Bulk user onboarding for Cliq channels in a jiffy

Bulk user onboarding for Cliq channels in a jiffy

As developers, we frequently switch between coding, debugging, and optimizing tasks. The last thing we want is to be burdened by manual user management. Adding users one by one to a channel is tedious and prone to errors, taking up more time than we could devote to actual development. 



Let's explore how to create a custom workflow using Cliq's platform components to streamline the process of bulk-adding users to a channel via a Zoho Sheet or CSV file. This approach facilitates a smooth onboarding experience without the need for manual effort.

Pre-requisite :

Before beginning to script the code below, we must create a connection with Zoho Cliq. Once a connection is created and connected, you can use it in Deluge integration tasks and invoke URL scripts to access data from the required service.

Create a Zoho Oauth default connection with any unique name and the scopes -  ZohoCliq.Channels.All and ZohoSheet.dataApi.ALL

Refer to the below links to learn more :

Step 1  : Creation of slash command

  • After a successful login in Cliq, hover to the top right corner and click your profile. Post clicking, navigate to Bots & Tools > Commands.
  • At your right, click the button - Create Command.
  • To know more about slash commands and their purposes, refer to Introduction to slash commands.
  • Create a slash command using your preferred name. Specify the following details: the command name, a hint (to give users an idea of what the command is for), and the access level.
  • Finally, click "Save & edit code".

  1. inputs = List();
  2. inputs.add({"name":"channels","label":"Pick a channel","placeholder":"Choose a channel where you need to add members","max_selections":"1","multiple":false,"mandatory":true,"type":"native_select","data_source":"channels"});
  3. inputs.add({"name":"headername","label":"Header name","placeholder":"Email ID","hint":"In which the Email ID is present","min_length":"0","max_length":"25","mandatory":true,"type":"text"});
  4. inputs.add({"type":"radio","label":"Import type","name":"import_Type","hint":"Choose a type that you need to import users","options":[{"label":"CSV","value":"csv"},{"label":"Zoho sheet","value":"zohosheet"}],"trigger_on_change":"true"});
  5. return {"name":"addbulkuser","type":"form","title":"Add bulk users","hint":"To add maximum of upto 1000 users in a channel.","button_label":"Add Users","inputs":inputs,"action":{"type":"invoke.function","name":"addbulkusers"};

