What's new in Instant Messaging? | Zoho Desk | Feature Releases | Sept'2024

Improve your business communications with these new and enhanced features in Instant Messaging!

Excellent communication is at the heart of every strong work relationship. These new features and enhancements for professionals will help you build better connections with Instant Messaging.

We're adding more ways to stay connected with your customers! 

We are excited to add Facebook Messenger and Instagram to Zoho Desk's list of IM integrations. You can now easily manage your Meta Business (Facebook) Page's activity alongside messages from various channels on one common platform.

Facebook Messenger

One of the most popular messaging channels, Facebook Messenger, fulfills your business communication needs and provides an easy outlet for communicating with customers and maintaining your social media branding. 

Instagram

Manage your Instagram messages directly from your instant messaging inbox and assist your customers using the same inbox automation features you already rely on, such as blueprints, business hours, and much more.

These new integrations let you link your business account with Zoho Desk and respond to customer inquiries on this popular IM platform.

Business Messaging that matches your needs

Business Messaging

Integrate Zoho Desk's native Business Messaging widget seamlessly across webpages and apps, and customize it to align with your brand's style. This allows seamless hand-offs between bots and agents with automation to facilitate personalized and engaging conversations. Whether integrated independently or through the ASAP help widget, you can manage all your interactions using the Instant Messaging module.

Now, you can personalize your messenger to align with your brand, making your conversational experience accessible on both web and mobile platforms. Engage with a broader customer base through our business messaging channel, which is easy to set up, adaptable to your needs, and scalable for future expansion!

Enhancements in WhatsApp

Multi-WABA support

Great news! We are now supporting multi-WABA for businesses on the instant messaging platform. If you've been using the WhatsApp channel to communicate with your customers, you're likely aware that every WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) needs a verified phone number specifically dedicated to that IM channel for the current WhatsApp Business Platform. Log in for more information: Facebook Business Manager Account.

Acquire in-depth insights on how you spend WhatsApp Credits

Easily identify conversation patterns and anomalies, spot trends quickly with our color-coded graph, and promptly see your actual usage with our clear and easy-to-read conversational payment statements.

Blended conversation is now available across multiple channels

Get ready to experience Bot messaging like never before

You have the option to create a complete Guided Conversations custom bot flow, which enables the development of entirely automated interactions that work in tandem with Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Line, Telegram, and other business messaging channels.

Support teams can set their status as online or offline

Set Business Hours

Now, customers can specify their business hours. This feature provides greater flexibility in managing customer expectations with instant messaging. It allows you to customize business hours for individual teams to accommodate varying time zones or differing work hours for support and sales teams. We have also included the offline message as an automated response informing customers that the support team will be unavailable for an extended period.

Now chat with your customers the way they want

Instant Messaging inbox enhancement

We've enhanced the instant messaging inbox to improve and optimize messaging to provide better tools, features, and capabilities for managing and responding to messages.

Easily configure webhooks in IM

Do more with our Instant Messaging APIs

We introduced a webhook to support all inbound and outbound messages from your applications for custom events across channels.

Promote your business with replies via WhatsApp

Send WhatsApp messages in bulk to your contacts

Agents can now select contacts from the Contacts module to send WhatsApp messages to multiple contacts. The message can be sent to the contact's phone number, mobile number, or both. WhatsApp facilitates effective marketing, engagement, and customer retention management.

 
Send a WhatsApp message to a Contact using quick action

Agents can send WhatsApp messages to single contacts directly from the quick actions list by clicking the drop-down arrow from the top panel next to the plus sign (+). Alternatively, they can use the keyboard shortcut "w+" from any location within the desk. Each time a message is sent to a new contact, a new record is automatically created in the Contacts module.

Omni-channel messaging

IM conversations thread separation

You can now manage all channel conversations in your ticketing threads. This brings all IM channels and their conversations into one easily accessible ticket thread so that you can quickly understand how communication is handled across users.

Reply to IM tickets

Allows support agents to respond to customer inquiries and interact with them seamlessly across different messaging platforms while maintaining a unified view of the conversation history.

Associating agents made easy

Edit channel form

After successfully adding the instant messaging channel, you will be alerted: You have successfully linked your Zoho Desk account with a messaging channel. You can update your preferences for each messaging channel created in your help desk anytime. The preferences allow you to assign different agents for each channel within the channel form.

IM Automation

Triggering Blueprint is designed as a process management tool for IM conversations

Automating ticket actions via Blueprint transitions helps your team save time and streamline ticketing processes for instant messaging conversations. This allows agents to connect with customers and ensures the proper process is followed.

Monitor customer happiness ratings

Measure Customer Satisfaction across IM channels

By enabling the happiness rating, you can ask the customer to rate their experience in a survey that appears after the conversation ends—supported channels are WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and LINE.

With these improvements to your business communications, you can resolve issues faster, boost customer satisfaction, and grow your business successfully.

