Kaizen #72 - Portal #APIs [Part I]

Kaizen #72 - Portal #APIs [Part I]

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen everyone! 
This week, we will be discussing the Portals API in Zoho CRM.

What are Portals in Zoho CRM?

Portals in Zoho CRM allow businesses to extend access to their CRM to external stakeholders, such as customers, partners, vendors or franchisees. Portals allow users to view, edit and create records within the CRM, depending on their level of access and permissions. This helps businesses to manage customer and partner interactions, share information and improve communication. 

Sample Business Cases:

In Health care Industry - If you run a health care facility, you can provide your patients the access to their medical records using portals. Through the portal, the patients can have controlled access to their medical records like their appointments, tests done and medication prescribed. Patients can request appointments, provide updates to their information, and request copies of their medical records through the portal. 

In a consulting firm - If you run a consulting firm, you would want to keep your clients updated about the status of their projects in real time. To do this, you can create a portal and share it with your clients. The clients can view the status of their projects, including the progress, the budget, and the schedule. Clients can view the updates and provide feedback on the project through the portal. 

In the automobile industry - If you have an automobile shop, and you want to track the customer details, your sold vehicle details and service schedules, you can create a portal and share it with your customers. They can view and update their details and book for services using through the portal.

Creating a Portal via API

Let us consider the context of the automobile industry. To create a portal for your customers, you can use the Create Portal API.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/settings/portals
Request Method : POST
Scope : ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/CREATE

Sample Input

 {
    "portals": [
        {
            "name": "ZylkerAutomobiles"
        }
    ]
 }

Input Keys

 Key Description
 name Unique name of the portal. 

Sample Response

 {
    "portals": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "name": "ZylkerAutomobiles"
            },
            "message": "Portal created successfully with given name.",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
 }

Update Portal via API

You can update the portal name via Update Portal API. 
Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/settings/portals/{portal-name}
Request Method : PUT
Scope : ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/UPDATE

For instance, the following request renames the already created portal ZylkerAutomobiles to ZylkerAutos.

Sample Input 

 {
    "portals": [
        {
            "name": "ZylkerAutos"
        }
    ]
 }

Input Keys

 Key Description
 name Unique name of the portal. 

However, changing the portal name will also alter the portal URL. As a result, it is crucial to communicate this change to all existing portal users.

Get Portals via API

At any point, if you want to get the details of all the portals configured in your CRM account, use the Get Portal API.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/settings/portals
Request Method : GET
Scope: ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/READ

Sample Response:

 {
    "portals": [
        {
            "created_time": "2023-02-07T20:13:20+05:30",
            "modified_time": "2023-02-07T20:13:20+05:30",
            "modified_by": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "4876876000000327001"
            },
            "name": "ZylkerAutos",
            "active": true,
            "zaid": "10052946888",
            "created_by": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "4875876000000327001"
            }
        }
    ]
 }

Response Keys

 Key Description
 name The name of the portal
 active Represents whether the portal is active or not.
 zaid The unique id of the portal.

Now let us consider the case where you may want to extend the portal access to beyond your customers. There would be multiple user groups you may want to extend the access to, including the employees and partners. For instance, you may want to share the portal with your employees to give them access to customer information, sales data and service schedules. If you have partners, you may want to share the portal with them to keep them informed about the customer behaviors, sales data etc. Each of these groups may require to access to different types of data within the CRM.

To accommodate the different needs and access levels of the different types of users, you may need to create multiple user groups in the portal. For example, you could create a user group for customers and another user group for employees. The business can then configure different permissions for each user group, allowing or restricting access to the relevant data in the CRM account. This way, each type of user will be able to access the information that is most relevant to them, without compromising the security and privacy of the rest of the data in the CRM account.

Get Portal User Types API

The Get Portal User Types API allows you to retrieve the user types available in the portal of your org. It is important to note that when you create a portal, the default user type Client Portal is added by default.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/settings/portals/{portal_name}/user_type
Request Method : GET
Scope: ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/READ

Sample Request : https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v4/settings/portals/ZylkerAutos/user_type

Sample Response

 {
    "user_type": [
        {
            "created_time": "2023-02-08T11:56:16+05:30",
            "default": true,
            "modified_time": "2023-02-08T11:56:16+05:30",
            "personality_module": {
                "plural_label": "Contacts",
                "api_name": "Contacts",
                "id": "1306462000000000129"
            },
            "name": "Client Portal",
            "modified_by": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "1306462000083528405"
            },
            "active": true,
            "id": "1306462000001813022",
            "created_by": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "1306462000083528405"
            },
            "no_of_users": 1
        }
    ]
 }

Response Keys

 Key Description
 default Represents whether the user type is the default one for the portal.
 personality_module Details of the module for which the user type was configured.
 name The name of the user type.
 active Represents whether the user type is active or not.
 id The unique id of the user type.
 no_of_users The number of users in the portal assigned with this user type.

