External ID in Zoho CRM

External ID in Zoho CRM

Hello everyone!

We know that Zoho CRM allows you to integrate third-party apps and manipulate data through APIs.

While you integrate a third-party application, you may want to store the third-party reference IDs in Zoho CRM's records. To meet this need of storing an external value inside Zoho CRM, we have introduced the External ID field.

What is an External ID field?
An External ID field is a custom single line field in a module in Zoho CRM that can hold a record's unique ID in an external system.

When can I use an External field?
When you integrate an application with Zoho CRM, you can use the external field's value to create, update, or delete a record in Zoho CRM instead of Zoho CRM's record ID.
This is particularly useful when you deal with huge data where you can work with just one ID per record instead of two.
  • Integration and data sync - You can simply use the external ID to upsert records instead of the Zoho CRM's record ID, and maintain data sync.
  • Search - When you have an external field, you can search for a record through its external ID instead of the record ID.
How can I mark a field as External?
  1. Go to Setup > Modules and Customization > Choose a module > Choose the layout.
  2. Add a custom single line field.
  3. Edit the properties of this field and select Set as External Field.


  4. Click Done.
Note
  • The External ID feature is available only for the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Zoho CRM.
  • If you mark a field as external, you cannot undo it. Similarly, you cannot convert an existing single line field to an external field.
Types of External fields
There are two types of External fields in Zoho CRM:
  • User-based
  • Org-based
User-based external field: When you set an external field of this type, this field is available to each user in CRM. So, each user can manipulate records based on this external value. For example, there are two users "user1" and "user2" that have saved a single Google Contact with external values as their respective Google contact IDs "GC1" and "GC2". Now, when the integration between Google Contacts and Zoho CRM happens, there will be a single Contact record in CRM. Now, these users can use their respective Google Contact IDs in the external field, and update that record in CRM, instead of Zoho CRM's record ID.

Org-based external field: When you set an external field of this type, the external ID of this field is the same for all users of the org. Consider an example where you have integrated MailChimp with Zoho CRM, and all the email addresses are stored as individual contacts in Zoho CRM. In MailChimp, the Campaign ID is the same for all the email addresses in the list. So, when you set the Campaign ID as the value to an external field, all CRM users can use this external value in CRM to manipulate these contacts.

You can reference the external field and create, update, or upsert records and related records through APIs.

This feature will go live by the first week of November, 2020.

Our help pages will also be live along with the feature.

Write to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions.

Cheers!
Shylaja

    • Recent Topics

    • Custom fields for calls and an enhanced call creation form

      Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's Calls module. We'll go over each one in detail. Enhanced call creation form in Bigin What is this enhancement about? This update includes

    • Customize user data collection with User Layouts

      Users denote the people in your organization who work on agile projects using Zoho Sprints. You can add them to your workspace and associate them with required projects. Organizations have distinct requirements in collecting user data. Apart from the

    • Zoho Sites with GoDaddy DNS

      We have a site hosted with www. in front that works perfectly well. The issue is with getting the TLD/naked DNS pointed to the www. while using GoDaddy dns. I have edited the DNS Forwarding entry in the domain so that the root example.com forwards to

    • Integration with Moodle

      Greetings, I hope find all doing well and safe. I've recently returned to using Zoho Flow after a break and was hoping to connect my WooCommerce store with Moodle, the world's most widely used learning management system. My goal was to automatically enroll

    • Possible for "Specify URL Criteria" in URL/Permalink settings to be assigned to a variable?

      I want to embed a Zoho Analytics chart view as a Related List item in the Zoho CRM Accounts module, such that when one is viewing a CRM Accounts module record for an Account, the user will see the chart for that specific company. Is it possible to set

    • How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id

      How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id? I want to display an Analytics pivot table (as a widget) on a CRM dashboard and have the pivot filtered on the loginuser. I want additional user-filters available, such as date,

    • Allow 2 logos for Branding, one for Light Mode and one for Dark Mode?

