Extension pointers #14: Extend end-user benefits and allow personalization by implementing extensions with custom actions
From our earlier post on custom actions, we know that we can create templated actions, share them with end users, and allow them to reuse those actions to achieve personalized outcomes. In this post, we'll look at how custom actions make it easy for users to carry out these templated tasks to get customized results.
Consider the following scenario: a hardware company that already uses Zoho CRM then utilizes Zoho Projects to implement and work on the deals they've won. Assume that the Zoho Projects portal has two projects: one for handling smaller revenue deals that require minimum development and less time, and the other for managing larger revenue dealsthat will eventually demand more time and resources for execution.
As an end user processing deals in Zoho CRM, it would be extremely convenient for the company to have the deals automatically fall into the appropriate projects, such as a task based on the expected revenue. Furthermore, it would be ideal to send emails to the customer with whom they have made the deal to request anything needed from their end in order to move forward with the implementation of the deal. Let's see how we can achieve this with the help of custom actions.
We have detailed posts on the steps to create a custom action along with a live example. Now, let's reiterate and go over the steps to achieving the above use case.
Developer activities
1. Create a connector for Zoho Projects.
2. Create a custom user interface (widget-connected app) that allows the user to select the project where the deal should be created as a task, as well as add the personalized email subject and body that will be sent to the user.
3. Create a custom action in the Zoho Developer console.
- Associate the custom user interface to the custom action.
- Define an action that creates a task in the selected project and also sends an email to the customer based on the values entered by the end user in the custom UI.
Extension/end-user activities
4. Create workflows as an end-user (i.e., set criteria on expected revenue; provide personalized values for email subject and body, and choose the project in which the deal fulfilling the set criteria should be created as a task) and assign a custom action to them.
Developer activities
1. Creating a connector
- Create a new connector in your extension for Zoho Projects using the Connectors feature under Utilities in the left panel of the Zoho Developer console.
Note: Zoho Projects follows the OAuth 2.0 protocol for its authentication mechanism. You can refer to this post to learn more about the steps to register Zoho Projects and retrieve your client credentials.
- Add the necessary connector APIs for your functionality.
- The Zoho Projects REST APIs added for our example are mentioned below.
Connector API Name | Method type | URL |
Get Projects | GET | https://projectsapi.zoho.com/restapi/portal/${portalid}/projects/ |
Create project task | POST | https://projectsapi.zoho.com/restapi/portal/${portalid}/projects/${projectid}/tasks/?name=${name}&description=${description} |
2. Create a custom user interface:
1. Create a custom user interface that allows the end user to select the project in which they want to create the deal as a task, as well as enter the email subject and body that should be sent to the contact associated with the deal.
2. You can find the HTML code for the custom UI as an attachment to the post.
- In the HTML code, we have two text fields to get the user inputs for the email subject and body.
- We have also invoked the connector API to get projects from a portal. The response is then populated and displayed as a dropdown list to allow the user to select the project in which they want the deal to be created as a task.
- In the HTML code snippet, we have hard coded a static value for the Zoho Projects portal.
Note: Depending on your business use case requirements, you can create custom variables to prompt the user to input their Zoho Project portal ID, or you can create a setting widget that displays the user's portals, allowing the user to choose the portal in which they want to have the deals created as tasks as well.
- ZOHO.CRM.ACTION.setConfig - In this example, we have utilized the setConfig method. This method can be used to set values to variables which can be retrieved later through the widget's page load response.
➤ For our example, we have used the setConfig method to set various Zoho CRM deal and email (subject and body) user input values to variables. We have later obtained these saved values through the widget's page load response, which contains a configdata key with these set data as its values.➤ Sample page load response when ZOHO.CRM.ACTION.setConfig is used in our example:
"module": "Deals", "configdata": { DealTest: "Sample Digital Marketing Project" Dealdescription: "${!Deals.Description}" Dealname: "${!Deals.Deal_Name}" Message: "Sample Message" Subject: "Deal Won!" To: "${!Deals.Contact_Name.Email}" |
➤ We have then used the preset saved values available in the configdata key to prepopulate the widget UI every time it loads.
