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

    • date & datetime client script getInput types

      Please add date & datetime as available types for the getInput client script function. https://www.zohocrm.dev/explore/client-script/clientapi/Client#getInput

    • Opt-out from mailing list means can't email at all??

      It seems that if a contact unsubscribes from a mailing list the only way to email them is to uncheck the email opt-out box first, then re-check after the email has been sent. I've been through a chat with support and they confirmed this. This seems bizarre. Many of my clients don't want to receive a monthly newsletter but they definitely want to be in email communication with me, often on a daily basis. Any thoughts out there?

    • Email Opt Out Question

      Has the problem where if a customer is emailed opt out prevents you sending standard emails? For me this feature is simply to stop any email marketing and should not block people from receiving emails via Zoho mobile, which makes no sense.

    • Multi-currency and Products

      One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support. However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK. However, we maintain different price lists for each. There

    • Approval Workflow Not Triggering When Status Updated via Custom Button

      Hi Team, I’m facing an issue with an approval workflow in my application. I have a workflow that updates a record’s Status field from “Pending” to “Waiting for Approval.” I have configured an Approval Workflow with the condition: Status = "Waiting for

    • Zoho TeamInbox stuck / unusable – possible orphaned organization?

      Hi all, I’m running into an issue with Zoho TeamInbox under Zoho One Trial and wondering if anyone has seen this before. We’re trying to set up a shared inbox for orders (orders@), but TeamInbox appears to be in a broken state: • The app does not load

    • Audio transcript not working in Zoho notebook

      Greetings all! I'm enjoying the Zoho notebook as I tested out over other notebook applications. I would really love the audio transcripts to work as that would save us a lot of time so that we can utilize the notes from an audio recording. Currently when

    • Re: Application Architecture in Zoho Creator — A Platform-Specific Deep Dive

      A recent community post on application architecture made some excellent points about planning architecture early in Zoho Creator projects. The core message is right — Creator applications have a habit of growing organically into maintenance nightmares,

    • Schedule Timeout 5 minutes vs. stated 15 minutes

      I am running into a function run timeout error after 5 minutes for my schedules. The Functions - Limits documents states it should be 15 minutes: Functions - Limits | Online Help - Zoho CRM. What should it actually be? Due to the 5 minute timeout, I'm

    • 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

    • Placeholders in Ticket Templates

      We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive.  It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc. 

    • Favorite Views list sort order?

      Is there a way to rearrange the Favorite Views list?

    • Will I see emails sent via campaigns in CRM?

      It would be useful for people to be able to see emails sent via campagins in Zoho CRM is that possible?

    • Introducing Product Catalog in Bigin

      Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. For many small businesses, sharing products and collecting customer interest often involves multiple tools, manual follow-ups, or even building a full ecommerce website. To address this challenge, we're excited

    • Products in Email Template

      I’m a little confused as to how to add the listed products, from within a specific deal, to an email template. I want to generate said email template when a deal reaches a specific stage and include the products that have been selected for the deal in

    • Option for - CSV Export from Pipeline Deals by Stage (Including Products, Companies, and Contacts)

      I would like to know when we will be able to export a simple CSV file from pipeline deals, with the option to select a specific stage within the pipeline. This export should include data for products, companies, and contacts, all in a single view. For

    • Zoho Billing Partial Proration...

      Hi, In Zoho billing, we offer upgrades, downgrades, suspends, and resumes. We use online payment for most subscriptions, but have only a few that are offline, but we treat them the same either way.. We prorate only parts of these changes.. Right now zoho

    • Announcing Zoho Sheet desktop app for macOS and Windows (Beta)

      Hello Sheet users, We know you’ve been waiting for this one. It has always been the top priority on our roadmap to provide a single native desktop app for macOS and Windows that works both online and offline. Today, we are excited to announce that the

    • What is the maximum length/size of a presentation on Apple TV?

      Hello, I have a presentation here that I regularly show on Apple TV. It’s always the same presentation, which keeps getting longer and more extensive over time. Almost every slide contains a graphic or photo that takes up the entire slide. That means:

    • CRM Notes

      Hello, We want to add a Note to the Contact record when a Note is added to a Case or Deal. I wasn't able to do this using a workflow, so I tried using Zoho Flow, but that didn't work either. Does anyone have a suggestion on how we can accomplish thi

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | April 2026

      Hello users, Welcome to our April 2026 product updates roundup! Highlights include profit margin for sales transactions, insights in reports, recording deposits from undeposited funds in banking, and faster production workflows with improved assembly

    • Sorter View No Longer Works Properly

      Today I realized that sorter view no longer works properly. I believe just yesterday, I was able to drag a slide or a group of slides and move it/them to the place I want to move it/them to. While I was dragging, I got a visual feedback of where I could