Step 2  : Scripting form function

  • We need to create a function for the form that manages submission responses, including the Zoho Sheet link or CSV file, the name of the column containing the email addresses, and the channel details where users should be added in bulk.
  • Hover to the top right corner and click your profile. After clicking, navigate to Bots & Tools > Functions.
  • To your right, click the Create Function button.
  • Name the function "addbulkusers," provide a description as desired, and select "form" as the function type. Then, click "Save and edit code," and paste the following code.
  1. emailIdList = list();
  2. successlist = list();
  3. failedlist = list();
  4. try 
  5. {
  6. info form;
  7. formValues = form.get("values");
  8. columnName = formValues.get("headername");
  9. headerName = formValues.get("headername");
  10. if(formValues.get("import_Type").get("value") == "zohosheet")
  11. {
  12. url = formValues.get("url");
  13. spreadSheetId = url.getPrefix("?").getSuffix("open/");
  14. sheetName = url.getSuffix("?").getPrefix("&").getSuffix("=");
  15. worksheetname = sheetName.replaceAll(" ","%20");
  16. columnName = columnName.replaceAll(" ","%20");
  17. allDatas = list();
  18. params = Map();
  19. params.put("column_names",columnName);
  20. params.put("method","worksheet.records.fetch");
  21. params.put("worksheet_id",sheetName + "#");
  22. sheetDetails = invokeurl
  23. [
  24. url :"https://sheet.zoho"+environment.get("tld")+"/api/v2/" + spreadSheetId
  25. type :GET
  26. parameters:params
  27. connection:"addbulkusers"
  28. ];
  29. info sheetDetails;
  30. if(sheetDetails.get("status") == "success" && sheetDetails.get("records").size() <= 1000)
  31. {
  32. allDatas.addAll(sheetDetails.get("records"));
  33. }
  34. else if(sheetDetails.get("status") == "success" && sheetDetails.get("records").size() > 1000)
  35. {
  36. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can only able to add 1000 user. Kindly try passing with 1000 records in the sheet!!!"};
  37. }
  38. else
  39. {
  40. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can't find any email ids. Kindly re-check the column name and header row!!!"};
  41. }
  42. info "allData: " + allDatas.size();
  43. if(allDatas.size() > 1000)
  44. {
  45. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can only able to add 1000 user. Kindly try passing with 1000 records in the sheet!!!"};
  46. }
  47. for each  data in allDatas
  48. {
  49. if(data.get(formValues.get("headername")) == null)
  50. {
  51. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can't find any email ids. Kindly re-check the column name and header row!!!"};
  52. }
  53. emailIdList.add(data.get(formValues.get("headername")));
  54. if(emailIdList.size() == 100)
  55. {
  56. channelID = formValues.get("channels").get("id");
  57. params = {"email_ids":emailIdList};
  58. info "Params: " + params;
  59. addUsers = invokeurl
  60. [
  61. url :environment.get("base_url") + "/api/v2/channels/" + channelID + "/members"
  62. type :POST
  63. parameters:params.toString()
  64. detailed:true
  65. connection:"addbulkusers"
  66. ];
  67. info "Adduser: " + addUsers;
  68. if(addUsers.get("responseCode") == "204")
  69. {
  70. successlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  71. }
  72. else
  73. {
  74. failedlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  75. }
  76. info "100: " + emailIdList.size();
  77. emailIdList = list();
  78. }
  79. }
  80. if(emailIdList.size() > 0)
  81. {
  82. channelID = formValues.get("channels").get("id");
  83. params = {"email_ids":emailIdList};
  84. info "Params: " + params;
  85. addUsers = invokeurl
  86. [
  87. url :environment.get("base_url") + "/api/v2/channels/" + channelID + "/members"
  88. type :POST
  89. parameters:params.toString()
  90. detailed:true
  91. connection:"addbulkusers"
  92. ];
  93. info "Adduser: " + addUsers;
  94. if(addUsers.get("responseCode") == "204")
  95. {
  96. successlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  97. }
  98. else
  99. {
  100. failedlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  101. }
  102. info "Email id: " + emailIdList;
  103. }
  104. info "Successlist: " + successlist;
  105. info "Failedlist: " + failedlist;
  106. if(successlist.size() > 0 && failedlist.size() > 0)
  107. {
  108. postMessage = {"text":"Successfully added " + successlist.size() + " member(s) and failed for " + failedlist.size() + " Member(s)"};
  109. }
  110. else if(successlist.size() > 0 && !failedlist.size() > 0)
  111. {
  112. postMessage = {"text":"Successfully added " + successlist.size() + " member(s)"};
  113. }
  114. else if(!successlist.size() > 0 && failedlist.size() > 0)
  115. {
  116. postMessage = {"text":"Adding members in channel failed for " + failedlist.size() + " member(s)"};
  117. }
  118. info zoho.cliq.postToChat(chat.get("id"),postMessage);
  119. }
  120. else
  121. {
  122. csvFile = formValues.get("csvFile");
  123. csvFile = csvFile.getfilecontent();
  124. allDatas = csvFile.toList("\n");
  125. i = 0;
  126. indexValue = 0;
  127. indexBoolean = false;
  128. for each  data in allDatas
  129. {
  130. if(i == 0)
  131. {
  132. headers = data.toList(",");
  133. for each  header in headers
  134. {
  135. info header;
  136. if(headerName == header)
  137. {
  138. indexBoolean = true;
  139. indexValue = headers.indexOf(headerName);
  140. }
  141. }
  142. if(indexBoolean == false)
  143. {
  144. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can't find any email ids. Kindly re-check the column name and header row!!!"};
  145. }
  146. }
  147. else 
  148.             {
  149. emailIdList.add(data.get(indexValue));
  150.             }
  151. i = i + 1;
  152. if(emailIdList.size() == 100)
  153. {
  154. channelID = formValues.get("channels").get("id");
  155. params = {"email_ids":emailIdList};
  156. info "Params: " + params;
  157. addUsers = invokeurl
  158. [
  159. url :environment.get("base_url") + "/api/v2/channels/" + channelID + "/members"
  160. type :POST
  161. parameters:params.toString()
  162. detailed:true
  163. connection:"addbulkusers"
  164. ];
  165. info "Adduser: " + addUsers;
  166. if(addUsers.get("responseCode") == "204")
  167. {
  168. successlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  169. }
  170. else
  171. {
  172. failedlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  173. }
  174. info "100: " + emailIdList.size();
  175. emailIdList = list();
  176. }
  177. }
  178. if(emailIdList.size() > 0)
  179. {
  180. channelID = formValues.get("channels").get("id");
  181. params = {"email_ids":emailIdList};
  182. info "Params: " + params;
  183. addUsers = invokeurl
  184. [
  185. url :environment.get("base_url") + "/api/v2/channels/" + channelID + "/members"
  186. type :POST
  187. parameters:params.toString()
  188. detailed:true
  189. connection:"addbulkusers"
  190. ];
  191. info "Adduser: " + addUsers;
  192. if(addUsers.get("responseCode") == "204")
  193. {
  194. successlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  195. }
  196. else
  197. {
  198. failedlist.addAll(emailIdList);
  199. }
  200. }
  201. info "Successlist: " + successlist;
  202. info "Failedlist: " + failedlist;
  203. if(successlist.size() > 0 && failedlist.size() > 0)
  204. {
  205. postMessage = {"text":"Successfully added " + successlist.size() + " member(s) and failed for " + failedlist.size() + " Member(s)"};
  206. }
  207. else if(successlist.size() > 0 && !failedlist.size() > 0)
  208. {
  209. postMessage = {"text":"Successfully added " + successlist.size() + " member(s)"};
  210. }
  211. else if(!successlist.size() > 0 && failedlist.size() > 0)
  212. {
  213. postMessage = {"text":"Adding members in channel failed for " + failedlist.size() + " member(s)"};
  214. }
  215. info zoho.cliq.postToChat(chat.get("id"),postMessage);
  216. }
  217. }
  218. catch (e)
  219. {
  220. info e;
  221. return {"type":"form_error","text":"I can't find any email ids. Kindly re-check the column name and header row!!!"};
  222. }
  223. return Map();

