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

    • COQL Query using multiple Lookup conditions causes SYNTAX_ERROR

      Hi everyone, I'm trying to build a COQL query that includes conditions on multiple lookup fields. Each condition works perfectly on its own — and also the condition on the Payment_Date field works fine. But when I try to combine two lookup conditions

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | May 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements to elevate your accounting experience. From configuring approval at the module level to allocating landed costs to multiple bills, these updates are designed to help you stay on top of your finances

    • Beyond Email: #1 Stay in Sync with Calendar

      Weekly Tips: Beyond Email As we approach the International day of Productivity, we are excited to bring you something extra special! Alongside our usual weekly tips, we have curated a dedicated series focused entirely on productivity apps available within

    • Zoho Booking > Enquiry Status change automatically

      Hello, We have a Zoho Booking link, we want the following to happen when it is complete: 1) it finds the person in Zoho CRM who submitted the booking and updates the Enquiry Status Column to 'Self Booked'. 2) is it possible to customise the booking form

    • Zoho Bookings and cancellations/reschedules

      Hi, I noticed that when someone books, they can reschedule/cancel; on the booking page that pops up and the option is in the upper right-hand corner. Is there a way for this option to also be available in the email that the client receives?

    • API question - adding a thread to an existing ticket

      Hi Is there an API function for the customer to add to an existing ticket thread? example, customer puts in new support ticket. support replies and ask for more details. customer replies with more details -what api function is used for this (will add record append to same ticket number?) Thanks

    • Bookings page very slow to load

      I recently switched to Zoho bookings from calendly and yesterday I switched back. Zoho Bookings page was taking 7-23 seconds to load. We were losing paid clicks from Google because they had to wait too long. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    • Presenting the brand new Zoho Bookings!

      Hello everyone, Greetings from Zoho Bookings! We're happy to announce a new version of our product with enhanced features to simplify scheduling, coupled with a sleek interface and improved privacy across teams. Here's what you can expect from the latest

    • Zoho Desk API - Influence which layout is used

      Hello, how can the ticket layout be changed using the API? I would like to choose the layout directly when creating the ticket. If this is not possible, my question would be how can I change it afterwards? Best regards, Sven

    • Zoho API Deal Creation and Pipeline

      I want to sync my zoho crm and backend with eachtoher, I can receive webhooks from crm and sync from it but when I try to sync to crm , I get this error for Deals module Zoho error: { data: [ { code: 'MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND', details: [Object], message:

    • Intermittently high CPU usage

      I get high CPU usage intermittently both using Zoho Mail on Firefox as well as on the Zoho Mail Desktop app (Mac). To me it seems like a bug because idle usage is normally quite low. Right now, for example, the desktop app uses <1% in the background which

    • Transfer to agent not working on flutter app after integration

      [media pointer="file-service://file-LF6KAwkyDJNd6MbzZmctS3"] [media pointer="file-service://file-FN66XQUngquBJGLdrS827u"] +7 -2 Lines changed: 7 additions & 2 deletions Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change @@ -1,10 +1,11 @@ import

    • Zoho Blog from Zoho Sites

      I keep receiving this error after trying to edit blog posts that were previously saved for posting at a later date: Additionally, I try to make new posts and they show this message, "Failed to save".

    • Help Center Home Tab Search Bar Description

      How do I change what it says above the search bar?

    • First Respons time questions regarding ticket SLA's, Ticket Re-Assignment, and Ticket Closure.

      I am chasing down a few outliers on tickets that my team is reporting to me seen in some of our Zoho Analytics Dashboards with regards to Zoho Desk with regards to First Response Time. Our support organization is setup with different SLA's based on three

    • Toggle Option for SQL Query Auto-Formatting

      We all write SQL queries in a style that makes them clear and easy to understand. However, I’ve noticed that Zoho Analytics sometimes reformats queries in a way that reduces readability - especially when editing existing queries written in a specific

    • payment configuration process

      payment configuration process

    • Lookups from Standard Modules to Custom Modules

      I have created an "External Contacts" Custom Module for adding Contacts who aren't directly associated with a Customer or Vendor but who are related to Orders by being a Site Contact, Job Contact, Warehouse Contact, etc for third party. How can I go about

    • Run automation on quiz completion

      Hello, We're exploring Zoho Learn as a possible solution to creating some training courses to external users on our system. We'd like to run a workflow/ integration to Zoho CRM when a course is completed. Is this possible?

    • Dynamic user applications for CPQ?

      Hi, I've been enjoying getting to know CPQ, the Product Configurator and Price Rules components have been very useful, albeit with some issues. I have noticed that I don't have the power to decide which level of sales staff has permissions when it comes

    • Need details on search criteria for zoho.crm.searchRecords

      Hi, If I understood correctly the integrated functions (getRecords, searchRecords, etc..) I can use inside Functions in Zoho CRM are actually using the Zoho CRM V2 API. I am looking for all the field types and criteria I can use with searchRecords. The

    • Do my notebooks get transferred to a new phone?