      Our logo has a lot of black text on it. If we leave the background transparent, per recommendation of Zoho, when a user is viewing a file and turns on dark mode, our logo is not really visible and looks really weird. It would be really great if we could

    • Pre-fill TO and CC fields for Email Templates

      This would be a game changer to be able to set either specific email addresses or merge fields based on deal role titles into email templates. Please pass this along to *hopefully* add to future features of Zoho CRM.

    • Payroll In Canada

      Hi, When can we expect to have payroll in Canada with books 

    • Why can't we associate a contact to mulitple accounts?

      This simple feature has been for 14 years now... it's way past ridiculous. We don't want to add a multiple lookup field, we just want to add a second account to our contact. This way i'll go on Jonh Doe and see in the account field : Company 1 and Company

    • Calendar Bookings in Recruit

      Hi there, We have recently started using Zoho recruit and although it has some great functionality there are a few gaps that are causing real headaches. One of those being how interviews are scheduled. The majority of our hiring managers are field based

    • Multiple Vendor SKUs

      One of the big concerns we have with ZOHO Inventory is lack of Vendor Skus like many other inventory software packages offer. Being able to have multiple vendor skus for the same product would be HUGE! It would populate the appropriate vendor Sku for

    • How to Use Branch-Specific Templates for Invoices Created via Zoho Books invoice API?

      I am using the Zoho Books Invoice API and I am sending the branch_id when creating an invoice. The invoice is being generated, but it is using the default template rather than the template that corresponds to the branch I specified. In Zoho Books, when

    • Automatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People

      Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.

    • Delete Unactive Users form Directory

      Hi, how to delete all unactive users ?

    • Manual Journal entry problem

      Hi, all my manual Journal entries are not reflected in my general ledger. i have check to see if the entry were done correctly and everything is fine. Please help me

    • Changing Related Modules in a Report

      Once a report is created, is it possible to add Related Modules? David Shalev | Chief Revenue Officer | 800 558 9130 davids@splitit.com | www.Splitit.com

    • Is there a way to limit/turn off unlimited Version History?

      We save CAD files in our Zoho WorkDrive and while the files aren't very big themselves, whenever someone hits the save button in the CAD program it uploads another version of the file to the WorkDrive. This means files that are only a few MBs in size can actually be taking up 10s of GB in our WorkDrive if someone is saving frequently. Is there a way to limit the number of versions WorkDrive stores to save WorkDrive space?

    • ZOHO One Webinar Functionality

      I am currently trialling ZOHO Projects and have also been looking into over a dozen different Webinar solutions from various vendors. I understand that ZOHO Webinars is a stand alone tool. But that ZOHO Meetings also offers webinar functionality. The

    • Avoid None option in List Custom Fields

      Does anybody know a way to avoid -- None --  option to be displayed in a List Custom Field?  - With Mandatory option selected, you can prevent from saving if user select --None-- value. - With Default value selected, a different value than --None-- is

    • How do I modify the the incoming/current call popup? I can modify other call pages but not that one.

      I want to modify the incoming and active call popup on the crm to include customer relevant information, such as purchase history or length of relationship. Under modules and fields, I don't seem to see active call as a choice to modify, only the main

    • JavaScript or iframe embed with transparent background

      If I have a form with transparent Wallpaper, it appear great on my website by using my default background. However, using Zoho Forms SAVE button, the user is directed to Zoho Forms managed page and a blank background. Alternatively, I can include a Wallpaper

    • Emails and Kanban for Portals

      There was talk portals would have emails and email templates, and kanban view. Is there any release date for this? Portals has been so good for offering a simple crm option. It just needs a couple of small things.

    • Custom sorting Axis in a Heatmap report

      I have a heatmap and want to sort the order of the axis in a custom priority order - is this possible ? So I want the priority to be "New, Urgent, High, Medium, Low, Not Set, Unknown" Can I set this manually ?

    • ZOHO BackStage

      How to get list of events, using ZOHO BackStage APIs. Is it possible OR not?

