Kaizen #60 - Get Records, Search Records, Query and Bulk Read APIs

Kaizen #60 - Get Records, Search Records, Query and Bulk Read APIs

Hi everyone.. Welcome back!

In this post, we will discuss when to use Get Records, Search Records, Query, and Bulk Read APIs to fetch records. Please note that the information in the article holds true for version 3 of Zoho CRM APIs.

Get Records API

The GET Records API allows you to fetch all the records from a module in your CRM account. 

When should you use GET Records API?

       Use this API to fetch a specific set of records whose IDs you already know, or to fetch all the records from a module without any filters, or using the pre-defined filters.
      For instance, when you want to render a mobile/web UI to show the list of records in a module or a specific custom view, you can make use of Get Records API.

Pagination

  • You can retrieve up to 200 records using this API in a single call.
  • To fetch more than 200 records, you must use pagination and make further API requests with the page parameter.
  • For more than 2000 and up to a maximum of 100,000 records, use the page_token parameter in the request. The value for this parameter is available from the key "next_page_token" in the response of the first Get Records call. 
  • You cannot use the page_token parameter with the page parameter.

Points to remember

  • You should specify the field API names to fetch the records.
  • You can fetch up to 50 fields using this API.
  • You can sort the records by id, Created_Time and Modified_Time fields.
  • Each Get Records API call consumes one API credit.

Examples

1. To fetch the records from 1801-2000 in the Leads module with the Last_Name and Email fields

The info JSON object in the response contains the next_page_token to retrieve the next set of records. 

2. To fetch after 2000 records
 [GET] "https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v3/Leads&fields=Last_Name,Email&per_page=200 
&page_token="db8d4276axxxxxxx713748a4e""

Search Records API

Search Records API lets you search for records in a module based on a criteria that you define. You can search for records with a specific word in the text fields, or by email or phone fields across the specified module. You can also search for a variety of other fields like currency, Date, DateTime, picklists etc.

When should you use Search Records API?

      Use this API when you want to search for a specific text, phone or email in the records of a module, or when you want to do a module-level word search. Search API is the go-to API  when you know the details like email, phone or a specific text, but not the individual IDs of the records.
      For example, when you want to render a search box in your web/mobile UI, and do a module-level search for the word, use Search Records API. 

Pagination

  • You can search for up to 200 records in one API request.
  • To fetch more than 200 and up to 2000 records, use the page parameter.

Points to remember

  • Your search criteria can have  equalsstarts_withinequalsnot_equalgreater_equalgreater_thanless_equalless_thanstarts_with, or between conditions.
  • There will be a delay in accessing recently inserted or updated records using this API due to data indexing.
  • Due to the indexing delay, it is advised not to use Search API to check for record duplication while creating a new record. 
  • Each Search Records API call consumes one API credit

Examples

1. To search for all the Leads with the word Zoho in the record

2. To fetch records from the Leads module whose Last_Name is 'Thomas' and First_Name starts with 'M'

Query API

Query API lets you query for records based on queries using the CRM Object Query Language(COQL). COQL is based on the SQL query syntax, and supports the SELECT query to fetch records. Using this API, you can query for data across different modules that are linked using lookup fields.  This API allows you to search for a variety of fields like picklist, Date, DateTime, Lookup, Number, Currency, Boolean, or string fields, and sort the records on the basis of any field.

When should you use Query API?

      To query for a module's data and its lookup related data using various comparators, or when you want to query for records that fall into a custom view without actually creating one.
      For instance, when you want to filter all the products in a specific price range, with 4 stars and up rating, use Query API.
      You can also use Query API to query for records from cross module (linked via lookup field). Eg: Filtering deals based on the account's location and industry type. In this example, Deals is the primary module linked with Accounts module via the lookup field 'Accounts_Name'.

Pagination

  • You can retrieve 200 records in one API call using this API.
  • To fetch more than 200 records and upto 10000 records, use the OFFSET clause. 

Points to remember

  • You can use DB comparators such as =, >, <, >=, <=, is null, is not null, between, in, not in, like, and not like in your search query.
  • You can fetch a maximum of 10000 records using this API.
  • You can use Query API to check for record duplication while creating a new record in your web/mobile UI apps.
  • Each Query API call consumes one API credit.

