Kaizen #12 - Bulk Read API
Hello everyone!
We hope you all are having a wonderful start in the New Year!
Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series!
What is the Bulk Read API?
The Bulk Read API allows you to export data from a module in Zoho CRM in bulk. The primary difference between the GET records API and the Bulk Read API is the number of records you can retrieve.
While you can get only 200 records per Get records API call, you can fetch 200,000 records per bulk read API call.
When should you use this API?
- When you want to export more than 200 records through an API call.
- When you want to perform background processes like migration, data backup, and initial data sync between Zoho CRM and external services.
What is the difference between GET Records API and Bulk Read API?
GET Records
Bulk Read API
You can fetch a maximum of 200 records per API call.
You can fetch a maximum of 200,000 records per API call.
The response is available instantly.
The response is not available instantly; the bulk read job is scheduled, and the status is available after job completion in the callback URL.
The records are available as JSON objects in the response.
The records are available in a downloadable CSV file or ICS file (for events).
GET Records
Bulk Read API
You can fetch a maximum of 200 records per API call.
You can fetch a maximum of 200,000 records per API call.
The response is available instantly.
The response is not available instantly; the bulk read job is scheduled, and the status is available after job completion in the callback URL.
The records are available as JSON objects in the response.
The records are available in a downloadable CSV file or ICS file (for events).
What kind of export does the Bulk Read API support?
You can export
- Records available in a custom view. You can also apply the criteria on the records available in that custom view to filter the records further. Note that you cannot export records in the Co-owner, Shared by Me, and Shared to Me views.
- Lookup fields of records in a module using the dot (.) operator.
- Records in the events module as an ICS file.
How does the Bulk Read API work?
Scheduling a bulk read job encompasses the following steps.
- Creating a bulk read job.
- Getting the status of the scheduled job.
- Downloading the result.
We will now see each of these steps in detail.
Step-1: Creating a bulk read job
This involves making a POST API call to schedule a job to fetch records that match certain criteria, along with the required fields.
When this call is successful, the response returns an id. You can use this id to know the status of the job by polling, or check the job completion in the callback URL.
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/read
Request Method: POST
Consider an example where you want to export records from the Contacts module.
The below query fetches the records that matches one of the three criteria—
- The lead source is Advertisement (or)
- The owner's last name is Boyle (or)
- The phone number of the account associated with the contact contains the numbers 99807.
The fields to be fetched are mentioned in the fields array. To fetch all fields in the module, do not input the fields key.
In this query, Account_Name is the default lookup field in the Contacts module. Owner.last_name returns the last name of the owner of the contact, Account_Name returns the ID and Account_Name.Account_Name returns the name of the account associated with the contact, and Account_Name.Phone returns the phone number of the account associated with the contact.
{ "callback": { "method": "post" }, "query": { "module": "Contacts", "fields": [ "Last_Name", "Owner", "Owner.last_name", "Account_Name.Account_Name", "Account_Name.Phone", "Lead_Source", "Created_Time" ], "criteria": { "group_operator": "or", "group": [ { "api_name": "Lead_Source", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Advertisement" }, { "api_name": "Owner.last_name", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Boyle" }, { "api_name": "Account_Name.Phone", "comparator": "contains", "value": "99807" } ] }, "page": 1 } } |
The below table gives the description of the keys in the sample input.
