Extension pointers #13: Handle cases with personalized solutions using custom actions
In our last post, we detailed the steps involved in creating a custom action and the workflow from the developer and end user's side. Now let's look at a working example of how we can create a custom action and implement it in a Zoho CRM account to make the end user's work simpler.
You are a sales representative (the end user/extension user) handling cases and their solutions in a Zoho CRM account. While cases may arrive by phone, web, or email, you must log them with basic information, such as the subject, description, and priority.
Issues are typically recorded in cases modules using the Subject field, which contains a brief description of the problem. You may discover an immediate solution to the issue while manually logging the cases. In those cases, you must still manually feed the solution into the Solution field. How convenient would it be if the solution for a case could be auto-populated when a case with a common issue arises? We can streamline this process by creating a custom action.
Note: Throughout the following example explanation, the terms "sales representative", "end user", and "extension user" can be used interchangeably, but refer to the same person. The sales representative is the end user who installs and makes use of the extension features in their Zoho CRM account.
Create a custom action as part of extension development that includes a custom UI for obtaining personalized solution inputs and an action that will update the solution in the Solution field of a case. After installing the extension, the end user can simply create workflows and associate the custom action with them.
Because the sales representative who installs the extension will be dealing with the cases in their Zoho CRM account, they can easily create different workflows. Each of these workflows can be assigned criteria so that when the Subject field contains specific keywords typically used by the sales representative while logging, the custom action updates the personalized solution provided as part of that workflow custom action.
Let's go over the steps in order to achieve this.
- Create a custom user interface (widget-connected app) that allows the user to enter their personalized solution inputs.
- In the Zoho Developer console, create a custom action.
- Associate the custom UI to the custom action.
- Define an action that performs the function of updating a case's Solution field.
- Create workflows (as an end-user perspective that meets specific subject criteria (e.g., if the subject contains keywords like "widget," "not," and ''loading," then set a personalized solution in the case) and associate a custom action to them.
Creating a custom UI to obtain an end user's personalized solution inputs
- Create a custom UI to retrieve the end user's personalized input for the solution field and later be updated in a case based on the workflow the user creates.
Case handling.html code snippet
|
Case handling.js code snippet
|
- The above javascript code snippet will fetch the current case's ID and set it to a variable "Caseid". The end user's inputted solution through the UI is also set to a variable "Solution".
- These values will be passed as parameters to the custom function that will be associated with the custom action in the coming section.
Creating a custom action
1. Create a custom action called "Casehandling" using the Create an Action button under the Custom Actions option, available in the Components section of the Zoho Developer console.
2. Provide a name for the custom action and a description if necessary. Click Next.
3. Associate the custom UI created earlier with the custom action by specifying the html page of the widget's connected app. Click Next.
4. Then write a Deluge function to perform the desired action by clicking the Create Function button. As shown on the right hand side of the page, the values obtained in the custom UI earlier will be passed as a JSON object parameter to this Deluge function, and then the functionalities can be performed based on these inputs from the custom page.
Case handling Deluge function code snippet
caseinfo = {"ID":config.get("Caseid"),"Solution":config.get("Solution")}; response = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Cases",config.get("Caseid"),caseinfo); |
- The above Deluge code snippet uses the current case ID and the solution input by the end user through the UI to update the personalized solution to the Solution field of the case using the updateRecord deluge task.
- Click Save to save the custom action.
Now that the functionality is defined, the extension can be published and installed.
Creating workflows in Zoho CRM as an end user
1. As an end user, install the extension.
2. Now create a workflow using Setup->Automation->Workflow rules. Create workflows for two commonly arising cases so that, as an end user, you can predefine some personalized solution inputs for these common cases. This will thereby update the solution to the case when the workflow criteria is satisfied. The two sample workflows handled for this example are:
When a widget is not loading or a 404 page not found occurs in the user's Zoho CRM account.
When a connector unauthorized error occurs.
3. First, define a workflow for "Widget not loading" case by specifying the when and condition criteria.
4. Now under "instant actions," you will find the custom action installed as part of the extension. Associate the case handling custom action with this workflow.
5. Enter the personalized solution in the custom UI displayed.
6. Go to the Cases module. Log a case with the Subject field, satisfying the workflow criteria.
This automatically updates the Solution field with the predefined solution entered by the end user for this workflow.
