Automation #10 - Auto Assign Ticket based on Keywords

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 your customer support with the automation capabilities of Zoho Desk.

Zoho Desk offers you a few choices on how to assign your tickets. From Direct assignment to Round Robin rules, every variation cued to assign tickets in a way best suited to your business workflow.
 
These features can help you create a viable workflow easily. Even in cases when you'd like to add more context to open tickets and assign them based on their content. For example, you have a Direct Assignment rule based on a State. As per the rule any ticket originating from that State is automatically assigned to a specific Agent, say Agent 1. However, after a few conversations, the customer refers to the keyword refund in their email content. At which point you want it to include the Refund team automatically. This can be achieved using a custom function, which reads the keyword in the email replies of a customer, and automatically assigns any email matching the keyword to the concerned team based on the rule set.

We have replaced Auth-tokens with connections for all the existing custom functions. So the first step to make the most of ZohoDesk's automation capabilities is to create a connection to use in the custom function later.
 
To create the connection, carry out the following steps: 
  1. Click on Setup > Developer Space > Connections 
  2. Click Create Connection
  3. In the Pick Your Service section, under Default Services, find and select Zoho Desk
  4. In the Connection Details section, add zohodesk as the Connection Name and Connection LinkName
  5. In the Choose Scopes list, select Desk.tickets.READ
  6. Click Create and Connect
  7. In the page that appear, click Connect
  8. If you have more than one portal associated, select the Portal to which this connection should be added and click Accept.
To create the custom function, follow the steps below: 
  1. Go to Setup, and under Automation, click Workflows.
  2. On the left panel, under Workflows, click Rules > Create Rule.
    In the Basic Information section, carry out the following steps:
  3. In the Module drop-down menu, select Tickets.
  4. Enter a name and description for the rule.
  5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, you can just create the rule now and activate it later, on the Rules page.
  6. Click Next.
    In the Execute on section, perform the following steps:
  7. Select the Create checkbox to execute this rule every time a new ticket is created.  
  8. Click Next.
    In the Criteria section, if you want to create a ticket just based on the keywords, then do not select any criteria and move to the next section.
    In the Actions section, carry out the following steps:
  9. Click the + icon and select Custom Functions > New
  10. Click Edit Arguments
  11. In the Name field type TicketID, and from the Value drop-down list select Ticket Id under Ticket Information.
  12. In the script window, input the Custom Function you find below: 
    orgId = "paste orgId here";
    DepartmentB_id = "paste department B id here";
    keyword1 = "paste keyword value here";
    keyword2 = "paste keyword value here";
    TicketInfo = zoho.desk.getRecordById(orgId, "tickets", TicketID);
    subj = TicketInfo.get("subject");
    threads = zoho.desk.getRelatedRecords(orgId,"threads","tickets",TicketID).get("data").toList();
    threadId = threads.getJSON("id");
    Message_body = invokeurl
    [
    url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/tickets/" + TicketID + "/threads/" + threadId + "?include=plainText"
    type :GET
    connection:"zohodesk"
    ];
    Message_body = Message_body.getJSON("plainText");
    if ( Message_body.containsIgnoreCase(keyword1) || Message_body.containsIgnoreCase(keyword2) || subj.containsIgnoreCase(keyword1) || subj.containsIgnoreCase(keyword2)   )
    {
    info zoho.desk.ticket.move(orgId, TicketID, DepartmentB_id);
    }
Note: The connection name used in the above script should match the name that you provided while creating the connection. 

Stay tuned for more such use cases!

    • Sticky Posts

    • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

      With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features
    • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

      Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 
    • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

      Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 
    • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

      Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here
    • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

      With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing
    • Recent Topics

    • Turn off Knowlege Base Follow options and Follower lists

      Is there a way to hide or turn off the option in the Knowledge Base for users to follow specific departments/categories/sections/articles? If not, is there a way to turn off the public list of followers for each of those things? Otherwise, customer names
    • Scheduled AU Data Center Database Version Upgrade for Zoho Forms

      Dear Zoho Forms' users, We would like to update you on a scheduled AU Data Center database version upgrade for Zoho Forms. Find the schedule below: Migration window: Sunday, 22nd February 2026 12.00 AM to 12.30 AM AEDT This migration is a part of our
    • Cannot get code to work with v2.mergeAndStore!