Key and Data Type | Mandatory | Description |
callback JSON Object | Yes | Contains a valid URL, which should allow the HTTP POST method. The Bulk Read Job's details are posted to this URL on successful completion or failure of the job. |
query JSON Object | Yes | Contains the module, fields that you want to export, criteria based on which you want to export the records, and the page. Refer to the query properties table below for more details. |
file_type String | Yes, when you want to export the events as an ICS file. | Specify the value of this key as "ics" to export all records in the Events module as an ICS file. |
query properties
Key and Data Type | Mandatory | Description |
module String | Yes | The API name of the module from which you want to export the records. Specify the module name as "Events" if you want to export the records in the Events module as an ics file. |
cvid String | Yes, when you want to export records in a custom view | The unique ID of the custom view whose records you want to export. You can obtain the cvid from the Custom View Metadata API. |
fields JSON Array | No | The API Name of the fields you want to export from the module. Example: First_Name, Last_Name, Email, Owner.last_name. Do not input this key when you want to export the records in the Events module as an ICS file. The system throws FIELDS_NOT_SUPPORTED error, otherwise. |
page Integer | No | Default value for page is 1. The page value '1' means that the first 200,000 records matching your query will be exported. If you want to fetch the records from the range of 200,001 to 400,000, then you should mention the page as '2'. The maximum value for this key is 500. |
criteria JSON Object | No | To filter the records you want to export. This JSON object contains the API name of the field, comparator, and a group. Refer to the criteria properties table below for more details. |
criteria properties
Key and Data Type | Mandatory | Description |
api_name String | Yes, if group and group_operator are not specified. | API name of the field you want to compare. Example: First_Name, Last_Name, Owner.last_name etc,. Example: "criteria": { "api_name": "Lead_Source", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Advertisement" } |
value String or JSON array | Yes, if group and group_operator are not specified. | Positive integer values only. |
group_operator String | Yes, if api_name, comparator & value are not specified. | Logical operators. Supported values are and, or. |
group JSON array | Yes, if api_name, comparator & value are not specified. | Array of criteria objects. |
comparator String | Yes, if group and group_operator are not specified. | Specifies the comparator. Example: equal, greater_than. Refer to the comparators table for more details. |
comparators
Data Type | Comparator | Value and Limits |
Number (Integer), Decimal/BigInteger/ Currency/Percent) | equal, not_equal, in, not_in, less_than, less_equal, greater_than, greater_equal | Any number values or ${EMPTY} for empty value. Not more than 19 digits for big integer, allows decimal values for decimal and currency fields. In multi-currency enabled accounts, only home currency value is supported. |
Text (Email, Phone, URL, Picklist, Multi-select, etc) | equal, not_equal, in, not_in, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with | Any text or ${EMPTY} for empty value. Not more than 255 characters. |
Date | equal, not_equal, in, not_in, between, not_between | Any date value in ISO 8601 format or ${EMPTY} for empty value. |
DateTime | equal, not_equal, in, not_in, between, not_between | Any date time value in ISO 8601 format or ${EMPTY} for empty value. Example: 2019-04-01T14:24:04+05:30. Milliseconds are not supported. |
Boolean | equal | true or false. |
Lookup | equal, not_equal, in, not_in | Biginteger value of the lookup, ${EMPTY} for empty value, or use the .(dot) operator to establish a relation between two modules. Example: In the Contacts module, Owner fetches the ID of the Owner, whereas Owner.last_name fetches the last name of the owner. Account_Name fetches the ID of the Account associated with the base module, whereas Account_Name.Phone fetches the phone number of the account associated with the base module. |
Text Area (Multi-line) | Not supported | Not supported |
The response to the sample query is as follows. You can use the id in the details key to check the job status periodically as explained in step-2.
{ "data": [ { "status": "success", "code": "ADDED_SUCCESSFULLY", "message": "Added successfully.", "details": { "id": "3652397000000646004", "operation": "read", "state": "ADDED", "created_by": { "id": "3652397000000186017", "name": "Patricia Boyle" }, "created_time": "2019-04-01T14:24:04+05:30" } } ], "info": {} } |
For more details and examples, refer to the Create Bulk Read Job page of our API guide.
Step-2: Getting the status of the scheduled bulk read job
The bulk read API supports polling and callback.
Polling
You can poll (check the status of the scheduled bulk read job) with the job ID you received in the previous step.
If you do not want to poll for the status of the job, you can wait for the system to notify you of job completion on the callback URL provided in the POST request.
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/read/{job_id}
Request Method: GET
The response contains the status of the scheduled job as either ADDED, IN PROGRESS, or COMPLETED.
When the job is complete, the response contains the result JSON object with the keys page, count, more_records, and download_url.
You can also find the download_url in the callback response from which you can download the zip file containing the CSV or ICS file.
If the more_records key is true, there are more records you need to export. Simply change the value of the key page in the POST request, and schedule another bulk read job to fetch the next set of records.
The download_url contains the URL to download the CSV file. Follow the instructions in step-3 to download the CSV file.