Step 3  : Configuring form change handler

  • After copying and pasting the code into the form submission handler, navigate to the form change handler for the created form function.
  • You can find this in the top left corner of the editor, where you will see an arrow next to the form submission handler. Clicking on this arrow will display the form change handler in a dropdown menu.
  • Click it to edit the code in the form change handler, which is necessary for real-time modifications to a form's structure or behaviour based on user input in a specific field. 
  1. targetName = target.get("name");
  2. info targetName;
  3. inputValues = form.get("values");
  4. info inputValues;
  5. actions = list();
  6. if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("import_Type"))
  7. {
  8. fieldValue = inputValues.get("import_Type").get("value");
  9. info fieldValue;
  10. if(fieldValue == "csv")
  11. {
  12. actions.add({"type":"add_after","name":"import_Type","input":{"label":"CSV File","name":"csvFile","placeholder":"Please upload a zCSV File","mandatory":true,"type":"file"}});
  13. actions.add({"type":"remove","name":"url"});
  14. }
  15. else if(fieldValue == "zohosheet")
  16. {
  17. actions.add({"type":"add_after","name":"import_Type","input":{"name":"url","label":"Enter the sheet url","placeholder":"https://sheet.zoho.com/sheet/open/6xhgb324f142e91d845e5b4b472f7422379c9","min_length":"0","max_length":"400","mandatory":true,"type":"text","format":"url"}});
  18. actions.add({"type":"remove","name":"csvFile"});
  19. }
  20. }
  21. return {"type":"form_modification","actions":actions};