Examples

1. Cross Module Filtering : To filter deals based on its corresponding account's location and industry type.

"select_query": "select Deal_Name, Stage, Probability, Type, Account_Name from Deals where ((Account_Name.Location = 'Texas') AND (Account_Name.Industry = 'Military'))"

2. Consider the following custom view.

You can fetch the records in the custom view using the following SELECT query, without actually creating the custom view.
 { "select_query": "select Last_Name, Owner.last_name from Leads where ((Industry  = 'ERP') and (Owner = '4876876000000327001')) OR (Rating =    'Acquired')" }

For more examples, refer to our Get Records through COQL page
TIP : If you want to fetch all the records in a module using COQL Query API, you can still use the COQL query to do it. For example, the below example will fetch all the records in the Leads module.
   {  "select_query": "select Last_Name, Owner.last_name from Leads where ((Industry  = 'ERP') OR (Industry  != 'ERP'))"}

Bulk Read API

Bulk Read API lets you export data in bulk from a module. Using this API, you can export records based on a query, or export all the records in a module with or without filters. The main advantage of Bulk read API is in the huge number of records it can retrieve in one API call. While you can fetch 200 records per API call for GET Records API, Search Records API and Query API, you can export 200,000 records per API call using the Bulk read API. 

When should you use Bulk read API?

When you want to schedule a job to export huge volume of CRM data.
For instance, when you want to export the list of all the records from a  Zoho CRM  module to sync with your local ERP system's data store, use Bulk read API. 

Points to remember

  • Bulk read is an asynchronous API.
  • The result of the bulk read job will be available as a downloadable CSV/ICS file.
  • Each Bulk read API call consumes 50 API credits.
  • To export more than 200,000 records, use the page key in the request body. Setting page to '2' exports data starting from 200,001.

Sample Scenario

Let us now consider the case where you want to fetch (a)2000, (b)5000, (c)10000 and (d)15000 records from a module, and see which API is best-suited for each case.

 Number of records
 Get Records API
Search Records API
Query API
Bulk read API
2000
  • 10 API calls
  • 10 API credits
  • Use pagination
  • 10 API calls
  • 10 API credits
  • Use pagination
  • 10 API calls
  • 10 API credits
  • Use OFFSET
  • 1 API call
  • 50 API credits
5000
  • 25 API calls
  • 25 API credits
  • use pagination (up to 2000 records) & page_token (after 2000 records)

Not possible to fetch more than 2000 records
  • 25 API calls
  • 25 API credits
  • Use OFFSET 
  • 1 API call
  • 50 API credits
10000
  • 50 API calls
  • 50 API credits
  • use pagination (up to 2000 records) & page_token (after 2000 records)

Not possible to fetch more than 2000 records
  • 50 API calls
  • 50 API credits
  • Use OFFSET
  • 1 API call
  • 50 API credits

15000
  • 75 API calls
  • 75 API credits
  • use pagination (up to 2000 records) & page_token (after 2000 records)

Not possible to fetch more than 2000 records

Not possible to fetch more than 10000 records
  • 1 API call
  • 50 API credits

To sum up, for up to 2000 records, the Get Records API, Search Records API, and Query API all use the same API credits. However, Query API has the edge over the other two because it provides you with greater flexibility to tweak your criteria, thanks to all the comparators and logical operations it supports.  If you intend to fetch 10,000 or more records asynchronously, the Bulk Read API is preferable in terms of API credits consumed. For synchronously fetching more than 10,000 records, use the Get Records API.


Feature
Get Records API
Search Records API
Query API
Bulk Read API
Maximum number of records per API call
 200
 200
 200
 200,000
 For Events - 20,000
Maximum number of records that can be fetched
 100,000
 2000
 10,000
 100,000,000
Indexing Delay
 No 
 Yes
 No 
 NA
Pagination
Use page parameter to retrieve more than 200 records and page_token parameter for more than 200 recordsUse page parameter to retrieve up to 2000 recordsUse LIMIT and OFFSET to navigate and retrieve a maximum of up to 10,000 recordsUse page key in the request body to fetch more than 200,000 records. Maximum possible value for page is 500
Sorting supportLimited (id, Created_Time and Modified_Time fields )
 No
 Yes
 No
Credits per API call
 1
 3 - with CVID parameter
 1
 1
 50

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

Thank You!