    • Greylisted, try again after some time

      Can you check my ip, i send to duyna@vietlinkjsc.vn but have an error; my ip is 112.213.94.12 Here is log: 2018-01-09 09:40:29 H=mx.zoho.com [204.141.32.121] SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<duyna@vietlinkjsc.vn>: 451 4.7.1 Greylisted, try again after some time 2018-01-09 09:40:32 H=mx2.zoho.com [204.141.33.55] SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<duyna@vietlinkjsc.vn>: 451 4.7.1 Greylisted, try again after some time 2018-01-09 09:40:32 duyna@vietlinkjsc.vn R=lookuphost

    • The 3.1 biggest problems with Kiosk right now

      I can see a lot of promise in Kiosk, but it currently has limited functionality that makes it a bit of an ugly duckling. It's great at some things, but woeful at others, meaning people must rely on multiple tools within CRM for their business processes.

    • Zoho People down

      Zoho People (EU) appears to be inaccessible this morning. Have gotten through log-in and MFA but have been on the "Please wait while we work our charm..." page for several minutes now. A colleague has tried to access it via the One dashboard and experienced

    • Adding Bluesky channel

      Hello, Is Bluesky (AT protocol) soon added on Social ? Bluesky is being developped and is now open to anyone (no more invitation) Thank you

    • No Zoho Support on the weekends or after hours?

      Zoho Support is only available Monday - Friday during normal business hours. My business (as does many businesses) operates 7-days a week. Last Saturday, I had a client come in and in order for me to help her, I needed to log into CRM but to my surprise,

    • How do I overcome the 800 transaction rule limit?

      I just received a message: "You have reached the maximum rule limit of 800." I searched the documentation, and I didn't find anything about the cap or limit. I asked the ZOHO Books team if there is a way to increase the limit. Their answer was: "Please

    • Search functionality in Vault is very poor

      Hi Zoho Team Please... the search functionality is absolutely vital in Vault, particularly when it's being used by a team. It's just a fact of life that everybody has their own way of naming something, so using exact match on the Password name is horribly

    • 👋 Pessoal, como está sendo sua experiência com ferramentas de produtividade?

      Percebo que muitos usuários de soluções como Google Workspace e Microsoft 365 acabam enfrentando desafios quando pensam em migrar de plataforma, especialmente por conta de multas contratuais ou até pela complexidade em adaptar as equipes. Além disso,

    • Quais são os maiores desafios que você enfrenta ao implementar o Zoho CRM?

      Olá, pessoal da comunidade Zoho Brasil! Sou parceiro autorizado da Zoho e, ao longo do tempo, tenho notado que cada implementação de CRM traz desafios únicos, dependendo do segmento de negócio, das metas da empresa e até da familiaridade da equipe com

    • Parent - Child Ticket Twins

      I think i maybe losing my mind. Are these two completely separate parent-child ticketing functions? I think I remember adding a plugin years ago and I think I also remember seeing something about parent-child ticketing in a release notes being added.

    • Can the Comments from approval process be posted onto a module field and not on the timeline?

      I have set up approval process for the quotations module and would like for the approval comments to be posted onto a module field as opposed to me searching for the particular quote and going to the timeline section. This would also help keep tabs on

    • auto reply shopify order details in zoho desk based on order number in subject using deluge script custom function

      auto reply shopify order details in zoho desk based on order number in subject using deluge script custom function

    • Is there an ability to keep the status field unlocked while having an active blueprint?

      Hi. Is there an ability to keep the status field unlocked while having an active blueprint? Here is the case. We have a transition let's say "Ask to the customer" When we do this transition the Status is switch to "waiting for customer" But if for exemple

    • Rename Category and Sub Category fields

      Is it possible to rename the field labels for Category and Sub Category - if so can this be done at layout or department level ?

    • Thoughts on users being able to create Zoho accounts?

      For anyone who's used Zoho for a while, I'm sure you've come up against an issue where you create an account for a user, and they go ahead and sign up for a new one accidentally. Then, only they can delete the account, as it exists outside the organisation.

    • Next Page