Similarly, you can create multiple workflows for different cases for which you can define predefined solutions to make the case logging process easy.
In this way, you can use custom actions to ease the end user's work by reusing templates created for them. We hope you find this information useful. Keep following this space for more insights!
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
Swarnim Swaraj
Pheranda Nongpiur
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #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 areKaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms
Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achievedKaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI
Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the
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
E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Billing
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. Invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing worksConvert HTML to PDF & Send as Email Attachments in Zoho Creator (Deluge)
This approach is useful for sending welcome letters, instructions, or promotional offers after order creation. // 1. Define the variables using the submitted input customerName = input.Customer_Name1; orderID = input.ID; customerEmail = input.Email_Address; //Connecting zoho creator to zoho writer to send prefilled documents
i will paste the worflow below // Get user's submitted data from the form userSalary = input.Current_Salary; userCIBIL = input.CIBIL_Score; userEmail = input.Email; userName = input.Name; // You need to get the Document ID from the URL of your Zoho WriterExtracting Images from a Zoho Creator Report into a Pages
If you’ve uploaded images in a form and can see them in your report, you might also want to display those same images inside a Page (custom HTML page). This is useful for dashboards, profile pages, or any place where images should be visible dynamicallyAuto-fill New Row with Previous Row Values
rowsize = input.Order_Items.count(); for each row1 in input.Order_Items { rowsize = rowsize - 1; if(rowsize == 1) { row.Door_Model = row1.Door_Model; row.Door_Color = row1.Door_Color; row.Materials = row1.Materials;I am facing a problem with an if-else condition
If I use if, else if, and else conditions in Deluge with the same variable name, sometimes the variable causes an error because the same variable name is present in every blockWhen I click on PDF/PRINT it makes the invoice half size
When I click PDF / Print for my invoice in Zoho Books, the generated PDF appears at half size — everything is scaled down, including the logo, text, and layout. The content does not fill the page as it should. Could someone advise what causes Zoho BooksPython - code studio
Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics alreadyAPI question - adding a thread to an existing ticket
Hi Is there an API function for the customer to add to an existing ticket thread? example, customer puts in new support ticket. support replies and ask for more details. customer replies with more details -what api function is used for this (will add record append to same ticket number?) Thankssearch and Smart Bar both missing in Mail
One of the users on my account does not have the search bar at the top right or the Smart Bar at the bottom left of the desktop Mail app. Any ideas how to get those back?Why is Zoho Meeting quality so poor?
I've just moved from Office 365 to Zoho Workplace and have been generally really positive about the new platform -- nicely integrated, nice GUI, good and easy-to-understand control and customisation, and at a reasonable price. However, what is going onHide fields only for creation
Hello, I'd like to hide some fields only during the creation of a contact in Zoho CRM. In fact I have some fields that are automatically calculated thanks to an automation, so when my users create a contact I don't want them to fill those fields. I knowItems 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 sQwen as the default open source Generative AI model for Zia
Hello everyone, Zia Generative AI is transitioning from Llama (8B parameters) to Qwen (30B parameters) as the default model. This means that users who were using Llama as a GenAI service will now use Qwen. This upgrade was made with a vision to enhanceCalendar week view: Today + 6
Is there anyway to have the calendar change dynamically based on the date? Due to the amount of events, we only display a week at a time, but towards the end of the week, we can no longer see ahead to next week (without changing it manually every time).How to restrict user/portal user change canvas view
Hi , I would like to restrict user / portal user change their canvas view because I hide some sensitive field for them. I dont want my user switch the canvas view that do not belong to them But seems Zoho do not provide this setting?E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Books
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. This means that invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-InvoicingE-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Inventory
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. Invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing WorksEnhancement Request for Multi-Asset Work Order Feature
Hello Latha, Thank you for your continued support. The multi-asset Work Order feature is extremely helpful. I did some testing based on our requirements, and during the process, I noticed a few areas where we need your team’s support to improve the featureCRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive
Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage filesWeekly Tips : Make collaboration effortless with Whiteboard in Zoho Mail
Working with your team often means switching between emails, notes, and other applications just to explain an idea. Maybe you are trying to sketch a layout, plan a workflow, or quickly brainstorm ideas—with text alone, things can get confusing. So howAdd Option to Mass Dispatch by User
Hello! We are using the dispatch console to dispatch service appointments to our service ressources. Right now, the process is our dispatcher verifies each ressource's route for the day and dispatches it after validation. Sadly, there doesn't seem toIntroducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]
Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-childError AS101 when adding new email alias
Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.How to add to Subforms via Zapier with Zoho Writer?