      Please can someone help me pass subform items into a repeating mail merge table row using v2.mergeAndStore? I have a mail merge template created in Writer and stored in Workdrive. This template is referenced by a custom CRM function which merges all of
    • Hotmail is blocking the zoho mail IP

      Greetings, Since last Tuesday (5 days ago today) I wrote to Zoho support and I still haven't received a single response (Ticket ID: 2056917). Is this how you treat people who pay for your email service? I am making this public so that those who want to
    • Zoho Bookings and Survey Integration through Flow

      I am trying to set up flows where once an appointment is marked as completed in Zoho Bookings, the applicable survey form would be sent to the customer. Problem is, I cannot customise flows wherein if Consultation A is completed, Survey Form A would be
    • Zoho CRM Community Digest - December 2025 | Part 2

      Hello Everyone! During the final weeks of December, Zoho CRM introduced updates that not only enhanced product capabilities but also offered deeper guidance through Kaizen posts. This section highlights what was released and shared in the last two weeks
    • CRUD actions for Resources via API

      Hello, is it possible to perform CRUD actions through the API for Resources? We want to create a sync from Zoho CRM Car record to Bookings resources to create availabilities for Car bookings. For Test drives, not only the sales person needs to be available,
    • Super Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working
    • Kaizen #186 : Client Script Support for Subforms

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post on Client Script! In this edition, we’re taking a closer look at Client Script Support for Subforms with the help of the following scenario. " Zylker, a manufacturing company, uses the "Orders"
    • Unable to Assign Multiple Categories to a Single Product in Zoho Commerce

      Hello Zoho Commerce Support Team, I am facing an issue while assigning categories to products in Zoho Commerce. I want to assign multiple categories to a single product, but in the Item edit page, the Category field allows selecting only one category
    • オンライン勉強会のお知らせ Zoho ワークアウト (2/19 参加無料)

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 2月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▶︎参加登録はこちら(無料) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6AyVUxp6QDmMQiDGXGkxPA ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは? Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目指すイベント「Zoho
    • Create an Eye-Catching Announcement Widget for Your Help Center

      Hello Everyone! In this week’s edition, let’s explore how to keep your customers updated with exciting news in the Help Center. See how ZylkerMobile wowed their customers by bringing updates right to their portal. ZylkerMobile, the renowned brand for
    • doubts about customer happiness in zoho desk

      Good afternoon, Desk community. The reason for my message is that I have a question regarding the customer satisfaction surveys we can ask our clients to rate our service. I know that in Desk, you can activate Customer Happiness to send a survey to the
    • COQL API in JS Widget only pulling 200 records

      Hello! We've been building a custom homepage widget using the Zoho JS SDK, and it seems that this https://help.zwidgets.com/help/latest/ZOHO.CRM.API.html#.coql only allows 200 records. I thought the limit was 2000 for COQL queries, but am I mistaken?
    • Standard Description Field - Can I change label or add dd tooltip

      Is there a way fo you guys to allow the customer to change the label name for the description field in the customer portal when submitting tickets. Or at least allow us to add a tooltip to clarify what description we need from them. I know I can create my own separate multi line description field but if I do that, it doesn't have the nice toolbar with Bold, Italic, Underline, color, font, indent, etc. Can you please allow us to add a tooltip to the zoho standard description field?
    • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

      Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child
    • Ability to CC on a mass email

      Ability to CC someone on a mass email.
    • Different Task Layouts for Subtasks

      I was wondering how it would be possible for a subtask to have a different task layout to the parent task.
    • Zoho Support - contract notifications

      Hi, I have a few questions about using Zoho support. Is there a way to add custom contract notifications like (90 days before expiry send notification e-mail to agent and customer, then another 60 days before expiry and another 30 days.). And is it possible to add (embed) the contract expiry date to a costom notification e-mail. is there a way to manualy change or costomize the status of a contract (i.e.to blocked if they run out of support hours). if it is  possible to see this on new tickets (i.e.
    • Compensation | Salary Packages - Hourly Wage Needed

      The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 55.7% of all workers in the US are paid by the hour. I don't know how that compares to the rest of the world, but I would think that this alone would justify the need for having an hourly-based salary package option.
    • Is it possible to create a meeting in Zoho Crm which automatically creates a Google Meet link?

