Discussions from Ask The Experts 19: Inside Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 : Zia in Focus

Discussions from Ask The Experts 19: Inside Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 : Zia in Focus

Hello everyone,  
We had insightful discussions in both the sessions of Ask the Experts(ATE) 19, diving deep into engaging conversations around Zia and the spring release. Your enthusiastic participation and thought-provoking questions brought the sessions to life!  
In this post, we’re spotlighting the Q&A highlights focused exclusively on Zia.

1. Why are Zia Answer bots not performing as intended after integrating them with the internal Knowledge Base (KB)? Why is the bot unable to provide relevant answers when questions are asked in natural language?
Zia's Answer bot's response is based on how closely the user's query matches the content of your Knowledge Base(KB) articles. Zia operates using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, which combines AI search and AI-generated responses. For AI search, we use AI training models specifically implemented for your knowledge base, while ChatGPT/Zia is used for generating the responses based on the service you select. Refer Setting up Generative AI Services: Zia or ChatGPT.
A. To improve this, we recommend following our best practices for training Zia Answer Bots. These include:
      i. Use simple and commonly-used phrases rather than jargons/isolated keywords in your help documents.
      ii. Include clear headings or sub-titles within your help documents to improve searchability and matching accuracy.
B. If you still do not receive relevant answers, we offer an improved Zia search powered by a new training model. If you would like to use it, please drop your request to support@zohodesk.com.
Additionally, we have introduced Generative AI powered by Zia, that is powered by open-source and run in Zoho's environment. To enable this, go to Setup(S) >> Zia >> Generative AI >> Services >> select Zia, under Choose service.  This is hosted entirely within Zoho's environment and is included at no additional cost and works with the Enterprise edition or Zoho bundles supporting Enterprise features.
 
2. How to optimize and incorporate the Zia bot within the Professional Edition?
Zia offers its complete range of functionalities exclusively within Zoho Desk Enterprise Edition and Zoho's bundle services.
However, there are specific Zia features available on the Professional Edition:
  a. Zia powered by ChatGPT: This integration is accessible within Zoho Desk, enabling responses based on open-domain data. In the Professional edition, Zia will  respond using information from the public domain, and the "Reply with Knowledge Base" feature is not available.
Additionally, Zia supports enhanced ticket handling through features like Ticket Summary, Zia Insights, Writing Assistance, and AI-generated content.
  b. Content Analysis: Launched in the recent spring update, this feature improves upon the existing spell-check capability and is accessible across all paid editions..
 
3. Is it possible to train Zia to provide answers based on resolutions from closed tickets rather than solely relying on the Knowledge Base?
Currently, Zia can only be trained using your Knowledge Base and not from tickets or their resolutions.
Tickets often contain sensitive customer data and personally identifiable information (PII), which should not be accessible to all agents or customers. Due to this privacy constraint, we currently do not train Zia using ticket data.
However, there's an option to add information from the Resolution under the Ticket tabs. While creating a resolution, the agent can select "Save And Add Article" to add the resolution to the Knowledge Base thereby giving Zia an option to train on the article. 
 

We plan to introduce a feature allowing agents to generate replies based on similar tickets. In this approach, Zia will reference similar tickets and their corresponding responses to suggest an answer. Instead of directly training Zia on potentially sensitive ticket data, this reply assistance feature will help agents by leveraging responses from comparable tickets.

4. Will Zoho offer additional AI models beyond Zia and OpenAI?  
Yes, we plan to introduce more AI models, primarily those hosted and managed by Zoho, considering the B2B nature of our services and ensuring data security and privacy.

5. How is data currently handled with OpenAI and Zia?  
Currently, when using OpenAI, fields marked as PII  are masked on the User Query or KB articles before sending them to Open AI for response generation alone and not for training. Similarly, Zia, powered by open-source models like Lama 3.1, uses data strictly for generation purposes. We've fine-tuned Lama 3.1 specifically for Zoho Desk requirements.

6. Which additional open-source models does Zoho plan to support in the future?  
Besides Llama, we plan to soon support additional models such as Qwen, and Mistral.

