Updated . Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. How we check this lesson
Not every form response should be handled the same way. In this free Make.com tutorial you teach a scenario to make a decision. Brookside Dental, a small dental practice, asks new patients how urgent their request is. Urgent requests now trigger an email to the front desk, and routine ones still land in the Google Sheet, all from the same form and the same scenario. You do it with a router, a filter and a fallback route.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What you build | Add a router to your Make scenario, email the front desk about urgent requests with a filter, and send everything else to Google Sheets with a fallback route. |
| Tools | Make |
| Time | About 12 minutes, 40 steps in 7 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | Practice it step by step |
The 7 parts, in short
- The new question: Look at the form, Back to Make.
- Add a router: Right-click the link, Add a router, Add a route.
- The urgent route: Add a module to the route, Search for Gmail, Gmail, Send an email, and 11 more steps.
- Filter: urgent only: The wrench, Set up a filter, Label, Condition, and 3 more steps.
- Fallback route: The other route, Label, Fallback route: Yes, Save.
- Route order: Right-click the router, Order routes, Move Gmail up, Auto-align, and 1 more step.
- Test it: Save the scenario, Run once, Check the front desk inbox, Check the sheet.
Start here first: Your First Make.com Scenario: Google Forms to Google Sheets (module 1 of Make.com Automation Basics)
In the course: Part 8 · Make.com Automation Basics (Module 33 of the full course)
What you will build
You start from the scenario built in the first module of this course: a Google Forms Watch Responses trigger that adds each new patient request as a row in Google Sheets. The form now has one more question, How urgent is this?, with two choices: Urgent and Routine.
You insert a router between the two modules. A router is a built-in Make module, under Flow Control, that splits a scenario into routes. On the first new route you add a Gmail Send an email module that emails the front desk with the patient's name, phone number and reason for visit. A filter on that route lets only urgent requests through. The route to Google Sheets becomes the fallback route, so anything that is not urgent is still saved to the sheet.
Who this Make.com tutorial is for
This module is for office managers, front-desk staff and small business owners who have built a simple Make scenario and now want it to sort things. You do not need to code. It is the second module in the Make.com Automation Basics course.
How routers and filters work together
A router on its own does not choose anything. Without filters, every bundle of data goes down every route, one route after another. The filters are what make the decision. A filter sits on the line leading into a module and checks a condition, such as the urgency answer being equal to Urgent. If the condition is true, the data continues down that route. If not, it stops there.
A condition has three parts: a value you map from an earlier module, an operator, and the value to compare it with. Text comparisons with Equal to must match exactly, which is why a multiple-choice question works so well: the answer is always spelled the same way. You can combine several conditions with Add AND rule and Add OR rule.
Why the fallback route matters
The fallback route catches everything that did not pass the other routes' filters. Instead of writing a second filter for Routine, and risking a request that is neither, you mark the Google Sheets route as the fallback. If a third choice is added to the form later, those requests still land in the sheet.
Routes run one after another, in the order you set, not at the same time. Order routes lets you decide which route runs first. Here the urgent email goes first. Ticking Auto-align redraws the canvas so the routes appear in that order.
How to use this in your business
Any time one kind of request needs different handling, use the same pattern: a router, one filtered route for the special case, and a fallback route for everything else. Send big orders to a manager, after-hours calls to an on-call phone, VIP customers to a separate sheet, or complaints to a shared inbox. Keep in mind that the Google Forms trigger checks on a schedule, every 15 minutes by default, so an urgent alert arrives within that window, not the second the form is sent.
Try it yourself, free
Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Make, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.
Start “Filters and Routers in Make.com: Send Urgent Requests One Way, Routine Ones Another”Step by step: Filters and Routers in Make.com: Send Urgent Requests One Way, Routine Ones Another
All 40 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.
1. The new question
- Look at the form. This is the scenario from the last module. Open the Google Forms tab.
This is the scenario you built in the last module. Every form response becomes a row in the sheet. Brookside Dental added one question to the form.
- Back to Make. The new question, How urgent is this?, has two choices: Urgent and Routine. Go back to the Make tab.
How urgent is this? Urgent or routine. Urgent requests, like a patient in pain, should alert the front desk. Routine ones can go into the sheet like before. Go back to Make.
2. Add a router
- Right-click the link. Right-click the dotted line between Google Forms and Google Sheets. (In this practice copy, a normal click works.)
To send data down different paths, you need a router. Right-click the dotted line between the two modules.
- Add a router. Click Add a router.
- Add a route. The router sits between the two modules. Click the + on the router to add a second route.
The router is the green circle. It splits the scenario into routes, and Google Sheets is now on the first one.
