Tip #1 Automating online sales order to invoice conversions in Zoho Inventory

Tip #1 Automating online sales order to invoice conversions in Zoho Inventory


Hello,
 
Hope the day is treating you well.
We've been getting more than a few requests from online sellers who use Zoho Inventory to help them automate invoice generation for all online orders that drop into Zoho Inventory automatically from a sales channel or a shopping cart that they have integrated. Are you an online seller like them? Then we've got some exciting news for you. You can do it with the help of a few simple things that we'll see here today.

So how do we go about this?
If you have integrated online sales channels like Amazon, Etsy and Ebay or a shopping cart like Shopify to Zoho Inventory, then you will be aware of sales orders being automatically generated inside of Zoho Inventory whenever your online customers buy something from you through these integrated channels. Since invoices are generated and automatically sent to your clients by the channel, you have little need of the invoices inside of Zoho Inventory apart from accounting purposes. Depending on the amount of online orders you get per day, it can get tricky to convert these orders into invoices manually. So we are going to automate this part for you with the help of a simple custom function. 
 
Wondering what custom functions are? They are one of the automation tools at your disposal inside of Zoho Inventory and can be accessed inside of Settings. To know more about custom functions in general, please refer to our help document.
 
Now let's see how we can write one to automatically convert all online sales orders into invoices as soon as they are generated within Zoho Inventory. 
 
Log in to your Zoho account and click on this link to generate an Auth Token which is required to make this work.
 
1) Open your Zoho Inventory organization.
2) Navigate to Settings using the gear icon from the top-right corner.
3) Select Automation from the sidebar. Click on the +New Workflow Rule button that is found at the top-right corner.
4) Out of the four tabs within Automation, select Custom Functions.
5) Now let's add a name for this workflow rule. (Note: Name cannot contain spaces)
6) The module to be chosen is Sales Orders.
7) Add a description if you need one.
8) Now, the workflow type is going to be Event Based.
9) And for the trigger, choose the option - "When a Sales Order is" "Created".
10) In the deluge pane, copy and paste the following code snippet:
 
salesorderID = salesorder.get("salesorder_id");
salesorderdate = salesorder.get("date").toDate();
organizationID = organization.get("organization_id");
authtoken = "
Copy and Paste your auth token in place of this text";
sal = invokeurl
[
url :"
https://inventory.zoho.com/api/v1/salesorders/" + salesorderID + "?authtoken=" + authtoken + "&organization_id=" + organizationID
type :GET
];
temp = sal.get("salesorder");
// info temp;
new = temp.get("sales_channel");
if(!new.equalsIgnoreCase("direct_sales"))
{
bson = Map();
customerID = salesorder.get("customer_id").toString();
salesoderdate = salesorder.get("date").toDate();
//invoice_number = salesorder.get("salesorder_number").replaceFirst("SO","INV");
//bson.put("invoice_number",);
bson.put("customer_id",customerID);
bson.put("date",salesorder.get("date"));
lineItems = salesorder.get("line_items").toList();
newLineItems = List();
for each lineItem in lineItems
{
lineItemMap = Map();
solineitemID = lineItem.get("line_item_id");
lineItemMap.put("salesorder_item_id",solineitemID);
id = lineItem.get("item_id");
lineItemMap.put("item_id",id);
des = lineItem.get("description");
lineItemMap.put("description",des);
wh = lineItem.get("warehouse_id");
lineItemMap.put("warehouse_id",wh);
quantity = lineItem.get("quantity");
lineItemMap.put("quantity",quantity);
r = lineItem.get("rate");
lineItemMap.put("rate",r);
d = lineItem.get("discount");
lineItemMap.put("discount",d);
tidd = lineItem.get("tax_id");
lineItemMap.put("tax_id",tidd);
tex = lineItem.get("tax_exemption_code");
lineItemMap.put("tax_exemption_code",tex);
newLineItems.add(lineItemMap);
}
bson.put("line_items",newLineItems);
if(temp.get("is_taxable").equalsIgnoreCase("true"))
{
bson.put("tax_id",temp.get("tax_id"));
}
else
{
bson.put("tax_exemption_id",temp.get("tax_exemption_id"));
bson.put("tax_authority_id",temp.get("tax_authority_id"));
}
response = zoho.inventory.createRecord("Invoices",organizationID,bson);
info bson;
info response.toMap().get("message");
inv = response.get("invoice");
info inv.get("invoice_id");
//marking as sent//
invoiceID = inv.get("invoice_id");
invoicedate = inv.get("date").toDate();
respond = invokeurl
[
url :"
https://inventory.zoho.com/api/v1/invoices/" + invoiceID + "/status/sent?authtoken=" + authtoken + "&organization_id=" + organizationID
type :POST
];
info respond.toMap().get("message");
}
else
{
info "Order is not from a Marketplace";
}
 
11) Before you save, you are required to copy and paste your auth token inside the quotes in the 4th line that says: authtoken = "Copy and Paste your auth token in place of this text";
Note: The auth token is a critical piece of information that helps the system identify you, so keep yours safe and confidential. Do not share it with anyone, not even with folks from Zoho.
12) Now, hit Save to finish.
 
