Automation#33: Automate Splitting Names for Existing Contact Records

An organized directory – who doesn't love one?

Previously, we explored how to split contact names into First Name and Last Name for new contacts in Zoho Desk. But what about existing contacts already in your database? This week, we bring you a custom function that automates this process, ensuring a well-structured and easily searchable contact list.

​

Handling Existing Contacts

• On ticket creation for an existing contact, this custom function will scan the email and split the name stored in the "Last Name" field into "First Name" and "Last Name."
• To avoid unnecessary modifications, we introduce a checkbox in the contact layout. This allows you to mark contacts that have already been split, preventing duplicate actions.

Let's walk through the steps needed to ensure a smooth and error-free execution. 

I. Create a Checkbox Field in the Contacts Layout

a. Go to Setup >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields >> Select the Contacts module >> Select the layout >> Drag the checkbox field >> Give a desired name for the checkbox (e.g., Name Split).

b. Click on the gear icon of the checkbox field, select Edit Properties, and note the API name. This API name must be pasted into the custom function on line 4.

c. Uncheck the Enable by Default checkbox if it is marked.

II. Configure Custom Function within the Workflow Rule

Prerequisites

1. Create a connection

  1.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.

  1.2 Click Create Connection.

  1.3 Select Zoho OAuth under Default Connection.

  1.4 Set the connection name as deskcontact.

  1.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:

Desk.contacts.UPDATE

Desk.contacts.READ

  1.6 Click Create and Connect.

  1.7 Click Connect and click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

2. Create a Workflow Rule

 2.1. Go to Setup, choose Workflows under Automation. 

 2.2 Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,

2.3. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.

2.4. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.

2.5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.

2.6. Click Next.

 

In the Execute on section, follow these steps:

2.7. Select Create.   

2.8. Click Next.

 

2.9. In the Criteria section, add criteria if required. click Next. 

2.10. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.

2.11. Enter a Name and Description for the custom function. Choose Tickets under Module.
2.12 Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below:       

         2.12.1 In the Argument Name field, type contactId and select Contact ID under the Contacts Section.                                     

2.13. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:

1. //------------- User Input ----------
2. orgId = "60xxxxxxxx0"; //replace with your Org ID
3. operator = "."; 
4. checkBoxFieldAPIName = "enter_the_field_api_name"; //Enter API name of the checkbox
5. //---------------------------------
6. logs = Map();
7. try {
8. contacts = zoho.desk.getRecordById(orgId,"contacts",contactId, "deskcontact");
9. firstName = contacts.get("firstName");
10. lastName = contacts.get("lastName");
11. if(lastName.contains(operator))
12. {
13.        if(operator.contains(".")){
14.          lastName = lastName.subString(0,lastName.indexOf("@"));
15.        }
16.        firstName = lastName.subString(0,lastName.indexOf(operator)).trim();
17.        lastName = lastName.subString(lastName.indexOf(operator) + 1);
18.        updateContact = zoho.desk.update(orgId,"contacts",contactId,{"firstName":firstName,"lastName":lastName,"cf":{checkBoxFieldAPIName:true}},"deskcontact");
19.    }
20. }
21. catch (errorInfo)
22. {
23. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
24. }
25. info "logs: \n" + logs;
26. 
    
27. if(logs.containKey("errorInfo"))
28. {
29. throws "Error happen in the CF execution";
30. }

NOTE

a. In Line 2, Enter your OrgId with  "  ". To access OrgId, go to Setup (S) >> Developer Space >> APIs >> API Authentication.

b. In Line 4, enter the API name of the check box created within the Contacts layout.  

Information

This custom function will split the contact name as First Name and Last Name based on the "." operator between the names in the email. 

2.14. Click Save to save the custom function.

2.15. Click Save again to save the workflow.

By implementing this custom function and workflow rule, you can automate the process of splitting contact names within Zoho Desk, ensuring a clean and organized database, which will enhance searchability. 

We hope this guide helps streamline your contact management! If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to share in the comments. Happy Organizing!

Best regards, 

Lydia |Zoho Desk

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• info

• Shivani | Zoho Desk

  

• 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

• Four types of task dependencies

  "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."                                                                                                                  - Henry Ford Projects, small or large, are driven by simple work units called tasks. Monitoring standalone tasks might look simple but as the workflow becomes elaborate, tasks may start relying on one another. In project management, this relationship between tasks is termed as "Task Dependencies". Dependency between tasks arise

• 1099 tracking

  Do zoho books offer feature of tracking for 1099's for contractors, etc? Quick books offers this feature and wondered when/if Zoho books will do same

• VAT-type Taxes in US Edition?