I have the following layout for a Zoho Writer Document. As you can see there is a repeating subform taking in "Items". I am trying to make a Zapier integration with it, and I can see there is 1 field saying: "Items", but it does not specify how I'm supposedContrôles administratifs granulaires : un atout pour la sécurité des e-mails
La moindre erreur dans votre système de messagerie peut coûter très cher à votre entreprise, tant en argent qu’en conformité et en image de marque. Pour beaucoup d’organisations, ce risque est bien réel. Les e-mails véhiculent quotidiennement des informationsInclude the "Added Email ID" to the Filters of a Report
Hi, With a Report and lots of entries, a normal thing is to filter entries by the submitter, but that is not included in the Auto Filter of Reports and you can't add a custom filter to a Report without specifying the actual value. I would like to be ableMarketer's Space: Why mobile optimization deserves a place in your email strategy
Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketer's Space! Today, we'll talk about the importance of creating mobile-friendly email designs. While mobile phones were once used only to make phone calls, today they're used for almost everything, including texting,Collections Management: #6 Realign Customers who gets back In-Term
Arun stared at the subscription list on his dashboard. Another account had just been moved to Cancelled status after completing the whole dunning process. Nothing unusual, just that payment failures happen, retries fail, and cancellation is the expectedZoho Mail IP Blacklist
I need problems with send mails: Error: junk mail rejected - sender4-op-o10.zoho.com 136.143.188.10, is in RBL. Spamcop. Please remove FQDN for blacklist. Regards.I can receive but not send emails
Hello, I've been not able to send emails for almost a year now. I been using alternate email to do this. I want to know how to fix this so I can use my zoho account normally again.Setting checkbox value on template in Sign from Creator
Good day, Please help me understand how do I set a tick from a checkbox in Creator into a checkbox on a Sign template. Below is the only values on the Sign template and the code from Creator, "field_boolean_data": {}, "field_date_data": {}, "field_radio_data":The challenge of 24/7 connectivity: Being present and meeting customer expectations
Before television entered our homes, radio was our window to the world. We had to tune carefully to catch voices from distant places. When television arrived, the world began to grow smaller. We can watch rocket launches, see the goal that wins our favoriteHow to download all attachments from inbox, send, other folders in one go
Hi All, Appreciate if anyone could help me with steps for below requirement. How to download all attachments from inbox, send, other folders in one go. Even mapping to new folder will help me. Thanks in advance.Recruit paid support?
Hi all, Could anyone who has paid support package advise if it provides value for money with regards to support response times? Exploring the idea as unfortunately when we have faced issues with Recruit it has been a 7+ day timescale from reporting toCannot connect mail accounts to Thunderbird
Hi Support - I'm attempting to add my mail accounts to Thunderbird but I'm getting an unable to login to server error. I tried to use the password associated with my account I received the unable to login error. So I went into Zoho Accounts and generateAlias Email Id already exists
Hi, I just verified my domain sesque (dot) com and now I am trying to create the admin account using admin (at) sesque (dot) com, but I am getting an error saying "Alias Email Id already exists". I used to have another Zoho account with this email address,Unable to connect to smtp server, connection timed out
Hi Team, I am facing below issue, while sending out emails from thunderbird client. It used to work, facing this issue from morning. Error: Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.zoho.comjavax.mail.authenticationfailedexception 535 authentication failed
Hi, I am facing 535 authentication failed error when trying to send email from zoho desktop as well as in webmail. Can you suggest to fix this issue,. Regards, RekhaIssue with Creator's IF logic
Hi, I found the following code produces unexpected results: if(-1.0 < 0.0000000) { info "True"; } else { info "False"; } if(-1.0 < 0.000000) { info "True"; } else { info "False"; } The output returned is: False True However, theNext Page