Introducing custom lookup fields in the Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts modules

Introducing custom lookup fields in the Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts modules

Hello all,

 

We are excited to announce a new enhancement that will empower you to further customize the Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts modules. Now, you will be able to create custom lookup fields in your Tickets, Contacts, and Accounts layouts for more flexibility when managing your data.

 

We will be releasing this feature in a phased manner. To request early access, click the registration link below and provide your details. We will enable the feature for your Desk account. 


Registration link >>> https://zoho.to/ZohoDeskBetaForm

 

Here is a quick overview of custom lookup fields.  

What are custom lookup fields? 

Custom lookups are additional fields that can be added to the Contacts, Accounts, and Tickets modules, aside from the default standard lookups (Contact Name and Account Name) that are already available. These fields are customizable and can be tailored to meet various business needs. 

What are the benefits of custom lookups? 

  1. Streamlined data selection: By setting up criteria-based filters, users can limit the records that are displayed when searching for a value in the lookup field, making it easier to find and associate the appropriate records.
  2. Easy creation of related records: Create records in a related module directly from the layout. Users can seamlessly create and associate relevant information without navigating away or switching screens.
  3. Auto-filled field values: Fields in the layout can be prefilled with values from a related module's field. Save time and simplify data entry by populating relevant information for users.

 

When creating a custom lookup field, you can:  

Perform basic configurations 

You can tailor a custom lookup field to meet your business needs through basic configurations. Here are some basic configurations you can perform:

 

  1. Establish Relationship: Choose a related module to establish a relationship. For instance, in the Tickets module, you can create a custom lookup field to establish a relationship with the Contacts module, linking tickets to their respective contacts.
  2. Search and Sort Records: Narrow down the custom lookup field search results and sort the records based on the related module. For example, if you choose Accounts as the related module, you can search and sort the records by Account Name, Created Time, or Modified Time.
  3. Customize Suggestion Pop-up: Enhance the user experience by customizing the suggestion pop-up. Display additional information in the search box to help users find the most appropriate record. For example, when an agent uses a Related Category lookup field, the suggestion pop-up can be configured to display relevant categories based on the category name, priority level, or department. 
  4. Create Subtab: Organize related information by creating a subtab in the related module. For example, if you are creating a custom lookup field in the Tickets module and you select Contacts as the related module, you can create a subtab named Associated Tickets in the Contacts module, which will display all the tickets associated with a particular contact.



  5. Personalize Tooltip: Provide helpful information to users by personalizing the tooltip for the custom lookup field. For instance, in a Customers module, you can create a custom lookup field with a tooltip that provides hints or instructions to users while they're entering a field value.


Perform advanced configurations 

In addition to the basic configurations, you can perform the following advanced configurations:  


  1. Prefill values from a related module: Auto-populate fields in the current layout (where the custom lookup field is added) based on a selected field in the related module. 
    Let's say you are creating a custom lookup field in the Tickets module and choose "Phone Number" as the related module field and "Contact Number" as the current layout field. You can pre-populate the Contact Number field in the Tickets module (current layout field) based on the corresponding data in the Phone Number field of the Accounts module (related module field).



  2. Set filter criteria: Display records separately in the suggestion pop-up based on filter criteria. For example, you can filter records based on a specific account name.



  3. Create a new record in the related module: Add new records directly to the parent layout. For example, in the Tickets module, a custom lookup field named "Referral Contact" can be created with the related module set as Contacts. When a new contact name, such as "John Smith," is entered in the custom lookup field, a corresponding record for John Smith can be created in the Contacts module.



Refer to our help documentation for more information on configuring and working with custom lookups.


If you want to try out the custom lookup feature, please fill out the registration form given-above and let us know. 

 

Share your valuable feedback and suggestions in the comments below.

 

Have a great day! 


Regards,

Varsha P | Zoho Desk


    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.