For more details, refer to the Instant Messaging help docs.

Cheers,

Kavya Rao
The Zoho Desk Team

• Topic Participants

• Kavya Rao Addepalli

  

• Sticky Posts

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

  Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

• Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

  Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

• Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

  Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

• Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

  Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

• Recent Topics

• Item Details Field - New Barcode / Document option?

  Is this a new feature??? its in both books and inventory.

• Get logged in user ID in Deluge script

  Hello all, How do I get the id of the logged-in user in a deluge script? the "zoho.loginuserid" function actually returns the users email address or whatever the user id they use to login to zoho with and not the id of the user record, and given that

• Module Name doesn't exist

  I am trying to create a module named Activity, with plural Activities, but I have an error that module name already exists. This module is doesn't exist, and I don't have a single field called Activity or Activities.

• Super Admin Logging in as another User

  How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working

• Shared Mailbox - Mark as read for all users

  Hi all, Maybe someone can help me out. At the moment we have a shared mailbox without streams. When a users reads an mail or marks it as read other users will not see this. How can we resolve this? We now archive the mails when read and followed up. However

• Is it possible to embed Youtube shorts?

  Hi Zoho desk support, This is Ryan from Accuver America. While I'm trying to create a knowledge base article with embed video, I ran into this issue. "www.youtube.com refuse to connect" A little bit background is that because this video is recorded on

• How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

  It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly

• Prevent new Record Association

  Hello all, We have a small sales organization therefore, it's helpful for everyone on the sales team to be able to view the full list of accounts to assist in preventing duplicate accounts from being created. However we want to prevent people from creating

• Add the same FROM email to multiple department

  Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks. Jordanne

• Unified customer portal login

  As I'm a Zoho One subscriber I can provide my customers with portal access to many of the Zoho apps. However, the customer must have a separate login for each app, which may be difficult for them to manage and frustrating as all they understand is that

• Can I export to PDF in Zoho Learn

  I have seen help pages where export to pdf options are available but I do not see that option available from the application. I see that exprt is available in my free trial version but that is only to html pages. I need to be able to export my manuals

• Zoho Analytics & SQL Server - Live connect

  Below are the steps I did Created a fresh database and table in my own virtual server Created a new data source connection with live connect I was able to select the tables and created the data source successfully I am getting the error when I try to

• Zoho Sites "pages" management page

  I have 80 plus pages on zoho sites. When I go to the "pages" link to view and edit pages, They are not in any kind of order, so I spend lots of time searching for pages when I need to edit or create new. How can I change the view order of all my pages

• Staff rules

  Hi! Do you people know what are the default staff rules when a new booking is created? We have two staff members in my team (me as the admin, and my employee). As we share the same services, I'm wondering how Zoho will pick the staff for new apointments.

• Add Image Upload Field to Zoho Bookings Registration Form

  Hi, We would like to request the addition of an image upload field to the Zoho Bookings registration form. Currently, Zoho Bookings only supports text-based fields (e.g., Single Line, Multi-Line, Email, Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio Button, and Date), but

• New Field in CRM Product Module Not Visible in Zoho Creator for Mapping

  I created a new single-line field in the Products module in Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator are integrated, but the newly created field in CRM is not visible in Zoho Creator when I try to map fields.

• Merge Tags Output Incorrect Placeholder Text After CRM Sync

  Hi everyone, I’m experiencing an issue with merge tags in Zoho Campaigns after last sync of contacts and leads from Zoho CRM (days before everything worked perfectly). Here’s the situation (seems like a default configuration in Campaigns) : My leads have

• UI Improvement - Ability to Collapse Flow

  The UI for Flow is generally pretty good. However, when multiple decision trees are used, the layout can get pretty convoluted and hard-to-follow (see one of my Flows below): In these cases, even the auto-arrange fails to make this something that a normal

• Windows agent 2025_M02 release notes

  Agent Version: 111.0.3.300 Release date: 24 February, 2025 Various Major enhancements to improve overall performance and optimize the user experience. Squashed a few bugs to improve overall product quality.

• Windows agent 2025_M01 release notes

  Agent Version: 111.0.3.299 Release date: 05 February, 2025 Major Enhancement: Live Monitor feature compatibility released. Major Enhancement: Updated Scaling for multi technician cases with Android and Web based viewers. Various other bug fixes and performance

• Disable Buttons for Users with Profiles without permission

  Hey, I've noticed that users without permission of setting up things in the marketplace, can still see the icon: On a click, you see this: It would be way better, if they couldn't see this menu icon at all. (Aside from the fact that it completely misplaced

• how to record deferred revenue?

