Kaizen #13 - Bulk Write API

Kaizen #13 - Bulk Write API

Hello everyone!

Welcome to yet another post in the Kaizen series.
This week, we are going to discuss the Bulk Write API.

What is the Bulk Write API?

The bulk write API allows you to insert, update, and upsert records in a module in Zoho CRM in bulk. The primary difference between the bulk write API, and the Insert, Update, Upsert records API, is the number of records that you can handle. 

While you can insert, update, and upsert, only 100 records via the Insert, Update, and Upsert Records API per call, you can handle 25000 records via a Bulk Write API call.

When you should use the Bulk Write API?
  1. When you want to insert, update, or upsert more than 100 records per API call. 
  2. When you want to perform background processes like migration and initial data sync between Zoho CRM and external services.
Below are the differences between Insert, Update, Upsert Records API and the Bulk Write API.

Insert, Update, Upsert Records
Bulk Write API
You can insert, update, or upsert only 100 records per API call.
You can insert, update, or upsert 25000 records per API call.
The response is available instantly.
The response is not available instantly; the bulk write job is scheduled, and the status is available after job completion in the callback URL.
You will receive a success response. 
A downloadable ZIP file containing a CSV file, is available with ID, status, and errors if any.

How does the Bulk Write API work?

To insert, update, or upsert records in bulk, follow the below steps:

  1. Prepare your CSV file
  2. Upload your file
  3. Create a bulk write job
  4. Check the job status
  5. Download the result
Now, let us see each step in detail.

1. Prepare your CSV file

The Bulk Write API only accepts a CSV file compressed into a ZIP file as input. The first row should contain the field API names. Refer to the field metadata API, to get the field API names. Each subsequent row contains the data to be written in Zoho CRM. You can insert, update, or upsert records only in a single module through one bulk write API call. Refer to attachments to get a sample ZIP file to bulk-insert contacts. 

Input format for each data type

Datatype
Description
Single Line
Accepts up to 255 characters.
Accepts alphanumeric and special characters.
Ex: Mike O'Leary
Multi-Line
Small - accepts up to 2000 characters.
Large - accepts up to 32000 characters.
Ex: This is a sample description.
Email
Accepts valid email IDs.
Phone
Accepts up to 30 characters. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Number of characters allowed' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
Accepts only numeric characters and '+' (to add extensions). 
Ex: 9800000099
Picklist
You can pass an existing pick list value. If you give a new one, it is automatically added to the pick list set.
The pick list value accepts all alphanumeric and special characters.
Ex: auto mobile
Multiselect Picklist
You can either pass the existing pick list values or add a new one. The values are separated by semicolon(;).
The pick list value accepts all alphanumeric and special characters.
Ex: Analytics;Bigdata
Date
Accepts date in yyyy-MM-dd format.
Ex: 2019-08-28
Date/Time
Accepts date and time in yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss±HH:mm
ISO 8601 format.
Number
Accepts numbers up to 9 digits. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Maximum digits allowed' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
Accepts only numeric values.
Ex: 350
Currency
Before the decimal point - accepts numbers up to 16 digits.  This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Maximum digits allowed' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
After the decimal point - accepts precision up to 9 digits. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Number of decimal paces' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
Decimal
Before the decimal point - accepts numbers up to 16 digits. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Maximum digits allowed' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
After the decimal point - accepts precision up to 9 digits. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Number of decimal places' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
Accepts only numeric values.
Ex: 250000.50
Percent
Accepts numbers up to 5 digits.
Accepts only numeric values.
Ex: 25
Long Integer
Accepts numbers up to 18 digits. This limit may vary based on the value configured in 'Maximum digits allowed' in the properties pop-up of the field, in UI.
Accepts only numeric values.
Ex: 0012345600012
Checkbox
Accepts Boolean values (true,false).
Ex: true
URL
Accepts valid URLs.
Lookup
Accepts the unique ID of the record, which you can get through the get records API.
Use the dot(.) operator to link the record. For instance, if there is an account lookup in the Contacts module, you can give the column name as Account.id
Ex: Account.id : 4150868000001136302

Note:
Multiselect and User datatype fields are not supported in Bulk Write.

