Get Zoho Mail API working (including DRE Connector, Oauth Token, ZUID, ZOID & ACCOUNT_ID)

Get Zoho Mail API working (including DRE Connector, Oauth Token, ZUID, ZOID & ACCOUNT_ID)

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional coder!



Do you need to use Zoho Mail API?


Me too. It lets you do all sorts of things — like reading the complete header of an email, or forwarding an email with its attachments — which is what I wanted to do.


But setting up the API (application programming interface) took me hours.


It didn’t need to, but advice on this forum sent me in circles and, while the Knowledgebase probably has all the information, it’s not easy to determine which are the relevant bits. So…


Maybe this little guide will help you.

       To use Zoho Mail API you need:

a) A working OAuth Token (Open Authorization token)

b) Up to three Zoho IDs — User, Organization, Account

c) Depending on what you want to do, additional IDs for emails, folders, etc


OAUTH TOKEN


The token validates you when you make an API call. There are various ways to create it.

The hard way: it’s possible to create an OAuth token via Developer Space but this requires lots of options to be chosen and the OAuth token needs to be frequently refreshed. This route is intended for developers who are using external apps to link with Zoho.


The easy way, at least for me, was via a custom function in filters — because it’s simple to do, refreshing the OAuth token is handled by Zoho, and creating a custom function is what I was trying to do anyway


If you already have an OAuth token, great. If not, but have already created a custom function, jump to 4 below. Alternatively:


      1)    In Zoho Mail, go to settings/filters

      2)    Create a new filter and, under Actions, select ‘Custom Function’. Zoho help file here.

      3)    Click ‘Select Function’ and create a new function or use an existing one

      4)    Once the custom function is on screen, select ‘DRE Connectors’ (Deluge Runtime Environment) at the top right

      5)    Click ‘Create Connection’ and under ‘Default Services’ choose ‘Zoho OAuth’

      6)    ‘Connection Name’ can be anything you like. It’s the ‘Connection Link Name’ that you will use in your Deluge scripts.

      7)    Chose the ‘Scopes’ of your token. There are zillions of them and they determine what your script can and can’t do. The most basic might be ‘ZohoMail.messages.READ’. The API Guide Index lists every API command and, for each, details what scope you need (e.g. the send an email page shows you’ll need the scope  ZohoMail.messages.ALL or ZohoMail.messages.CREATE). It's good security practice to only use the minimum scope you need.

      8)    After you click ‘Create and Connect’ you should have a working OAuth token with a lowercase ‘link name’ that you can paste into your Deluge scripts.


NB: The OAuth token only applies to the Zoho area where you have your account (Zoho.eu in my case). So, for example, if I cut and paste a snippet into my script from the send an email page: https://mail.zoho.com/api/accounts/{accountId}/messages it will NOT work with my Europe OAuth token. I would need to change the snippet to: https://mail.zoho.eu/api/accounts/{accountId}/messages


GETTING YOUR IDS


Without API

You’ll see from the snippet above that this particular API needs your ‘accountId’ to work. Zoho advises getting your IDs via an API call, but you don't need to:


1)   Zoho User ID (ZUID).  Just log into Zoho and click the ‘My Profile’ icon (top right). Your user ID is right there under your name and email address.

2)  Zoho Organisation ID (ZOID). Open your Zoho Mail Dashboard (remember, this link is for zoho.eu, you’ll need to use your area). Then select ‘Organization’ on the left menu bar to display ‘Organization Info’, including your Zoho Organization ID.

3) Zoho Account ID (ZAID). Select any of your emails in Zoho Mail. Right click and pick 'Open in New Window'. Your Zoho Accound ID is the number following "accId=". (See Zoho's help page to get the message ID of emails — it also shows the accountId.)

With API
Alternatively, you can get all three IDs with one API call: https://mail.zoho.eu/api/accounts (remember to adjust for your area). Help page here for what scope you need for this API call. The call returns a mass of information but buried in it are your Zoho User ID (ZUID), Zoho Organisation ID (ZOID) and Zoho Account ID (ZAID).


So how do I make the API call?