Here's a sample response to the above query when the job is completed.
{ "data": [ { "id": "3652397000000646004", "operation": "read", "state": "COMPLETED", "result": { "page": 1, "count": 3, "download_url": "/crm/bulk/v2/read/3652397000000646004/result", "per_page": 200000, "more_records": false }, "query": { "fields": [ "Last_Name", "Owner", "Owner.last_name", "Account_Name.Account_Name", "Account_Name.Phone", "Lead_Source", "Created_Time" ], "module": "Contacts", "criteria": { "group_operator": "or", "group": [ { "api_name": "Lead_Source", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Advertisement" }, { "api_name": "Owner.last_name", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Boyle" }, { "api_name": "Account_Name.Phone", "comparator": "contains", "value": "99807" } ] }, "page": 1, "cvid": "554023000000093005" }, "created_by": { "id": "554023000000235011", "name": "Patricia Boyle" }, "created_time": "2019-05-09T14:01:24+05:30" } ] } |
The other possible values for the key state are
- ADDED - Indicates that the job is scheduled.
- IN PROGRESS - Indicates that the job is under processing.
Note that only a completed job will have the download URL in its response.
Callback
If you do not want to poll for the status of the job, you can wait for the system to notify you of job completion on the callback URL provided in the POST request.
- The state indicates the successful completion ("state":"COMPLETED") or failure ("state":"FAILED") of the job.
- The callback response will also contain the download URL if the job was completed successfully.
Below is a sample callback response for a completed job.
{ "job_id": "554023000000568002", "operation": "read", "state": "COMPLETED", "query": { "module": "Contacts", "criteria": { "group": [ { "api_name": "Lead_Source", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Advertisement" }, { "api_name": "Owner.last_name", "comparator": "equal", "value": "Boyle" }, { "api_name": "Account_Name.Phone", "comparator": "contains", "value": "99807" } ], "group_operator": "or" }, "page": 1, "fields": [ "Last_Name", "Owner", "Owner.last_name", "Account_Name.Account_Name", "Account_Name.Phone", "Lead_Source", "Created_Time" ], "cvid": "554023000000093005" }, "result": { "page": 1, "count": 1588, "download_url": "/crm/bulk/v2/read/554023000000568002/result", "per_page": 200000, "more_records": false } } |
For more details, refer to the Get Bulk Read Job Details page of our API guide.
This is the final step to complete exporting records from a module in Zoho CRM.
Make a GET request to the download_url you received in the response of step-2.
Step-3: Downloading the CSV file
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/bulk/v2/read/{job_id}/result
Request Method: GET
This request downloads the zip file. Extract it to get the CSV or ICS file.
Limitations
- Only 10 requests for download are allowed for a one-minute interval. Crossing the limit throws the error with the HTTP code 429. All subsequent downloads will be unsuccessful.
- After completing the bulk read job, you can access the downloadable file only for a period of one day. After that, you cannot access the file via the endpoints.
- You can specify a maximum of 200 select fields via an endpoint. If you specify more than that, the system exports all fields available in that module.
- The maximum value of the page key in the export request body is 500.
- You can specify a maximum of 25 criteria in a query. This also includes the number of criteria in a custom view or a standard view. For example, if you specify the ID of the standard view "My converted Leads", which uses two criteria, the remaining criteria that you can use in the query will be 23.
- in and not_in comparators can accept up to 20 values. For example: 'Lead Status' - 'in' - 'Cold,Warm,Hot,Junk,Contacted,Not Contacted,....(20 values)'.
- You cannot retrieve multi-line, multi-select lookup fields.
- Custom views in the Activities module, Co-Owner view in the Contacts module, the standard views Shared By Me and Shared To Me are not supported in this API.
For more details, refer to the Limitations page of our API guide.
We hope you found this post useful. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section, or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions.
Cheers!