                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts



                                                              • Sticky Posts

                                                              • 2024 Email Authentication Standards: Elevating Security with Google and Yahoo

                                                                In contemporary email communication, email authentication plays a pivotal role in mitigating email fraud, spam, and phishing attacks. Brace yourself for a new level of security. Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will be implementing robust email
                                                              • Using Agent Email Address as From Address

                                                                Currently, while replying to a ticket, it is possible for agents to choose their own email addresses as 'from' addresses. Although we built this just for that little extra flexibility, in hindsight, it hasn't figured much in conventional usage.  Almost all businesses prefer that responses to their customers' tickets be sent from the common support/service email address and NOT from those of individual agents. During personal interactions at events, some of you have even made passing mentions about
                                                              • Edit and Delete options in Comments

                                                                A lot of teams have been using ticket comments extensively to collaborate everyday. Notification Center further improved this experience by bringing real-time updates. As we continue to build more improvements to this experience, we've shipped a small-yet-important
                                                              • Webinar 2: Supercharged customer support for growing business

                                                                Join us for this webinar and learn how to step up your support game using a real-time communication platform to generate happier, more successful customers. In this live webinar, we will will discuss the importance of SalesIQ for your support team and how it can help you:  Understand your customers better and their journeys to proactively support and engage them even before they ask for help.  Integrating real time conversations into Zoho Desk’s Support, providing a conversational customer service
                                                              • Customize Colors of your Customer Self Service Portal

                                                                You asked for it. We heard you. We're happy to roll out the most sought after feature request, Customizing the Colors of your Customer Self-service Portal. Now you can set the color of your customer portal to mimic your company's web site, so that your customers visiting the portal will not feel alienated by the default theme.  Go ahead and configure the color of the header, tabs, fonts and background according to your needs. You can either choose between default color themes like Blue, Grey, Green


                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    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

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner









                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Notification to customers when I use a Zoho function

                                                                                                                  Hi all, I tried searching the community but couldn't find anything about it. I noticed that the customer receives the notification of reopening the old ticket but does not receive the notification of opening a new ticket when I use the function: "separate
                                                                                                                • Date Filters in Zoho Desk Dashboard

                                                                                                                  Hello Team, Currently, in the Zoho Desk dashboard, the date filter is available only for daily, weekly, and monthly views. Could we also add a yearly date filter to allow filtering by an entire year? Additionally, in the custom date filter, it is currently
                                                                                                                • Mobile app - offline

                                                                                                                  If I made a couple of forms and my field guys had the mobile app and were somewhere without signal, could they open the app, complete and sumbit a form and have it upload when they are back in signal (we need different info at different jobs and I'm trying
                                                                                                                • Zoho Survey reminder settings are extremely confusing

                                                                                                                  Hi, I just want to set 3 reminders, one week apart from the first email out. Your form is too confusing and I don't understand. Can you simplify and be more specific regarding the language used on the form ?
                                                                                                                • Zobot drop down list

                                                                                                                  Hi, I am trying to create a drop down list in Zobot by creating a plug. I think I am close but I just can't get it over the line and was hoping that someone could help me. I had a little bit of help getting the script started (hence the comments) // Deluge
                                                                                                                • How to compare a subform lookup field that allows multiple entries when edited

                                                                                                                  I have a form with a subform with multiple fields. One of the fields is a lookup field that allows a multi select. On edit validation, I want a workflow to execute only when the entries in that subform field has changed. The old. function is not working
                                                                                                                • Translation of Tooltip Messages

                                                                                                                  The descriptive help messages should be available to provide translations for.
                                                                                                                • Business Day Logic Update: More Accurate Scheduling for Your Workflows

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, We’re improving how business-day calculations work in workflows, especially when triggers happen on weekends. This update ensures that offsets like +0, +1, and +2 business days behave exactly as intended, giving you clearer and more predictable
                                                                                                                • Lead Blueprint transition in custom list view

                                                                                                                  Hi, Is It possible to insert the Blueprint transition label in a custom Canvas list view? I am using Lead module. I see the status, but it would be great if our users could execute the Blueprint right from the list view without having to enter the detailed
                                                                                                                • Email Notifications not pushing through

                                                                                                                  Hi, Notifications from CRM are not reaching my users as they trigger.  We have several workflow triggers set up that send emails to staff as well as the notifications users get when a task is created for them or a user is tagged in the notes.  For the past 6 days these haven't been coming through in real time, instead users are receiving 30-40 notifications in one push several hours later.  This is beginning to impact our daily usage of CRM and is having a negative effect on our productivity because
                                                                                                                • Debit opening balances of vendors