Business use cases:

  • HR onboarding: Seamlessly add new employees to internal communication channels.
  • Event management: Quickly invite attendees to event-specific channels.
  • Education platforms: Enroll students in course groups in one go.
  • Community building: Grow large communities by importing member lists effortlessly.

Bottom line

Bulk user addition in Cliq channels through Zoho Sheet or CSV files allows us to eliminate tedious tasks, reduce errors, and manage large-scale data effortlessly. Is onboarding consuming too much of your valuable development time? If so, it might be time to shake things up with a customized workflow!

We're here to help, so don't hesitate to reach out to support@zohocliq.com with any questions or if you need assistance in crafting even more tailored workflows.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

      Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of
    • Accelerate Github code reviews with Zoho Cliq Platform's link handlers

      Code reviews are critical, and they can get buried in conversations or lost when using multiple tools. With the Cliq Platform's link handlers, let's transform shared Github pull request links into interactive, real-time code reviews on channels. Share
    • App Spotlight : PagerDuty for Zoho Cliq

      App Spotlight brings you hand-picked apps to enhance the power of your Zoho apps and tools. Visit the Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations, and extensions. In today's fast-paced world, seizing every moment is essential for operational
    • Automate your status with Cliq Schedulers

      Imagine enjoying your favorite homemade meal during a peaceful lunch break, when suddenly there's a PING! A notification pops up and ruins your moment of zen. Even worse, you might be in a vital product development sprint, only to be derailed by a "quick
    • Bulk user onboarding for Cliq Channels in a jiffy

      As developers, we frequently switch between coding, debugging, and optimizing tasks. The last thing we want is to be burdened by manual user management. Adding users one by one to a channel is tedious and prone to errors, taking up more time than we could
    • Recent Topics

    • Has anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check out?

      I am thinking of adding an ASAP guide to my web application, but I have noticed that the ASAP widget itself can be really slow to load sometimes. Has anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check to see how performant it is? I don't want to spend
    • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

      Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote
    • What’s New in Zoho Analytics – September 2025

      Hello Users!! In this month’s update, we’re raising the bar across multiple touchpoints, from how you bring in data, plan and track projects to how you design and brand your dashboards. We’ve added the all-new Gantt chart for project visualization, expanded
    • Zoho MCP has no tools for Creator or 3rd Party Apps?

      I don't see a Zoho MCP community forum so putting this here. Two big problems I see: 1) Although Zoho advertises "over 950 3rd party apps" as available through their MCP, when I go to "Add Tools" there are ZERO 3rd party apps available to choose from.
    • Zoho Forms - Zoho Drive connection - Shared Drives not supported

      Hello i am stuck with Google Drive Connection There is no supported shared drives Connection is not support shared drives boolean Query Parameters - supportsAllDrives=true&supportsTeamDrives=true to activate fetch files from the shared drives. Ahat need
    • Apply Advance option not shown in report

      We are facing an issue in Zoho Expenses. While approving an Expense Report, the "Apply Advance" option is not appearing under the three dots (More Options). Details: Module: Expense Reports Issue: "Apply Advance" option not visible Status of Report: Awaiting
    • Can't create package until Bill created?

      I can't understand why we cannot create a package until a Bill is created? We are having to created draft Bills to create a package when the item is received, but we may not have received a Bill from the supplier. Also, Bill # is required, but we normally
    • Whats the Time out Limit for API Calls from Deluge?

