Extension Pointers #16: A way to sort through the stack and find a solution that works for you
Throughout the 'Extension Pointers' series, we've seen the features available in Zoho Developer platform that are helpful in building extensions for business needs. In this post, we've listed all of them for your quick reference. This will serve as a guide featuring a map between the need for a desired outcome and an approachable solution to achieve it.
Let's say you're planning to customize your Zoho CRM account by adding new features and functionalities that are unique to your business process. How can you build and deliver the enhancements as an installable component when needed? |
Extensions are applications designed to enhance the features of the existing Zoho products, or to integrate a third-party application with Zoho software for different enterprise needs. If you want to develop additional features to enhance the existing Zoho CRM functionality set, you can do so by building extensions. The scope of each extension lies within the different use cases that are handled during its development.
Sigma is the unified Zoho Developer platform available for developers to build and host extensions for different Zoho applications. Depending on your business needs as a developer, you can choose to create an extension using Sigma that acts as one of the following:
- An extension which adds to the core functionality of a Zoho product
- An integration between a third-party application and a Zoho product
Are you looking to establish connections with third-party applications for seamless data integration with Zoho CRM? Learn the possibilities provided in the platform |
You can integrate with third-party applications using either connectors or the custom variables option depending on the user authentication method supported by the third-party app.
- If the third-party application supports OAuth mode for user authentication, connection can be established via connectors. Learn more about connectors with an example.
- If the third-party application supports the API key for user authentication, connection can be established via custom variables. Learn in detail about custom variables with an example.
A Custom UI helps portraying information in a personalized manner. How can you create a customized UI for your extension? |
The creation of a customized UI can be achieved in the Zoho Developer platform using the Connected App feature. You can build a widget and associate it with your extension as a connected app. The connected app can be embedded either as a custom button, a related list, or a web tab in Zoho CRM, depending on your needs.
Take a look at the Widget posts (Part-1 and Part-2) to understand the steps involved in creating a widget.
Zoho CRM APIs supported in JS SDK helps to interact with third-party applications. Using these APIs, we can invoke connectors and GET APIs accordingly by constructing the required parameters. Refer to the example on how to invoke connector through API while building a widget. Similarly, take a look at building third-party integrations by incorporating Custom variables into widgets.
Say you want to get real-time data updates from a third-party application integrated with your Zoho CRM account and take action based on the updated data collected from the application. What might be useful in this scenario? |
Webhook plays an integral role in connecting two applications. Whenever an event occurs in a source application, a web callback occurs, and the webhook posts the real-time data to the required application. Learn the detailed steps involved in handling real-time updates between Zoho CRM and third-party applications using webhooks.
In addition to fetching and processing real-time data from an application, you may also want to receive real-time notifications that alert you on the occurrence of an event and help you act accordingly in your Zoho CRM account. How can you receive these customized real-time notifications in your Zoho CRM? |
The Signals feature enables an efficient and smooth customer interaction experience through the provision of real-time notifications. This helps you keep track of all your customer interactions from different channels in a single platform. It also supports actionable alerts and allows you to customize notifications for different events.
Check out the post on defining and raising a signal to receive timely notifications for a working example to help your understanding.
Say you want to test the functionality of your extension that you built before you publish it. How can you test your extension locally? |
The platform offers an isolated sandbox environment that allows you to test your extension functionality locally. Once you have finished building the extension, click the Test Your Extension button to test the extension in the sandbox environment. You can make changes and test the extension as many times as you want until you get your functionality right.
Have you finished building the extension to meet your needs? What could be done next to make this available to others? |
You can choose to publish your extension as either a private extension or a public extension.
Private Extension: Extensions built for personal or specific organizational purposes. When you publish a private extension, a hashed URL link is made available, which can be privately shared to the users to install the extension.
Public Extension: Extensions listed in Zoho Marketplace. They are available to all Zoho users for installation and use.
We hope this post has helped you gain a better understanding of the features available in Developer Platform that you can use in various scenarios.Please refer to the links provided for an in-depth study of the concepts with the help of a working example.
Trying to understand more about the Developer Platform's ability to develop extensions, stay tuned and follow this space.
See Also:
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Nanditha Somasundaram Somasundaram
Developer
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint
Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post
Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQsKaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!
Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Has anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check out?