Here is a sample content for a CSV file with different field types.



Note:
  1. To give multiple values for a multi-select pick list field, enclose them in double quotes("") and separate each value with the semicolon(;).
  2. If your multi-line field has more than one line, input them directly by enclosing them in double quotes("").
2. Upload your CSV file

This involves making a POST API call, with the ZIP file containing the required data. The file is passed as form-data input, with key as file. When the call is successful, you will receive a file_id which you can further use to create a bulk write job.

Headers

Header Name
Description
feature
bulk-write
X-CRM-ORG
Your zgid which you get from the organization API.




3. Create a bulk write job

In this step, make a POST API call with the file_id obtained from the previous step, the callback URL, operation type (insert, update, upsert), module, and field API names. When the call is successful, you will receive a job ID in the response. You can use this ID in another request to poll for the status of the job.

Request URL

{{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/write

Sample Input for bulk insert

{
    "operation": "insert",
    "callback": {
        "method": "post"
    },
    "resource": [
        {
            "type": "data",
            "module": "Contacts",
            "file_id": "4150868000001038001",
            "field_mappings": [
                {
                    "api_name": "Last_Name",
                    "index": 0,
                    "default_value": {
                        "value": "DefaultValue"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "api_name": "Email",
                    "index": 1
                },
                {
                    "api_name": "Phone",
                    "index": 2
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Sample Input for Bulk Update

{
  "operation": "update",
  "callBack": {
    "method": "post"
  },
  "resource": [
    {
      "type": "data",
      "module": "Contacts",
      "file_id": "4150868000001123001",
      "field_mappings": [
        {
          "api_name": "Last_Name",
          "index": 0
        },
        {
          "api_name": "Email",
          "index": 1
        },
        {
          "api_name": "Phone",
          "index": 2,
          "ignore_empty": true
        }
      ],
      "find_by": "Email"
    }
  ]
}

Input Keys

Key
Description
operation
string, mandatory
The operation to be done. The possible values are—insert, update, upsert.
insert - To insert records in bulk.
update - To update existing records in bulk.
upsert - To update if the record exists or insert the record.
callback
JSON object, mandatory
The callback details. Contains callback URL in the "callback" key and the "method" as post. 
resource
JSON array, mandatory
The details of the data in the ZIP file that is uploaded. 
  • "type" with value "data "
  • "module"- It is the module (API name) you want to write the data in, from the uploaded CSV file.  Refer to the module metadata for more details.
  • "file_id" - It is the file ID obtained in the previous step.
field_mappings
JSON array, mandatory
The details about the fields given in the CSV file. Each object corresponds to each field in the CSV file. Mention the position of the fields in the CSV file in the "index" key, that must start from 0. 
"default_value" key can be used when a few fields are left blank, and you want the system to fill the default details.
ignore_empty
boolean, optional
If you have a few empty fields while updating the record and you want the system to ignore it, input the value as true.
find_by
string, mandatory (for Update and Upsert)
The system finds the record to be updated by the "find_by" field. It must be a unique field configured in Zoho CRM. 

To check the same, go to Setup > Modules and Fields > Choose Module > Choose Layout > Choose the field > Click on more options > Check if Do not allow duplicate values is enabled. 
Using field metadata API, you can get which fields can be set as unique fields in the CRM.



4. Check job status

The Bulk Write API supports polling and callback. 

