Automation#28 Notify Agents on Article Expiry

Hello Everyone!

This week, we’re bringing you a feature that notifies your team when articles in the Knowledge Base are set to expire to keep your content relevant and helpful for customers.

The Zoho Desk's Knowledge Base is an asset for customers to gain knowledge and help themselves navigate through the product or process of the firm or industry. Zoho Desk allows you to set expiry dates for articles to maintain up-to-date information. However, once an article expires, it’s removed from the Help Center, and notifications are only sent to the article owner by default. 

But, what if they miss it?

This solution integrates with a scheduler to notify team members on the same day an article expires. 

Here’s how you can implement the custom function within the schedule to notify your team when an article expires.

Prerequisites

I. Create a connection

  1.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.

  1.2 Click Create Connection.

  1.3 Select Zoho Desk under Default Connection.

  1.4 Set the connection name as deskconnection.

  1.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:

Desk.articles.READ

  1.6 Click Create and Connect.

  1.7 Click Connect and click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

II. Create a Schedule

1. Go to Setup, choose Schedules under Automation. 

2. Under Schedules, click New Schedule.

3. Under Add Schedule, enter a Schedule Name and Description for the rule.

4. In the Execute on tab, set the Date and Time for the schedule to begin execution. 

5. In the Repeat tab, select 'Every Day,' then choose 'Every [1] Days.' Select the days based on your preferences and set 'Ends' to 'Never'. Click Done.  This will ensure the schedule runs on the selected days. 

6. In the Functions section, click on Create Function.

7. Enter a Name and Description for the custom function.                                           

8. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:

1. // ----<<<< User Inputs >>>>----
2. subjectOfNotificationEmail = "Zoho Desk - Article Expiry Notification"; // provide subject based on your preference
3. commaSeperatedToAddresses = "email address1, email address2";//provide email addreses of team members
4. currentDateString = zoho.currentdate.toString("yyyy-MM-dd");
5. //Expiring/Expired Today
6. fromString = currentDateString + "T00:00:00.000Z";
7. toString = currentDateString + "T23:59:59.999Z";
8. info "final url " + "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString;  
9. //change .com based on your DC
10. getArticle = invokeurl
11. [
12. url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString
13. //change .com based on your DC
14. type :GET
15. connection:"deskconnection"
16. ];
17. emailBody = "";
18. if(getArticle != null && getArticle != "" && getArticle.get("data").size() > 0)
19. {
20. articlesList = getArticle.get("data");
21. emailBody = emailBody + "<div> <b> List of articles expiring/expired today </b>";
22. for each  article in articlesList
23. {
24. webUrl = article.get("webUrl");
25. title = article.get("title");
26. emailBody = emailBody + "<div><br><a href='" + webUrl + "'>" + title + "</div>";
27. }
28. emailBody = emailBody + "</div> <br> <br>";
29. }
30. //Expiring Tomorrow
31. currentDateString = zoho.currentdate.addDay(1).toString("yyyy-MM-dd");
32. fromString = currentDateString + "T00:00:00.000Z";
33. toString = currentDateString + "T23:59:59.999Z";
34. info "final url " + "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString;
35. //change .com based on your DC
36. getArticle = invokeurl
37. [
38. url:"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString
39. //change .com based on your DC
40. type :GET
41. connection:"deskconnection"
42. ];
43. if(getArticle != null && getArticle != "" && getArticle.get("data").size() > 0)
44. {
45. articlesList = getArticle.get("data");
46. emailBody = emailBody + "<div> <b>List of articles expiring tomorrow </b>";
47. for each  article in articlesList
48. {
49. webUrl = article.get("webUrl");
50. title = article.get("title");
51. emailBody = emailBody + "<div><br><a href='" + webUrl + "'>" + title + "</div>";
52. }
53. emailBody = emailBody + "</div> <br> <br>";
54. }
55. //Expiring in 7 days
56. currentDateString = zoho.currentdate.addDay(7).toString("yyyy-MM-dd");
57. fromString = currentDateString + "T00:00:00.000Z";
58. toString = currentDateString + "T23:59:59.999Z";
59. info "final url " + "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString;
60. //change .com based on your DC
61. getArticle = invokeurl
62. [
63. url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/articles?expiryTimeRange=" + fromString + "," + toString
64. //change .com based on your DC
65. type :GET
66. connection:"deskconnection"
67. ];    
68. if(getArticle != null && getArticle != "" && getArticle.get("data").size() > 0)
69. {
70. articlesList = getArticle.get("data");
71. emailBody = emailBody + "<div><b> List of articles expiring in 7 days </b> ";
72. for each  article in articlesList
73. {
74. webUrl = article.get("webUrl");
75. title = article.get("title");
76. emailBody = emailBody + "<div><br><a href='" + webUrl + "'>" + title + "</div>";
77. }
78. emailBody = emailBody + "</div> <br> <br>";
79. }
80. info "emailBody" + emailBody;
81. if(emailBody != "")
82. {
83. sendmail
84. [
85. from :zoho.adminuserid
86. to :commaSeperatedToAddresses
87. subject :subjectOfNotificationEmail
88. message :emailBody
89. ]
90. info "mail sent";
91. }

NOTE

In Line 2, Enter the Email Subject for the Notification.

In Line 3, Enter the email addresses of the team members you would like to notify. 

In Lines 8,12,34,38,59,63,  Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.

9. Click Save Script.  

10. Click Save to save the custom function.

11. Click Save again to save the Schedule.

By this, you can ensure quick updates and seamless publishing, keeping your Knowledge Base relevant and your customers updated with the latest resources. 

Stay tuned for more learnings on this forum. 

Regards,

Lydia | Zoho Desk 

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• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

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