  Dear Zoho Team, We issue invoices relating to 12-month web hosting service. When we issue the invoice, we should record the entire amount of the invoice as DEFERRED REVENUE (ie. $10 x 12 mths = $120, balance sheet item). After the particular month of the hosting service, $10 of revenue has been earned and deferred revenue amount will be $110. We must keep adjusting the balance sheet and income statement over the course of the service until the company has fulfilled its obligation of services and

• Narrative 13: Importing your data

  Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 13: Importing your data When importing data into an application, it is crucial to prevent data loss or duplication. These types of errors can hinder the development of a clean and

• Blueprint Not Triggering When Lead Status Is Updated by Workflow (IndiaMART Integration)

  I have set up a blueprint that triggers when a lead’s status is “New Lead.” Our CRM is integrated with IndiaMART, and when leads are created from IndiaMART, their Lead Status is initially set to None. To handle this, I created a workflow that automatically

• Update Subform in specific field(Status) without affecting other fields in Zoho CRM using Deluge?

  Scenario: PRODUCT Module(change name Plot) in any product status change From Available to Booked then on PROJECT Custom Module have Subform So, Subform name is Property Details now in that Subform 1 field is STATUS that update according to  product status

• Experience effortless record management in CRM For Everyone with the all-new Grid View!

  Hello Everyone, Hope you are well! As part of our ongoing series of feature announcements for Zoho CRM For Everyone, we’re excited to bring you another type of module view : Grid View. In addition to Kanban view, List view, Canvas view, Chart view and

• YouTube Live #2: Agreement Intelligence with Zoho Sign's eSign AI assistant

  Hi there, We're back again with our YouTube live series and this time, we'll take you through our holistic agreement intelligence powered signature workflows. Struggling to draft an agreement? Need help double-checking clauses and going through complicated

• Can I Build a POS using ZOHO creator and integrate it with ZOHO Books?

  Hello,  I have a Zoho Books account and I was wondering if I can have a POS system that integrates with it. Primarily with Inventory, Customers and Payment and ofcourse Create invoices and credit notes.   So, would Zoho creator provide me with this solution?  Thank you, 

• An important update for Zoho Cliq desktop users

  The latest version of the Zoho Cliq desktop app (v1.8.0) will no longer be supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier versions. This is because the framework we use (Electron) no longer supports some older macOS versions. If you’re using macOS 10.15

• Zoho Projects - Visual improvement to parent and sub-task relationship

  Hi Projects Team, My feature request is to improve sub-task visibility. Please see screenshot below. I really think parent child relationships could be visually improved. Even if the first letter of the parent task was inline with other same level tasks

• Exported Slide Image Lacks Portion of the Background Image

  This does not always happen, but when I export (or "download") the rendered image of a slide, it sometimes lacks a portion of the background image. I created a sample slide deck to demonstrate it and shared it with the admins. It is also publicly available

• Items Below Reorder Point Report?

  Is there a way to run a report of Items that are below the Reorder Point? I don't see this as a specific report, nor can I figure out how to customize any of the other stock reports to give me this information. Please tell me I'm missing something s

• New Toolbar in Zoho Sheet

  We have revamped our toolbar design in this new version of Zoho Sheet. Below are some screenshots to help you get accustomed to this new interface. Click on the picture below to view the animated image in its original size. Scroll down this post to learn about the changes. Highlight of Changes: The previous format tab is now split into 2 tabs - Home and Format. The Home tab contains the commonly used functions and the Format tab holds formatting related options. Under the Home tab towards the far

• Zoho Projects - Task Owner filter at Project level

  Hi Projects Team, The feature requests I would like to raise is the ability to create a custom view at the project level for projects with tasks owned by a user or users. For example "Ashley's Projects" custom view might contain a list of project in which

• Zoho inbuilt Telephony made a lot of issues!

  Hi there, I am a user that I am working with zoho inbuilt telephony around 1 month. Non of my colleagues are happy with this app! most of the time customer cannot hear my customer service team, customers say our voice is breaking. whenever Telephony support

• Sending workflow notifications using popular chat services

  Hello everyone, We have introduced instant and scheduled notifications on some of the most popular chat platforms to facilitate easy collaboration, quick action, and wider reach. Workflow notifications can be sent to the following chat platforms: Zoho

• Webhook not firing.

  I created a webhook using the Web UI, it looks very nice and the testing worked without an issue, but when i save/ update a ticket, the webhook is not firing. Here are the details of the web-hook i get from using the API "modifiedTime": "2019-10-22T09:23:37.380Z",

• Adding Images to a Quote in Zoho CRM

  We are currently preparing to use Quotes in Zoho CRM and we are building out our Quote templates.  We came across an issue of not being to add Images of the products to the Quote - specifically in the body of the Quote templates.   This is a problem,

• Applications built with Zoho Creator

  Hi, I’m really interested in seeing how others have built their application using Zoho Creator, especially those designed for external users (clients, vendors, or the public). If you’ve developed something along those lines and don’t mind sharing, I’d

• In arattai received message can't be deleted

  The issue has been noticed in following: arattai app (Android) arattai app (Window) arattai web While the message posted by me may be deleted, the ones received from others can't be. The item <Delete> change to <Report> when the message is a received

• Next Page