Polling
You can poll to check the status of the scheduled bulk write job with the job ID you received in the previous step.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/write/{job_id}
Request Method: GET



Sample Response

  1. The status can be either ADDED, INPROGRESS, or COMPLETED. Only the COMPLETED jobs will have the "download-URL" key in the response. 
  2. The "file" JSON object in the response represents the total count of records (added, skipped, updated). If the status is mentioned as "skipped" for any record, the reason will be displayed under the ERRORS column, in the downloaded ZIP file. 
{
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "character_encoding": "UTF-8",
  "resource": [
    {
      "status": "COMPLETED",
      "type": "data",
      "module": "Contacts",
      "field_mappings": [
        {
          "api_name": "Email",
          "index": 1,
          "format": null,
          "find_by": null,
          "module": null,
          "default_value": null
        },
        {
          "api_name": "Last_Name",
          "index": 0,
          "format": null,
          "find_by": null,
          "module": null,
          "default_value": {
            "name": null,
            "module": null,
            "value": "DefaultValue"
          }
        },
        {
          "api_name": "Phone",
          "index": 2,
          "format": null,
          "find_by": null,
          "module": null,
          "default_value": null
        }
      ],
      "file": {
        "status": "COMPLETED",
        "name": "Contacts.csv",
        "added_count": 7,
        "skipped_count": 0,
        "updated_count": 0,
        "total_count": 7
      }
    }
  ],
  "id": "4150868000001060014",
  "callback": {
    "method": "post"
  },
  "result": {
  },
  "created_by": {
    "id": "4150868000000225013",
    "name": "Patricia Boyle"
  },
  "operation": "insert",
  "created_time": "2020-01-03T15:19:52+05:30"
}

Callback
If you do not want to poll for the status of the job, you can wait for the system to notify you of job completion on the callback URL provided in the POST request.

  • The state indicates the successful completion ("state":"COMPLETED") or failure ("state":"FAILED") of the job.
  • The callback response will also contain the download URL if the job was completed successfully.

5. Download the result

In this step you can get the result of the bulk write job in a ZIP containing the CSV file. Call the 'download_url' to download the result. The CSV file will contain the first three mapped columns from the uploaded file, and three more columns—STATUS, RECORD_ID, and ERRORS.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/write/{job_id}/result

Sample Response



You can see that out of four records, one was skipped because the unique field had a duplicate value.

Limitations
  • You can upload only one ZIP file per bulk write API call.
  • You can bulk write to only one module per API call.
  • The size of the ZIP file being uploaded must not exceed 25 MB. If the file size exceeds the size limit, you must split the file and schedule it as multiple bulk write jobs. Also, you can bulk write only up to 25000 records with 200 column headers per bulk write API call.
  • Every successfully scheduled bulk write job reduces 500 credits from your daily credit limit. 
  • All the mandatory fields must be given in the CSV file if you are trying to insert records. Similarly, ID is mandatory when you are trying to update records.
  • Subforms are not supported in Bulk Write.
  • Consider that you have a lookup field in the Leads module, that looks up to other leads. You cannot have the value of this field as another Lead that is being written in this bulk write job. In other words, you can only lookup to an existing lead.
    For limitations, refer to limitations in our API guide.
    We hope you found this post useful. If you have any further queries, reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com or let us know in the comments section.

    Cheers!
        Previous 'Kaizen' - Bulk Read API
        Next 'Kaizen' - Notification API



    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

      Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

    • Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

      Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

    • Recent Topics

    • Zeptomail 136.143.188.150 blocked by SpamCop

      Hi - it looks like this IP is being blocked, resulting in hard bounces unfortunately :( "Reason: uncategorized-bounceMessage: 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [136.143.188.150] blocked using bl.spamcop.net; Blocked - see https://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.150

    • Apply transaction rules to multiple banks

      Is there any way to make transaction rules for one bank apply to other banks? It seems cumbersome to have to re-enter the same date for every account.

    • How to bulk update records with Data Enrichment by Zia

      Hi, I want to bulk update my records with Data Enrichment by Zia. How can I do this?

    • Need Guidance on SPF Flattening for Zoho Mail Configuration

      Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some advice on optimizing my SPF record for a Zoho Mail setup. I use Zoho Mail along with several other Zoho services, and as a result, my current SPF record has grown to include multiple include mechanisms. My Cloudflare

    • How do I split a large CSV file into smaller parts for import into Zoho?

