Automation#33: Automate Splitting Names for Existing Contact Records

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;

  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

    • 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

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | January - March 2025

      Hello users, We are back with exciting new enhancements in Zoho Inventory to make managing your inventory smoother than ever! Check out the latest features for the first quarter of 2025. Watch out for this space for even more updates. Email Insights for

    • Overdue payments pending approval max

      I needed to validate update the email to pay for goods sold out, travel expenses and cars and vehicles for office, office supplies, properties purchase etc

    • How do I mass edit time entries?

      Since you can not filter or sort time entries by what has and has not been invoiced (you can only see the icon but not separate invoiced from non-invoiced), I would like all time to initially be entered in as un-billable and I can change to billable as I bill them. (since you can see this separation)  So my question is HOW do I mass edit this? Can it be done?

    • Zoho Booking Page Footer

      Is there any option available to add social media, like LinkedIn, on the Zoho Booking page?

    • Custom SMTP is now available in Zoho Sign

      Hi there! Want to send Zoho Sign emails from your organization's or personal email server? Look no further! Zoho Sign has introduced custom Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for Enterprise users across all data centers. By enabling custom SMTP, you

    • Help with SEO

      Hi There, I have recently published a site and added some Keywords in the SEO settings. Searching Google I currently don't find my site though. When do these settings take effect? In the SEO settings there is also a section "Sitemap" I can change settings for "frequency" and "Priority" What do these settings do? Kind regards

    • Report Level Button

      Currently I couldn't find a way to add a report level button I think currently we can only add buttons/actions for records, but having custom report level button would be really beneficial Usecases Click to import/sync Data from On Prem Systems Click

    • Create collection from start integer to end integer

      I want create some ticket number. Starts at 1 and end at 10. I want the result to be a string 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10. Trying something like this but need the correct way write the start and end part. start = 1; end = 3; sequence = List();

    • Importing Subform Data is Removed in Zoho Creator 6

      Previously It was possible to import Data to the Subform in Creator 5 This basic and mandatory Feature was completely removed from Creator 6 with no Timeline to add support for it How are we supposed to add our data if we want to use Creator? Manually?

    • Function #50: Send Mass emails to your customers

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have reached a milestone of 50 Functions, which means that we have automated 50 different tasks in Zoho Books. Every Friday, we have shared a nifty function aimed at either automating a task or streamlining

    • Smart Document Automation:: From Zoho Projects to Zoho Writer – Merge, Edit, and Share

      Hello Everyone, 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

    • Zoho Desk - Cannot Invite or Register New User

      Hi who may concern, we encountered a problem that we cannot invite user or the visitor cannot register for a user at all through our help center portal, with the snapshot shown as below and the attachement. It always pops up that "Sorry, Unable to process

    • How to remove an Instagram post on Zoho Social?

      Hi there, I wanted to delete yesterday's post on all social platform and managed to do so for Twitter and Facebook. I couldn't for Instagram as there is no option for delete. How can I delete successfully?

    • 【開催報告】東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.2 2025/6/13 CRM Plus/Formsの活用におけるポイントやおすすめ機能を紹介

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 6月13日（金）に東京で「ユーザー交流会 Vol.2」を開催し、16名の方にご参加いただきました。ご参加くださった皆さま、ありがとうございました。 この投稿では、当日のセッションの様子や使用した資料を紹介しています。残念ながら当日お越しいただけなかった方も、ぜひご覧ください。 ユーザー活用事例セッション：マーケ・営業・サポートをつないで顧客体験を向上させる！Zoho CRM Plusのおすすめサービス活用事例 Zoho Champion

    • No Real DANE Support

      The issue in https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/will-zoho-implement-dane was closed today claiming DANE was implemented. You never implemented DANE correctly, even if you think you did. DANE requires DNSSEC to work properly, you never added

    • Applying Price List to All Customers

      I just created a new price list as we have several items that have volume price breaks. To create my price lists, I followed the instructions in this article: https://www.zoho.com/us/inventory/help/items/price-list.html When it comes to applying my price

    • What's wrong with this deluge code to create a Bill?

      I know that all the data in the map is correct. The line items are pulled directly from a purchase order. // Add the purchase order ID to the bill billPOIds.add(poID); // Retrieve and merge the line items poLineItems = purchaseOrder.get("line_items");

    • 2 Ideas, Clone timesheet entry from monthly view and Notes in Weekly view

      While i love timekeeping I am finding some things slow me down.  Slow to the point of considering writing my own API call to do this. It would be so useful to be able to clone a timesheet entry from the monthly view.  It is somewhat painful to have to

    • Zoho Workdrive API call to find public external Link for a Folder

      Hi all, I can create new external share links for a WD Folder using this API call https://workdrive.zoho.com.au/api/v1/links . This works fine, however if there is already an external link created for a given folder, trying to create a new one fails (which

    • Converting Sales Order to Purchase Order

      Hi All, Firstly, this code works to convert a sales order(SO) to a purchase order (PO) via a button, however I am running into an issue when I convert the SO where the values from the line items are not pulled across from the SO to the PO. The ones in

