Kaizen #134 Manipulating Rich Text Field (RTF) using Zoho CRM APIs

Hello everyone!

Last week, we discussed Deciding on the type of applications: Self-client or Server-based? This week, we will discuss the Rich Text Field (RTF) and how we can manipulate RTF using Zoho CRM APIs.

In this post,

What is a Rich Text Field (RTF)?
Use case
Rich Text Field creation in a module using the Create Custom Field API
Adding values to the RTF using the Insert Records API
Fetch complete data of RTF using the GET - Rich Text Field API
Updating Rich Text Field using the Update Records API
Deleting RTF using the Delete Custom Field API
RTF using the COQL API
RTF using Bulk APIs

1. What is a Rich Text Field?

The Rich Text field is the preferred choice when there is a need for formatted text and a larger character limit. It can accommodate up to 50,000 characters, including HTML elements that are generated when the text is formatted, making it ideal for entries that require styling and organization, such as product descriptions or detailed client communications. Although tooltips can be added to improve user interaction, the rich text field does not support encryption or mandatory input settings.

Using rich text can improve the visual appeal of your information by providing different font styles, colors, and highlights. This allows for effective communication of important details. Bullet points and numbered lists can enhance readability, while bold, italics, or underlined texts can emphasize crucial information. Increased and decreased indents can help organize data, and the strikethrough feature can easily indicate changes or updates.

2. Use case

Consider Zylker, an org that uses Zoho CRM as their sales management system to store reports or feedback on its employees' sales performance report, total revenue, sales breakdown by product, key achievement, challenges faced, action plan, and to-do lists. These are stored in the multi-line field's rich text format type for better visuals and to identify the important information easily.

Let us see how to create RTFs using APIs, and how to access or update RTF using different available APIs. Note that the Rich Text type of multi-line field is supported from version 6.

3. Rich Text Field creation in a module using the Create Custom Field API

To create a rich text field in a module, first know the module's API name using the GET - Modules Metadata API, then create a custom RTF field in that module.

Request URL to create Rich Text Field :

{api-domain}/crm/v6/settings/fields?module=Employees

Request Method : POST

Sample Input :

{
"fields": [
{
"field_label": "Feedback",
"data_type": "textarea",
"length": 50000,
"textarea": {
"type": "rich_text"
},
"tooltip": {
"name": "static_text",
"value": "employee's feedback"
}
}
]
}

4. Adding values to the RTF using the Insert Records API

To add values to the created rich text field, you should know its API name.

Using the api_name of the Employees module, make a GET - Fields metadata API call to get the list of fields (along with their api_name) in the Employees module. Search for the field in which you need to add values to the Rich Text Field. In our case, it is Feedback.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v6/Employees

Request Method : POST

Sample Input :

{
"data": [
{
"Company": "Zylker",
"Name" : "Patricia Boyle",
"Email": "patricia@zylker.com",
"State": "Texas",
"Feedback": "Sales Performance Report Salesperson Name: Patricia Reporting Period: Q1 2024 Total Sales Revenue Generated: $250,000 Sales Breakdown: <ul style=\"list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:inside;padding-inline-start:20px;\"><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Product A: $100,000</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Product B: $80,000</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Product C: $70,000</li></ul> Key Achievements: <ul style=\"list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:inside;padding-inline-start:20px;\"><li>Exceeded sales targets for Product A by 20%.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Secured 5 new clients for Product B, contributing to a 25% increase in sales.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Closed a high-value deal for Product C with a revenue of $50,000.</li></ul> Challenges Faced: <ul style=\"list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:inside;padding-inline-start:20px;\"><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Market competition intensified, resulting in longer sales cycles.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Difficulty in accessing decision-makers for key accounts, leading to delays in closing deals.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Some clients expressed concerns about pricing, requiring additional negotiation efforts.</li></ul> Action Plan: <ol style=\"list-style-type:decimal;list-style-position:inside;padding-inline-start:20px;\"><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Targeted Marketing Campaigns: Launch targeted marketing campaigns to increase brand visibility and attract potential clients.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Enhanced Networking: Strengthen networking efforts to establish connections with decision-makers and key stakeholders.</li><li style=\"color:rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Client Retention Strategy: Implement a client retention strategy to address pricing concerns and ensure customer satisfaction.</li></ol> To-Do Lists : Continued focus on building strong client relationships, identifying new opportunities, and leveraging resources effectively to drive further sales growth in the upcoming quarters."
}
]
}

Notes:

If you enter incorrect API names for fields, the system will skip them and the record will be created successfully, but the values won't be added. This rule applies to RTF too.
When using the Insert Records API for bulk records creation and the Update Records API for bulk records update, you can add up to 50,000 characters to RTFs in each record.
For details on supported HTML tags and their attributes, refer to the help document.