Henceforth, all your online sales orders that are auto-generated from Amazon, Etsy, Ebay or Shopify will be automatically converted to invoices. And the status of these invoices inside of Zoho Inventory will be Sent. If you wish to auto-generate invoices of Paid status, then it can be made possible with a few changes. You can either experiment that part by yourself or contact us at support@zoho-inventory.com
 
Note: If you need this automation only for one channel, say for Shopify alone and not other channels, then you need to make a few changes to line 13 that originally says - if(!new.equalsIgnoreCase("direct_sales")) to if(new.equalsIgnoreCase("shopify"))
 
Hope this helps you in your online selling endeavors. Oh and by the way, have you ever dabbled with the custom functions module by yourself? You can share your discoveries, questions and suggestions with us anytime. We look forward to hearing from you. (Email us: support@zoho-inventory.com)
 
Until next time.
 
Your everyday end user,
Ajay Aadhithya Chandrasekaran
Zoho Inventory


    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





                                                          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 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

                                                                                                          • Update on the client portal URL for Guest users

                                                                                                            We’re updating the way Guest users access their Connect network. As part of this change, all client organization portals used by Guest users will now be accessible through a dedicated domain specific to each data center. The access URLs mentioned here
                                                                                                          • Zoho Commerce

                                                                                                            Hi, I have zoho one and use Zoho Books. I am very interested in Zoho Commerce , especially with how all is integrated but have a question. I do not want my store to show prices for customers that are not log in. Is there a way to hide the prices if not
                                                                                                          • Mass (Pull back) (Close WOs) (Close APs)

                                                                                                            Hi develop team. Just idea because Zoho FSM is great but its too manual. we have a lot of task to do every day and the system needs to have more features to automatic our tasks. I need to close several WOs, APs and Pull Back per day. Please we need mass
                                                                                                          • Customising Zohidesk portal default widgets

                                                                                                            Hello, I'm wondering how could I customise the default widgets such as "popular topics", "popular articles" using CSS or to make the tiles at the bottom match the ones that I made in the picture attached. I have made some custom widgets and edited them
                                                                                                          • If there’s a batch at the end, the ‘mark as inactive’ function doesn’t work.

                                                                                                            when my batch has a date to batch end and I "mark as inactive" he batch does not obey the status and reactivates the batch.
                                                                                                          • Seamless multilingual messaging and tone control in Zia IM Composer

                                                                                                            Hello everyone! Managing customer conversations across multiple languages can be time-consuming. Using Zia in the Instant Messaging (IM) Composer helps you overcome this by providing tools to translate content, adjust your tone, and refine your messages
                                                                                                          • Advanced Deluge help needed with custom function and COQL limits

                                                                                                            I have a scheduled function that takes a snapshot of specific metrics and saves them to a custom module. However I'm struggling with the limits of COQL. I attach my full code, but an example of the issues I'm having is that it's erroring with a 'Limit
                                                                                                          • Tip of the Week - Conditional Formatting Chart

                                                                                                            Conditional formatting allows you to highlight your data series based on a pattern or a trend in your data. This makes it easy for you to identify when your data reaches certain values or when it deviates from the trend.  Zoho Analytics allows you to
                                                                                                          • Zoho Learn - AI Translate

                                                                                                            Hi Learn team, I had a situation today where I was providing training to a client team and I had written articles into their Zoho Learn to support their learning. I realised that one of the team members was a non-native English speaker and they were struggling
                                                                                                          • Payroll In Canada

                                                                                                            Hi, When can we expect to have payroll in Canada with books 
                                                                                                          • Power of Automation :: Auto-Sync Custom Date Field Between Related Tasks via Blueprint Transition

                                                                                                            Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate
                                                                                                          • Introducing auto-upgrade in Zoho LandingPage

                                                                                                            Hi everyone, We’re excited to share an upcoming update to help you get the most out of your landing pages — the auto-upgrade option, launching on October 22, 2025. Your landing pages are designed to bring in leads, and we want to make sure you never miss
                                                                                                          • Workdrive comment links stopped working.

                                                                                                            I have marked a PDF file with 95 comments, they have worked for a while. When i clicked on them they brought me to the correct page and showed me the outline that i had drew on the plans. The comments included the page number of the outline, but now it
                                                                                                          • Lite plan attachment said 250mb but actually 25mb ?

