the message is easy to read without any extra formatting.
Optional: set Bot Name to something like "Vinyl" and add a bot icon to make the messages easy to identify in the channel.
Setting up the Internal path (Path B)
Inside your Path B — Internal branch, add another Slack → Send Channel Message step.
Set Channel to your team channel — for example
#generalor#team.Use the same message format, or a simpler version without the client context header.
Tip: Notify yourself directly after a client meeting
If you'd rather get a private heads-up than post to a shared channel, use Slack → Send Direct Message instead. Set the recipient to your own Slack username and map in the meeting summary. This is useful if you want to review the notes before they're shared with the wider team.
Tip: Route to a client-specific channel
If your firm uses a dedicated Slack channel per client (e.g. #smith-associates), add an AI step before the Slack step to extract the client name, then use Slack → Find Public Channel to look up the matching channel.
1. AI / ChatGPT — Extract client name from meeting summary 2. Slack — Find Public Channel (search by client name) 3. Filter — Stop if no channel found 4. Slack — Send Channel Message (to the matched channel)
This routes each client meeting's notes to the right channel automatically. Note that Find Public Channel only searches public channels — if your client channels are private, you'll need to hardcode the channel name in the Send Channel Message step instead.
Finished Zap structure
1. Email by Zapier — New Inbound Email (trigger)
2. AI / ChatGPT — Classify meeting (CLIENT / INTERNAL / PRIVATE)
3. Paths by Zapier
├─ Path A: CLIENT
│ 4. Slack — Send Channel Message (#client-updates)
│ OR: Find Public Channel → Send Channel Message
├─ Path B: INTERNAL
│ 4. Slack — Send Channel Message (#team)
└─ Path C: PRIVATE
(no action)
Troubleshooting
Slack not connecting in Zapier: Make sure you've authorised Zapier with a Slack account that has permission to post to the channels you're targeting. If your workspace has restrictions on third-party apps, a Slack admin may need to approve the Zapier connection first.
Message posts but formatting looks off: Slack uses its own markdown called mrkdwn. Asterisks (
*text*) make text bold, and colons wrap emoji codes (:memo:). If formatting looks wrong, simplify the message to plain text only.Channel not found: Make sure the channel name in Zapier matches exactly, including capitalisation. Zapier accepts the channel name with or without the # symbol.
What's next?
See Turn Vinyl action items into tasks automatically to create follow-up tasks from your meeting action items, or The full Vinyl automation hub for an overview of everything you can automate.