The below GIF shows the result of the above input in the UI.

When you add values using HTML tags to the RTF via API, the input will be transformed into formatted data.

5. Fetch complete data of RTF using the Rich Text Field API

The Rich Text Field supports up to 50000 characters. Using the GET - Records API, you can fetch only the first 500 characters of the rich text field ('Feedback' in our case) in the response. If the @has_more property in the GET- Records response is true for the Rich Text Field (RTF) value, it indicates that the RTF contains more than 500 characters.

To fetch the entire data, we have introduced the GET - Rich Text Field API in V6, enabling the retrieval of complete data from rich text fields.

Below Sample shows how to fetch full data :

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v6/Employees/5725767000002594018/actions/fetch_full_data

Request Method : GET

Response :

6. Updating Rich Text Field using the Update Records API

Updating a rich text field doesn't require any special steps. It is similar to the process how we update other fields in a record, using the Update Records API.

7. Deleting RTF using the Delete Custom Field API

General notes :

Rich text fields are not supported in subforms, List View, Kanban View, Canvas View, Sheet View, Related Lists, Lookup popup, global search, filters and criteria, formula fields, report export, and integrations.
Rich text fields are not supported in the Search API.
Rich text fields are supported for importing and exporting records, using the Bulk APIs. The data will be exported as HTML content. For example, Patricia will be exported as Patricia.

8. Rich Text Field using the COQL API

Retrieve the Rich Text Fields from a module through a COQL query. Note that RTFs cannot be used in the criteria. Similar to the GET - Records API, the COQL API response fetches up to 500 characters of the RTFs. To fetch its complete data, use the GET - Rich Text Field API.

Request URL : https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v6/coql

Request Method : POST

Sample Input :

{
"select_query":"select 'Feedback' from Employees where Company is not null"
}

Response :

9. Rich Text Field using Bulk APIs

Bulk Read API :

Bulk Read API allows you to fetch a large set of data i.e., you can fetch a maximum of 200,000 records in a single API call. You can export complete data of rich text fields in a module. Note that RTFs cannot be specified in the criteria.

Request URL: https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/bulk/v6/read

Request Method: POST

Sample input :

{

"callback": {

"url": "https://www.example.com/callback",

"method": "post"

"query": {

"module": {

"api_name": "Employees"

"file_type": "ics"

}

The Bulk Read API is an asynchronous API, the response will not be available instantly; the bulk read job is scheduled. Once the job is completed, it'll be notified in the callback URL. The records are available in a downloadable CSV file or ICS file (for events).

Below is a sample downloaded CSV file:

Unlike the GET - Records API, the Bulk Read API fetched the RTF's complete data.

See our Bulk Read API documentation to know how to view the status of the scheduled job and download the file in detail, along with more sample requests and responses.

Bulk Write API:

Bulk Write API allows you to insert, update, or upsert a large set of data. In the CSV file module, using the Bulk Write API, you can add up to 50000 characters to the RTFs for each record in a row.

Prepare your CSV file

The Bulk Write API only accepts a CSV file compressed into a ZIP file as input.

Below picture represents values added to the rich text field:

Please ZIP the CSV file once you add values to the Rich Text Field.

Upload your CSV file :

This involves making a POST API call, with the ZIP file containing the required data.

Headers

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

Request URL: https://content.zohoapis.com/crm/v6/upload

Request Method: POST

Create a bulk write job :

Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v6/write

Request Method : POST

Sample Input for bulk insert :

{
"operation": "insert",
"ignore_empty": true,
"callback": {
"url": "https://example.zoho.com/test",
"method": "post"
},
"resource": [
{
"type": "data",
"module": {
"api_name": "Employees"
},
"file_id": "5725767000002613001",
"file_names": [
"Rich.csv"
],
"field_mappings": [
{
"api_name": "Name",
"index": 0
},
{
"api_name": "Feedback",
"index": 1
},
{
"api_name": "Company",
"index": 2
}
]
}
]
}

Refer to our Bulk Write API help document and get more information on how the Bulk Write API works, how to prepare your CSV file, and how to upload your CSV file, and how to check the job status.