  I'm located in the US, and I use the Zoho One US edition of Books. We are in the process of registering with Canadian authorities for their GST / HST, which is a VAT-type of scheme. It is not immediately obvious to me how one would deal with input tax

• 2 users editing the same record - loose changes

  Hello, I'm very new to Zoho so apology if this has been addressed somewhere i can't find. I have noticed the following: If we have 2 users put an inventory item in edit mode at the same time: say user1 click on edit and user2 while user1 is still in edit,

• Schedule sms to be sent later

  When will you make available an option to send sms's at a later time??? You finaly have this option available on emails, so it will be very useful to have it also with sms. Our sms provider, has already this available but we cannot use it because you

• Ecommerce integration with prestashop

  Development of campaigns integration with prestahop. When???

• How to create an article containing images and rich text via the api?

  Hi, I'm trying to migrate our kb articles from our previous helpdesk service, and import them to ZohoDesk. Is there any way to create an article that contains images?  Is it possible to add formatting to articles created via the API? Thanks, Adam.

• Number of statement execution limit exceeded on deluge scheduled function

  I'm working on a send email functionality in creator that sends out crew work orders at the end of the day each day for the next day. I'm running into the issue that zoho is unable to handle the number of statements that I am doing to be able to successfully

• Color of Text Box Changes

  Sometimes I find the color of text boxes changed to a different color. This seems to happen when I reopen the same slide deck later. In the image that I am attaching, you see that the colors of the whole "virus," the "irology" part of "virology," and

• Zoho SignForm In Progress But Cannot Be Completed

  If a person starts signing a document (via SignForm), but closes the window before submitting, Zoho marks the document "in progress", but how do they finish signing it?

• How to show Assemblies AND component items in a report

  Hi Is there any way in Analytics to create a report that shows the Composite Item AND the Component Items with mapped quantity? It seems that the component item is not exposed in any table that I can find. Also, the same question but for Stock on Hand.....this

• Mandatory Messages for Specific Members in Zoho Cliq Channels

  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request a feature enhancement to Zoho Cliq that would allow marking certain messages in a channel as mandatory for specific members — with built-in tracking and reminders. 🎯 Use Case:

• Admin Access to Message Read Statistics in Zoho Cliq

  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request a feature enhancement that would allow admins or channel owners to view read/unread statistics for messages, even if they were not the original sender. 🎯 Use Case: Currently, in

• Online Member Visibility in Channels (Similar to WhatsApp Group Presence)

  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to request an enhancement to Zoho Cliq’s channel experience by introducing online presence indicators for channel members — similar to how WhatsApp shows how many people in a group are currently

• Show ticket field in Zoho Desk only if that same field is not empty (API‑created records)

  Zoho Team , We have a ticket workflow where every ticket is created via API based on dynamic logic from an external form. That form has complex logic and already decides what’s relevant to ask, and the API only populates fields in Zoho Desk based on that

• Multiple Products on Ticket

  Good morning. We will classify all tickets based on the product. Users sometimes send different requests on the same ticket, so we are facing some challenges. Is there a way to add more than one product to the ticket, or is there a way to tie the product

• Não recebo Email de confirmação e validação de cadastro do PagSeguro

  Olá, utilizei uma das minhas contas de email Zoho para criar um cadastro no PagSeguro, contigo o email com o link de confirmação da conta não chega no meu email Zoho (nem.ma caixa de spam, nem na lixeira, e nem em outras pastas). Outros emails do PagSeguro

• Does Thrive work with Zoho Billing (Subscriptions)?

  I would like to use Thrive with Zoho Billing Subscriptions but don't see a way to do so. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you

• accounts payable and receivable subaccounts

  How to create accounts payable and receivable subaccounts? Being that I have several clients and in my balance sheet have to specify the accounts of each client and not only appear "accounts receivable or accounts payable" ??

• DUPLICATING WORKFLOWS IN CREATOR

  Hi all, I want to duplicate and slightly amend 3 workflows in Creator so that I don't have to keep typing in all the rules and properties each time. I can see lots of videos on CRM with the 3 dots at the top of the workflow, but nothing like that in Creator.

• Add SKU to query options in `items` API endpoint

  It would be very useful to be able to pull items by SKU in the API as this is a commonly used unique ID that tends to be consistent across systems.