                                                                                                                  Dear colleagues: I am looking at the trial balance as on 31st March 2024, and punching opening balances (1st April 2024) in Zoho Books. Vendors have credit balances, by its nature, but some of our vendors have debit balances as well (e.g., we have paid
                                                                                                                • Is there an equivalent to the radius search in RECRUIT available in the CRM

                                                                                                                  We have a need to find all Leads and/or Contacts within a given radius of a given location (most likely postcode) but also possibly an address. I was wondering whether anyone has found a way to achieve this in the CRM much as the radius search in RECRUIT
                                                                                                                • Allow Text within a Formula

                                                                                                                  Hi, I would like to be able to use this for others things like taking an existing Date Field and copying its value, so by entering getDay(Date)&"-"&getMonth(Date)&"-"&getYear(Date) it results in 01-02-2026. And then when the Date is changed so is this
                                                                                                                • Change Number Field to Decimal Field

                                                                                                                  Hi, It would be nice to be able to change the field type without having to delete it and create a new one, messing up the database and history. Thanks Dan
                                                                                                                • Pipeline.Company Name field shows up as numbers! [Bigin Developer Console > Component > URL]

                                                                                                                  Hi there, I am setting up to invoke URL to send infromation zoho bigin > zoho forms with company name pre-fill in the form. however when I use : ${Pipelines.Company Name} field it shows up as a string of number instead of words. Help.
                                                                                                                • Add specific field value to URL

                                                                                                                  Hi Everyone. I have the following code which is set to run from a subform when the user selects a value from a lookup field "Plant_Key" the URL opens a report but i want the report to be filtered on the matching field/value. so in the report there is
                                                                                                                • How to Move Behavior, Acquisition, Polls & Forms Data from Zoho PageSense to Zoho Analytics?

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Community, I'm looking for a way to transfer data from Zoho PageSense to Zoho Analytics, specifically: Behavioral data (clicks, scrolls, heatmaps, etc.) Acquisition data (traffic sources, campaigns, etc.) Polls and forms data As far as I can tell:
                                                                                                                • Zoho Social - Feature Request - Non-US Date Format

                                                                                                                  Hi Social Team, I have noticed that there is no option to change the date format from US mm/dd/yyyy to others like dd/mm/yyyy. It would be great to see this added as the platform matures. Thanks for considering this feedback.
                                                                                                                • 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
                                                                                                                • Zoho CRM Community Digest - December 2025 | Part 1

                                                                                                                  Hello Everyone! In the first half of December, Zoho CRM rolled out auto-invite for portals, smarter CPQ with Zia suggestions and price rules, and Query Workbench for faster query building. We also highlight other noteworthy conversations you shouldn’t
                                                                                                                • Zoho Flow Credits

                                                                                                                  Hi , I would like to ask the reason why every time I added plus credit but few days later I will return back to default? (as below I add credit to 3000 but today It change back to 1000) Most important is, when the credit fully used, not any reminder to
                                                                                                                • Custom Module Send Email not filling To automatically after adding Email field also

                                                                                                                  I create custom module in zohoCRM but problem is in custom module when i click send email there in popup To is filling automatic its coming empty which i need to manually add an email there. How can I fix it? I already added the Email field there, but
                                                                                                                • Introducing Intake Forms

                                                                                                                  We are excited to announce the release of Intake Forms, a new feature in Zoho Contracts designed to make contract requests simple, structured, and efficient. Intake Forms allow organization members to request new contracts through a web form instead of
                                                                                                                • eIDAS 2.0: What's changed for digital trust in Europe, and where Zoho Sign stands

                                                                                                                  Hi there! It's that time of year when many of us get our ducks in a row. A new year often makes us reassess priorities, and for businesses in the EU, it means taking a closer look at how digital identities and electronic signatures work across borders,
                                                                                                                • Directly Edit, Filter, and Sort Subforms on the Details Page

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, As you know, subforms allow you to associate multiple line items with a single record, greatly enhancing your data organization. For example, a sales order subform neatly lists all products, their quantities, amounts, and other relevant
                                                                                                                • Add Israel & Jewish Holidays to Zoho People Holidays Gallery

                                                                                                                  Greetings, We hope you are doing well. This feature request is related to Zoho People - please don't move it to zoho one! We are writing to request an enhancement to the Holidays Gallery in Zoho People. Currently, there are several holidays available,
                                                                                                                • Any update on much requested feature, to delete attachments without deleting the e-mail body?

