No Ability to Rename Record Template PDFs in SendMail Task
As highlighted previously in this post, we still have to deal with the limitation of not being able to rename a record template when sent as a PDF using the SendMail Task. This creates unnecessary complexity for what should be a simple operation, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update.
The Issue
According to the official SendMail documentation, you can attach Record Templates as PDFs using the following syntax:
sendmail
[
from: zoho.adminuserid
to: input.customer_email
subject: "Invoice"
message: "Please find your invoice attached"
Attachments: template:Invoice_Template:Form_Name record_id as PDF
]However, the PDF filename is automatically generated based on the template name and cannot be customized or renamed programmatically.
The Problem
When clients require specific PDF naming conventions (e.g., "ClientName_Invoice_2024.pdf" instead of "Invoice_Template.pdf"), there is no straightforward solution.
| Workaround Approach | Implementation | Problems | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual Export | User exports PDF manually and uploads to file field |
- Not acceptable for automated workflows - Defeats purpose of automation - Poor user experience |
✗ Not viable for production |
| Email-to-Form API | Send PDF to another form, fetch via GET API, rename, then send |
- Does NOT work "On Add → On Success" - Timing/race condition issues - Only works manually updating record - Requires additional forms and complexity |
✗ Unreliable without delays |
| Scheduled Workaround | Use scheduled task to trigger GET request and rename |
- Introduces unnecessary delays - Overcomplicated for simple task - Requires schedule management |
⚠ Works but highly inefficient |
Example of Current Complexity
To accomplish what should be a simple filename rename, developers must implement this convoluted workaround:
// STEP 1: Send PDF to intermediate form via email
sendmail
[
from: zoho.adminuserid
to: "capture_form@creator.zoho.com"
subject: "Temp PDF"
Attachments: template:Invoice_Template:Form_Name record_id as PDF
]
// STEP 2: Schedule a task (not immediate!)
// Wait for email to process...
// STEP 3: Fetch the file via API
file_response = invokeUrl
[
url: api_endpoint
type: GET
connection: "creator_connection"
];
// STEP 4: Rename using setFileName
file_response.setFileName("CustomFileName.pdf");
// STEP 5: Finally send with renamed file
sendmail
[
from: zoho.adminuserid
to: input.customer_email
subject: "Invoice"
Attachments: file:file_response
]This entire process requires:
- Additional form creation
- API connection setup
- Schedule configuration
- Complex error handling
What Should Happen Instead
Proposed Solution:
Add a simple filename parameter to the SendMail attachment syntax:
sendmail
[
from: zoho.adminuserid
to: input.customer_email
subject: "Invoice"
Attachments: template:Invoice_Template:Form_Name record_id as PDF filename:"Custom_Name.pdf"
]
Or allow variable-based naming:
pdf_name = input.Client_Name + "_Invoice_" + input.Invoice_Number + ".pdf";
sendmail
[
from: zoho.adminuserid
to: input.customer_email
subject: "Invoice"
Attachments: template:Invoice_Template:Form_Name record_id as PDF filename:pdf_name
]
This single parameter would eliminate hours of workaround development and make PDF naming consistent with client requirements.
Real-World Impact
This limitation affects any business process requiring:
- Branded invoices with client-specific naming conventions
- Compliance documents with standardized filename formats (e.g., "CompanyName_ISO_Certificate_2024.pdf")
- Automated reports sent to clients who need predictable filenames for their filing systems
- Quote/proposal systems where filename needs to include reference numbers
- Any professional service where PDF naming impacts client experience
Developer Impact: What should take 30 seconds (adding a filename parameter) instead requires hours of workaround implementation, creating technical debt and maintenance overhead.
Request to Zoho Team
Can this be addressed in a future update?
This is a frequently requested feature that impacts professional presentation and client satisfaction. The current implementation forces developers to choose between:
|
1. Default Naming Accept generic template-based filenames that don't meet client requirements |
2. Complex Workarounds Spend hours implementing unreliable solutions with scheduled tasks and API calls |
We shouldn't have to make this choice for such a basic requirement.
Community Input Requested: Has anyone else encountered this limitation or found a more reliable workaround? This has been an ongoing frustration, and I know many developers would benefit from a native solution.
📚 Documentation References:
- Primary: Send Mail - Deluge Documentation
- Related: Understanding Record Templates
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Damien Cregan
Karunakaran G
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Zoho Books emails suddenly going to Spam since 11 Nov 2025 (Gmail + now Outlook) — anyone else?