      Hi Creator Devs, We are making API calls to third party server via Deluge. Getting this error message: Error at line : 24, The task has been terminated since the API call is taking too long to respond. Please try again after sometime. Whats the default
    • Community Digest Agosto 2025 - Todas las novedades en Español Zoho Community

      ¡Hola, Zoho Community! Agosto llega a su fin y septiembre nos trae aire fresco a la comunidad: más inteligencia con IA, actualizaciones que elevan la productividad y la recta final hacia Zoholics España 2025. Aquí tienes lo más destacado del mes para
    • Tip #3: How to change your booking page language

      Displaying your booking page in your target audience's language can greatly increase customer satisfaction. By speaking their language, you will help customers feel more comfortable scheduling with you and create a stronger connection with them. Let's
    • How can I optimize a Zoho Site page for SEO when embedding external menu or restaurant links?

      Hi everyone, I’m experimenting with building small content hubs on Zoho Sites and want to make sure I’m doing it in an SEO-friendly way. For example, I tried creating a page that highlights restaurant menu items and linked out to a resource like this:
    • Diff signature for compose new email and replies

      Hi,   How do i have different signature for replies and new emails. its inconvenient to have one large signature for replies. Usually on Outlook we have the option to keep separate signatures for new emails and for replies.
    • Zoho Website Site Speed Up & Setting

      We are experiencing slow loading speeds on our Zoho website and would like assistance in optimizing its performance. Kindly review the site and suggest or implement necessary improvements to enhance speed, especially related to: > Caching mechanisms >
    • Clickjacking: Zoho Vault's Response

      Issue Password manager browser extensions are found vulnerable to clickjacking security vulnerabilities that could lead attackers to steal account credentials, TFA codes, card details, under certain conditions. Reported by Marek Toth, Independent Security
    • No option for pick up in Zoho Books / Inventory but yes on commerce

      Is it planned to release soon on books/inventory?
    • Zoho Books - France

      L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité
    • Blueprint Issue - Being able to set a subform field as mandatory

      I'm creating a blueprint. My record involves a subform which is only shown once field is set but the field gets set in step two of the process. My problem - I can't save the record as the subform field is set to mandatory - If I unset the mandatory field,
    • Blueprint - Mandatory file upload field

      Hi, File upload (as we as image upload) field cannot be set as mandatory during a blueprint transition. Is there a workaround? Setting attachments as mandatory doesn't solve this need as we have no control over which attachments are added, nor can we
    • Zoho Books - Include Quote Status in Workflow Field Triggers

      Hi Zoho Books team, I recently tried to create a Workflow rule based on when a Quote is Accepted by the customer. This is something which I thought would be very easy to do, however I discovered that Status is not listed as a field which can be monitored
    • Zoho Books - Show Related Sales Orders on Quotes

      Hi Books team, I've noticed that the Quotes don't show show the related Sales Order. My feature request is to also show related Sales Orders above the Quote so it's easy to follow the thread of records in the sales and fulfilment process. Below screenshot
    • Add VAT/Tax line to bank adjustments

      When categorising transactions and matching bank feeds with transactions such as customer payments, we use the "Add Adjustment" to add things like fees/bank fees. It would be useful to choose a VAT/Tax rate here. Whilst there is a bank charges option when adding a payment, this goes into the default bank charges account. We use the adjustments so that we can choose the account and separate our fees. We use different card providers and Worldpay charges VAT so we are stuck. We cannot integrate with
    • New Menu Layout Feedback

      I'd really like to see the banking item back on the top of the menu. I'm sure part of it is just because that's what I'm accustomed to. However, for a bookkeeping program, I think there's a logic to having banking be on top. Not a giant issue, but something
    • How to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?