We trust that this post meets your needs and is helpful. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com

Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming Kaizen posts!

Cheers!

Previous Kaizen Post :

Kaizen #133 - Deciding on the type of applications: Self-client or Server-based?

Additional Reading :

API Help Documentation : Rich Text Field API
Kaizen Series
Knowledge Base Documentation

Join us for our upcoming Zoho CRM Developer Series: Zoho CRM APIs, where you can explore more about Zoho CRM APIs. Register Now!

Topic Participants
Subramanian K
Vigneshwaran K

Sticky Posts
Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms
Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved
Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI
Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the
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

Recent Topics
Mapping “Account Name” from CRM to Campaigns
I’m syncing our Contacts list to Campaigns and want to select “Account Name” as an available field. Account Name does not appear in the drop down menu for CRM field even though Account Name is a field in our standard layout. How can I make it availa
Zoho Campaigns to Zoho Analytics Sync Fails – Field Mapping Shows But Not Applied
I’m facing a persistent issue with the Zoho Campaigns integration to Zoho Analytics in my workspace. Here’s a detailed description of the problem: Under Edit Setup, I see a field mapping summary that shows: DataField Mapping: Most Recent Login However,
Host in US Data Centre
I humble apply to be registered on US Data centre
Multiple images, one record
I have a form that is used to capture the following info: -Facility Name -Origin -Shipment # -Picture of Damaged Pallet (Image field) I want to be able to capture multiple pictures without having to create a new record, as there might be multiple damaged pallets on the shipment. Obviously, one never knows how many damaged pallets might be on a shipment so I'd prefer not to create 20 image fields and have most of them unused. I'd prefer that they have an option to add another image only if they need
how to dynamically upload multiple images for single record?
Is the use of dynamic multiple images in a single record supported? I've searched but have not found the answer. If it is supported, how is it done? I saw 1 suggestion to add a sub-form but that doesn't seem to be the answer. I don't want to add a set number of image fields. Each record would have a different number of images. I want the addition of images to be dynamic. thanks
Multi-upload field
Hi I need to include a file upload field that allows the user to select multiple files and upload all at once. I hope I can do this with HTML, I'm new to merging HTML and deluge... Can I trigger a hidden file upload window to appear On User Input of a field in an embedded form? Thanks! Levi
is it possible to add multiple attachments to a record?
Hello, I'm trying to add functionality so that a record can have several associated attachments. I obviously added a File Upload field to my form, but that appears to only allow one total. Is there a way around this? Thanks, - Kevin
multiple upload files in zoho form
Hi, I need upload multiple files in a single upload field thkns
Keeping Track of Email Threads
Hi, Z CRM is great for tracking all the activities one would want to track whilst qualifying leads, converting to customers, closing deals etc etc, however.... ....although I can use Z CRM to send an email to a lead/contact and have that recorded as an activity for other team members to see, there is no way of capturing an inbound email from that lead. Assume my lead replies to my email sent from ZCRM, in my case, the response arrives in my ZMail account. However I can't get it back into ZCRM to
Zoho Creator invokeUrl to retreive PDF
I'm trying to retreive a record PDF to send to Print Node. Tried with and without the zoho_creator_connection. pdf_content = invokeurl [ url :"https://creatorapp.zoho.com.au/<org_namespace>/<app_link_name>/record-pdf/<report_link_name>/" + input.ID type
Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce
I dont know if I am not looking into it properly but is there no option to bulk upload images along with the products? Like after you upload the products, I will have to upload images one by one again? Can someone help me out here? And what should I enter
Zoho App Builder
I’m looking for a Zoho Creator developer to build a simple app for tracking site expenses for a construction company. Key features: mobile form, dropdowns for projects and expense types, photo attachment for invoices, auto-calculated totals, and Excel
Captcha can't be enabled conditionally
Hi Problem: captcha on a form can't be enabled conditionally. Why is this a problem: Because I use the same form on our website (public) in the portal and mobile app. In the portal it works but in the mobile app it doesn't. So there should be a way to
ACH Returns Don’t Trigger Dunning or Reverse Payment in Zoho Subscriptions
Zoho Billing marked an ACH payment as successful and kept the subscription active — even though the payment was later returned by the bank (NSF). There was no update to the invoice or subscription status, and I had to manually clean it all up. For credit
Zoho Sheet - Split cell diagonally fill half color
is it possible to split a cell diagonally, fill different text in each half and ideally color them differently as well?
Calling Token API in Postman returning "error: invalid_client"
Hello, I've been working on setting up an API to get data from zoho crm into a third-party application. I'm currently testing the setup in Postman, but I'm getting an error from the API to retrieve the access token. It keeps returning "error: invalid_client".
How to handle this process need using a Blueprint?
See one minute screen recording: https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/external/eb743d2f4cde414c715224fc557aaefeb84f12268f7f3859a7de821bcc4fbe15
bulk scheduling youtube shorts and facebook reels
how do i flag the video as facebook reel rather than normal video, it's vertical, 20 seconds, yet still being posted as video on facebook for youtube, it's being rejected out right both videos are to standard, can be posted normally with normal scheduler