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
Shylaja S
Parikshit
Praveen Sankar
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
How do I add todays date to merge field
I don't see any selection of todays date when creating a letter. Surely the date option of printing is standard? JohnTracking Emails sent through Outlook
All of our sales team have their Outlook 365 accounts setup with IMAP integration. We're trying to track their email activity that occurs outside the CRM. I can see the email exchanges between the sales people and the clients in the contact module. ButWhats that
Price?The same Contact associated to multiple Companies - Deals
Hi, I would like to know if there is an option to associate the same contact with multiple companies (two or more) deals, using the same contact details for all. This is because we have contacts who are linked to different companies or branches of thePortals-Adjust Column Sizes
I am trying to adjust the column widths in Portals tabs. Columns that don't need to be wide are wide and longer ones are very short. I thought adding more to the digits box in Edit would widen them, but it doesn't. Anyone know how to adjust these?Add link/button to open approved record from approval list and detail views?
Hi, How do I allow users to click on an approval record and open that submission? For example, userA submits a quotation then userB approves/rejects. They both can see the quotation on "completed task" list & detail views, but there's no way for themrecord submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books
record submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books headermap = Map(); headermap.put("X-ZOHO-Execute-CustomFunction","true"); response_inv = invokeurl [ url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/invoices/fromsalesorder?salesorder_id="Prevent editing of a record after getting approved/rejectedr
Hi, I'd like to block any user from editing a record after it was approved or rejected, how can I do that?Formula Field/Campo de Fórmula
Hello everyone, I have a purchase requisition form in which each department submits a request, and the request is automatically routed to the person responsible for that department. In this form, I have several fields with the following link names: Quantidade1,Formatting Problem | Export to Zoho Sheet View
When I export data to Zoho Sheet View, ID columns are automatically formatted as scientific notation. Reformatting them to text changes the actual ID values. For example, 6557000335603071 becomes 6557000335603070. I have attached screenshots showing thisFeature Request - The Ability to Link A Customer with a Vendor
Hi Finance Suite Team, Many businesses buy and sell products from the same companies or individuals. For example, a car sales business may buy a car from a member of the public, and that member of the public may also buy a new car from us. This makesLong table name (sync from Zoho Creator)
Dears, How can I remove the suffix in parentheses? These tables are synced from Zoho Creator and are treated as system tables, so their names cannot be changed. This issue makes the aggregation formulas look awful.[Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Streamlining incident management process with Zoho Creator
Hello everyone, We’re excited to invite you to another edition of the Learning Table Series webinar. As you may already know, we've moved to a purpose-based approach in the Learning Table Series this year. Each session now focuses on how a Zoho CreatorUnattended - Silent
How can I hide the tray icon / pop up window during unattended remote access for silent unattended remote access?Importing into Multiselect Picklist
Hi, We just completed a trade show and one of the bits of information we collect is tool style. The application supplied by the show set this up as individual questions. For example, if the customer used Thick Turret and Trumpf style but not Thin Turret,Text snippet
There is a nice feature in Zoho Desk called Text Snippet. It allows you to insert a bit of text anywhere in a reply that you are typing. That would be nice to have that option in Zoho CRM as well when we compose an email. Moderation Update: We agree thatMarketing Tip #18: Make your online store mobile-friendly to improve traffic
Most online shoppers browse on their phones first. If your store is hard to read, slow to load, or tricky to navigate on mobile, they’ll bounce fast. A mobile-friendly store doesn’t just look nice; it improves engagement, reduces drop-offs, and helps[Need help] Form closed. Please contact your form administrator for further assistance.
https://forms.zohopublic.com/cceinfoifly1/form/CCE2025CCEFocusGroupRegistrationForm2025Fall/formperma/s_8XcLETTbFxZ_TAS4r_W6W5UBl8o5oxEnIX35IBKg4 I checked we didn't exceed the usage limit and form availability is enabled, Please help us enable this formZoho People. Updating TabularData
I am trying to update tabular data in the record. I always have the same response. I have checked many times. Section ID is correct. May be something wrong with request structure itself. Can someone help me. Body content type: form urlencoded query paramsAutomatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates
Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into ourUnable to Send Different Email Templates for Different Documents in Zoho Sign
Hello Zoho Community, I am facing a limitation with Zoho Sign regarding email notifications sent to customers when a document is sent for signing. Currently, whenever I send any template/document for signing, the email notification that goes to the customerReminder needs 0 minute choice
I most use 0 minute reminders. Every other calender service has this choice. If I create an event in my Android calendar with 0 minute reminder it will change to 5 minute. Please ad 0 as a reminder choice, this should be a 5 minute fix. Thanks.Customer ticket creation via Microsoft Teams
Hi all, I'm looking to see if someone could point me in the right direction. I'd love to make it so my customers/ end users can make tickets, see responses and respond within microsoft teams. As Admin and an Agent i've installed the zoho assist app withinIs there a way to update all the start and end dates of tasks of a project after a calendar change?