    • Accessing and Using Formula Field

      Hi There, I created a formula field called 'Day of the Week' in the Leads module that takes the record created time and transforms it into the day of the week. The formula field returns the correct values. However, I am unable to find or use the field

    • 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 Ask the Experts: A Live Q&A Session

      Session Closed Thank you to everyone who participated in this Ask the Experts session! Your questions, insights, and engagement made it a valuable discussion for the entire Zoho Recruit community. The comment section is now closed, but feel free to browse

    • Request For Quotation (RFQ) module

      Hello, Do you have any plans to implement a RFQ module in to ZOHO Inventory? I would like to chose items that I require a price for, select a number of different suppliers to e-mail and have them submit there pricing online. I would then like to see a

    • Ability to Append or Prepend specific signer name field to all documents in an envelope

      We use templates regularly and have a need to be able to rename the individual pdf documents contained in an envelope, such that a signer's name is appended or prepended (e.g. Form1 - SignerName). This is critical for us, because of how we process documents

    • Export an email as an HTML file?

      How do we export an email in Zoho Marketing Automation as an HTML file? We have an advertising partner that needs our campaign email as an HTML file. We can't find any way to do this. If this is not possible, please explain why. It doesn't make sense

    • Function #30: Display list of associated PO on SO details screen

      Hello everyone, welcome back to our series! Imagine having the ability to effortlessly access and view details of all purchase orders linked to a sales order directly from the sales order itself. Well, today's script is designed to do just that for you.

    • Custom Print Button in Page/Stateless Form

      [Zoho Creator] Unable to Add Custom Print Button to Page or Stateless Form We need the ability to add a custom print button on a page or stateless form in Zoho Creator to print a templated or formatted output (e.g., appointment confirmation, summary slip).

    • Page Variable Not Passed from Report to Form

      [Zoho Creator] Page Variable (Resource) Not Passed from Report to Form in Appointment Module We are facing a limitation in our Appointment Module related to the handling of page-level variables. We are using a page variable to select a resource, which

    • MS Teams Meeting to Zoho CRM

      Has anyone figured out a good way to push MS Teams meeting info on a trigger of "meeting end" to Zoho CRM? We're looking for a way to take attendees of a meeting and meeting duration and push it into Zoho CRM after the meeting has ended. If I can just

    • Creating Layout Rule With Formula Field

      By The Grace Of G-D. Hi, I see that i cannot use Layout Rules to show/hide Formula Fields. Is that something you plan on adding sometime soon?

    • Combine / merge multiple invoices into master

      Good morning Zoho! Upon looking for a solution for my issue, I found many that had my similar problem...dating 13 years ago! Please, any updates on this? Merging multiple invoices on a Master Invoice would alleviate all the extra work of resending and

    • Free Webinar Alert! Productivity Hacks that you don't want to miss on June 24

      Hello Zoho Community! Want to work smarter and get more done with Zoho Mail? We’re here to help! Join our interactive webinar to explore powerful Zoho Mail features that can boost your productivity. Watch live demos, learn helpful tips, and take part

    • Web Clipper cannot save to collections

      With the recent update that added collections, i am unable to use the web clipper to save to a collection

    • sort by name is always z to a

      I typically keep my notes in alphabetical order. Suddenly they are all backwards - z to a. They stay that way whether I select a to z or z to a. Is there a way to fix this?

    • Project Management Bulletin: June, 2025

      Our project management suite's representatives have been busy socializing with global customers in the USA (Zoholics) and Australia (roadshows). We also had multiple stop overs at our customer’s establishments and were glad to see the efficiency our products

    • Agenda For Zoholics Benelux & Nordics 2025

      Dear Zoho Benelux community, We are pleased to announce the agenda for Zoholics Benelux & Nordics 2025 on September 23-24 at NBC Congrescentrum in Nieuwegein. The topics of the presentations are: Zoho innovations in the region and worldwide The introduction

    • How to query Deal "Stage" "Is Open" in Analytics SQL?

      How do I query this "field" in Analytics? What is going on? It seems like there is another 'mapping' somewhere but that it is inaccessible with raw sql??? If I query "Stage" Like '%Won%' I get a wildly different number than I do when I manually filter

    • Enhanced Candidate Portal: Now Featuring Federated Login, Passwordless Access & MFA

      You can now enhance your Candidate Portal experience with Federated Login, Password less Sign-in and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). These features offer greater flexibility and control—allowing seamless sign-ins through trusted platforms and adding

    • Custom View and Custom Fields

      Hi We have custom fields that we need in the Sales\Customer module and we would like to have the fields available to view in the Bills module so that we can add them to a custom view, is that possible? That way we can look at the Bills screen to see what

    • Can I write a check in Zoho Books with no associated bill?

      This currently does not seem possible, and I have a client that desperately needs this function if I am able to convert them with Quickbooks. Thank you in advance for your reply. 

    • Next Page