Kaizen #97 - Email APIs

Kaizen #97 - Email APIs

Howdy, tech wizards! Welcome back to another exciting post in our Kaizen series.  

This week, we will explore how to leverage the power of APIs to manage and interact with emails within the Zoho CRM platform.  

Consider you are the Manager of a technological company called Zylker Technologies, which uses Zoho CRM. You want to email a client using your organization's email ID and manage the reply emails within your CRM account. The first step in bringing your organization's email to your CRM account is IMAP/POP3 configuration.   

Email Configuration  

Zoho CRM supports email integration via Internet Messaging Access Protocol (IMAP) and Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3). These are email protocols that standardise the exchange of mails between the servers and clients. 

IMAP
POP3
IMAP keeps emails on the server and allows you to access them from multiple devices.
POP3 downloads emails to a local device. You can either keep a copy of them on the server or remove them to manage the storage of your web server.
It synchronises email actions (read, delete, move) across all devices, providing a consistent email experience.
It does not synchronise actions across devices, making it challenging to manage emails on multiple devices.
IMAP is ideal for users who need to access their emails from different devices or prefer centralised email management.
POP3 is suitable for users who prefer offline email access and want to save storage space on the server.


Following steps will help you to integrate your email with Zoho CRM.  
  • Navigate to Setup > Channels > Email > Email Configuration to choose your email service.
  • Under choose the protocol to configure select IMAP or POP integration based on your email service provider and business needs. 


Once you configure the IMAP/POP3 mail, the SalesInbox tab will sync and display all your mails.  Now that we have everything ready, we will take a look at how to email your clients using APIs. 

Emailing a Client using API  

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module_api_name}/{record_id}/actions/send_mail
Request Method : POST
Scope : ZohoCRM.send_mail.{module_name}.CREATE  (or) ZohoCRM.send_mail.all.CREATE
Supported Modules : Leads, Contacts, Deals, Accounts, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Invoices, Quotes, Cases, and Custom. 
Request Body

{
  "data": [
    {
      "from": {
        "user_name": "Patricia Boyle",
        "email": "zylkertechnologies@zylker.com"
      },
      "to": [
        {
          "user_name": "Christopher Maclead",
          "email": "christopher@rangoni.com"
        }
      ],
      "cc": [
        {
          "user_name": "Jack Williams",
          "email": "jack.williams@zylker.com"
        }
      ],
      "org_email": true,
      "consent_email": true,
      "mail_format": "html",
      "subject": "Test Email",
      "content": "<h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">New Product Launch is on Aug 15,2023!</span></h3><h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">REGARDS,</span></h3><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">AZ</span></div><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">ADMIN</span></div>"
    }
  ]
}

You can also use other request JSON keys mentioned in this document to send an email. When you email a client, the email automatically gets added to the related lists of the record specified in the request url. 

There are a few other conditions that you need to check while emailing a client using the Send Mail API. 

(i) from Addresses 

As you are sending the email from your CRM account, you should use only the IMAP/POP3 configured email IDs. To know the configured email IDs of your CRM account, make a GET API call for the list of allowed "from" addresses

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/settings/emails/actions/from_addresses
Request Method : GET
Scope : ZohoCRM.settings.emails.READ
Response

{
  "from_addresses": [
    {
      "default": true,
      "user_name": "Patricia Boyle",
      "type": "primary",
      "email": "patricia.boyle@zylker.com"
    },
    {
      "user_name": "Jack Williams",
      "id": "5545974000000434026",
      "type": "pop",
      "email": "jack.williams@zylker.com"
    },
    {
      "user_name": "Patricia Boyle",
      "id": "5545974000001222005",
      "type": "org_email",
      "email": "zylkertechnologies@zylker.com"
    }
  ]
}

  • The API lists the email addresses configured in the IMAP/POP3 accounts ( imap and pop ), the email ID used to sign in the CRM account ( primary ) and the configured organization email addresses ( org_email ). You can use any of these email addresses to email the clients.  
  • The default:true denotes the default from email address configured for UI usage. This will auto populate the from email address while emailing a client via UI. Anyhow, you have to specify the from address in the send mail API. 
  • If the email with type:org_email in this API response is used as a from address of the send mail API, the org_email key in the same send mail request body has to be marked as true

(ii) Modules that are Applicable for using Templates/Inventory Templates

Consider you want to send welcome emails to all of your new leads. You cannot manually draft a welcome email every time Zylker gets a new lead. Instead you can create a welcome email template and insert it to the draft. 

To insert template/inventory templates while emailing a record, make a Metadata API call of the particular module and check for the key inventory_template_supported .

  • inventory_template_supported: true states you can add inventory templates in the body of the mail.
  • inventory_template_supported: false states you can add only the email templates and not the inventory templates in the body of the mail.  

