AutomatorWP Formatter

An automation can work and still send the wrong data

"Hello, maría garcía lópez" in an email subject. A post on X with the paragraph tags showing. A price entering the shop as 1000000.1 when it should read 1,000,000.10 €.

None of that throws an error. The automation runs, the data reaches its destination and nobody looks at it again. The most expensive automation failure is not that it stops, it is that it keeps working with the data just as it arrived, because an error shows up on day one and ugly data repeats with every customer.

Each form, plugin or webhook hands over data in its own way, and whatever receives it may expect another shape. Formatter is the AutomatorWP add-on that sits in between and leaves the data as the next step needs it.

Nine actions and thirteen function tags

Actions are added to an automation and their result becomes available in the "formatted" tag for the following actions.

• Convert a string into a format and round a number, both marked Free.
• Convert a number into a format: separators, decimals, prefixes and suffixes.
• Convert a date into a format: it accepts PHP date formats.
• Extract the first word, the last word or word n from a string.
• Replace a value in a string.
• Remove HTML from a string.

Apart from the first two, these actions belong to the Pro version.

When touching up a value inside a field is enough, function tags do it right there, and they appear in the tags selector.

• Included in AutomatorWP: floor and ceil round down or up, and lowercase and uppercase change the case.
• Only in Formatter Pro or AutomatorWP Pro: round, remove_html, trim, capitalize, capitalize_all, reverse, shuffle, shuffle_words and slugify.

Where the data goes wrong, in four cases

From the form to the shop. Someone submits a Formidable Forms form, Formatter gives the number a currency format and the result updates a product price.

From the form to the profile. What was typed in Fluent Forms gets capitalized before it updates the user name in PeepSo.

From formatted content to a platform without formatting. A webhook arrives, Formatter removes the HTML and a tweet goes out with the clean text.

From a full-name greeting to a natural one. Extract the first word of the name field and use it in the message. If needed, apply capitalize as well.

No triggers of its own and no data validation

It does not work without AutomatorWP. It is an add-on and needs that plugin installed.

It starts nothing by itself. It has no triggers: it only provides actions and tags, so the event that starts the process comes from AutomatorWP or one of its integrations.

It transforms, but it does not watch. Its actions include none that rejects bad data. If someone types an invalid email into a field, Formatter can change its format, not decide that it is wrong.

From a working automation to the corrected value

You need AutomatorWP installed and an automation that already works. From there:

1. Install the Formatter add-on.
2. Run the automation as a test and note which value arrives wrong.
3. If it can be solved inside a field, use a function tag.
4. If you need to extract or convert, add a Formatter action before the step that uses the value.
5. In that step, replace the original value with the "formatted" tag and test again.

AutomatorWP Pro for the tags and Uncanny Automator as the alternative

AutomatorWP Pro is the paid version of AutomatorWP, with triggers and actions, and it already includes the Pro function tags. If you are choosing a platform, Uncanny Automator Pro is another automation system inside WordPress, with recipes, conditions and filters.

Actions, the Free part, currency and dates

What is the difference between an action and a function tag?

An action is a step in the automation that leaves its result in the "formatted" tag. A function tag applies the format directly inside a field.

What does the Free part include?

The actions that convert strings and round numbers. The floor, ceil, lowercase and uppercase tags come included in AutomatorWP.

Can it show a number as currency?

Yes. The #,###.00 € format turns a number into a value like 1,000,000.11 €, and it also accepts prefixes and text.

Which date formats does it accept?

PHP date formats, such as d/m/Y for 01/12/1990 or Y-m-d for 1990-12-01.