    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            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

                                                            • 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 this
                                                            • Kaizen #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 how
                                                            • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

                                                              Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.
                                                            • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

                                                              Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are
                                                            • Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

                                                              Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved


                                                            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

                                                                                                              • Client and Vendor Portal

                                                                                                                Some clients like keeping tabs on the developments and hence would like to be notified of the progress. Continuous updates can be tedious and time-consuming. Zoho Sprints has now introduced a Client and Vendor Portal where you can add client users and
                                                                                                              • #7 Tip of the week: Delegating approvals in Zoho People

                                                                                                                With Zoho People, absences need not keep employees waiting with their approval requests. When you are not available at work, you can delegate approvals that come your way to your fellow workmate and let them take care of your approvals temporarily. Learn more!
                                                                                                              • Trouble with using Apostrophe in Name of Customers and Vendors

                                                                                                                We have had an ongoing issue with how the system recognizes an apostrophe in the name of customers and vendors. The search will not return any results for a name that includes the mark; ie one of our vendors names is "L'Heritage" and when entering the
                                                                                                              • Why am I seeing deleted records in Zoho Analytics syncing with Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                I have done a data sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics, and the recycle bin is empty. Why do I see deleted leads/deals/contacts in Zoho Analytics if it doesn't exist in Zoho CRM? How can I solve this problem? Thanks
                                                                                                              • Nueva edición de "Ask The Expert" en Español Zoho Community

                                                                                                                ¡Hola Comunidad! ¿Te gustaría obtener respuestas en directo sobre Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk u otra solución dentro de nuestro paquete de CX (Experiencia del Cliente? Uno de nuestros expertos estará disponible para responder a todas tus preguntas durante nuestra
                                                                                                              • How to use MAIL without Dashboard?

                                                                                                                Whenever I open Mail, it opens Dashboard. This makes Mail area very small and also I cannot manage Folders (like delete/rename) etc. I want to know if there is any way to open only Mail apps and not the Dashboard.
                                                                                                              • Peppol: Accept Bill (Belgium)

                                                                                                                Hi, This topic might help you if you're facing the same in Belgium. We are facing an issue while accepting a supplier bill received by Peppol in Zoho Books. There is a popup with an error message: This bill acceptance could not be completed, so it was
                                                                                                              • Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout

                                                                                                                Hello everyone,   We're glad to be announcing that Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout. With this integration, you can now handle taxes and accounting on your payment pages with ease.   An organization you create in Zoho Checkout can be added to Zoho Books and vice-versa. Some of the key features and benefits you will receive are:   Seamless sync of customer and invoice data With the end-to-end integration, the customer and invoice details recorded via the payment pages from Zoho Checkout
                                                                                                              • Sync Issue

                                                                                                                My Current plan only allows me with 10,000 rows and it is getting sync failure how to control it without upgrading my plan
                                                                                                              • Is there API Doc for Zoho Survey?

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, Is there API doc for Zoho Survey? Currently evaluating a solution - use case to automate survey administration especially for internal use. But after a brief search, I couldn't find API doc for this. So I thought I should ask here. Than
                                                                                                              • Add Zoho PDF to Zoho One Tool Applications

                                                                                                                It should be easy to add from here without the hassle of creating a web tab:
                                                                                                              • JOB WISE INVOICE PROCESS

                                                                                                                I WANT TO ENABLE JOB WISE TRACKING OF ALL SALES AND PURCHASE
                                                                                                              • PDF Template have QTY as first column

                                                                                                                I want to have the QTY of an item on the sales orders and invoices to be the first column, then description, then pricing. Is there a way to change the order? I went to the Items tab in settings but don't see how to change the order of the columns on
                                                                                                              • RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) Type Q+A Environment with Zoho Learn

                                                                                                                Hi All, Given the ability of Zoho Learn to function as a knowledge base / document repository type solution and given the rapid advancements that Zoho is making with Zia LLM, agentic capabilities etc. (not to mention the rapid progress in the broader
                                                                                                              • Welcome to the Zoho ERP Community Forum

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, We are thrilled to launch Zoho ERP (India edition), a software to manage your business operations from end to end. We’ve created this community forum as a space for you to ask questions, comment answers, provide feedback, and share your
                                                                                                              • In App Auto Refresh/Update Features

                                                                                                                Hi,    I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users.   The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps.    I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With the
                                                                                                              • Consolidated report for multi-organisation

                                                                                                                I'm hoping to see this feature to be available but couldn't locate in anywhere in the trial version. Is this supported? The main aim to go to ERP is to have visibility of the multi-organisation in once place. I'm hopeful for this.
                                                                                                              • IMAP mail after specify date

                                                                                                                Hi My customer's mail server is on premise and mail storage is very huge. So It never finish sync. and finally stop sync. Cloud CRM have a option like zoho mail sync mail after some date.
                                                                                                              • Analytics <-> Invoice Connection DELETED by Zoho

                                                                                                                Hi All, I am reaching out today because of a big issue we have at the moment with Zoho Analytics and Zoho Invoice. Our organization relies on Zoho Analytics for most of our reporting (operationnal teams). A few days ago we observed a sync issue with the
                                                                                                              • Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM Integration – AI-Powered Sales Automation