    • Ignroe_filtrers and drill through

      I have two charts, where one is connected to the other using drill-through. The issue is with the second chart (the drill-through target). It contains an aggregation formula that uses the ignore_filters function. Under normal conditions, the formula works

    • zoho creator panel add formula

      Hello. I'm using zoho panels which works good for me but i need to add an extra calculation the predefined sum function provided by zoho. not sure if this is possible? The code zoho is generating for the sum is as follows; <text margin='0px' padding='0px'

    • Kaizen #238: Fetching Employee Data from Microsoft SQL Server into Zoho CRM Using Queries

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Kaizen series! Many organizations manage workforce data such as employee designations, contact details, salary bands, and joining dates in an HRMS backed by Microsoft SQL Server, while their sales teams work in Zoho

    • Du prompt à la production : comprendre le fonctionnement du MCP

      Le Model Context Protocol (MCP) est un protocole ouvert qui standardise la manière dont les applications se connectent aux modèles de langage (LLM). En termes simples, le MCP est le « USB-C des agents IA » : une interface universelle qui relie l’intelligence

    • Add Flexible Recurrence Options for Meeting Scheduling in Zoho Cliq (e.g., Every 2 Weeks)

      Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, when scheduling a meeting inside Zoho Cliq, the recurrence options are limited to Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. There is no ability to set a meeting to occur every X weeks — for example,

    • filter on sheets mobile (iOS, iPadOS) does not work

      re-posting this as a question because reporting as a problem netted zero responses... I have this issue on every spreadsheet, whether imported or created natively in Zoho Sheets. I can use on desktop without issue: but on iOS the filter dropdowns are

    • Inactive License for free account.

      I recently upgraded my Cliq subscription not my team (on the free version), are unable to login to their accounts. The error message received is Inactive License Looks like you have not been covered under the current free plan of users. Please contact

    • Zoho Books recurring invoicing link to a Zoho CRM Deal?

      With the Zoho CRM Finance Integration setup, normally when creating an invoice via Zoho CRM Finance Integration on a Deal, it creates the invoice in Zoho Books with the CRM Deal *Potential link for that invoice. Alternatively, if you create the invoice

    • Data Import

      Hello Latha, Is there any option to enable data import option in Equipment module? Best regards, Chethiya.

    • No background for video recordings, no playback speed, can't even playback longer recordings - have to download…

      Hi. We utilize heavily video messages on Slack, but wanted to migrate to Cliq with Zoho One, however very basic yet very frequently used feature is missing: backgrounds for video recordings and playback speed. We were not happy with Slack's 5 minute limits

    • Introducing PDF conversion in Deluge

      Hello everyone, We're pleased to introduce built-in PDF conversion capabilities in Deluge with the launch of the convertToPDF task. As PDF is one of the most widely used formats in professional environments, this task helps streamline document generation

    • Changing naming convention for Estimates

      Hi there, How do I customise the naming of the filenames for estimates when sending them? Currently they are named literally just ES11.PDF or whatever the number of the estimate is. There is no Company name, description of the work, customer name, date

    • Email templates for estimates

      Hi there, When I send an estimate the option to choose a template appears. However it is common to need to make some minor personalizations and modifications to the email before sending ie. adding a second person to the greeting, or adding a small note

    • How to transfer uploaded files from Zoho Survey to external systems?

      Hi everyone, I'm currently integrating Zoho Survey with an external system and have run into a limitation I haven't been able to solve yet. I'm using webhooks to send submitted survey data (JSON) to my external API, which works perfectly for all standard

    • On Duty Requests - Zoho People Data

      Hello Team, We are currently using the On Duty Form to record Work From Home (WFH) requests in our organization. However, we are facing an issue where pending On Duty requests are not appearing in the Attendance Module. For example, if I submit On Duty

    • Editing Estimates

      Hi team, How do I delete line items in an estimate when editing it? I can't see any option to do this - no X, no trashcan, no drop down... And how do I revert to the original estimate after cloning? I cloned to see if the option to edit were disabled

    • Reading emails sent from Zoho

      Hi there, How do I view an email sent from Zoho, for example an email which contains an estimate? I can see there is a tab in the screen for that estimate which is labelled 'Emails' and I can see a summary of the email sent listed there, but I cannot

    • Feature Request: Mass update selected Contacts to Accounts

      I can't believe this isn't an ability already. It's a quick fix that would save hours of manual entry time. This looks like it had been requested 3-4 years ago with no answers from staff! Please add all contact fields into the "mass update" menu. You

    • Next Page