Hi everyone, We migrated to Zoho Books in July 2025 and everything worked fine until 11 Nov 2025. Since then, Zoho Books system emails are landing in customers’ Spam (first Gmail, and now we’re seeing Outlook/Office 365 also starting to spam them). ImpactedHow do you print a refund check to customer?
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does anyone print a refund check to a customer? We cant find anywhere to either just print a check and pick a customer, or where to do so from a credit note.Data Import | Zoho Analytics Custom Query Window Size
Please increase the window size for the Custom Query Data Import. It's impossible to work with such a small query window.Company Multiple Branch/ Location Accounting
Hi All, anyone know whether company can maintain their multiple Branch Accounting in Zoho Books. It will be chart of Accounts & Master Data will be same but different report available as per per Branch. Thanks & regards, Vivek +91 9766906737Zoho Books Invoices Templates
It would be really helpful to have more advanced features to customise the invoice templates in Zoho Books. Especially I´m thinking of the spacing of the different parts of the invoice (Address line etc.). If you have a sender and receiver address inSupport for Developing Zoho Recruit Extensions via Zoho Sigma
Hi, I’m interested in building an extension for Zoho Recruit using Zoho Sigma. However, when I navigate to Sigma and attempt to create a new extension (via the "New Extension" option), Zoho Recruit does not appear as a listed service—only options likeEmail Administrators! Join our tips & troubleshooting series
Greetings to all the admins out there! This announcement is exclusively for you. As we step into the New Year, we’re excited to start a dedicated series of admin-specific tips curated to support you. These posts will help you overcome everyday challengesNotes 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 associatedDeprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector
Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connectorPersonalize your booking pages with Custom CSS
Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We’re introducing Custom CSS for Zoho Bookings, designed to give you complete control over the look and feel of your booking pages. With this new feature, you can upload your own CSS file to customize colors, fonts,Free Webinar : Unlock AI driven business insights with Zoho Inventory + Zoho Analytics
Are you tired of switching between apps and exporting data to build customized reports? Say hello to smarter & streamlined insights! Join us for this exclusive webinar where we explore the power of the Zoho Inventory–Zoho Analytics integration. LearnNo OR Filter for Views with a Related Modules Criteria
We would like to create a Deal View where the User can see all their deals. For that, we would need an OR to connect the criteria. One of the Fields is a "multiselect User", these (Related Modules Criteria) can only be Filter with an AND. Even betweenImport Function: ONLY update empty fields
When setting up an import from a spreadsheet to CRM, there is a checkbox "Don't update empty values for existing contacts" (see screenshot below). While I see some limited benefit from this functionality, I think there should also be an "ONLY update emptySales IQ Chat Widget is Only Displaying Last Name
Can anyone suggest why the widget is only displaying "last name"?! We have the latest version of the wordpress plugin installed. Thanks Thanks!Free Webinar: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects: Automate tasks and approvals with e-signatures
Hi there! Handling multiple projects at once? Zoho Projects is your solution for automated and streamlined project management, and with the Zoho Sign extension, you can sign, send, and manage digital paperwork directly from your project workspace. JoinBegin the year with best practices in the Zoho Desk mobile app : Part 2
In focus: Optimizing collaboration and supervision Let's begin 2026 with Part 2 of our tips series on driving your ticketing operations at your fingertips. In Part 1, we explored streamlining operations within tickets. This helped individuals at OmniserveCan we disable add to cart in Zoho Commerce?
Hello, Our sales happen on the phone. During the call the customer is directed to our website to inspect the products together with the sales rep. So we need a way to present our inventory. I figured Zoho Commerce is a good fit for this use case. However we would have to disable the possibility to purchase products in the shop. Is that possible? Sunny regards, ArtjomHow to update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records
Hello Zoho CRM, How do I update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records at once? To give you a background, these leads were uploaded or Imported at once but the lead status record was incorrectly chosen. So since there was a way to quickly add records in the system no matter how many they are, we are also wondering if there is a quicker way to update these records to the correct "Lead Status". I hope our concern makes sense and that there will be a fix for it. All the best, JonathanZoho DataPrep and File Pattern configuration
I'm using Zoho data prep to ingest data from One Drive into Zoho Analytics... The pipeline is super simple but I can't any way to get all the files that I need. Basically I need to bring all the files with a certain pattern and for that I'm using a regexJWT Token authentication problem that sometimes generates infinite redirect loops
Description : Nous proposons un bouton sur notre plateforme permettant de rediriger l'utilisateur vers le portail ZohoDesk via un jeton JWT pour une authentification transparente. Cependant, il arrive que certains utilisateurs soient pris dans une boucleZoho desk desktop application
does zoho desk has a destop applicaion?ZOHO Work Drive Back Up
I am looking for a ZOHO Work Drive backup solution. Something that is cloud based. There's lots of these kinds of options for Google Drive and other providers, but I have not seen anything for WorkDrive. Any suggestions?ZOHO Reports - Filter Logic?