7. Will Zoho Desk allow users to integrate their own AI models?  
Yes, we are working towards creating a platform within Zoho Desk that allows users to bring their own open-source models or custom LLMs for various features.
 
8. How do we use the Zia GenAI-powered chat? Do we need to set it up with predefined answers?
To create an Answer bot, navigate to Setup > Zia > Answer Bot.The Answer Bot operates by learning from your existing knowledge base data. The Answer Bot leverages generative AI, which can either be powered by Zia using open-source technology or through OpenAI's ChatGPT integration, for which you would need an API key. In our recent spring release, we extended the availability of the Answer Bot across instant messaging (IM) channels. You can now deploy the generative AI-powered Answer Bot, trained specifically on your knowledge base, across IM channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and your own website. You can also deploy the Answer Bot through ASAP within your Mobile App (SDK). The AI-powered Self-Service with Answer Bot can be powered with Zia(Llama) or ChatGPT.

9. I'm using Zia to predict the"Issue Theme" field automatically, and it shows as successful. However, when I open a ticket, it doesn't suggest any value for me to confirm. Why is this happening?
Regarding Zia's field predictions, there are two available options:
     i. Auto-update predicted value.
     ii. Allow agents to confirm the predicted values manually ("Let me confirm predicted value manually" option).
        To enable Field predictions, navigate to Setup (S) >> Zia >> Field Predictions >> Create A Field Prediction. In the Field Update mode field, you can choose to  predict the field automatically or confirm the predicted value manually.
If you're using the "Let me confirm" option, you need to manually confirm the predicted values. To do this, navigate to the Field Prediction section within the Ticket Detail View. You'll find a wand (star) icon in the sidebar (ibar). Click this icon to view the predicted values from Zia. Here, you can either confirm or reject the suggested value, and your choice will help improve Zia's training data.
We're actively working on integrating this feature directly into the ticket properties, so that Zia's recommended values will appear directly within the field itself.
 
10. Does Zia learn from our responses to tickets as well?
Currently, Zia does not learn from the responses you send. It does not have the capability to learn from the messages you type and send. We are working on expanding the capability for Zia to respond in the business tone based on the custom instructions added by agents for each feature.

11. Do I need to upgrade all licenses to Enterprise to use the new Zia LLM if I'm currently on Zoho One?
Yes, you have to upgrade Zoho Desk to the Enterprise edition to use Zia powered by open-source models. Zia is available by default in the Enterprise plan and all Zoho bundles supporting the Enterprise edition of Zoho Desk.
 
12. How does Zia determine that an agent needs to intervene in a ticket? Does it instruct the user to contact support, or can it notify agents to own the ticket?
Currently, Zia cannot request an agent to intervene in a ticket.
However, we have a feature called Field Predictions, which uses your historical ticket data to predict and assign ticket ownership. When a customer replies, Zia analyzes the customer's message and, based on its training data, assigns the ticket to an appropriate agent who has previously handled similar conversations. Currently, we do not have a feature that proactively prompts an agent to intervene.

13. While managing multiple departments, can we enable Zia Reply Assistance for just one department?
Currently, the Zia Reply Assistance is configured at the organization level, meaning it applies to all the departments. However, we are actively working on making it department-specific.

14. As I understand, does Zia use ChatGPT for translation purposes?
No, Zoho uses its own translation model. In our recent spring release, we introduced a feature called Writing Assistance. This feature allows you to draft replies in your preferred language (for example, English) and translate them into other languages like Spanish or Italian using Zia. In this scenario, Zia does not utilize ChatGPT. However, for summarizing content or providing reply assistance, we rely primarily on ChatGPT to generate responses directly in languages such as Spanish or Italian.
Additionally, Zia uses open-source models without any associated charges.
 
15. How can we utilize AI to analyze data and generate reports?
Currently, Zia is not available for the Reports module. We do have Zia dashboards to monitor Zia's performance, however, we are developing a feature that will allow you to interact with Zia conversationally to create reports on the go.
If you have a subscription to Zoho Analytics, you can already leverage AI to generate reports. Zoho Analytics integrates with Zoho Desk, allowing you to ask questions in natural language and receive AI-generated reports.

