How to Use Make (Formerly Integromat) in 2026 — A Complete Beginner's Walkthrough

Go to make.com and click the purple 'Get Started Free' button in the top-right corner. You'll be asked to enter your name, email address, a password, and your country. You'll also choose where your data is hosted — pick the US or EU based on where you live or where your business operates. EU is the right choice if you handle European customer data for GDPR compliance. After submitting the form, Make may ask a few onboarding questions like your job role and intended use — answer these honestly, as they personalize your dashboard experience. Once inside, you'll land on the main dashboard. No credit card is needed. The free plan in 2026 gives you 1,000 operations per month, 100 MB of data transfer, and up to 2 active scenarios. That's more than enough to test and learn. Look for the quick intro tour that pops up — it highlights the Scenarios tab, Templates section, and the app connection area. Take 2 minutes to click through it.

Once logged in, look at the left sidebar and click 'Scenarios.' This is your main workspace where all automations live. To build your first one, click the large purple 'Create a New Scenario' button in the top-right corner or the plus icon in the center of the screen. You'll land on a blank visual canvas — this is where you drag, connect, and configure your automation modules. Before you dive in, understand three key terms: a Scenario is the entire automated workflow; a Module is each individual step inside a scenario (like 'receive a form submission' or 'add a row to Google Sheets'); and a Trigger is the specific module that starts everything off. The canvas has a toolbar at the bottom with buttons for scheduling, running tests, saving, and auto-aligning your layout. If the blank canvas feels intimidating, click 'Browse Templates' to see pre-built examples like 'Google Forms to Google Sheets' or 'New Trello Card to Gmail.' For this guide, you'll build from scratch so you understand every piece.

On the blank canvas, click the large circle with a question mark. A search panel opens on the right side. Type the name of the app you want to start your automation — for example, type 'Google Forms' or 'Trello.' Click the app name, then choose a specific trigger event. For Trello, select 'Watch New Cards.' For Google Forms, you'll use a webhook instead — more on that in a moment. After selecting the trigger, Make will ask you to authorize the connection. Click 'Add' next to the connection field, then sign into your account in the popup window and click 'Allow' or 'Authorize.' This connects Make to your app securely using OAuth — your password is never stored by Make. Next, configure the trigger settings. For Trello, select which board and which list to monitor. For webhook-based triggers like Google Forms, Make gives you a unique URL — copy that URL and paste it into your form tool's webhook or notification settings. Once configured, click 'OK' to save the module. Then click 'Run Once' in the bottom toolbar. Submit a test form entry or create a Trello card, then come back and check for a small bubble appearing on the module edge — that bubble contains your sample data for mapping in the next step.

Click the small plus icon that appears to the right of your trigger module on the canvas. The same app search panel opens. Now search for the app where you want data to go — for example, 'Google Sheets.' Select it and choose an action like 'Add a Row.' Authorize the Google Sheets connection by signing in and granting permissions, just like you did in the previous step. Once connected, you'll need to configure the action. For Google Sheets, you'll select the specific spreadsheet and the sheet tab from dropdown menus. Make.com fetches your actual files, so you'll see your real spreadsheet names listed. Now comes the most important part: mapping. Click inside a field like 'Name' or 'Email' in the action module. A panel appears showing all the data fields captured by your trigger module. Click a field like 'Respondent Name' from your trigger data — it inserts a dynamic variable that looks like this: {{1.name}}. That variable will automatically pull the correct value every time the scenario runs. Repeat this for every column in your spreadsheet. Take your time here — wrong mappings cause blank or mismatched outputs, which is the most common beginner mistake.

Once your basic trigger-to-action flow works, you can add logic to make it smarter. Between any two modules, you can add a Filter or a Router. A Filter tells Make to only proceed if a specific condition is true — for example, only add a row to Google Sheets if the form respondent's country is 'United States.' To add a filter, right-click the line connecting two modules and select 'Add a Filter.' A filter editor opens where you set conditions like 'Field equals value' or 'Number is greater than 10.' A Router splits your scenario into multiple paths. For example, one path emails a salesperson if a form submission says 'Interested,' and another path adds it to a 'Not Interested' spreadsheet. Click the plus icon and search for 'Router' to add one. Each path coming out of the router can have its own filter. Filters are not required for a basic scenario, but they're strongly recommended to avoid wasting your monthly operations on irrelevant triggers. On the free plan you only have 1,000 operations per month — filters help you use them wisely.

Before activating anything, you need to test the complete scenario from start to finish. Click 'Run Once' in the bottom toolbar. This executes every module in sequence using the most recent trigger data. Watch the canvas as each module lights up — green means it ran successfully, red means something went wrong. After the run completes, small numbered bubbles appear on each module showing exactly how many data bundles were processed. Click any bubble to see the full data output for that step. This is incredibly useful for debugging. If a module shows red, click it to read the error message. Common errors include expired app connections (fix: reauthorize the connection), unmapped required fields (fix: go back and map the missing field), or incorrect sheet IDs (fix: re-select the correct spreadsheet from the dropdown). Fix any errors and click 'Run Once' again. Keep repeating until every module shows green. Do not skip this testing step — activating a broken scenario wastes your monthly operations and sends bad data to your apps.

When all modules show green in testing, it's time to go live. Look at the bottom toolbar and find the 'Scheduling' button — it looks like a clock icon. Click it to open the scheduling settings. You have two main options. If your trigger is a webhook (real-time), the scenario fires instantly whenever new data arrives — no scheduling needed, just toggle it on. If your trigger is a polling-based trigger like 'Watch New Trello Cards,' Make checks for new data on a schedule. On the free plan in 2026, the minimum polling interval is every 15 minutes. Paid plans allow as fast as every 1 minute. Set your preferred interval and click 'OK.' Now toggle the large on/off switch in the bottom-left corner of the canvas from gray (off) to blue (on). Your scenario is now live and will run automatically. You'll see it listed in your Scenarios dashboard with a green status indicator. Make sends you an email if a scenario encounters a critical error during a live run. Check your Scenario History regularly (click the scenario name, then 'History') to monitor operations used and spot any recurring issues.