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho Community 👋 I’m excited to share a recent integration we’ve worked on at OfficehubTech: ✅ Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM This integration connects Zoho CRM with Claude AI through our custom MCP Server, enabling intelligent AI-driven responses
                                                                                                              • Notes badge as a quick action in the list view

                                                                                                                Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associated
                                                                                                              • Search Bar positioning

                                                                                                                Why is the Search bar on the far right when everything is oriented towards the left?
                                                                                                              • Basic Mass Update deluge schedule not working

                                                                                                                I'm trying to create a schedule that will 'reset' a single field to 0 every morning - so that another schedule can repopulate with the day's calculation. I thought this would be fairly simple but I can't work out why this is failing : 1) I'm based in
                                                                                                              • The Social Playbook - January edition: Getting started with content creation

                                                                                                                Social media isn’t just about posting some random content. It’s about why certain content works, how brands stand out, and what makes people pause mid-scroll. The Social Playbook is a monthly community series where we break all of that down. Through real
                                                                                                              • Import Error: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date

                                                                                                                Hello, I've tried multiple times to import a CVS Potential list from another Zoho account. But the error message I get is: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date There are valid dates in this field, so I don't understand why this error messages
                                                                                                              • Adding 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,
                                                                                                              • Special characters (like â, â, æ) breaking when input in a field (encoding issue)

                                                                                                                Hey everyone, We are currently dealing with a probably encoding issue when we populate a field (mostly but not exclusively, 'Last Name' for Leads and Contracts). If the user manually inputs special characters (like ä, â, á etc.) from Scandinavian languages,
                                                                                                              • Customizable UI components in pages | Theme builder

                                                                                                                Anyone know when these roadmap items are scheduled for release? They were originally scheduled for Q4 2025. https://www.zoho.com/creator/product-roadmap.html
                                                                                                              • Feature Requests - Contact Coloured Picklist Visibility & Field Visibility During Ticket Creation

                                                                                                                Hi Desk Team, I have 2 feature requests for you. Since Coloured Picklists are now available in Desk, It would be great if the colours were visible on the Related Details (Contact Information) when creating a ticket. In the screenshot below, I have 2 fields
                                                                                                              • How to integrate XML with Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                Hi, I have an eCom service provider that gives me a dynamic XML that contains order information, clients, shipments... The XML link is the only thing I have. No Oath or key, No API get... I want to integrate it into Zoho CRM. I am not a developer nor
                                                                                                              • Feature Request - Ability to Customise Contact Info Card on Ticket Details View

                                                                                                                Hi Desk Team, I've added a "Contact Priority" and "Account Prioirty" field and it would be very useful to agents if they could see that information in the Contact Info card on the Ticket Details view. It would be great if we could choose some fields to
                                                                                                              • Tax in Quote

                                                                                                                Each row item in a quote has a tax value. At the total numbers at the bottom, there is also a Tax entry. If you select tax in both of the (line item, and the total), the tax doubles. My assumption is that the Tax total should be totalling the tax from
                                                                                                              • Zoho Flow integration with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp

                                                                                                                Hi there,  any plans of adding integrations with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp into Zoho Flow? Seems that more and more business are delivering automated updates such as "your order is received",  "your order has been shipped" and so on via these two platforms. Not sure if Whatsapp has the API access needed i am pretty sure that Facebook Messenger has... Kind regards Bo Thygesen 
                                                                                                              • Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

                                                                                                                Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!
                                                                                                              • Multi-currency and Products

                                                                                                                One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support.  However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK.  However, we maintain different price lists for each. 
                                                                                                              • Campaigns unsubscribe/manage preferences links

                                                                                                                Hi, Where can I edit the unscubscribe and manage preferences link in the footer of the email. I would like it so that when you click 'manage preferences' an form opens up that allows the person to choose what type of emails they do and don't wish to
                                                                                                              • email address somehow still not verified (?!)

                                                                                                                L.S. After creating a new email template in CRM I was about to send a group email to my clients, then Zoho CRM announced that they would change the sender address to some kind of Zoho-e-ddress because my email address "has not been verified". Not only
                                                                                                              • Marketing Tip #17: Add credibility to your online store with Review Widgets

                                                                                                                One of the fastest ways to build trust in an online store is to show real customer feedback right where people are deciding to buy. Third-party widgets let you embed things like Google Reviews, Instagram feeds, or even a WhatsApp chat button. These add
                                                                                                              • adding several team members to an Opportunity

                                                                                                                How can we add several team members to one opportunity for collaboration? I have researched and only found something called Deal Team which I cannot find in my CRM to configure.
                                                                                                              • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

                                                                                                                Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),
                                                                                                              • Next Page