Invite users to Portal via API

Once the portal is created, you can invite the customers to join the portal using the Invite Users to Portal API. This provides the customers with access to the information regarding their automobile including the servicing details, and their information.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/{personality_module}/{record_id}/actions/portal_invite
where, personality_module is the API name of the module for which the portal was created and record_id is the ID of the record that you want to invite to the portal
Request Method : POST
Scope: ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/CREATE

Parameters

 Parameters Parameter Description
 user_type_id : integer, mandatory
 The id of the user type you want to assign the user with. 
 type : string, mandatory
 Represents whether the user is invited (invite) the first time or is re-invited(reinvite).
 language : string, optional
 The language code of the user you want to invite to the portal

Please note that for the client portal user type, you can invite only clients/customers and not users with the same email domain like your employees or partners. 

In this sample request, 1306462000000659009 is the record id of the customer in Contacts module, and 1306462000001813022 is the user type id.

Sample Response

 {
    "portal_invite": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "record_id": "1306462000000659009"
            },
            "message": "An Invite has been sent to the personality.",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
 }

Get Users of a User Type API

The Get Users of a User Type API enables you to retrieve the list of users available in a specific user type of a portal.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v4/settings/portals/{portal_name}/user_type/{user_type_id}/users
Request Method : GET
Scope : ZohoCRM.settings.clientportal.ALL/READ

Parameters

 ParametersParameter Description
 type : string, optional
The type of user. Possible values are AllUsers, AllActiveUsers, ActiveUsers,  DeactiveUsers, NotConfirmedUsers, ConfirmedUsers, and ActiveConfirmedUsers.
 filter : JSON object, optional
To filter based on the value disabled on updation of email of the status_reason__s field in the Users module. The allowed comparators are equal and not_equal. Note that you must encode this JSON object.

The following request retrieves the details of users in your ZylkerAutos portal, with Client Portal user type.

Sample Response

 {
    "users": [
        {
            "personality_id": "1306462000000659009",
            "confirm": true,
            "status_reason__s": null,
            "invited_time": "2023-02-08T18:03:10+05:30",
            "module": "Contacts",
            "name": "Jennifer Spears",
            "active": true,
            "email": "jennifer.spears@abc.com"
        }
    ],
    "info": {
        "per_page": 200,
        "total_count": 1,
        "count": 1,
        "page": 1,
        "more_records": false
    }
 }

Response Keys

 Key Description
 personality_id The id of the module for which the portal was created.
 confirm Represents whether the user is a confirmed user or not.
 status_reason__s The reason the user is disabled.
 module The API name of the module for which the user type was created.
 name The full name of the contact.
 active Represents whether the user type is active or not.
 email The email ID of the contact of that user type.

We will discuss more on user types and users in next week's post. We hope you found this post useful. 
Write to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions.

    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

                                                                                                              • No funcionan correctamente el calculo de las horas laborales para informe de tickets

                                                                                                                Hola, estoy intentando sacar estadísticas de tiempo de primera respuesta y resolución en horario laboral de mis tickets, pero el calculo de horas en horario laboral no funciona correctamente cree los horarios con los feriados : Ajusté los acuerdos de
                                                                                                              • Zoho Mail Android app update: Set out of office response exclusively for organization members and external users, response interval

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We have now introduced an option to configure out of office messages exclusively for organization members and external users within the Zoho Mail app. Additionally, now you can also customize response intervals for the Out of office messages.
                                                                                                              • Feature Request: Detailed View - Related Block Links!

                                                                                                                Desperately need a view record link option on records displaying in the related blocks on a Detail View. For the love of god, please add this feature. Thank you!
                                                                                                              • Sub-Form Padding in CSV Export

                                                                                                                Hi, When you use the Sub-Form, and for example you have a Date Field on the Main Page, then Option 1 and Option 2 fields on the Subform, when you export this to CSV the Date column will only have the Date in 1 row, the first row, it would be nice to pad
                                                                                                              • Dependent / Dynamic DropDown in ZohoSheets

                                                                                                                Has anyone figured out a way to create a Dropdown, the values of which is dependent on Values entered in the other cell ?
                                                                                                              • How do I change the order of fields in the new Task screen?