Invitation-Based User Access in Zoho Analytics
Hello everyone, We’re rolling out an important update on how users are added to your Zoho Analytics Organization and Workspaces. Previously, when admins added users, they were automatically added to the organization. Moving forward, to improve security
Filtert products by multi select custom field
Hello, this is seems like a must addition, why it can not be done now?
Multiple images
Hi Is there a way to insert multiple images in one image record or any way that instead of one image, I could upload 5 to 10 images together. Looking forward for a solution. Regards
Zoho Projects - Custom Objects
Hello, is there the ability now, or in the near future, to add custom objects to Zoho Projects? The requirement here would be to have the ability to track change requests to a project's budget. The idea here is to have the ability to create a custom Object
Access CRM Variables from Formula field
Is it possible to use a CRM variable (defined in Developer Space -> CRM Variables) in a formula field for calculations ?
Announcing Bigin India Meetups Across 8 Cities: July 29 - Aug 07
Hello Biginners, We've got some exciting news to share! We're hosting our first round of Customer Meetups for 2025 in India, from 29th July - 9th August. Whether you're a Bigin newbie or a seasoned pro, this is your chance to meet customers from your
Why isn't there an Expense description field / column?
Hello! I'm new to Zoho Books and accounting. I'm surprised there isn't a proper expense description field (and column in the overview "all expenses" page)? I thought this was a given in accounting, as visualizing expenses facilitates tracking them down?
New in Zoho PDF Editor: Watermarks, password protection, signature collection, and more.
Hi Zoho Sign users! We are delighted to introduce the latest enhancements to Zoho PDF Editor, designed based on user feedback and feature requests. This update enables you to reorder, extract, and rotate PDF pages, add watermarks, and collect signatures.
Cant't update custom field when custom field is external lookup in Zoho Books
Hello I use that : po = zoho.books.updateRecord("purchaseorders",XXXX,purchaseorder_id,updateCustomFieldseMap,"el_books_connection"); c_f_Map2 = Map(); c_f_Map2.put("label","EL ORDER ID"); c_f_Map2.put("value",el_order_id); c_f_List.add(c_f_Map2); updateCustomFieldseMap
Printed Reports, Increase Font SIZE
I need to send some printed copies of financial reports to my attorney. The reports print out with microscopic fonts. How do I increase the font size so that a normal human can read the text? Every other accounting app can do this so I imagine I have
Avoid email sending!
Hello, Thanks you Zoho for the wonderful apps you provide. Question: Is there a way to disable sending emails when: - creating an estimate or billing. Thanks Tommy
Need to show discount before total after subtotal
Need to show discount before total after subtotal on my estimate template (see attachment)
Email a "thank you" note for this payment is NOW checked by default
Hello Team, Just noticed that Email a "thank you" note for this payment is now checked by default. I tried searching in Preferences and there is no way to turn this off. I do not want this to be the default. Is there a way to turn this off?
End-to-end services hours
We are trying to determine the best method of quoting service hours on quotes but only present the sum amount to a customer, without losing the tracking of quantity of hours for invoicing purposes. Does anyone have a good method they have determined?
Specific Approval Question
Hi everyone, Just a quick question here. I have located the "Approval Type" in the preferences, which is great, and I am sure we could make use of it. However, I am trying to understand how I can implement an approval "workflow". The business call it
Zoho Books - Show Discount Totals When Greater Than Zero
Hi Books Team, I understand that to show or hide discount amount on a Quote or Invoice, I need to use different templates. It would be a great quality of life improvement for users if we had an option to show or hide the discount amount at line item and
Specifying a filename for Schedule Reports
Is it possible to specify a filename to use with scheduled reports? For example: With a general ledger report, instead of general_ledger.pdf I would like to include the date the report was generated in the filename so it is called general_ledger_202
Need to upsert "Created Time" field in Leads Module
I am in the process of implementing Zoho CRM for my business. I need to modify the "Created By' field to reflect the actual date/time the lead was captured in my original Excel file. Otherwise, my conversion velocity data will always be inaccurate, which
HTML for confirmation email
Hi, After a prospect submitted the Zoho form, we want to send a confirmation mail. In this mail we want to add our email signature. However, while this is possible in Zoho CRM this doesn't seem to be an option in Zoho Forms. Also an html editor is not
Fire a webhook when the user gets access to portal
Hello, We would like to know if there is any way in which we can automate a webhook call if the user accepts the portal invitation that Zoho sends by email. The customer module does have the option to trigger webhooks when a customer is created, updated,
Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values Not Available
When I create a custom picklist field in Deals, the "Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values" option is not available in the Edit Properties area of the picklist. When I create a picklist in any other Module, that option is available. Is there a specific reason why this isn't available for fields in the Deals Module?
Creating Payrun summary by fetching values from the employee payruns and adding them
I am trying to make a processing payrun module. I want on Form load to autofill payrun summary eg Total Deductions, Total employer contributions etc by fetching one value after the other in the employee payrun information. So it should loop through the
Next Page