      We are using Google's own "Zoho CRM for Google" integration and also Zoho's "Google Apps Sync" tools, but none of them provide us with the ability to create a meeting in Zoho CRM that then adds a Google Meet link into the meeting. Is this something that
    • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

      Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything
    • Customizing Helpcenter texts

      I’m customizing the Zoho Desk Help Center and I’d like to change the wording of the standard widgets – for example, the text in the “Submit Ticket” banner that appears in the footer, or other built-in widget labels and messages. So far, I haven’t found
    • Ability to Edit Ticket Subject when Splitting a Ticket

      Often someone will make an additional or new request within an existing ticket that requires we split the ticket. The annoying part is that the new ticket maintains the subject of the original ticket after the split so when the new ticket email notification
    • Automatically Update Form Attachment Service with Newly added Fields

      Hi, When I have a Form Setup and connected to a 3rd Party Service such as OneDrive for Form Attachments, when I later add a new Upload Field I have to remove and redo the entire 3rd Party Setup from scratch. This needs to be improved, such as when new
    • 🚀 WorkDrive 6.0 (Phase 1): Empowering Teams with Content Intelligence, Automation, Accessibility, and Control

      Hello, everyone! WorkDrive continues to evolve from a robust file management solution into an intelligent, secure, and connected content collaboration platform for modern businesses. Our goal remains unchanged: to simplify teamwork, strengthen data security,
    • Our Review Of Zoho CRM after 60 Days

      The purpose of this is to just share with Zoho why I love their product, but ultimately why I could not choose Zoho CRM for our next CRM. About two months ago we begun a CRM exploration process for our financial planning firm, based in Texas. We already
    • Extend the Image Choice Field

      Hi, The New Yes/No field is great for what it does, and the Image Choice Field is good but could be better with some functions from the Yes/No field. Take an example, rather than just Yes/No you want Yes/No/Maybe (Or more than 3 choices), but unlike the
    • Reopen ticket on specific date/time

      Is there a way that we can close a ticket and setup a reopen of that ticket on a specific date and time? (without using the "on hold" ticket option)
    • Automated Task reminder

      First question: If a task does not have a reminder set, will it still send an email notification that the task is due today? If not, how can I set up an automated reminder to send the task owner an email that it is due on a certain date?
    • [Important announcement] Zoho Writer will mandate DKIM configuration for automation users

      Hi all, Effective Dec. 31, 2024, configuring DKIM for From addresses will be mandatory to send emails via Zoho Writer. DKIM configuration allows recipient email servers to identify your emails as valid and not spam. Emails sent from domains without DKIM
    • Column letter from number

      Hello, I am trying to select a cell and i have the column number. How do i do this or is there a way of getting the letter from the number? Thank you
    • API credit COQL COUNT

      The docs describe API credits in COQL from the LIMIT perspective: https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/api/v8/COQL-Overview.html When using aggregate functions such as `COUNT` or `SUM`, is that billed as 1 API credit?
    • Trigger a Workflow Function if an Attachment (Related List) has been added

      Hello, I have a Case Module with a related list which is Attachment. I want to trigger a workflow if I added an attachment. I've seen some topics about this in zoho community that was posted few months ago and based on the answers, there is no trigger
    • Weekly Tips : Save Time with Saved Search

      Let's assume your work requires you to regularly check emails from important clients that have attachments and were sent within a specific time period. Instead of entering the same conditions every time—like sender, date range, and attachments included—you
    • Remove 'This is an automated mail from Zoho Sign' in footer

      Hi there, Is it possible to remove or change the text under the e-mail templates? I can't figure out how to do that: Would love to hear from you. Kind regards, Tristan
    • How can I link Products in a Deal Subform to the Products Module

      Hello, I have a pricing subform on our Deals page and use a lookup field to associate a product with each line. I want to be able to look at a product page within the Products module and see a list of the deals connected to that product. I have this working
    • Organize and manage PDFs with Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard

      Hello users, Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard is a one-stop place to upload, sort, share PDF files, and more. This article will explore the various capabilities that Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard offers. A few highlights of Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard: Upload
    • Updating records through Zoho Sheets View doesn't update timeline or trigger workflow rules

      I have noticed that when i update a series of record with the zoho sheets view (see here http://d.pr/i/ahnR) it doesn't update timeline history or trigger workflow rules. I am using it in the Deals module. Looking forward for some more info. Denis
    • Passing Info from Function to Client Script

      Hello, I have recently started making use of client script for buttons, allowing me to give the user information or warnings before they proceed. This is great. However, I have never quite managed to pass back any extra information from the function to
    • Next Page