Searching for Contacts by Multiple Criteria/Fields in Filevine – Vineskills

The built-in “Find Contact” action in the Filevine-Zapier connector currently only allows you to search by one field at a time — such as ID, Name, or Phone. It also only returns the first matching result, which can be limiting if you need to check for duplicate contacts or perform multi-field filtering.

To overcome this, you can use the “API Request (Beta)” action to call Filevine’s Get Contact List endpoint and pass in multiple search parameters like fullName, email, or phone.

✨ Why Use a Custom API Request?

🔎 Search by multiple fields at once (e.g., fullName + email)
📋 Return all matching contacts, not just the first one
🧩 Customize your query to match your system’s logic.
🔸 You also do not need to handle authentication by sending requests to Filevine's identify endpoint. The custom "API Request (Beta)" action does all of this for you. You only need to specify the URL, HTTP method, query parameters, and body data for a request.

💡 Need help setting up the Custom API Request?

See this article: Creating Custom API Requests in Filevine Zapier

🔧 Step-by-Step: Query Multiple Fields with “Get Contact List”

✅ Step 1: Add a Custom API Request Action

Add a new step to your Zap and search for Filevine.
For Action Event, choose API Request (Beta).
Under Account, click Select, and choose the Filevine connection you previously authorized using a PAT.
1. If you haven’t connected Filevine with a PAT yet, see our guide: Connect Zapier to Filevine (Using PATs)
Click Continue to move to the Configure tab.

⚙️ Step 2: Setup the API Request

In the Configure tab, fill out the request settings as follows:

Stop on Error: Yes (recommended)
HTTP Method: GET
Endpoint URL: https://api.filevineapp.com/fv-app/v2/Contacts
Query String Parameters: Add the fields you want to search by. For example:

Key Value

fullName {{Full Name from Previous Step}}

email {{Email from Previous Step}}

phone {{Phone from Previous Step}}

💡 Note:
Please see the Filevine "Get Contact List" API documentation for a full list of query parameters.

⚠️ Dynamic variables:
Use dynamic variables to pull values from earlier steps in your Zap. If a parameter is left blank, it will not be included in the actual request.

Additional Headers: Leave this blank.
Body: Leave this blank (GET requests do not use a body).

Here's a screenshot that shows an example of searching by email and fullName fields:

🧪 Step 3: Test and Filter

Go to the Test tab and click Test step.
Review the results in the “Data out” tab — you will see a list of all matching contacts. If the request was successful, then the response will have a 200 status code, and there will be a data field in the response with the search results. The data > Response Data Count field tells how many contacts were found, and data > Response Data Items will contain an array with the data for each contact returned by the search.
You can then add a Filter step to take action when only one or more matches are found (see screenshot below for how to setup a filter that proceeds if only 1 contact was found), or use a Looping step if you need to process multiple matches.

🔮 Future Work: Adding Multi-Field Support to Existing “Find Contact” Action + Support for “Contact (Custom)” Endpoints

Support for searching contacts using multiple fields in the native “Find Contact” action is on the Filevine-Zapier roadmap. This feature will eventually eliminate the need for a workaround via custom API requests. When that functionality becomes available, users will be able to filter contacts more precisely using combinations of fields like fullName, email, phone, or other identifiers. This help center article will be updated once the new capabilities are released publicly.

In addition to expanded search options, the Zapier connector will also be updated to support more endpoints from the Filevine API, particularly for managing and searching contacts. This includes the ability to return all matching contacts, rather than just the first result found. These improvements will streamline automations that rely on accurate contact matching and will better support organizations with large or complex contact lists.

Currently, the Filevine-Zapier connector only supports a limited set of “Contacts (Legacy)” endpoints. However, Filevine’s API also includes a newer “Contacts (Custom)” system, which offers more flexibility, including the ability to define and search custom contact fields and metadata. The connector does not yet support these “Custom” contact endpoints, but support is planned as part of future updates to enable full access to modern Filevine contact data models.

References:

Filevine API v2 Endpoint Documentation
- Get Contact Metadata: https://developer.filevine.io/docs/v2-us/4f13e0319ab87-get-contact-metadata
- Get Contact List: https://developer.filevine.io/docs/v2-us/52b3731177ba0-get-contact-list

Key	Value
fullName	{{Full Name from Previous Step}}
email	{{Email from Previous Step}}
phone	{{Phone from Previous Step}}