      Hi everyone, I’m trying to upload a CSV file into Zoho, but the file is very large (millions of rows), and Zoho keeps giving me errors or takes forever to process. I think the file size is too big for a single import. Manually breaking the CSV into smaller

    • Client Script Payload Size Bug

      var createParams = { "data": [{ "Name": "PS for PR 4050082000024714556", "Price_Request": { "id": "4050082000024714556" }, "Account": { "id": "4050082000021345001" }, "Deal": { "id": "4050082000023972001" }, "Owner": { "id": "4050082000007223004" }, "Approval_Status":

    • Sync Issue Between Zoho Notebook Web App on Firefox (PC) and Android App

      Hi Zoho Notebook Community, I'm facing a sync problem with Zoho Notebook. When I use the web version on Mozilla Firefox browser on my PC, I create and save new notes, and I've synced them successfully. However, these new notes aren't showing up in my

    • Messages not displayed from personal LinkedIn profile

      Hello. I connected both our company profile and my personal profile to Zoho social. I do see all messages from our company page but none from my private page. not even the profile is being added on top to to switch between company or private profile,

    • lead convert between modules

      Hello, The workflow we set up to automatically transfer leads registered via Zapier into the Patients module to the Leads module started to malfunction unexpectedly on September 25, 2025, at 11:00 AM. Under normal circumstances, all fields filled in the

    • Flow Task Limits - How to Monitor, Understand Consumption?

      So, I got an email last night saying that I've exhausted 70% of my tasks for this month, and encouraging me to buy more tasks. I started to dig into this, and I cannot for the life of me figure out where to find any useful information for understanding,

    • Cross References Do Not Update Correctly

      I am using cross references to reference Figures and current am just using the label and number, i.e. Figure #. As seen here: When I need to update the field, I use the update field button. But it will change the cross reference to no longer only including

    • Manage control over Microsoft Office 365 integrations with profile-based sync permissions

      Greetings all, Previously, all users in Zoho CRM had access to enable Microsoft integrations (Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks) in their accounts, regardless of their profile type. Users with administrator profiles can now manage profile-based permissions

    • How to Track and Manage Schedule Changes in Zoho Projects

      Keeping projects on track requires meticulous planning. However, unforeseen circumstances can cause changes to schedules, leading to delays. It becomes important to capture the reason for such changes to avoid them in the future. Zoho Projects acknowledges

    • Is there a notification API when a new note is addeding

      Trying to push to Cliq, or email notification when there's a new note added in module. How to implement this?

    • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

      Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

    • Collaborate Feature doesn't work

      Hello Team. It seems that the collaborate section is broken? I can post something but it all appears in "Discussions". In there is no way how I would mark something as Draft, Approval, post or any of the other filter categories? Also if I draft a post

    • Edit Permission during and after approval?

      When a record is sent for approval Can a user request for edit permission from the approver? We don't want to give edit permissions for all the records under approval Only on a case-by-case basis How can we achieve this?

    • Zoho web and mobile application not workingn

      Both zoho forms web and mobile application aren't working. I have checked my network connections and they are fine.

    • Introducing the revamped What's New page

      Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that Zoho Campaigns' What's New page has undergone a complete revamp. We've bid the old page adieu after a long time and have introduced a new, sleeker-looking page. Without further ado, let's dive into the main

    • Prevent stripping of custom CSS when creating an email template?

      Anyone have a workaround for this? Zoho really needs to hire new designers - templates are terrible. A custom template has been created, but every time we try to use it, it strips out all the CSS from the head.  IE, we'll define the styles right in the <head> (simple example below) and everything gets stripped (initially, it saves fine, but when you browse away and come back to the template, all the custom css is removed). <style type="text/css"> .footerContent a{display:block !important;} </style>

    • Bulk Moving Images into Folders in the Library

      I can't seem to select multiple images to move into a folder in order to clean up my image library and organize it. Instead, I have to move each individual image into the folder and sometimes it takes MULTIPLE tries to get it to go in there. Am I missing

    • Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | Breakout rooms and End to end encryption

      Hello everyone, We’re excited to share a few updates for Zoho Meeting. Here's what we've been working on lately: Introducing Breakout Rooms for enhanced collaboration in your online meetings and End-to-end encryption to ensure that the data is encrypted

    • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

      Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due

    • Accidentally deleted a meeting recording -- can it be recovered?