I am thinking of adding an ASAP guide to my web application, but I have noticed that the ASAP widget itself can be really slow to load sometimes. Has anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check to see how performant it is? I don't want to spendZoho 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 keynoteWhat’s New in Zoho Analytics – September 2025
Hello Users!! In this month’s update, we’re raising the bar across multiple touchpoints, from how you bring in data, plan and track projects to how you design and brand your dashboards. We’ve added the all-new Gantt chart for project visualization, expandedZoho MCP has no tools for Creator or 3rd Party Apps?
I don't see a Zoho MCP community forum so putting this here. Two big problems I see: 1) Although Zoho advertises "over 950 3rd party apps" as available through their MCP, when I go to "Add Tools" there are ZERO 3rd party apps available to choose from.Zoho Forms - Zoho Drive connection - Shared Drives not supported
Hello i am stuck with Google Drive Connection There is no supported shared drives Connection is not support shared drives boolean Query Parameters - supportsAllDrives=true&supportsTeamDrives=true to activate fetch files from the shared drives. Ahat needApply Advance option not shown in report
We are facing an issue in Zoho Expenses. While approving an Expense Report, the "Apply Advance" option is not appearing under the three dots (More Options). Details: Module: Expense Reports Issue: "Apply Advance" option not visible Status of Report: AwaitingCan't create package until Bill created?
I can't understand why we cannot create a package until a Bill is created? We are having to created draft Bills to create a package when the item is received, but we may not have received a Bill from the supplier. Also, Bill # is required, but we normallyWhats the Time out Limit for API Calls from Deluge?
Hi Creator Devs, We are making API calls to third party server via Deluge. Getting this error message: Error at line : 24, The task has been terminated since the API call is taking too long to respond. Please try again after sometime. Whats the defaultCommunity Digest Agosto 2025 - Todas las novedades en Español Zoho Community
¡Hola, Zoho Community! Agosto llega a su fin y septiembre nos trae aire fresco a la comunidad: más inteligencia con IA, actualizaciones que elevan la productividad y la recta final hacia Zoholics España 2025. Aquí tienes lo más destacado del mes paraTip #3: How to change your booking page language
Displaying your booking page in your target audience's language can greatly increase customer satisfaction. By speaking their language, you will help customers feel more comfortable scheduling with you and create a stronger connection with them. Let'sHow can I optimize a Zoho Site page for SEO when embedding external menu or restaurant links?
Hi everyone, I’m experimenting with building small content hubs on Zoho Sites and want to make sure I’m doing it in an SEO-friendly way. For example, I tried creating a page that highlights restaurant menu items and linked out to a resource like this:Diff signature for compose new email and replies
Hi, How do i have different signature for replies and new emails. its inconvenient to have one large signature for replies. Usually on Outlook we have the option to keep separate signatures for new emails and for replies.Zoho Website Site Speed Up & Setting
We are experiencing slow loading speeds on our Zoho website and would like assistance in optimizing its performance. Kindly review the site and suggest or implement necessary improvements to enhance speed, especially related to: > Caching mechanisms >Clickjacking: Zoho Vault's Response
Issue Password manager browser extensions are found vulnerable to clickjacking security vulnerabilities that could lead attackers to steal account credentials, TFA codes, card details, under certain conditions. Reported by Marek Toth, Independent SecurityNo option for pick up in Zoho Books / Inventory but yes on commerce
Is it planned to release soon on books/inventory?Zoho Books - France
L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilitéBlueprint Issue - Being able to set a subform field as mandatory
I'm creating a blueprint. My record involves a subform which is only shown once field is set but the field gets set in step two of the process. My problem - I can't save the record as the subform field is set to mandatory - If I unset the mandatory field,Blueprint - Mandatory file upload field
Hi, File upload (as we as image upload) field cannot be set as mandatory during a blueprint transition. Is there a workaround? Setting attachments as mandatory doesn't solve this need as we have no control over which attachments are added, nor can weZoho Books - Include Quote Status in Workflow Field Triggers
Hi Zoho Books team, I recently tried to create a Workflow rule based on when a Quote is Accepted by the customer. This is something which I thought would be very easy to do, however I discovered that Status is not listed as a field which can be monitoredZoho Books - Show Related Sales Orders on Quotes
Hi Books team, I've noticed that the Quotes don't show show the related Sales Order. My feature request is to also show related Sales Orders above the Quote so it's easy to follow the thread of records in the sales and fulfilment process. Below screenshotAdd VAT/Tax line to bank adjustments
When categorising transactions and matching bank feeds with transactions such as customer payments, we use the "Add Adjustment" to add things like fees/bank fees. It would be useful to choose a VAT/Tax rate here. Whilst there is a bank charges option when adding a payment, this goes into the default bank charges account. We use the adjustments so that we can choose the account and separate our fees. We use different card providers and Worldpay charges VAT so we are stuck. We cannot integrate withNew Menu Layout Feedback
I'd really like to see the banking item back on the top of the menu. I'm sure part of it is just because that's what I'm accustomed to. However, for a bookkeeping program, I think there's a logic to having banking be on top. Not a giant issue, but somethingHow to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?