In our case, you want to send welcome emails to leads. So, let us check this key for the module, Leads



Since inventory_template_supported: false for Leads, we can add only email templates to its records. Below is the request body of the send mail API with welcome template,  

{
    "data": [
        {
            "from": {
                "user_name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "email": "zylkertechnologies@zylker.com"
            },
            "to": [
                {
                    "user_name": "Carissa Kidman",
                    "email": "carissa@goodknits.com"
                },
                {
                    "user_name": "Felix Hirpara",
                    "email": "felixhirpara@chapman.com"
                },
                {
                    "user_name": "Kayleigh Lace",
                    "email": "kayleigh@printingdimensions.com"
                }
            ],
            "cc": [
                {
                    "user_name": "Jack Williams",
                    "email": "jack.williams@zylker.com"
                }
            ],
            "mail_format": "html",
            "subject": "Welcome to Zylker",
            "template": {
                "id": "5545974000000640001"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Associate an Email with a Record         

Though Zoho CRM supports email Integration, sometimes you may want to import emails from a different email service provider and add them to certain records. You can use this API for adding only particular emails to a record without completely synchronising or integrating the email service provider with Zoho CRM. 

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module}/{record_id}/actions/associate_email
Request Method : POST
Scope : ZohoCRM.modules.emails.ALL  (or) ZohoCRM.modules.{module}.ALL
Supported Modules : Leads, Contacts, Quotes, Invoices, Sales_Orders, Purchase_Orders, Deals, Accounts and Custom.
Request Body :

{
  "Emails": [
    {
      "from": {
        "user_name": "Patricia Boyle",
        "email": "zylkertechnologies@zylker.com"
      },
      "to": [
        {
          "user_name": "Christopher Maclead",
          "email": "christopher@rangoni.com"
        }
      ],
      "cc": [
        {
          "user_name": "Jack Williams",
          "email": "jack.williams@zylker.com"
        }
      ],
      "subject": "Test Email",
      "content": "<h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">New Product Launch is on Aug 15,2023!</span></h3><h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">REGARDS,</span></h3><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">AZ</span></div><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">ADMIN</span></div>",
      "mail_format": "html",
      "date_time": "2023-07-27T22:24:12+05:30",
      "sent": true,
      "linked_record": {
        "id": "5545974000002858070",
        "name": "Mega Deal",
        "module": {
          "api_name": "Potentials",
          "id": "5545974000000002181"
        }
      },
      "original_message_id": "000146"
    }
  ]
}

This sample input JSON is for linking an email to a record in Deals.

The original_message_id key is the unique ID provided by any email service provider after sending an email. To avoid adding an already existing email to a record, this unique ID has to be specified while adding an email to a record. 

Now as a manager, you may want to associate the sales reps' emails with the corresponding records they have handled. To achieve this, add the record owner's ID to the owner key in the request body. Only users with admin profile can perform this action.   

The API extends its horizon to associating emails with the inline images to a record. For this, you have to upload the image to Zoho File System using the Upload files to ZFS API . Ensure you specify the parameter "type":"inline" while uploading the inline images to the ZFS. 



The ID provided in the response of this API has to be specified in the content key of associate email to a record API as follows:  

"content": "<h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">New Product Launch is on Aug 15,2023!</span></h3><h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\"><img class=\"ZCrmImage\" src=\"crm\/img_id:c5afdcdbe17cd7bcee305c1a23067169caf522cbf76ed9d1c9c06408b22888ee\"></span></h3><h3><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">REGARDS,</span></h3><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">AZ</span></div><div><span style=\"background-color: rgb(254, 255, 102)\">ADMIN</span></div>"

Zoho CRM also offers API support to fetch all the emails of a record , list the users with whom a record's emails are shared , and download email attachments and inline images . They help us to streamline email-related processes, enhance communication, and maximize the efficiency of email management. 

We hope you found this post useful and engaging! 

If you have any queries, feel free to drop them in the comments section below or reach out to us directly at support@zohocrm.com . We eagerly await your thoughts and feedback on this! 

Keep an eye out for more valuable insights on our developer space! 

Cheers! 