• Estimates and invoices being sent from company-wide address, rather than individual

  In our organization, team members send estimates and invoices through Zoho Books by using the "Send Email" function. However, for certain users, the system defaults to sending estimates and invoices from a shared organizational email address (e.g., company@example.com)

• Need profit margins for books in estimates & invoice

  https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/show-my-cost-or-profit-while-creating-estimate

• Decimal places settings for exchange rates

  Hello, We are facing issues while matching vendor payments with banking feeds. As we often import products/services exchange rate comes into play. Currently, ZOHO allows only six digits for decimal places. We feel that conversions like JPY to INR require

• Item Level Notifications

  I need to create a custom workflow based on the creation of an estimate that has a SKU/Item name that matches certain criteria. I can have it generated based on a total amount, but not at the item level. Is this possible?

• Cannot categorize a bank deposit to an income sub-account

  When I go to categorize a bank deposit, I am not able to see any income sub-accounts. If I set up an income account without a parent, then I am able to categorize a transaction into that account, but as soon as I make it a child account, it disappears

• ZV Extension passkey changes in v5.7.0

  Has there any changes to the how passkeys are managed in ZV - Chrome extensions v5.7.0? Namely, if the passkeys were already implemented/enforced as 2FA on a certain webpage, but ZV does not track them yet. Would that be the issue for my use case?

• What's New in Zoho Billing - August 2025

  Hello everyone, We are excited to share the latest updates and enhancements made to Zoho Billing in August 2025 to improve your overall billing management experience. Keep reading to learn more. Notify Customers About Subscriptions via WhatsApp Business

• How do I get my account id?

  Hello, I followed the instructions to get a list of accounts of the currently authenticated user (which is me, and I am logged in). But when I follow the below instructions I get the following error: ERROR: {"data":{"errorCode":"INVALID_TICKET","moreInfo":"Invalid ticket"},"status":{"code":400,"description":"Invalid Input"}} Instructions that I am following: GET - User account details Purpose The API retrieves the list of accounts of the currently authenticated user.  Request URL  http://mail.zoho.com/api/accounts

• Why are tasks not showing in Zoho Calendar?

  Hi there, I updated the Zoho calendar preferences for Task records to show on the calendar together with Meetings and Calls - see attached screenshot. Despite of that, Task records still won't show on the calendar. Is there a specific reason why this

• Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - July 2025

  Over the past month, we've focused on making Zoho Payroll more flexible, compliant, and easier to use—whether you're processing complex payouts, ensuring accurate calculations, or meeting local tax regulations. Here's what's new: One-Time Payments and

• Discussion for “sub product”, “sub item” or “child products”

  Hello everyone, In some CRM systems, there is the ability to associate products in a hierarchical manner within a quote. For example: Product A: Gold Plan Product B: Setup Product C: Connector Product D: Silver Plan Product B: Setup Product C: Connector

• Retrieve Accidental Deleted User

  Is there a way to undelete a user who accidentally deleted themselves?

• Request for Support - CRM Integration Issues

  I’m reaching out to request assistance with the following items: 1. Zoho Forms Integration with Zoho CRM We are currently using Zoho Forms to send the Global Credit Application form to our customers. The intended workflow is for the form submissions to

• Knowledge Base Module

  How to enable the knowledge base module in zoho crm account. I saw this module in one crm account but unable to find it other zoho crm account. can anyone know about this?

• Zoho sign changed Indexing of signing_order

  Because I missed this Announcement (is there even one?): when you work with the indexes of actions > signing_order. Previous those started with 0 now starts with 1. Changed somewhere between 15.07 and 23.07

• How to Invoice Based on Timesheet Hours Logged on a Zoho FSM Work Order

  Hi everyone, We’re working on optimizing our invoicing process in Zoho FSM, and we’ve run into a bit of a roadblock. Here’s our goal: We want to invoice based on the actual number of hours logged by our technicians on a job, specifically using the timesheets

• Zoho CRM Community Digest - June 2025 | Part 2

  Welcome back to the Zoho CRM Community Digest! We’re wrapping up June with more fresh updates, smart discussions, and clever workarounds shared by the community. Product Updates: Struggling to keep track of scattered customer interactions? Zoho CRM's

• Allow Variable Insertion in Prebuilt "Update Record" Action in Schedules

  Hi Zoho Creator Team, Hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request based on our experience using Zoho Creator schedules to manage workflows integrated with Zoho Desk. We currently have an app where Zoho Desk tickets create records in

• Rich Text Field Editor in Form Builder is Too Small and Not Resizable

  Hello, I am experiencing a significant usability issue with the rich text field in the Zoho Forms builder. The editor window for this field is fixed-size and extremely small. It does not adapt to the screen size, which makes it very difficult to manage

• Next Page