Introducing the all-new email parser!

Introducing the all-new email parser!

Greetings,
 
We are pleased to introduce to you, a brand-new, upgraded version of the Zoho CRM Email Parser, which is packed with fresh features and has been completely redesigned to meet latest customers needs and their business requirements.
 
On that note, the Old Email Parser will reach end-of-life on June 1, 2023. After EOL, old email parser will not be available in your CRM account. In the spirit of preparing for this deprecation, we encourage all of you to try the all-new email parser at the earliest. In this post, we will discuss key pointers on the following:
— the improvements made in the New Email Parser
— how to prepare for deprecation of the Old Email Parser

What is the email parser?

Email parser is a data extraction tool in Zoho CRM that helps an organization in various business functions such as lead generation and information updates. It is designed to automate the process of adding records to Zoho CRM by extracting information from incoming emails.
Now, let's have a detailed look at the functionalities that we have brought with this enhancement. 

Enhancements in the New Email Parser

The following are the enhancements you can now see when you switch to the latest version of the email parser:

1. Single parser email ID for all parser rules  

Previously, for each parser rule there was a different parser address. It was often tedious to assign and keep track of a new parser ID for each individual vendors. The logistics involved in tracking and maintaining these parser IDs was itself often time-consuming. However, in the new version of the email parser, there's only a single, common parser email ID for all rules, meaning that regardless of how many vendors you're working with or how many rules you create, you can use one parser ID for all. This makes working with the email parser much easier and cuts down your setup and maintenance time significantly.


Also, a maximum of five approved parser addresses can be set up in common for all rules early on during the configuration.

2. A more powerful and intuitive configuration interface  

In the latest version of email parser, the entire configuration interface allows free parsing and is highly intuitive, powerful, and, most importantly, user-friendly—unlike the previous version, which demanded rigid adherence to delimiters. 


The email parser interface automatically gives you a preview of the parsed data on the same screen where the field mapping occurs, so it's easier to get a snapshot of all the fields that are being parsed.

There's also an advanced configuration tab which involves options for filtering emails applicable to the parser based on criteria and associating automated actions, such as sending for approval, updating fields, and assigning records to certain users based on assignment rules.

You can also parse HTML emails directly, as opposed to converting them to plain text emails first—which was necessary for the old parser. You can also create email parser rules for each layout in a module.

3. Custom functions: Configure the email parser without associating a module

The new email parser now supports the execution of custom functions based on parsed data. In this case, the parser rule is not associated with a particular module. Using custom functions helps you with extensibility and interoperability in Zoho CRM. You can extend the email parser function to more than one module within Zoho CRM, and even to connect with other Zoho services. You can also perform ad hoc actions in third-party applications based on the parsed data.

  • For example, let's say that based on an incoming email inquiry, a property management company called Zylker wishes to update both Contact and Account records in CRM. The email sender's name, phone number, and address will go to the Contacts module, whereas their company information will go to the Accounts module.
  • Let's say also that the same company has another requirement: Based on an incoming email from a customer regarding the status of their property, they want to update corresponding information on a third-party listing website automatically. They can achieve this by using the email parser to execute custom functions.
Once you have the required custom functions written, you can associate them to the parser rule and have the action executed for subsequent incoming emails.

4. Update records and send them for approval

Update Record is a function by which you can update the latest information on a record from an incoming parsed email.

For example, say you receive an incoming email from a prospect named Jane Evans. Normally, a new lead record would be created for a new inquiry email, but if Jane is already in the CRM system, you want the CRM to update Jane's information on the same record as opposed to creating a duplicate record. If this is your expectation, you can check the Update Record option in the parser rule's Advanced Configuration settings.
 
Note: CRM will use the email field to detect duplicate records. For the Update Record option to show up, you must have first mapped the "Email" field from the email content, which serves as the primary identifier, or a "unique field" for a record.
 
You can also choose the Send for Approval option—in which case, records parsed via email parser need to be reviewed and approved from the Waiting for Approval tab in the selected module in order to become a part of the CRM system.

5. Informative parser reports 

In the new version of the email parser, you're presented with accurate, detailed insights on the number of emails being parsed per rule, the fields extracted, and a list of customized actions associated with the records the parser has created. This detail summary gives you a clear picture of how effective your rules have been and indicates the revisions you may need to make to those rules based on those insights.
 
Detailed weekly performance reports can be sent to the creator of these rules or a custom email ID. Email reports are also sent upon record creation failure so that the appropriate users can take immediate action.


6. Reorder and filter  

You now have an option to reorder the list of parser rules based on your preferred order. This is important because the email parser system is designed to execute only the very first rule whose criteria an incoming email meets. Therefore, the order of the parser rules becomes essential for effective email parser performance.

You can also filter rules by status (active/inactive) and also by module.

7. Contextual access to parsed emails  

You can view not only the Configuration Info for each parser rule, but also insights based on parsed emails.




This way, from the perspectives of both parser rules and parsed emails, you can derive useful insights.
 
The "Email" tab lists the most recent email in your parser inbox, where you can check properties like parsing status, the rule used to parse it, and more. If the email has not met any rule, you may also create a new parser rule contextually from this email page.


You can also re-run an email in the event of parser failure if there's no match found, as well as parse emails in bulk. (Note that this is applicable only for the emails that have a template match and for which the parsing was unsuccessful.)

Preparing for deprecation of the Old Email Parser

For existing users:

Existing users, who have not already switched to the new parser can do so by clicking on the Switch to New Parser button. Rules available in both the parsers will be working simultaneously until the Old parser is deprecated, but the rules available in the Old parser will not be displayed in the New parser view, and vice versa.