Kaizen #134 Manipulating Rich Text Field (RTF) using Zoho CRM APIs

Kaizen #134 Manipulating Rich Text Field (RTF) using Zoho CRM APIs

1. What is a Rich Text Field?

2. Use case

3. Rich Text Field creation in a module using the Create Custom Field API

4. Adding values to the RTF using the Insert Records API

5. Fetch complete data of RTF using the Rich Text Field API

6. Updating Rich Text Field using the Update Records API

7. Deleting RTF using the Delete Custom Field API

8. Rich Text Field using the COQL API

9. Rich Text Field using Bulk APIs

Topic Participants

Subramanian K

Vigneshwaran K

Sticky Posts

Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

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

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

Recent Topics

Mapping “Account Name” from CRM to Campaigns

Zoho Campaigns to Zoho Analytics Sync Fails – Field Mapping Shows But Not Applied

Host in US Data Centre

Multiple images, one record

how to dynamically upload multiple images for single record?

Multi-upload field

is it possible to add multiple attachments to a record?

multiple upload files in zoho form

Keeping Track of Email Threads

Zoho Creator invokeUrl to retreive PDF

Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce

Zoho App Builder

Captcha can't be enabled conditionally

ACH Returns Don’t Trigger Dunning or Reverse Payment in Zoho Subscriptions

Zoho Sheet - Split cell diagonally fill half color

Calling Token API in Postman returning "error: invalid_client"

How to handle this process need using a Blueprint?

bulk scheduling youtube shorts and facebook reels

Invitation-Based User Access in Zoho Analytics

Filtert products by multi select custom field

Multiple images

Zoho Projects - Custom Objects

Access CRM Variables from Formula field

Announcing Bigin India Meetups Across 8 Cities: July 29 - Aug 07

Why isn't there an Expense description field / column?

New in Zoho PDF Editor: Watermarks, password protection, signature collection, and more.

Cant't update custom field when custom field is external lookup in Zoho Books

Printed Reports, Increase Font SIZE

Avoid email sending!

Need to show discount before total after subtotal

Email a "thank you" note for this payment is NOW checked by default

End-to-end services hours

Specific Approval Question

Zoho Books - Show Discount Totals When Greater Than Zero

Specifying a filename for Schedule Reports

Need to upsert "Created Time" field in Leads Module

HTML for confirmation email

Fire a webhook when the user gets access to portal

Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values Not Available

Creating Payrun summary by fetching values from the employee payruns and adding them

Next Page