                                                                                                                  People have been requesting the ability to delete e-mail attachments without deleting the e-mail for more than ten years now. The latest I see is marked "Working On It" and a year ago it was supposedly being added, see here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/is-there-a-way-to-delete-mail-attachments-without-deleting-the-text
                                                                                                                • How to delete attachments form Zoho mail accounts

                                                                                                                  I can't find a way to delete attachments from Zoho mail messages, either individually or in bulk. Searches here are providing conflicting results and often talk about workspace, whereas I am only interested in how to delete attachments that are seen with
                                                                                                                • Unable to fetch ticket by custom field value

                                                                                                                  I'm trying to set up a Flow to fetch a ticket based on a custom field value. This seems like it should be pretty straightforward, but it's not working for me. I keep getting an error saying Zoho Desk says "Extra query parameter 'cf_creator_record_id'
                                                                                                                • Zoho Inventory - Composite Items - Assembly - Single Line Item Quantity of One

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Inventory Team, Please consider relaxing the system rules which prevent an assembly items from consisting of a single line item and outputting a quantity of 1. A client I'm currently working with sells cosmetics and offers testers of their products
                                                                                                                • What's New in Zoho Inventory | Q2 2025

                                                                                                                  Hello Customers, The second quarter have been exciting months for Zoho Inventory! We’ve introduced impactful new features and enhancements to help you manage inventory operations with even greater precision and control. While we have many more exciting
                                                                                                                • Zoho POS App Hanging Issue – Sales Becoming Difficult

                                                                                                                  The Zoho POS app frequently hangs and becomes unresponsive during billing, making it very difficult to complete sales smoothly. This commonly happens while adding items, during checkout, or at payment time, especially during peak hours. These issues cause
                                                                                                                • Writing by Hand in "Write" Notes

                                                                                                                  Hi there! I just downloaded this app a few moments ago, and I was wondering if there was a way to write things by hand in "Write" mode instead of just typing in the keyboard. It would make things a bit more efficient for me in this moment. Thanks!
                                                                                                                • Zoho Mail Verification Following DNS Switch from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

                                                                                                                  I initially configured my domain’s ( https://roblozapk.com/ ) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records such as MX, SPF, and DKIM. At that time, all email services were working correctly without any issues. Recently, I removed
                                                                                                                • "Spreadsheet Mode" for Fast Bulk Edits

                                                                                                                  One of the challenges with using Zoho Inventory is when bulk edits need to be done via the UI, and each value that needs to be changed is different. A very common use case here is price changes. Often, a price increase will need to be implemented, and
                                                                                                                • SAML in Zoho One vs Zoho Accounts

                                                                                                                  What is the difference between setting up SAML in Zoho Accounts: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/accounts/manage-your-organization/saml/articles/configure-saml-in-zoho-accounts ... vs SAML in Zoho One?: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/one/admin-guide/custom-authentication/setting-up-custom-authentication-with-popular-idps/articles/zohoone-customauthentication-azure
                                                                                                                • Deactivated Zoho One account can sign in

                                                                                                                  I am concerned by the fact that deactivated users in Zoho One have the ability to sign in even after their account has been deactivated (not deleted). these inactive identities have no access to individual Zoho apps or data. based on my experience they
                                                                                                                • How can I reset the password for a user in Zoho Projects

                                                                                                                  We need to reset the password for a user in Zoho Projects. I am the admin portal owner and there was nothing to be found to do this. very confusing.
                                                                                                                • How can I add a comment to an existing ticket via API?

                                                                                                                  I need to add comments/notes to the history of an existing ticket using the API without overwriting the original ticket description. Thanks!
                                                                                                                • Marketer's Space: Proven tips to improve open rates – Part III

                                                                                                                  Hello Marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! This is the final post in the "open rate series". In the first and second parts, we discussed topics ranging from sender domains to pre-headers—but we're not done yet. A few more important
                                                                                                                • Next Page