      Hello I was wondering about a new phone and I'd like to know whether your notes are automatically transferred to the new device? Regards Will.

    • Client Script Error - Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'CRM')

      Hi Guys I have a custom form, and I have a client Script set for onLoad of the new form. Below is the script I have defined and the error: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'CRM') See Screen Shot Attachement for Details. Here is the Script:

    • Notebook sync

      Hi,After Restart Mobil-Phone since i pressen „Synchronisation“ in my Notebook-App (iPhone) the App is hanging all the time and I have no possibility to Break up. Also Not After Restart my mobile-Phone. After the Restart ( inkl. Connection to WiFi or mobile

    • Employee survey data when the survey creator's account is deleted

      I can’t find in the documentation on this topic, so asking here. When the employee who has created an Employee Engagement survey leaves the organisation and their Zoho account is deleted, will the survey results still be accessible to other persons if

    • DANE IS NOT implemented

      According to the answer of @Sagar S , "DANE has been implemented". on this topic Allow me to disagree, DANE is not implemented at least not to the EU area. The Zoho domain is not under DNSSEC protection and the related TLSA DNS records

    • Enhance Your CRM Experience with Zoho Webinars in Sandbox Environments

      Greetings all, Zoho Webinars will now be available for testing and deployment in Zoho CRM's sandbox environment. Sandboxes offer a safe way to replicate production environments and enable risk-free testing, training, and refining processes before making

    • Increase the elegant comparator to more than 5 users

      Hi Team Requesting to increase the elegant comparators number of custom users to more than 5, this is such a crucial tool in dashboarding but 5 users is simply not enough.

    • No emails coming in

      Hi, I am not receiving any emails, I have tried to send myself an email from another acct and I am not receiving anything, possibly for the last few days. Bit desperate as we are a nursery and not getting important emails from our parents.

    • Problem with Schedule Email parameters in "Send Reply to an Email" API

      Hello, This is my Json script: { "fromAddress": "test@gmail.com", "toAddress": "{{8.fromAddress}}", "subject": "{{8.subject}}", "content": "{{4.result}}", "action": "reply", "isSchedule": true, "scheduleType": 6, "timeZone": "Europe/Lisbon", "scheduleTime":

    • What's New? - May 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      Hi everyone, A May-zing month for you! As summer rolls in and event season picks up the pace, we’ve been working on a set of updates in Zoho Backstage to help make your day-to-day life a little easier. This month’s improvements are all about tackling

    • Integrate Zia AI into Zobot with Support for Hebrew and Bot Context

      Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, Greetings. We would like to submit a feature request that would significantly enhance the functionality and intelligence of Zobot: native integration of Zia AI into Zobot scripts and blocks—with full support for Hebrew language

    • Mail Merge: Need Transparent Background for Signatures

      I'm using ZohoCRM and Zoho sign to send documents to customers to sign. We use zohoCRM's "Mail merge" option to create the templates. The problem is that those "Signature" fields have a solid white background so it looks like a stamp on the page instead

    • Zoho Flows

      Basically I can't build a connection that works between Excel on OneDrive and Zoho. I wanted to have 1 flow checking on a row added to an excel file and then intiate an import of that row. I'm doing that manually now and thought that this could be automated.

    • Zoho time tracking with automated screenshots

      Time tracking option with automated screen shots would be an exeptuonally good feature, any plans to develop something like that?

    • Sharing my portal URL with clients outside the project

      Hi I need help making my project public for anyone to check on my task. I'm a freelance artist and I use trello to keep track on my client's projects however I wanted to do an upgrade. Went on here and so far I'm loving it. However, I'm having an issue sharing my url to those to see progress. They said they needed an account to access my project. How do I fix this? Without them needing an account.

    • Zoho Campaigns Forms not Responsive on Website

      I have a mobile responsive Zoho Sites website and when I add a Zoho Campaigns form, it is not responsive. I have used the website code and ensured that the 'responsive' checkbox is selected. But, the form is not responsive to mobile. I have attached a

    • Oldest mail on top?

      I am old, and probably missing something simple, but how do I flip my zoho mail so oldest mail is on top?  Thanks in advance, and a HUGE thank you to the entire ZOHO team.  You just keep getting better!

    • Desk API to add or change commenterId to a comment

      Please let me know how to add comments on tickets for different agents using the API. When adding a comment it will take commenterId but then ignores that and used the API agentId. Did not see in API docs which values are readonly. I pleased to see commentedTime worked for past times. Regards, Glenn

    • How send a ticket attachment using the Sendreply API in Zoho Desk

      API document references : you make use of the Upload file API and gather the attachment ID. This ID is be passed with the Send email Reply API to deliver responses with the attachment intact. Code template is as below: // ORGID ORGID = "XXXXXXX"; // Masked

    • Next Page