3. Create a custom action
- Go to the Zoho Developer console and select the extension in which you want to create the custom action.
- Create a custom action by navigating through Automate - > Custom Actions, under the Build section in the left panel. Click Create Action.
- Enter the Custom Action Name and Description. Click Next.
- Provide the location of the html file (widget UI) to complete the resource path. Click Next, then click Create Function.
- Enter the Deluge function to perform our use case functionality.
- Click Save & Close, then click Save.
Deluge function code snippet:
dynamic_map = Map(); dynamic_map.put("portalid","xxxxxx"); dynamic_map.put("projectid",input.config.get("Dealproject")); dynamic_map.put("name",input.config.get("Dealname")); dynamic_map.put("description",input.config.get("Dealdescription")); response = zoho.crm.invokeConnector("xxxxx.zohoprojects.createprojecttask",dynamic_map); sendmail [ from :zoho.adminuserid to :input.config.get("To") subject :input.config.get("Subject") message :input.config.get("Message") ] |
- In the above Deluge code, we have performed the functionality of creating the deal as a task in Projects and sending an email to the deal's contact with the input provided by the end user in their CRM account while associating the custom action to a workflow.
Custom action in effect (End-user):
Create workflows:
- As an end user who has the extension which features the custom action installed in the Zoho CRM account, go ahead and create workflows to define criteria and associate the custom action.
- In our case, we have two workflows:
➤ One for smaller deals where the expected revenue is less than 1000 USD
➤ One for larger deals where the expected revenue is greater than or equal to 1000USD
- Upon choosing the custom action, the custom UI appears where-in you can provide user specific input for email body and subject and also choose the project where you want deal to be created as a task in Zoho Projects.
Smaller revenue deals:
Larger revenue deals:
- When a deal with the necessary criteria is satisfied, an email is sent out to the deal's contact with the subject and body provided by the end user. A task is also created in Zoho Projects with some specific deal details.
This is one business case where you can use custom action. As a parallel use case to the above example itself, say you have multiple projects in Zoho Projects, each used to work on different case categories (bugs, issues, feature request, etc.). You could develop the same kind of template and allow end users to configure the criteria and outcomes accordingly.
You could also use custom actions feature to perform templated actions to obtain personalized outcomes depending on your business needs. We hope you found this information helpful. Keep following this space for more information!
SEE ALSO:
Access your files securely from anywhere
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
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
Sticky Posts
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.Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script
Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In thisKaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List
Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore howKaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are
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
Global Search placement in the new UI
Having a hard time with the global search placement in the UI redesign. Surely I can't be the only one. Previously global search placement was perfect. A bar at the top/center of the page. Exactly where you would expect it to be. Since the new UI hasWhat's New - January 2026 | Zoho Backstage
Welcome to 2026! If you thought last year was big, buckle up. We’re stepping into this year with a singular focus: unimaginable growth, elite scalability, and performance benchmarks that leave the old ways of event management in the rearview mirror. AsCliq on your mobile phone
Some of the employees in my company get their cliq on their mobile phones but it will not let them answer the call. The employee has to go to their laptop to access it.Bulk Delete Messages in Cliq
Isn't it possible to bulk delete messages in Cliq? I have them delivered to me as notifications from another service but most of them need to be deleted as not of value. I get dozens of them per day, and deleting them is already difficult is the "Delete"stock movement report by each transaction for each item
Dear Sir we are using zoho inventory for foodstuff and we lack the transaction report which clearly shows movement of an item from Opening balance of the month to Goods received in, Supplier return out, Invoice out, Sales return In, Transfer out and TransferSelect the task view on the board in the Zoho Connect iPhone app
Hello. How do I select the task view on the board in the Zoho Connect iPhone app? The Android app has this functionality.Unable to change Company Logo
Hi Guys, I have an issue where I've uploaded a Company image in Gif format and the logo has now got a black background whereas the logo is supposed to be black not the background. I didn't think it would be an issue so I created a PNG version to uploadMetadata API Access to Functions
I think it would be incredibly helpful to have api access to every function's code. Our team primarily uses deluge functions to update fields across modules according to business logic. I would like to create a visual dependancy model for our CRM, butHistorical Sales Info - Blend with Finance Invoice Line Items, Access in CRM and Desk
My company has been using Zoho One since 2021, with sales data going back through 2020. However, we have been in business much longer, and we have historical sales information that we want to have at our fingertips when talking with customers (usuallyIntroducing Record Category in CRM: Group options to see record status at a glance.