There are various ways but I use a bit of deluge script:

apiUrl = "https://mail.zoho.eu/api/accounts";
response = invokeurl
[
    url :apiUrl
    type :GET
    connection:"your_oauth_token" // the OAuth token you created, in quotes
];
info response;

1) Create a new Zoho Mail custom function and paste in the above script.
2 ) In the function window, click 'Test Run' (top right). You'll be asked for a Message ID.
3) For this script, any message will do. Select any message in your Zoho Mail inbox. Right click and choose 'Open in New Window'. You'll see the Message ID after 'msgId=' in the URL displayed by your browser. See here for visual.
4) Paste the Message ID into the function window and press 'Proceed'. You'll be presented with the heading 'Console' and the result of your API call beneath it, where you'll find the IDs you need after 'zuid=', 'zoid=' and 'accountId='.

FOLDER & EMAIL IDs


      1)    You may be able to use the name of a folder (e.g. “Trash”) in your Deluge script but if you need the folder ID number, either use this API or, even easier, select an email in the folder your interested in, right click and pick 'Open in New Window'. The folder ID comes after 'folId=' in the browser URL.

      2)    All my scripts are triggered by an email by arriving in my inbox. The ID for that current email is held in the variable ‘mail_messageId’.

      3)    For everything else refer to the API Guide Index


Finally, there might be a better way to do any of the above — I did warn you I’m not a pro! — please feel free to add improvements.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Pocket from Mozilla is closing shop. Don’t lose your favorites . Move them to Zoho Mail Bookmarks now! 📥🔖

      The end of Pocket shouldn't mean the end of your important links and content. Easily import them into Zoho Mail's Bookmarks and continue right where you left off. You can bring over your entire Saves, Collections, and tags just the way they are. Bookmarks

    • Zoho Mail POP & IMAP Server Details

      Hello all! We have been receiving a number of requests regarding the errors while configuring or using Zoho Mail account in POP/ IMAP clients. The server details vary based on your account type and the Datacenter in which your account is setup. Ensure

    • Workplace - Zoholics Europe Customer Awards

      Dear Zoho Mail Community! 📣 We're excited to announce that at this year's Zoholics events across Europe, we're holding customer awards for the first time ever! Workplace - Zoholics Europe Customer Awards This is your chance to shout about the amazing

    • Important update on Group Management | Zoho Mail

      Dear Zoho Mail Community, This post is to inform you all of the following updates on the Group Management in Zoho Mail. Group Member Addition: If a group member is added to an organization group in a Zoho Application, the member will be automatically

    • Mastering email etiquette and best practices to follow in Zoho Mail

      Hello Zoho Mail Community, We’re thrilled to invite you all to our upcoming webinar: Mastering email etiquette and best practices to follow in Zoho Mail. Join our live webinar for expert etiquette tips to enhance your professionalism and elevate your

    • Recent Topics

    • What are the create bill API line item requiered fields

      While the following documentation says that the line items array is requiered it doesn't say what if any files are requiered in the array. Does anyone know? API documentation: https://www.zoho.com/inventory/api/v1/bills/#create-a-bill I'm trying to add

    • Customer ticket creation via Microsoft Teams

      Hi all, I'm looking to see if someone could point me in the right direction. I'd love to make it so my customers/ end users can make tickets, see responses and respond within microsoft teams. As Admin and an Agent i've installed the zoho assist app within

    • Is there a way to update all the start and end dates of tasks of a project after a calendar change?

      Hi! Here's my situation. I've built a complete project planning. All its tasks have start dates and due dates. After completing the planning, I've realized that the project calendar was not the right one. So I changed the project calendar. I now have

    • How to update task start date when project start date changes?

      Hi there, When the start date of a project changes, it's important to update the start dates of the tasks associated with that project to reflect the new timeline. Is there a way to shift the start date of all project tasks when the start date of a project

    • Issue with Picklist Dropdown Not Opening on Mobile

      Hello I am experiencing an issue with picklist values on mobile. While the arrow is visible, the dropdown to scroll through the available values often does not open. This issue occurs sporadically, it has worked occasionally, but it is very rare and quite

    • using the client script based on the look up filed i wnat to fetch the record details like service number , service rate

      based on selected service look up field iwant to fetch the service serial number in the serice form how i achive using client script also how i get the current date in the date field in the on load of the form

    • Zoho Books/Square integration, using 2 Square 'locations' with new Books 'locations'?