16. Can we obtain customer tone reports from Zia Insights?
Currently, Zia Insights, powered by open-source models, is in its initial phase and does not yet support sending insights directly to reports.
Another way to obtain customer tone reports from Zia insights is using Zia API. Identify the tone and record it on a custom field. Generate reports based on the custom field to get insights on customer tones. We are working on this capability to send Zia Insights results from individual tickets to reports and dashboards. 

17. Could you please clarify how Zoho ensures the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in relation to data retention and Zia’s learning processes?
Regarding data retention, Zoho does not retain your data for training the generative AI models. Zia and ChatGPT utilize your data temporarily for generating responses. For other features, such as field predictions, all data remains within our Zoho ecosystem and does not share data externally for training purposes. Zoho complies with GDPR and HIPAA and sends data to Open AI only after masking Personally Identifiable information.

18. What permissions can be configured when creating knowledge base articles for use with the Answer Bot?  
The Answer Bot operates on two channels: one for agents and the other for customers, and uses permission-based generation. When creating knowledge base articles, you can set permissions such as "All Users," "Agents Only," or "Registered Users." Agents accessing the Answer Bot through the Ticket Detail view will have access to all articles, while end-users accessing via ASAP will only see articles marked for "All Users." Currently, the "Registered Users" permission is supported only for agents. Based on these permissions, the Answer Bot determines which articles it can use to generate responses.
We also have a private beta available for a new AI training model: New Retrieval System. If you're interested, please email us your details, and we can enable this feature to further enhance your Answer Bot's accuracy.
 
19. I currently have Generative AI enabled. What is the difference between ChatGPT and Zia? Should I switch to Zia under Generative AI?
ChatGPT is an integration with OpenAI, where you need your own API key and add credits to your wallet. With ChatGPT, your Zoho Desk data is sent outside Zoho servers to OpenAI for generating responses. On the other hand, Zia is powered by open-source language models, such as Llama, and your data remains within Zoho's servers.
If you switch to Zia under Generative AI, it will be included in your existing Enterprise plan without any additional cost. Zia also offers greater contextual intelligence regarding your data. For example, ChatGPT supports summarizing only up to five conversations per ticket, whereas Zia can summarize up to 30 conversations. Refer here for details. 

Here are the recordings from our Ask the Experts 19 sessions: 
Stay tuned on the Ask the Experts Community for more updates as we gear up for the upcoming sessions focussed exclusively on Zia and AI in Zoho Desk. 
Regards, 
Lydia | Zoho Desk

    • Sticky Posts

    • Ask the Experts 10: A 5-hour online Q&A on Zoho Desk Best Practices

      Welcome to Zoho Desk's Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion on our forums; wherein a panel of experts will take on questions specific to topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and will answer any

    • Ask the Experts 7: A 5-hour online Q&A on Telephony and Call Module

      Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 5: Online Q&A on Zoho Desk Extensibility

      Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 4: A 5 hour online Q&A on agent productivity

      Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Ask the Experts 3: A 5 hour online Q&A on reports and dashboards

      Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

    • Recent Topics

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • Alternate color rows

      After I changed the background color to a dark gray and changed the alternate rows to a light gray. I have discovered that I can no longer change the text in the light gray rows to Bold.

    • Collapsible Sections & Section Navigation Needed

      The flexibility of Zoho CRM has expanded greatly in the last few years, to the point that a leads module is now permissible to contain up to 350 fields. We don't use that many, but we are using 168 fields which are broken apart into 18 different sections.