      Hi, I accidentally deleted the recording for a meeting I had today. Is there a way I can recover it?

    • To Zoho customers and partners: how do you use Linked Workspaces?

      Hello, I'm exploring how we can set up and use Linked Workspaces and would like to hear from customers and partners about your use cases and experience with them. I have a Zoho ticket open, because my workspace creation fails. In the meantime, how is

    • How to access email templates using Desk API?

      Trying to send an email to the customer associated to the ticket for an after hours notification and can't find the API endpoint to grab the email template. Found an example stating it should be: "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/emailtemplates/" + templateID;

    • How to render either thumbnail_url or preview_url or preview_data_url

      I get 401 Unauthorised when using these urls in the <img> tag src attribute. Guide me on how to use them!

    • Update Portal User Name using Deluge?

      Hey everyone. I have a basic intake form that gathers some general information. Our team then has a consultation with the person. If the person wants to move forward, the team pushes a CRM button that adds the user to a creator portal. That process is

    • Zoho Bookings No Sync with Outlook

      Zoho Bookings appointments are showing on my Outlook Calendar but Outlook events are not showing on Zoho Bookings. How do I fix this?

    • Unable to retrieve Contact_Name field contents using Web API in javascript function

      Hello, I've added a field in the Purchase Order form to select and associate a Sales Order (Orden_de_venta, lookup field). I've also created a client script to complete some fields from the Sales Order (and the Quote), when the user specifies the related

    • Updating Woocommerce Variation Products Prices Via Zoho CRM

      I can update product prices with this flow: But I can't update variant products. I got a code from Zoho for this, but I couldn't get it to work. It needs to find the product in the CRM from the SKU field and update the variation with the price there.

    • Emails Disappearing From Inbox

      I am experiencing the unnerving problem of having some of the messages in my inbox just disappear.  It seems to happen to messages that have been in there for longer than a certain amount of time (not sure how long exactly). They are usually messages that I have flagged and know I need to act on, but have not gotten around to doing so yet.  I leave them in my inbox so I will see them and be reminded that I still need to do something about them, but at least twice now I have opened my inbox and found

    • Power of Automation :: Automatic removal of project users once the project status is changed.

      A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and

    • Customizing Form Questions per Recipient Group in Zoho Campaigns/Forms

      Hello everyone, I would like to ask if it’s possible in Zoho Campaigns or Zoho Forms to send out a campaign where the form questions can be customized based on the group of recipients. Use case example: I have prepared 20 questionnaire questions. For

    • Automatic category assignment

      Hi, I’d like to ask if there is a way to automatically assign an expense category based on the recognized Merchant. What would be the simplest way to set up automatic category assignment? Alternatively, is there an option to first choose the category

    • 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

    • Every time an event is updated, all participants receive an update email. How can I deactivate this?

      Every time an event is updated in Zoho CRM (e.g. change description, link to Lead) every participant of this meeting gets an update email. Another customer noticed this problem years ago in the Japanese community: https://help.zoho.com/portal/ja/community/topic/any-time-an-event-is-updated-on-zohocrm-calendar-it-sends-multiple-invites-to-the-participants-how-do-i-stop-that-from-happening

    • Having Trouble Opening The Candidate Portal

      Recently am having trouble opening the Candidate Portal. It keeps loading but cannot display any widgets. Tried Safari, Chrome and Edge. Non of them work. Please solve the problem ASAP.

    • Forms - Notification When Response Submitted

      How do I set it up to generate an email notification when a response (class request) is submitted?

    • How to disable user entry on Answer Bot in Zobot

      Hi, I have an Answer Bot in my Zobot, here is the configuration: I only want the user to choose 1 of the 4 the options I have provided: When no answer found, user chooses 'I'll rephrase the question' or 'Ask a different question When answer is found,

    • Next Page