      Hello! I saw some old threads about this but wasn't sure if there were any updates. Is there a way to integrate the Square locations feature with the Books locations feature? As in, transactions from separate Books locations go to separate Square locations

    • Add zoho calendar to google calendar

      Hi I keep seeing instructions on how to sync Zoho CRM calendar with google calendar but no instructions on how to view Zoho calendar in my google calendar.

    • Zoho Commerce - How To Change Blog Published Date and Author

      Hi Commerce Team, I'm discussing a project with a client who wants to move from Woo Commerce / Wordpress to Zoho Commerce. They have around 620 blog posts which will need to be migrated. I am now aware of the blog import feature and I have run some tests.

    • Does zoho inventory need Enterprise or Premium subsrciption to make Widgets.

      We have Zoho One Enterprise and yet we can't create widgets on inventory.

    • Writing by Hand in "Write" Notes

      Hi there! I just downloaded this app a few moments ago, and I was wondering if there was a way to write things by hand in "Write" mode instead of just typing in the keyboard. It would make things a bit more efficient for me in this moment. Thanks!

    • Remove the “One Migration Per User” Limitation in Zoho WorkDrive

      Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to raise a critical feature request regarding the Google Drive → Zoho WorkDrive migration process. Current Limitation: Zoho WorkDrive currently enforces a hard limitation: A Zoho WorkDrive

    • Handling Agent Transfer from Marketing Automation Journey to SalesIQ WhatsApp

      We are currently using Marketing Automation for WhatsApp marketing, and the features are great so far We have a scenario where, during a campaign or journey, we give customers an option to chat with our sales team. For this, we are using SalesIQ WhatsApp

    • Comment to DM Automation

      Comment to DM automation feature in Zoho Marketing Automation, similar to what tools like ManyChat offer. Use case: When a user comments on a social media post (Instagram / Facebook), the system should automatically: Send a private DM to the user Capture

    • ZMA shows as already connected to Zoho CRM, but integration not working

      When I try to connect ZMA with Zoho CRM, it shows as already connected, but the integration doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve attached the screen recording for reference.

    • Automatic Email Alerts for Errors in Zoho Creator Logs

      Hello, We would like to request a feature enhancement in Zoho Creator regarding error notifications. Currently, Zoho Creator allows users to view logs and errors for each application by navigating to Zoho Creator > Operations > Logs. However, there is

    • Can you default reports/charts to report the current week?

      Our data table maintains two years of data. Management wants certain report to automatically filter the report to the latest calendar week. I know I can do this manually with filters but I want the report to automatically default to the latest calendar

    • How can I check all announce?

      Hiii, May I ask how can I check all the announce based on broadcast date instead of reply date based So that I will not will miss out any new function

    • Recurring Automated Reminders

      Hi, The reminders feature in Zoho Books is a really helpful feature to automate reminders for invoices. However, currently we can set reminders based on number of days before/after the invoice date. It would be really helpful if a recurring reminder feature

    • Workflow Rule - Field Updates: Ability to use Placeholders

      It will be great if you can use placeholder tags to update fields. For example if we want to update a custom field with the client name we can use ${CONTACT.CONTACT_FIRSTNAME}${CONTACT.CONTACT_LASTNAME}, etc

    • Zobot Execution Logs & Run History (Similar to Zoho Flow)

      Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, We would like to request an enhancement for Zoho SalesIQ Zobot: adding an execution log / run history, similar to what already exists in Zoho Flow. Reference: Zoho Flow In Zoho Flow, every execution is recorded in the History tab,

    • Password Assessment Reports for all users

      I'm the super admin and looking at the reporting available for Zoho Vault. I can see that there is a Password Assessment report available showing the passwords/weak and security score by user. However I'm confused at the 'report generated on' value. Monitor

    • Can't change form's original name in URL

      Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new

    • Setting certian items to be pickup only

      How do we have some items that are pickup only? I have several items in my item's list that I do not ship. But they need to be on the website to be sold, and picked up in store. Need to be able to do this as one of these products is a major seller for