    • Important update on our transition to the new video platform framework

      As part of our ongoing platform changes, users in select regions, including the United States and other supported data center locations, have been migrated to our new video platform framework. Due to this migration, some participants may notice changes

    • Zoho CRM Layout Rules: Nine New Actions, Profile-Based Execution, and Interactive Preview

      Hello everyone, Availability: This feature is now available for customers in the JP and SA DCs. It is planned to be released for other customers in soon. We’re excited to announce powerful new enhancements to Layout Rules in Zoho CRM - a feature built

    • Validation Rule Not Working for Mandatory Field in Zoho Blueprint

      As a Zoho user, we created a validation rule for a specific field. However, we noticed that when we made the same field mandatory within a Blueprint, the validation rule we defined did not work. When we reported this issue to Zoho Support, they stated

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • Ticket id issues

      When I reply a ticket from desktop, it doesn't have ticket id in the subject and it's great. When I reply a ticket from Zoho desk mobile, Zoho adds ticket id in the subject and I don't want that. Please help in this matter.

    • Zoho Desk Community Module Reporting

      I can't seem to find any reporting for the community module in Zoho Desk. Am I missing something or are there just no reports available?

    • Une collaboration simplifiée grâce à l’interopérabilité des calendriers

      L’interopérabilité des calendriers permet aux équipes utilisant différentes plateformes, comme Zoho Calendar et Google Calendar, de consulter facilement les disponibilités de leurs collègues sans avoir à utiliser plusieurs outils. Dans les entreprises

    • Zia AI capabilities now available in all paid editions

      Hello everyone, We are expanding the availability of AI-powered features in Desk to the other paid subscriptions from 7th July 2026. Right now, the following AI-based features are available for Enterprise edition users: Intelligence: Sentiment analysis,

    • Overview on users IMAP settings

      We have about 30 users who all have the channels/email/email configuration/IMAP integration/O365 enabled and emails are synchronized. Here my problem: Passwords for the email accounts are expiring on individual bases and most of the users forget to update

    • Format of data after export to spreadsheet

      Dear Zoho, can you explain to me what is the point of a report exporting to XLSX if the format of the amounts that will be created there is in text format and not suitable for anything? Why do I need data in a sheet with which nothing more can be do

    • How to add custom icons in Sites ?

      I've been trying to upload some of my own icons (specific to my business) to my zoho Site draft, and can't find a way to do it. I guess the workaround could be to insert images instead of icons and upload my icons as images, but I was wondering if its possible to customize the icon library.

    • Zoho Forms API

      Is there any way to get all form entry list using API? Looking forward to hear from you

    • #21 Five Minutes Every Monday That Replace an Hour of Digging

      Welcome to the final stretch of our journey. In this series so far, you have configured Zoho Invoice, created and managed your transactions and built a workflow that shares invoices and collects payments almost on its own. You have been doing the work.

    • Kaizen #251: From Campaign Leads to Sales Orders with Zoho CRM Mass Action APIs

      Hello all!! In growing businesses, sales teams often deal with a large volume of records every day - leads from campaigns, qualified prospects ready for conversion, and approved quotes that must be converted into sales orders. Performing these actions

    • Introducing the Employee Portal for internal job posting

      Employee referrals and internal applications are one of the most trusted hiring channels. But in many organizations, employees only hear about openings through messages, word of mouth, or after the role has already been open for a while. When employees

    • Inspection Table

      Hello Latha, We created a job sheet that includes the new table (Inspection Table) which was introduced recently. However, agents are not able to see the rows in the inspection table. Could you please investigate this issue and get back to us? Please

    • Zoho Mail is down?

      We stopped getting new emails since 8:42am EST and mail.zoho.com shows an error.

    • Forwarding without verification

      Hi, I use Tripit to keep track of all my business travel. I've recently moved over to Zoho and wanted to set up a forwarding rule to send various travel confirmation emails automatically to plans@tripit.com Obviously this is an email address I don't control,

    • Disappearing Mouse cursor in Zoho Mail / Windows 11 (Chrome + Edge)

      I'm seeing an issue when writing mails with the light theme with the mouse cursor being white and the document area also being white - making it nearly impossible to see the mouse cursor. I see the problem on Windows 11 under Chrome and Edge. (Yet to

    • Request to unblock user creation error (This user is not allowed to add in Zoho)

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I am the Super Admin of my Zoho Mail organization. When I try to create a new business email user account, I encounter the following error message: "This user is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com