3. The urgent route
- Add a module to the route. Click the empty module at the end of the new route.
This route will email the front desk.
- Search for Gmail. Type gmail.
- Gmail. Click Gmail.
- Send an email. Under Actions, click Send an email.
- Create a connection. Gmail needs its own connection. Click Create a connection.
Gmail is a separate app in Make, so it needs its own connection.
- Sign in with Google. Keep the default name and click Sign in with Google.
Keep the name and click sign in with Google.
- Choose your account. Pick the Gmail account the alert should be sent from.
Pick the Gmail account the alert should come from.
- Allow access. Click Continue.
- To. In To, type the front desk's address: [email protected]
In the To field, type the front desk's email address.
- Subject. In Subject, type Urgent patient request
Give it a subject that stands out: urgent patient request.
- Body contents. Leave Body type as it is. Click the Body contents field.
Leave the body type as it is. Now the message itself.
- Map Full name. In the mapping panel, under Full name, click Value.
The mapping panel opens with the form's answers. Under full name, click value.
- Map Phone number. In the mapping panel, under Phone number, click Value.
Under phone number, click value, so the front desk can call back.
- Map Reason for visit. In the mapping panel, under Reason for visit, click Value.
And under reason for visit, click value.
- Save the module. Click Save.
In your own scenario, type a few words between the tags, like name and phone, so the email is easier to read.
4. Filter: urgent only
- The wrench. Right now every response would go down both routes. Click the wrench on the line to Gmail.
Right now every response would go down both routes. A filter decides what may pass.
- Set up a filter. Click Set up a filter.
- Label. In Label, type Urgent.
Give the filter a label, so you can see at a glance what the route is for.
- Condition. Click the first Condition field.
A condition compares two values.
- Map the urgency answer. Under How urgent is this?, click Value.
- Equal to Urgent. Keep the operator Equal to. In the field below it, type Urgent.
Keep the operator, equal to, from the text operators. In the field below it, type urgent. It has to match the form's choice exactly.
- Save the filter. Click Save.
The label now shows on the route.
5. Fallback route
- The other route. Now the route to Google Sheets. Click the dotted line itself, near the module. A left-click on the dots opens the filter straight away.
Now the route to Google Sheets. There's a shortcut: clicking the dots themselves opens the filter straight away.
- Label. In Label, type Routine.
Label this one routine.
- Fallback route: Yes. Set Fallback route to Yes.
Instead of a condition, make it the fallback route. Set it to yes. A fallback route takes everything that didn't pass the other routes' filters, so no request ever gets lost.
- Save. Click Save.
The arrow on this route changes. That marks the fallback.
6. Route order
- Right-click the router. Right-click the router. (A normal click works here.)
Routes run one after another, in the order you set, not at the same time. Put the urgent one first. Right-click the router.
- Order routes. Click Order routes.
- Move Gmail up. Click the up arrow next to the Gmail route.
- Auto-align. Tick Auto-align arranges with set order.
Tick auto-align, so the canvas is redrawn in the new order.
- Apply. Click Apply.
7. Test it
- Save the scenario. Click the Save icon in the toolbar.
Save the whole scenario with the save icon in the toolbar.
- Run once. Two new requests are waiting in the form. Click Run once.
Two new requests are waiting in the form. James chipped a tooth and marked it urgent. Priya wants a cleaning.
- Check the front desk inbox. Each route shows a bubble for the one response it handled. Open the Gmail tab.
Both routes got a bubble with a one. One response went each way.
- Check the sheet. There's the alert about James. Now open the Google Sheets tab.
There's the alert about James, with his phone number, ready for a call back.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a router in Make.com?
- A router is a built-in Make module, found under Flow Control, that splits a scenario into two or more routes. Each route can have its own modules and its own filter. You can add one between two existing modules by right-clicking the line between them and choosing Add a router.
- What is a fallback route in Make?
- A fallback route processes the data that does not match the conditions of the other routes. You set it in a route's filter window by choosing Yes for Fallback route. The route's arrow changes to show it is the fallback.
- Do routes in a Make router run at the same time?
- No. Routes are processed one after another, not in parallel. Right-click the router and choose Order routes to change the order.
- Why does my new form question not show up in the mapping panel?
- Make lists the data the trigger has returned. If the question is new, submit a test response that answers it and run the scenario once, then open the filter again. The new answer will be there to map.
- How does the interactive lesson work?
- Each step is shown to you first on the left (Watch), with a short voice-over. Then you do it yourself on a practice copy of Make on the right (Your turn), and every click is checked. If you get stuck, press Do it for me. Nothing touches a real Make, Gmail or Google account.
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All 5 modules in Make.com Automation Basics
Terms in this lesson
Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.