    • Using gift vouchers

      We would like to be able to offer a limited number of gift vouchers, of varying values, to our customers, and are looking for the best way to do this. We have looked at Coupons and Gift Certificates, but neither seem to fit the bill perfectly. Coupons:

    • Automatically updating field(s) of lookup module

      I have a lookup field, which also pulls through the Status field from the linked record. When the lookup is first done, the Status is pulled through - this works perfectly. If that Status is later updated, the lookup field does not update as well. As

    • Zoho Commerce and Third-party shipping (MachShip) API integration

      We are implementing a third-party shipping (MachShip) API integration for our Zoho Commerce store and have made significant progress. However, we need guidance on a specific technical challenge. Current Challenge: We need to get the customer input to

    • Adding custom "lookup" fields in Zoho Customization

      How can I add a second “lookup” field in Zoho? I’m trying to create another lookup that pulls from my Contacts, but the option doesn’t appear in the module customization sidebar. In many cases, a single work order involves multiple contacts. Ideally,

    • Can you import projects into Zoho Projects yet?

      I see some very old posts asking about importing project records into Zoho Projects. But I can't find anything up to date about the topic. Has this functionality been added? Importing tasks is helpful. But we do have a project where importing projects

    • Allocating inventory to specific SO's

      Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could

    • Zoho Inventory. Preventing Negative Stock in Sales Orders – Best Practices?

      Dear Zoho Inventory Community, We’re a small business using Zoho Inventory with a team of sales managers. Unfortunately, some employees occasionally overlook stock levels during order processing, leading to negative inventory issues. Is there a way to

    • Automation #10 - Auto Assign Ticket based on Keywords

      This is a monthly series designed to help you get the best out of Desk. We take our cue from what's being discussed or asked about the most in our community. Then we find the right use cases that specifically highlight solutions, ideas and tips on optimizing

    • Automate attendance tracking with Zoho Cliq Developer Platform

      I wish remote work were permanently mandated so we could join work calls from a movie theatre or even while skydiving! But wait, it's time to wake up! The alarm has snoozed twice, and your team has already logged on for the day. Keeping tabs on attendance

    • Reusable Custom Functions Across Department Workflows

      Dear Zoho Desk Team, We appreciate the powerful workflow automation capabilities in Zoho Desk, particularly the ability to create and use custom functions within workflows. However, we have encountered a limitation that impacts efficiency and maintainability.

    • Feature Request - Gift Cards or Gift Voucher Capability in Zoho Commerce

      Hi Zoho Commerce team, I'm comming accross more and more retail businesses who sell gift cards. As there is currently no way to manage this in Zoho Commerce, it is a blocker to addoption. This is particularly popular in Europe and North America. I recently

    • Don't Allow Customer to Edit Values After Submitting Ticket

      After a customer submits a ticket through the customer portal, they can go into the ticket and see some of the values from the questions they answered in the sidebar. Currently, a customer can edit these values even after they submitted them. This makes no sense. We ask very specific questions that we don't want customers to later change! Please disable the ability for customers to edit the values to their submission questions in the portal. Screenshot attached.

    • Analytics <-> Invoice Connection DELETED by Zoho

      Hi All, I am reaching out today because of a big issue we have at the moment with Zoho Analytics and Zoho Invoice. Our organization relies on Zoho Analytics for most of our reporting (operationnal teams). A few days ago we observed a sync issue with the

    • text length in list report mobile/tablet

      Is there a way to make the full text of a text field appear in the list report on mobile and tablet? With custom layouts, the text is always truncated after a certain number of characters.

    • Automation #4 - Auto Delete Tickets based on Rules

      This is a monthly series in which we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Unwanted tickets spamming

    • Zoho Community Digest — Enero 2026

      ¡Hola, comunidad! 🌟 Aquí os traemos las novedades más interesantes de Zoho durante este mes de enero, incluyendo actualizaciones de productos, integraciones y un recordatorio sobre los workshops certificados que vuelven a España. 🎓 Eventos y Comunidad

    • Next Page