      I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possible
    • Form Accessibility

      Hi, is there an update on the accessibility standard of Zoho forms? Are the forms WCAG 2.1 AA compliant? 
    • Cannot schedule report delivery

      The only 'send option' available when exporting reports is 'immediately' The option to schedule the report is missing.
    • adding attachment in sendmail script where attachment is in a CRM field

      Hi all, I have a custom field of type 'File Upload' in one of my modules in my CRM. I want to include the file in that field as an attachment to an email - which is done from a button on  the 'Results' module. I have created a script and a button to initiate an email from that module. The Deluge scripting window has allowed me to add arguments for all the fields I need to use except for the one file upload type field. My script currently looks like the below (content of the email omitted). As you
    • Signature field is showing black

      Hello, When customer signed the service form, it is showing as below picture Phone model: iPhone 16 Pro We tried delete and install application, but it not solved. This has on phone of a few person. There is any advice to solve this?
    • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - AI-Enhanced Insurance Claim Management in Zoho Creator

      Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. Struggling with lengthy claim processes, a lack of visibility into
    • How to update changed purchase account of item in invoice

      I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust the
    • Zoho Suite is very slow

      Since today Zoho is incredibly slow over all applications! What's going on?
    • Not sure how to use credits to my account

      Hi I have a $50 credit to my account. I'm just wondering how I can apply that to either a current invoice or to try a new service. Any advice would be great, thanks. Kind Regards Chris
    • Control who sees Timeline and Interactions in Zoho CRM through Profiles

      The feature has been enabled for all DCs (except US, EU, and IN DCs). We will be rolling it out to the other DCs in the upcoming days. Dear All, In a CRM, not all users would require access to the history of a record. For instance, a Marketing Operations
    • Zoho Desk Integration - Add the option to send the estimate from the Zoho Desk Ticket Integration

      Hi, Currently in the Zoho Desk integration, the user is able to create an estimate from a ticket, once the estimate is created the user can see the estimate under the ticket (see screenshot below), but is not able to send that estimate from Zoho Desk.
    • Utilisation de Zoho en conformité avec l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI)

      Cher(e) client(e), Conformément à l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI) impose aux entreprises assujetties à la TVA d’utiliser des systèmes de caisse ou de gestion commerciale certifiés lorsqu’elles enregistrent des ventes à des particuliers.
    • Issue showing too many consultations in my workspace link.

      Hi Team, I’ve set up two Workspaces to track meetings from different sources. So far, this has been working well, and the two Workspaces are differentiated without any issues. However, when I navigate to Consultations and share the link to my personal
    • 👋 Welcome to the Zoho MCP Community

      Hello all, glad to have you here! This is your space for everything AI agents, MCP tools, and intelligent business apps. This community is for you — developers, partners, creators, and businesses exploring how agents can transform work. Whether you’re
    • CRM Validation Rules Support Only Single Condition

      Simply put, CRM validation rules support only a single condition for each field on "All Records". You also cannot specify additional validation rules on the same field because it has already been used in an existing validation rule. The ONLY solution
    • Unapproved Leaves are hard to distinguish in Attendance View

      This is a an unapproved leave request It appears in the Attendance view without any visual indicator if its approved or not For a whole day request this might be manageable but for hourly requests it gets very hard to know which are approved, which are
    • Performance Appraisal Probation Period

      Hello All,  Is there any possible way to create an appraisal cycle for new staff members, at the end of probation period? Many thanks!
    • Zoho Creatorの一括操作における処理の同期/非同期について

      現在、Creatorのレポート機能を利用して、複数のレコードに対して一括で処理を実行しようとしていますが、処理の実行順序について確認したいことがあります。 レポート内の複数レコードに一括で処理を実行した際、処理は同期的に行われるのでしょうか?それとも非同期的に行われるのでしょうか? 【同期処理の場合】 レコード①に対する処理が開始され、終了後にレコード②に対する処理が開始され、最後にレコード③に対する処理が実行されるように、処理が順番に行われる場合。 【非同期処理の場合】 レコード①、レコード②、レコード③の処理が一斉に開始され、それぞれ並行して処理が行われ、全処理が終了する場合。
    • Next Page