Can’t aggregate filtered bundles into a single array or message in Make

How To
,
1

Hi! I’m trying to create a scenario that:

  1. Searches a Notion database
  2. Filters records by:
  • A Status field (e.g. Status.name ≠ "Published")
  • A Posting Date field (e.g. today ≤ Posting Date ≤ today + 3 days)
  1. Creates one single message (string) containing all filtered records, formatted line by line (for example: for Telegram)

The core issue:

Once I use a Filter module, I can no longer aggregate the bundles that passed it.
All aggregator modules (Text aggregator, Array aggregator, Create JSON) seem to ignore the filter — they either don’t see the filtered bundles as a group, or return one message per bundle.

I’ve tried:

  • Putting Set variable after the filter → Text aggregator still processes each bundle separately
  • Array aggregator after the filter → returns multiple bundles instead of one
  • Create JSON + Parse JSON → only works if I manually reconstruct arrays
  • Using Search as aggregator source → breaks filtering, since it sees all data again

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Question:

How can I aggregate or collect the output of a Filter into a single array or single string?
Is there a reliable way to group filtered bundles after the filter?

2

Welcome to the Make community!

—> Setting the Correct Aggregator Source <— see this

You need to set the “Source Module” field of the aggregator to where the bundles are coming from. This is usually an iterator module, but can also be a search/list/repeater module, or even the trigger module!

867×340 53.2 KB

Combining Bundles Using Aggregators

Every result (item/record) from trigger/iterator/list/search/match modules will output a bundle. This can result in multiple bundles, which then trigger multiple operations in future modules (one operation per bundle). To “combine” multiple bundles into a single variable, you’ll need to use an aggregator of some sort.

Aggregators are modules that accumulate multiple bundles into one single bundle. An example of a commonly-used aggregator module is the Array aggregator module. The next popular aggregator is the Text Aggregator which is very flexible and can apply to many use-cases like building of JSON, CSV, HTML.

You can find out more about the other types of aggregator modules here:

Question: Which is the best aggregator do you think you’ll need for your use-case?

Mapping a Specific Structure Into a Complex Field

If you have an array of collections, in programming terms, this is called an array of objects, or an array with non-primitive data types (“complex”).

The Array Aggregator module is very powerful because it allows you to build a new complex array of collections that matches a later module’s field to map multiple items (collections) to it. Such fields initially would allow you to manually add items, but you can toggle the “Map” switch to the “on” state and map a whole array into a single field.

This is done by selecting the “Target structure type” in an Array Aggregator module.

1247×438 86.6 KB

As you can see from the above example, the “Map” toggle on complex fields are used when you have an array variable (like from an array aggregator). Other combinations of modules may also allow you to generate an array that matches a future field’s array structure, like “Aggregate to JSON + Parse JSON”, or “Create JSON + Parse JSON”, but this is an advanced topic.

Question: Are you mapping your array into a field that accepts more than one item/collection?

Example

Here is an example of how your scenario could look like:

This is just an example. Your final solution may or may not look like this depending on your requirements and actual data.

For more information, see “Mapping with arrays” in the Help Centre. You should also do the Make Academy, which also covers the use of Iterators & Aggregators.

Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any further questions or issues. P.S.: investing some effort into the tutorials in the Make Academy will save you lots of time and frustration using Make!

— @samliew