Release update: Currently available for CN, JP, and AU DCs (all paid editions). It will be made available to other DCs by mid-March. Hello everyone, We are pleased to introduce Record Category in Zoho CRM - a new capability where the user can get an overviewService disruption in Zoho Cliq (EU Region) – February 9, 2026
Hello everyone, We’d like to inform you about a brief service disruption that affected Zoho Cliq users in the EU region earlier today. The issue has been resolved, and all services are now operating normally. Summary On February 9, 2026, Zoho Cliq experiencedSpotlight series #26 - Build slides with visual clarity using Diagram
Hello all! The feature in the spotlight this month is Diagram. Let's say you are a part of a project kickoff meeting and your teammate starts explaining the project life cycle like this: "First we ideate, then we create an initial prototype and shareClient scripts for Zoho Books ?
Good day everyone, I am looking for a way to be able to interact with the Quotes and Invoices as they are being created. Think of it like Zoho client script in Zoho CRM. But for the life of me I dont see a way to do this. The issue with having functionUplifted homepage experience
Editions: All editions. Release Note: Available in CA and SA DCs (Standard, Professional). Availability update (17th February 2026): The feature has been enabled for the following DCs: All editions in the CA and SA DC | Free, Standard and ProfessionalUnable to produce monthly P&L reports for previous years
My company just migrated to Books this year. We have 5+ years financial data and need to generate a monthly P&L for 2019 and a monthly P&L YTD for 2020. The latter is easy, but I'm VERY surprised to learn that default reports in Zoho Books cannot createCrossbeam
Does anyone use Crossbeam with their Zoho CRM? I'm looking for a way to import Crossbeam partner leads into Zoho CRM. If so: - What's your experience been like? - Are you able to automatically import Crossbeam leads > Zoho CRM? How? - What doesn't workAccess forms within a form
I have multiple forms that I would like to create access to for users within one form. Example: I have forms A, B, C, D. I would like to create a form with the links to forms A, B, C, & D. That way we can send one link and then the user can select theWorkDrive issues with Windows Explorer Not Responding
We are using WorkDrive to collaborate on editing video content. We have a lot of files and quite a few are a few gigs. Recently anytime I try and work with the files Explorer freezes for a couple minutes whether it's dragging the files into Premiere orIssues with Actions By Zoho Flow
Hi, I have a workflow that fires when a deal reaches a stage. This then sends out a contract for the client to sign. I have connected this up through Actions by Zoho Flow. Unfortunately this fails to send out. I have tracked it down to the date fields.Fill Mail Merge document up with subform fields of an Inventory module record being in the Related List
Hi, I try to insert subform fields from an inventory module record being on the Related List of another inventory module record into a Mail Merge template without success. For example: we use ratecards in licensing and this ratecard items are availableEnhancements for Currencies in Zoho CRM: Automatic exchange rate updates, options to update record exchange rates, and more
The multi-currency feature helps you track currencies region-wise. This can apply to Sales, CTC, or any other currency-related data. You can record amounts in a customer’s local currency, while the CRM automatically converts them to your home currencyBetter use of contacts
Zoho inventory has the ability to add multiple contacts to customers. However Zoho inventory doesn't currently provide a way to link a contact to objects like sales orders. This means that while you can tell what company has placed a sales order you can'tHow can we add products using a Wizard?