                                                                                                                I have gone into the Task module layout, and moving the fields around does not seem to move them in the Create Task screen. Screenshot below. I have a field (Description) that we want to use frequently, but it is inconveniently placed within the More
                                                                                                              • Zoho → ShipStation Integration – Sales Order–Driven Fulfilment Workflow

                                                                                                                Hello All, I’m reaching out to explore the best way to integrate a shipping tool into our inventory which will speed our process up. We are looking to integrate ShipStation into our existing order-to-fulfilment workflow, as we’re keen to standardise on
                                                                                                              • IA ou je peux trouver comment utiliser IA

                                                                                                                Je voudrais utiliser IA dans l'interface zoho pour m'aider quand j'ai des questions de rôle partage ou autre configuration d'automatisation, j'utiliser ChatGPT externe mais il ne connait pas toujours l'interface zoho et les réponses sont parfois longue
                                                                                                              • Data Processing Basis

                                                                                                                Hi, Is there a way to automate the data processing for a candidate every time an application arrives from job boards, without requiring manual intervention? That is, to automatically acquire consent for data processing. I've seen a workflow that allows
                                                                                                              • Disable Zoho Inventory Tracking / Delink Zoho Books & Inventory

                                                                                                                We have integrated zoho inventory with zoho books? Now after a long time, we want to disable inventory tracking and delink these 2 modules. Zoho says we cant do it. Anybody else going thru the same ? Any possibility at all? Why does zoho not allow to
                                                                                                              • Zoho vault instal on windows

                                                                                                                I am trying to use Zoho Vault Desktop for Windows, but I am unable to complete the sign-in process. Problem description After logging in to my Zoho account and clicking Accept on the authorization page, nothing happens. The application does not proceed
                                                                                                              • ZOHO GLITCHES

                                                                                                                Ok, you guys have done a great job at building a platform that has the potential to surmount the competition but these glitches are becoming more than frustrating! This is beyond annoying, I'm trying draft lawsuits and type up privacy and refund policies
                                                                                                              • Please, make writer into a content creation tool

                                                                                                                I'm tired of relying on Google Docs. I'm actually considering moving to ClickUp, but if Writer were a good content creation tool instead of just a word processor, I would finally be able to move all my development within the Zoho ecosystem, rather than
                                                                                                              • Notification to customers when I use a Zoho function

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

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

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

                                                                                                                I am currently using Zoho Books for my hospitality business, which includes lodging and restaurant services. We purchase many items in bulk for storage and consumption as needed. I'd like these items to be recorded as inventory when purchased and categorized
                                                                                                              • Zoho Survey reminder settings are extremely confusing

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

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

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

                                                                                                                The descriptive help messages should be available to provide translations for.
                                                                                                              • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.
                                                                                                              • Business Day Logic Update: More Accurate Scheduling for Your Workflows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

                                                                                                                Hi Social Team, I have noticed that there is no option to change the date format from US mm/dd/yyyy to others like dd/mm/yyyy. It would be great to see this added as the platform matures. Thanks for considering this feedback.
                                                                                                              • In arattai received message can't be deleted

                                                                                                                The issue has been noticed in following: arattai app (Android) arattai app (Window) arattai web While the message posted by me may be deleted, the ones received from others can't be. The item <Delete> change to <Report> when the message is a received
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM Community Digest - December 2025 | Part 1

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone! In the first half of December, Zoho CRM rolled out auto-invite for portals, smarter CPQ with Zia suggestions and price rules, and Query Workbench for faster query building. We also highlight other noteworthy conversations you shouldn’t
                                                                                                              • Marketing Tip #15: Rank better with keyword-rich URLs for product pages

                                                                                                                Your product page URL is a small detail that can make a surprisingly big difference. Clean, readable URLs help in two ways: They’re easier for customers to trust and remember (no one likes clicking a link that looks messy or random). They help search
                                                                                                              • Zoho Flow Credits

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

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

                                                                                                                We are excited to announce the release of Intake Forms, a new feature in Zoho Contracts designed to make contract requests simple, structured, and efficient. Intake Forms allow organization members to request new contracts through a web form instead of
                                                                                                              • Manage control over Microsoft Office 365 integrations with profile-based sync permissions

                                                                                                                Greetings all, Previously, all users in Zoho CRM had access to enable Microsoft integrations (Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks) in their accounts, regardless of their profile type. Users with administrator profiles can now manage profile-based permissions
                                                                                                              • Next Page