    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 #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
                                                            • Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.
                                                            • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

                                                              Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the


                                                            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

                                                                                                              • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

                                                                                                                Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly
                                                                                                              • Prepopulating Fields

                                                                                                                Hello, I have a form (Assets) with 2 lookup fields: Client (from Clients) Site (from Client Sites) I modified the code (highlighted in red below), so the Site dropdown shows the list of sites related to the Client. must have Client_Site ( type = picklist
                                                                                                              • Unify Overlapping Functionalities Across Zoho Products

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho One Team, We would like to raise a concern about the current overlap of core functionalities across various Zoho applications. While Zoho offers a rich suite of tools, many applications include similar or identical features—such as shift management,
                                                                                                              • Detailed Account Reports - Add Running Balance

                                                                                                                When one clicks into an account from a report (say P/L or Balance Sheet), the default reports have the Debit, Credit, and then the Amount. The Amount column (last one) is duplicate information. It would be far better and fit more peoples' use cases if
                                                                                                              • Start Workflow from Deluge Script

                                                                                                                I have developed a customized process from our CRM that leverages a deluge script to create a statement of work document. Once the document has been created via the merge and store function, I would like the ability to start a workdrive review & approve
                                                                                                              • Issue: Ticket Export Does Not Include Ticket Threads

                                                                                                                Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to bring to your attention that the current ticket export feature in Zoho Desk does not seem to include the ticket threads or conversation history. When exporting tickets, only the summary
                                                                                                              • Pushover Notification Module

                                                                                                                Hello, it would be good if there would be a "Pushover" (https://pushover.net/) module besides the standard SMS module. Pushover is now very well known, especially in IT, and is becoming more and more popular. The biggest advantage are the customizable
                                                                                                              • Forward - no Ticket Number

                                                                                                                Hello, when I send an email to Zoho Desk via Reply or Reply All, the ticket number is in the subject line. But if I use forward then not. Is there an option to change this? We often forward e-mails and a reply to this will of course create a new ticket
                                                                                                              • Checkout: Adding Images

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, I’m trying to add a small GoGreen logo in the shipping section of the checkout to promote our sustainable shipping. While I can insert text without any issues, it seems that adding images is not supported in this area. Is there currently
                                                                                                              • Sortie de Zoho TABLE ??

                                                                                                                Bonjour, Depuis bientôt 2 ans l'application zoho table est sortie en dehors de l'UE ? Depuis un an elle est annoncée en Europe Mais en vrai, c'est pour quand exactement ??
                                                                                                              • [solved] #original_sender trick not working for us

                                                                                                                Hello community ! We really like DESK.. it's working like a charm for us but I have a request. Some users are sending emails personnaly to me (instead of using the support adress).. and I saw there was a possibilty to use : #original_sender {mail@mail.com}
                                                                                                              • SalesIQ Chat Notifications

                                                                                                                I am the admin of our salesIQ implementation. About two weeks ago, I started hearing/seeing notification for ALL chats messages from monitored agents/chat participants. I don't need to see these, we have a manager who deals with this. I can't stop the
                                                                                                              • Correlated subqueries not supported in Zoho Analytics. This creates huge limitations

                                                                                                                Running into a major limitation in Zoho Analytics: correlated subqueries simply don’t work, even in completely standard SQL patterns inside a JOIN. Example: LEFT JOIN "Bills" b ON d."Id" = b."Deal ID" AND EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM "Bill
                                                                                                              • Unknown table or alias 'A1'

                                                                                                                I would like to create a subquery but i am getting the following error: Unknown table or alias 'A1' used in select query. This is the sql statement:  SELECT A1.active_paying_customers, A1.active_trial_customers, A1.new_paying_signup, date(A1.date_active_customers), 
                                                                                                              • HubSpot CRM to Zoho Creator Integration

                                                                                                                I'm trying to create an integration between HubSpot CRM and Zoho Creator with HubSpot being the push source (if a contact is created or updated in HubSpot, it pushes the information to Zoho Creator). I have two questions: 1- Is it best to use Zoho Flow
                                                                                                              • Batch Emails in CRM Plus without using a template?

                                                                                                                Hi guys. Is it possible to send the same email to multiple people at the same time within CRM Plus without using an email template? At the moment we create a custom view in Contacts to display the people that we need. We then click the boxes on the left, and click 'Send Mail', but always need to select a template. Sometimes its better to write a quick one off message, without needing to set up a template first. Thanks.
                                                                                                              • bank charge

                                                                                                                a charge to my account was made that I did not authorize, of $16.46, for something that looks like "computer maintenance or something to that matter". please refund.
                                                                                                              • [Free Webinar] Product Updates: Quick Catch-Up Session - Part II - Creator Tech Connect

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar featuring deep-dive technical sessions designed for developers, administrators, and app builders.
                                                                                                              • Introducing Liquid Glass UI on the Zoho Mail iOS app

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We're excited to announce that the Zoho Mail app is now fully optimised for iOS 26's Liquid Glass design on both iPhone and iPad! The updated interface features transparent layers, smooth animations, and refined visual elements that enhance
                                                                                                              • Zoho Creator customer portal users

                                                                                                                Hi, I'm in a Zoho One subscription with our company. I'm running a project now that involves creating a Zoho Creater application and using the Zoho Creator Customer Portal.  At most we need 25 customer portal users. In our Zoho One plan we only get 3
                                                                                                              • Plan change from Zoho One to Zoho Workplace

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho, Following the recent pricing update for Zoho One, we are interested in transitioning to Zoho Workplace products. Please inform us about the necessary steps for this process so we can proceed promptly. Kind regards,
                                                                                                              • Partner with HDFC And Sbi Bank.