It's essential to manually create the existing rules in the New parser because once the Old parser is deprecated, only the rules present in the new parser will function. Since there won't be any rules from the previous parser available, the new parser will require that you create all rules from scratch.

Please note:  

  • Until the deprecation of the Old Email Parser on June 1, 2023, both the old and new versions will co-exist, after which, the New Email Parser will become the default version. .
  • The rules in the Old Email Parser parser won't be available once it has been deprecated. Therefore, if no rules are added to the New Email Parser , there won't be a parser to run. So be sure to write rules in the New Email Parser before the deprecation. Additionally, keep in mind that once your old rules have become obsolete, they cannot be recovered.

For new signups  

For new signups, only the new parser will be available as the default feature, and not the old parser. There is no action required from users in new signups.

Further reading   

Help Doc: Click here
What's New and What has Changed — A comparison guide: Click here

Thanks, have a great day. 
Regards, 
Sai Shree | Zoho CRM 

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community





                                                  Use cases

                                                  Make the most of Zoho Desk with the use cases.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  eBooks

                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Videos

                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Webinar

                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho Desk basics, from customization to automation and more

                                                   
                                                    
                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Ask the Experts


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner






                                                            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 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

                                                                                                            • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

                                                                                                              Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible
                                                                                                            • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

                                                                                                              Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.
                                                                                                            • Shared inbox unable to see replies

                                                                                                              Hi we are a small company me and someone else, we have a shared inbox for our sale@ and contact@ however we have this issue where by if i reply to an email or the other person reply to the email, it does not show it to them and therefore we end up replying
                                                                                                            • Displaying related quotes in sales order and back

                                                                                                              Hi, My colleague liked to see to which sales orders, the quote has been converted. Quote shows Invoices, but not SO. Same, they would like to see the quotes in the sales order, as they can see invoices, packages, shipment, How can we achieve this ? Thank
                                                                                                            • 404 error at checkout

                                                                                                              Our customers are getting a 404 error at checkout. Anyone else with the same problem?
                                                                                                            • automations: Can I execute a step on a specific date?

                                                                                                              I have created a form in Zoho forms, and created a contacts list. I have also begun setting up an automation with the intention of sending the form to the contact list on a specific date every month (via email) for the entire year (essentially sending
                                                                                                            • Deluge Script: Onboarding → Access Form

                                                                                                              Hello everyone, Edit: Sorry, I think I put this topic in the wrong section. I’ve recently run into an issue that’s been giving me a bit of a headache for the past few weeks. Context: This is my first time using Deluge to create a script, but it’s not
                                                                                                            • Dynamically prefill ticket fields

                                                                                                              Hello, I am using Zoho Desk to collect tickets of our clients about orders they placed on our website. I would like to be able to prefill two tickets fields dynamically, in this case a readonly field for the order id, and a hidden field for the seller
                                                                                                            • Optimize your Knowledge Base for better visibility by allowing search engine crawling and indexing

                                                                                                              All you need to know about no-follow and no-index in KB. What are article crawlability and indexability? Crawlability and indexability are vital for making an article visible and accessible to search engines. When a search engine crawls an article, it
                                                                                                            • 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 spend
                                                                                                            • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

                                                                                                              Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote
                                                                                                            • What’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, expanded
                                                                                                            • Zoho 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.
                                                                                                            • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

                                                                                                              Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due
                                                                                                            • I want to duplicate a report and name it something else

                                                                                                              Hi, I have created a report, and now want to reproduce it and call it something else. so that I will end up with TWO separate reports with different titles. Please tell me how do I copy / reproduce a report please
                                                                                                            • how to see if a specific contact opened an email in zoho campaign?

                                                                                                              how to see if a specific contact opened an email in zoho campaign?
                                                                                                            • Created Date/Invalid Fields

                                                                                                              Since Saturday we have suddenly had issues with our webhooks and data retrieval from CRM. Specifically how Created Date is handled. It appears there was some sort of change within CRM that broke a lot of our code that has been in place for several years.
                                                                                                            • 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 need
                                                                                                            • Apply 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: Awaiting
                                                                                                            • Introducing Profile Summary: Faster Candidate Insights with Zia

                                                                                                              We’re excited to launch Profile Summary, a powerful new feature in Zoho Recruit that transforms how you review candidate profiles. What used to take minutes of resume scanning can now be assessed in seconds—thanks to Zia. A Quick Example Say you’re hiring
                                                                                                            • Can'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 normally
                                                                                                            • Whats 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 default
                                                                                                            • Zoho Tables instead of Zoho Creator Spreadsheet reports <3

                                                                                                              That would make my day for sure. Zoho Creator is create, but miss data entering as AirTable/Spreadsheet can. Seeing Zoho putting effort in this makes me think maybe one day we could see a similar interface for Zoho Creator spreadsheet reports. B.
                                                                                                            • Community 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 para
                                                                                                            • How 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 Security
                                                                                                            • No option for pick up in Zoho Books / Inventory but yes on commerce

                                                                                                              Is it planned to release soon on books/inventory?
                                                                                                            • Archiving Contacts

                                                                                                              How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?
                                                                                                            • 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 comptabilité
                                                                                                            • Blueprint 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 we
                                                                                                            • Zoho 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 monitored
                                                                                                            • Zoho 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 screenshot
                                                                                                            • Add 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 with
                                                                                                            • New 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 something
                                                                                                            • How 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 possible
                                                                                                            • 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 you
                                                                                                            • Next Page