Hi! Here's my situation. I've built a complete project planning. All its tasks have start dates and due dates. After completing the planning, I've realized that the project calendar was not the right one. So I changed the project calendar. I now haveHow to update task start date when project start date changes?
Hi there, When the start date of a project changes, it's important to update the start dates of the tasks associated with that project to reflect the new timeline. Is there a way to shift the start date of all project tasks when the start date of a projectIssue with Picklist Dropdown Not Opening on Mobile
Hello I am experiencing an issue with picklist values on mobile. While the arrow is visible, the dropdown to scroll through the available values often does not open. This issue occurs sporadically, it has worked occasionally, but it is very rare and quiteusing the client script based on the look up filed i wnat to fetch the record details like service number , service rate
based on selected service look up field iwant to fetch the service serial number in the serice form how i achive using client script also how i get the current date in the date field in the on load of the formZoho Books/Square integration, using 2 Square 'locations' with new Books 'locations'?
Hello! I saw some old threads about this but wasn't sure if there were any updates. Is there a way to integrate the Square locations feature with the Books locations feature? As in, transactions from separate Books locations go to separate Square locationsZoho Commerce - How To Change Blog Published Date and Author
Hi Commerce Team, I'm discussing a project with a client who wants to move from Woo Commerce / Wordpress to Zoho Commerce. They have around 620 blog posts which will need to be migrated. I am now aware of the blog import feature and I have run some tests.Does zoho inventory need Enterprise or Premium subsrciption to make Widgets.
We have Zoho One Enterprise and yet we can't create widgets on inventory.ZMA shows as already connected to Zoho CRM, but integration not working
When I try to connect ZMA with Zoho CRM, it shows as already connected, but the integration doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve attached the screen recording for reference.Automatic Email Alerts for Errors in Zoho Creator Logs
Hello, We would like to request a feature enhancement in Zoho Creator regarding error notifications. Currently, Zoho Creator allows users to view logs and errors for each application by navigating to Zoho Creator > Operations > Logs. However, there isWorkflow Rule - Field Updates: Ability to use Placeholders
It will be great if you can use placeholder tags to update fields. For example if we want to update a custom field with the client name we can use ${CONTACT.CONTACT_FIRSTNAME}${CONTACT.CONTACT_LASTNAME}, etcPassword Assessment Reports for all users
I'm the super admin and looking at the reporting available for Zoho Vault. I can see that there is a Password Assessment report available showing the passwords/weak and security score by user. However I'm confused at the 'report generated on' value. MonitorCan't change form's original name in URL
Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the newSetting certian items to be pickup only
How do we have some items that are pickup only? I have several items in my item's list that I do not ship. But they need to be on the website to be sold, and picked up in store. Need to be able to do this as one of these products is a major seller forUsing gift vouchers
We would like to be able to offer a limited number of gift vouchers, of varying values, to our customers, and are looking for the best way to do this. We have looked at Coupons and Gift Certificates, but neither seem to fit the bill perfectly. Coupons:Automatically updating field(s) of lookup module
I have a lookup field, which also pulls through the Status field from the linked record. When the lookup is first done, the Status is pulled through - this works perfectly. If that Status is later updated, the lookup field does not update as well. AsZoho Commerce and Third-party shipping (MachShip) API integration
We are implementing a third-party shipping (MachShip) API integration for our Zoho Commerce store and have made significant progress. However, we need guidance on a specific technical challenge. Current Challenge: We need to get the customer input toAdding custom "lookup" fields in Zoho Customization
How can I add a second “lookup” field in Zoho? I’m trying to create another lookup that pulls from my Contacts, but the option doesn’t appear in the module customization sidebar. In many cases, a single work order involves multiple contacts. Ideally,Next Page