    • Zoho Mail account blocked after malware incident – request for review and unblock

      Hi Zoho team and community, My Zoho Mail account has been blocked due to outgoing email activity that was detected as spam or unusual sending behavior. The root cause was a malware infection on my computer, which compromised several of my accounts, including

    • creating an alias

      your instructions for creating an alias are wrong. there is no add alias in my mail account. also i dont have a control panel link just a settings link how do i really make an alias

    • IP Address blocked by many servers

      hello team this is to inform you that the zoho ip address 103.117.158.51 has been marked spam and not trustworthy by outlook and many other company servers. kindly discontinue using this ip to maintain a healthy domain reputation for your clients. Regards

    • Automatically set the default VAT percentage on a quote

      Every time I create a quote, I have to manually adjust the VAT and activate the checkbox for 21%. But all of our quotes include 21% VAT. So now occasionally, it happens that the checkbox is forgotten, and the customer receives an incorrect quote (without

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | June 2026

      Hello users, June 2026 introduces a range of exciting enhancements to Zoho Inventory. With the full rollout of the Zoho Inventory Windows application, the launch of Terminal Payments, and new tracking combinations in Advanced Inventory Tracking, you can

    • Time Zone is incorrect

      Time zone is not working properly...I've checked it twice.  I'm eastern U.S. time it's currently 12:22 pm EST.  CRM shows 3:22 pm EST.

    • Send a converted Contact or Deal back to Leads using the Restore Lead extension for Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, This comes up more than people expect: a Lead gets converted into a Contact, and sometimes a Deal along with it, because at the time it looked ready. Then the situation changes the opportunity turns out to be much further off than expected,

    • Zoho CRM mobile updates: Reports module, record tags, dynamic formula field, and more

      Hello everyone, We've made a few updates to the Zoho CRM mobile app to enhance your mobile CRM experience and efficiency. Here's a quick look at what's new: Reports module (iOS ) Record tags (iOS) Dynamic formula field (Android) WhatsApp business deep

    • Side scroll bar missing from "new editor"

      The "new editor" simply lacks a side scroll bar. Unable to navigate long notes without using the keyboard. Bad upgrade... (using web version)

    • Zoho Desk MCP doesn't expose all functions

      Hello, I'd like to be able to draft (rather than send) ticket replies using Claude Cowork. However, the Zoho Desk MCP doesn't currently offer that, despite it being available in the API (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_DraftEmailReply).

    • Zoho Community Digest - July 2026 | Part 1

      Hello everyone! Keeping up with everything across the Zoho ecosystem is a lot, so we're bringing back the Zoho Community Digest, now weekly. Each week we round up the need-to-know announcements from the Zoho Community Forums, four editions a month, so

    • Canva Integration

      Hello! As many marketing departments are streamlining their teams, many have begun utilizing Canva for all design mockups and approvals prior to its integration into Marketing automation software. While Zoho Social has this integration already accomplished,

    • Feature Suggestion for Zoho Social: Auto-reply to Comments or Keywords

      Hi Zoho team, I'd like to suggest a very specific feature that would be extremely helpful for customer engagement: the ability to automatically send a reply to comments on posts — either all comments or those containing specific keywords. For example,

    • Bring more clarity to your blueprints with color-coded transitions

      As your hiring processes evolve, blueprints naturally become more detailed. When multiple transitions connect different stages, it can take extra effort to identify approvals, rejections, reviews, and other actions at a glance. With this enhancement,

    • Zoho CRM gets a new email compose and lot more

      Dear Customers,  [UPDATE October 21, 2021: We have started opening these features to some of the customers already. And, it will be available to all the customers before November 2nd Week, 2021. Sorry for the delay caused]  [UPDATE February 21, 2022:

    • Create modules using natural language prompts

      Hello all, We’ve introduced a new enhancement to Zia that allows you to create custom and team modules in Zoho CRM using plain language prompts. Why this enhancement? Creating a custom module traditionally involves multiple steps—choosing field types,

    • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

      Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

    • Next Page