We want to create a Wizard to add products. Why is there no possibility to use the products module when creating a wizard?Orphan email alias blocking user creation – backend cleanup required
Hello Zoho Mail Support, I´m unable to assign or create the address xx@iezzimatica.ar in my organization. Current situation: Alias cannot be assigned to any user (system says it is already in use) New user with this address cannot be created Address doesEnsure Consistent Service Delivery with Comprehensive Job Sheets
We are elated to announce that one of the most requested features is now live: Job Sheets. They are customizable, reusable forms that serve as a checklist for the services that technicians need to carry out and as a tool for data collection. While onSomething wrong with client script??
Someone have the same feeling? Client script behavior become very strange..API 500 Error
Hello amazing ZOHO Projects Community, I get this message. How can we solve this? { "error": { "status_code": "500", "method": "GET", "instance": "/api/v3/portal/2010147XXXX/projects/2679160000003XXXX/timesheet", "title": "INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR", "error_type":Polish signer experience to compete with docusign
I would like to suggest that someone spend the little bit of time to polish the signer experience, and the email templates to more of a modern professional feel. They are currently very early 2000s and with some simple changes could vastly improve thehow to change the page signers see after signing a document in zoho sign
Hello, How can I please change the page a signer sees after signing a document in Zoho Sign? I cannot seem to find it. As it is now, it shows a default landing page "return to Zoho Sign Home". Thanks!Digest Janvier - Un résumé de ce qui s'est passé le mois dernier sur Community
Bonjour chers utilisateurs, Le premier mois de l’année est déjà derrière nous ! Découvrons ensemble comment s'est passé janvier pour Zoho Community France. Nous avons démarré le mois avec une nouvelle intégration entre Zoho Desk et Zoho Contracts. Cettecontact support
I have 2 request for a phone call and not received one call as promise!Can we fetch Deal owner and Deal owner email with COQL?
While fetching deal deatils with coql api and while fetching deal owner name and email it is just giving owner id not ginving name and email https://www.zohoapis.in/crm/v2/coqlZoho Social - Cliq Integration / Bot
Dear community / zoho, I am looking for a way to create a bot within Zoho Cliq to update my colleagues about our Zoho Social activities. For example, if a new post is published, it would be great if this post automatically would be shared in our socialComment to DM Automation
Comment to DM automation feature in Zoho Marketing Automation, similar to what tools like ManyChat offer. Use case: When a user comments on a social media post (Instagram / Facebook), the system should automatically: Send a private DM to the user CaptureSend / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts
Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only forHandling Agent Transfer from Marketing Automation Journey to SalesIQ WhatsApp
We are currently using Marketing Automation for WhatsApp marketing, and the features are great so far We have a scenario where, during a campaign or journey, we give customers an option to chat with our sales team. For this, we are using SalesIQ WhatsAppWebinar - Getting Started with Zoho LandingPage
Want to launch landing pages that support real marketing goals? This webinar is designed to help you understand the role landing pages play in your overall campaigns and how they contribute to lead generation and conversions. During this session, you’llIncrease Round Robin Scheduler Frequency in Zoho Desk
Dear Zoho Desk Team, We hope this message finds you well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Round Robin Scheduler in Zoho Desk to better address ticket assignment efficiency. Current Behavior At present, the Round Robin Scheduler operatesZoho mail to contacts and leads, but not to accounts?
We use the accounts tab a lot for our business because they can be linked to the sales orders. Now we want to use the mail add on to link communication of our emails to our accounts. However this is only possible for contacts and leads? It would be convenientMarketing Tip #19: Upsell on product page to increase order value
Upselling doesn’t have to feel pushy. It can actually feel helpful when done right. Think "people also bought", upgrades, add-ons, or complementary items. A smart upsell increases your average order value and improves the customer experience by makingNext Page