Hi, I need a way to apply filter logics such as ((1 AND 2) OR 3). All I can see as of now is a way to enter different AND filters in the respective filter column. But how can I add an OR filter? Any advice would be highly appreciated. MarkScanned Doc - selecting Item overwrites Rate
I have a Vendor Invoice which was uploaded to Documents. I select Add To > New Bill. The OCR is actually quite good, but it is reading an Item Description instead of an Item Number. I remove the description and select the correct Item Number... and itRecruit API search
Hi all, Attempting to call the search api endpoint from Postman using the word element as mentioned in api docs Search Records - APIs | Online Help - Zoho Recruit When making the call to /v2/Candidates/search?word=Saudi receive response of { "code": "MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND",Saving reading position + Keep screen on
While Zoho Notebook is excellent for saving and annotating articles, its utility is severely limited by the lack of reading progress synchronization. On the Android app, if a user exits a long note after reading 50%, the app fails to save the position.Multiple Vendor SKUs
One of the big concerns we have with ZOHO Inventory is lack of Vendor Skus like many other inventory software packages offer. Being able to have multiple vendor skus for the same product would be HUGE! It would populate the appropriate vendor Sku forZoho LandingPage is integrated with Zoho One!
Greetings to the Zoho One users out there! We're delighted to let you know that Zoho LandingPage is available in Zoho One too! With Zoho LandingPage, you can host custom-made landing pages, and persuade the visitors to dive deeper by making further clicks,Android app sync problem - multiple devices have same problem
Hello, I am having a problem with synchronization in the Android app. When I create a drawing, the data does not sync correctly—only a blank note is created without the drawing. I tested this on multiple devices, including phones and tablets, and theHow can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign
How can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign ? Sincererly, MikeHow to show branch instead of org name on invoice template?
Not sure why invoices are showing the org name not the branch name? I can insert the branch name using the ${ORGANIZATION.BRANCHNAME} placeholder, but then it isn't bold text anymore. Any other ideas?Create CRM Deal from Books Quote and Auto Update Deal Stage
I want to set up an automation where, whenever a Quote is created in Zoho Books, a Deal is automatically created in Zoho CRM with the Quote amount, customer details, and some custom fields from Zoho Books. Additionally, when the Sales Order is convertedMarketing Automation Requirements Questions
I would like to set up a multi-email drip campaign- please see the structure below and confirm if I can achieve this set up in Zoho marketing automation. Where applicable, highlight gaps and workarounds. Thanks Drip email campaign- Can I create one dripZoho CRM for Gmail Extension Not Working in Brave Browser?
Is anyone able to get the Zoho CRM Chrome Extension working in the Brave browser? They're both built on the Chromium platform and every other Chrome Extension works with the exception of Zoho CRM for Gmail so any ideas here?Sharing URLs and direct access
Hello, I am storing my team's email signature images on Workdrive. I am creating a public image download share and adding “?directDownload=true” so that the image can be accessed without the Workdrive interface. A few questions: 1) Can we generate friendlyhow to change the page signers see after signing a document in zoho sign
Hello, How can I please change the page a signer sees after signing a document in Zoho Sign? I cannot seem to find it. As it is now, it shows a default landing page "return to Zoho Sign Home". Thanks!Question about using custom_fields in Storefront Add-to-Cart API (error 2003 – required details)
Hi everyone, I’m working with the Zoho Commerce Storefront API, specifically the Add to Cart endpoint: POST /storefront/api/v1/cart According to the documentation, this endpoint supports a custom_fields parameter for adding line-item custom data. I’mCan a project be cloned?
Good afternoon, greetings. I would like to ask if it's possible to clone a project in Microsoft Project. I found a way to do it using templates, but I'm not sure if there's a direct way to clone a project. Thank you in advance for your attention, andTimesheet Tasks in Zoho Books: associate to service item
How do we associate a service item to timesheet tasks in Zoho Books? For example: Joe spent 5 hours on project:task1 which is Service Item#1 (Income:Service1). When the invoice is issued thru the Project Invoice section, this is not available. When theWhy Sharing Rules do Not support relative date comparison???
I am creating a Sharing Rule and simply want to share where "Last Day of Coverage" (Date field) is Greater than TODAY (Starting Tomorrow). However, sharing rules don't have the option to compare a date field to a relative date (like today), only to StaticNext Page