I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possibleForm Accessibility
Hi, is there an update on the accessibility standard of Zoho forms? Are the forms WCAG 2.1 AA compliant?Cannot schedule report delivery
The only 'send option' available when exporting reports is 'immediately' The option to schedule the report is missing.adding attachment in sendmail script where attachment is in a CRM field
Hi all, I have a custom field of type 'File Upload' in one of my modules in my CRM. I want to include the file in that field as an attachment to an email - which is done from a button on the 'Results' module. I have created a script and a button to initiate an email from that module. The Deluge scripting window has allowed me to add arguments for all the fields I need to use except for the one file upload type field. My script currently looks like the below (content of the email omitted). As youSignature field is showing black
Hello, When customer signed the service form, it is showing as below picture Phone model: iPhone 16 Pro We tried delete and install application, but it not solved. This has on phone of a few person. There is any advice to solve this?[Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - AI-Enhanced Insurance Claim Management in Zoho Creator
Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. Struggling with lengthy claim processes, a lack of visibility intoHow to update changed purchase account of item in invoice
I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust theZoho Suite is very slow
Since today Zoho is incredibly slow over all applications! What's going on?Not sure how to use credits to my account
Hi I have a $50 credit to my account. I'm just wondering how I can apply that to either a current invoice or to try a new service. Any advice would be great, thanks. Kind Regards ChrisControl who sees Timeline and Interactions in Zoho CRM through Profiles
The feature has been enabled for all DCs (except US, EU, and IN DCs). We will be rolling it out to the other DCs in the upcoming days. Dear All, In a CRM, not all users would require access to the history of a record. For instance, a Marketing OperationsZoho Desk Integration - Add the option to send the estimate from the Zoho Desk Ticket Integration
Hi, Currently in the Zoho Desk integration, the user is able to create an estimate from a ticket, once the estimate is created the user can see the estimate under the ticket (see screenshot below), but is not able to send that estimate from Zoho Desk.Utilisation de Zoho en conformité avec l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI)
Cher(e) client(e), Conformément à l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI) impose aux entreprises assujetties à la TVA d’utiliser des systèmes de caisse ou de gestion commerciale certifiés lorsqu’elles enregistrent des ventes à des particuliers.Issue showing too many consultations in my workspace link.
Hi Team, I’ve set up two Workspaces to track meetings from different sources. So far, this has been working well, and the two Workspaces are differentiated without any issues. However, when I navigate to Consultations and share the link to my personal👋 Welcome to the Zoho MCP Community
Hello all, glad to have you here! This is your space for everything AI agents, MCP tools, and intelligent business apps. This community is for you — developers, partners, creators, and businesses exploring how agents can transform work. Whether you’reCRM Validation Rules Support Only Single Condition
Simply put, CRM validation rules support only a single condition for each field on "All Records". You also cannot specify additional validation rules on the same field because it has already been used in an existing validation rule. The ONLY solutionUnapproved Leaves are hard to distinguish in Attendance View
This is a an unapproved leave request It appears in the Attendance view without any visual indicator if its approved or not For a whole day request this might be manageable but for hourly requests it gets very hard to know which are approved, which arePerformance Appraisal Probation Period
Hello All, Is there any possible way to create an appraisal cycle for new staff members, at the end of probation period? Many thanks!Zoho Creatorの一括操作における処理の同期/非同期について
現在、Creatorのレポート機能を利用して、複数のレコードに対して一括で処理を実行しようとしていますが、処理の実行順序について確認したいことがあります。 レポート内の複数レコードに一括で処理を実行した際、処理は同期的に行われるのでしょうか？それとも非同期的に行われるのでしょうか？ 【同期処理の場合】 レコード①に対する処理が開始され、終了後にレコード②に対する処理が開始され、最後にレコード③に対する処理が実行されるように、処理が順番に行われる場合。 【非同期処理の場合】 レコード①、レコード②、レコード③の処理が一斉に開始され、それぞれ並行して処理が行われ、全処理が終了する場合。Next Page