                                                                                                                Hdfc and sbi both are very popular bank if zoho books become partner with this banks then many of the zoho books users will benefit premium features of partnered banks.
                                                                                                              • Links in Instagram

                                                                                                                Hi there, I have been using Later for a while now but keen to come back to Zoho Social as Later doesn't offer tagging of pages on Facebook but they offer something Zoho doesn't. You can add a link to your bio which opens up your profile feed where images
                                                                                                              • Spotlight #7 - Automatic Transitions in Blueprint

                                                                                                                Previously, records could not be moved from one state to another without user intervention. With automatic transitions, move records from one state to another automatically, when it elapses its pre-defined time. This Spotlight discusses how automatic
                                                                                                              • Sub Folders

                                                                                                                It would be great if there could be sub-folders in reports. We have a ton of individual reports and folders that would be easier to navigate this way 
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM Community Digest - November 2025 | Part 2

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone! Second half of November brought several exciting updates, especially around Zia, making AI assistance smarter, faster, and more context-aware. We also feature engaging community snippets highlighting members who went the extra mile to
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM - Writing Assistant Tone

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho CRM Team, Text in my emails often gets underlined in yellow because I tend to use a more informal tone with my client's, like using "I'm" instead of "I am". Is there some way for me to tell the system that this is my preferred writing tone, so
                                                                                                              • Hide Contact Number for Field Users & Agents

                                                                                                                Is it possible to hide the contact number in both the Service Appointment and Work Order modules for field users and agents? The agents are using the Zoho FSM mobile app, and we want to restrict them from viewing the contact number.
                                                                                                              • 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
                                                                                                              • Form Submission Emails

                                                                                                                Is there a current delay with submission emails being sent? We've had 10-20 forms completed today but only a handful of emails.
                                                                                                              • How to update Multi File upload field

                                                                                                                Assume that i have a multi file upload field,how can i update the same field again?
                                                                                                              • What is the simplest way to import PST to Yahoo Mail?

                                                                                                                The simplest way to import PST file into Yahoo Mail is to use a third-party tool that supports direct PST-to-Yahoo migration. Software like Aryson PST Converter lets you upload emails, contacts, attachments, and folders from a PST file straight into your
                                                                                                              • Subform edits don't appear in parent record timeline?

                                                                                                                Is it possible to have subform edits (like add row/delete row) appear in the Timeline for parent records? A user can edit a record, only edit the subform, and it doesn't appear in the timeline. Is there a workaround or way that we can show when a user
                                                                                                              • 【Zoho CRM for Everyone】設定画面のアップデート

                                                                                                                ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、Zoho CRM for Everyone の設定画面のアップデート情報をご紹介します。 目次 設定ホーム画面の追加 設定画面での検索結果の表示形式の変更 設定画面でのよく使用する機能の表示 設定メニューの展開/折りたたみ状態の保持 1. 設定ホーム画面の追加 ホーム画面の設定項目は、直感的に分類できるように"カテゴリごと"で分けられています。 このような一元化された表示により、各ツールが1つの画面に集約され、必要な機能をより簡単に見つけられるようになりました。
                                                                                                              • What's New - November 2025 | Zoho Backstage

                                                                                                                A new month, a new set of updates. With a mix of new features and thoughtful improvements, you get smoother workflows and better control across registrations, exhibitors, and communications. Let's take a look at what's new and enhanced in Zoho Backstage
                                                                                                              • Zoho Checkout - Duplicate Customer record created for each payment received

                                                                                                                Hi All. We are using Zoho Checkout to capture online payments for a club membership form (in Zoho Forms). We've noticed that each new payment seems to create a new customer record, regardless of whether the customer already exists in the Zoho Finance
                                                                                                              • Zoho public comments are confusing and unnecessary

                                                                                                                Hi, we use zoho desk and have issues with public comments. We started using them because the "Reply" option just seemed very clumsy because of the following reasons: - the top "Reply" button starts what seems to be a regular email, showing the entire
                                                                                                              • Templates for Zoho Desk - Knowledge Base

                                                                                                                We are looking at migrating our Knowledge base into Zoho Desk. Is there a way of creating templates for article in Knowledge base. We want to be able to set templates for certain types of content. Is this possible
                                                                                                              • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

                                                                                                                Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible
                                                                                                              • What KPIs Do You Use to Measure Your Support Team’s Performance in Zoho Desk?

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, We hope you’re all doing well. We are trying to improve how we measure the performance and effectiveness of our support department, and we would really appreciate learning from the community. We assume there are several common and widely-used
                                                                                                              • Next Page