                                                                                                            Lite plan attachment said 250mb but actually 25mb ? I can't attach over 25mb files, and can't receive mails has attached files over 25mb too
                                                                                                          • How to Bulk-Update Sales Orders in CRM

                                                                                                            Hi - I need to bulk update existing sales orders with dates from our ERP of when the sales orders were created. I made a date field on the Sales Order module where I want to insert that data. I can't Mass Update because I am not updating the fields to
                                                                                                          • Zoho ToDo in Cliq

                                                                                                            Our organization utilizes Zoho ToDo in the Zoho Mail Desktop app. Is there a way for these to show up in Cliq Desktop app as well?
                                                                                                          • 【Zoho CRM】サンドボックス機能のアップデート:カスタムビューが利用可能になりました。

                                                                                                            ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、サンドボックス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 1. カスタムビューとは 2. 今回の機能アップデートについて 1. カスタムビューとは カスタムビューは、ユーザーが設定した条件に基づいてデータをフィルタリング・整理し、 重要な情報へ効率的にアクセスできるようにする機能です。 「過去15日間の見込み客」や「受注間近の商談」、「特定の優先度レベルが設定された案件」など 条件を指定してわずか数クリックで設定できます。
                                                                                                          • Changing an agents email address

                                                                                                            How do you change an agent's email address? I keep getting a red circle even though I am an admin. And on one of my agents he has two email addresses? How is that possible?
                                                                                                          • Zoho CRM - Potentials Tab

                                                                                                            Hi! When I create a Deal (Potentials tab) the header looks like this: After a refresh on the page it looks like this: What should I do so that it is displayed like in the second pic without refresh? Also I have a user that as of recently, cannot see this
                                                                                                          • Is there a way to automatically add Secondary Contacts (CCs) when creating a new ticket for specific customers?

                                                                                                            Some of our customers want multiple contacts to receive all notifications from our support team. Is there a way to automatically add secondary contacts to a ticket when our support team opens a new ticket and associates it with an account? This would
                                                                                                          • Unable to create embed code for resource of workdrive using API

                                                                                                            Hello Team, I am trying to create embed code for a resource using workdrive api in powershell, however facing some issues with injecting data in body. Followed Doc: https://workdrive.zoho.com/apidocs/v1/filefoldersharing/shareeveryone Please help, below
                                                                                                          • Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

                                                                                                            I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create
                                                                                                          • not able to convert pdf to jpg and other forms and vice versa.

                                                                                                            i want to change my pdf to jpg, word, etc and some times jpg to pdf. i don't know how to do in this.
                                                                                                          • Enable / show scroll bar when Mega Menu is opened

                                                                                                            Hey there I am using the mega menu add-on and experience a "flicker" whenever the mega menu opens. The reason is, that the scrollbar, which has a width of a few pixels, stops showing when the mega menu opens. As the scrollbar disappears the whole page
                                                                                                          • Shared Mailboxes Disappeared

                                                                                                            Zoho Mail users in our company haven't been able to see their Shared Mailboxes for the past few hours. I've checked with App and Web Access, but they can't access them. When I send emails to their addresses, I get no error messages. They're still visible
                                                                                                          • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

                                                                                                            Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with
                                                                                                          • Zoho Inventory - Composite Items - Assembly - Single Line Item Quantity of One

                                                                                                            Hi Zoho Inventory Team, Please consider relaxing the system rules which prevent an assembly items from consisting of a single line item and outputting a quantity of 1. A client I'm currently working with sells cosmetics and offers testers of their products
                                                                                                          • How can I transfer data from Production to Development environment?

                                                                                                            Hi, I am using Creator V6 and would like to bring all the data in production to the Development and Testing environments? Is there an easy way of doing that or I have to export and import each table?
                                                                                                          • Add "Reset MFA" Option for Zoho Creator Client Portal Users

                                                                                                            Hello Zoho Creator Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement related to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for client portal users in Zoho Creator. Currently, Creator allows us to enforce MFA for portal users,
                                                                                                          • New portal SAML authentication error: User not found

                                                                                                            Dears, Has anyone else been experiencing this lately? I am creating a new portal authenticated by SAML (Entra ID). I followed the same process as I did with other portals, but any new portal created after this always encounters this error. I’ve been reporting
                                                                                                          • Devis et facture multi page

                                                                                                            Bonjour, je suis sur Zoho invoice et je rencontre un problème sur mes devis et factures lorsqu'ils dépassent 1 page. je me retrouve souvent avec des lignes coupées ou le sous total page 1 et le total page 2. j'aimerai savoir s'il existe une possibilité
                                                                                                          • Unable to Receive Emails on Zoho Mail After Office 365 Coexistence Setup – Error: 553 Relaying Disallowed

                                                                                                            Hello, My domain name is bigniter.com, and I’ve been using Zoho Mail as my email service provider without any issues. Recently, I followed the steps outlined in the Zoho documentation to enable Coexistence with Office 365: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/coexistence-with-office365.html#multi-server
                                                                                                          • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

                                                                                                            I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload
                                                                                                          • Help with Filtering Records, HTML Pages, and Automatic File Uploads in Zoho Creator

                                                                                                            Hi Zoho Creator Community, I’m building a Zoho Creator application and need guidance on a few features I’ve been struggling with. I want to implement them safely and efficiently, and I’d appreciate any examples, tips, or best practices. I want users to
                                                                                                          • How to Send Email from within a custom module (with or without an email template)

                                                                                                            It is possible to send an email from the Deals module. However, I can't find a way to send an email from any of our custom modules. I have tried adding an email field to the modules (even though we don't really want one or need it there). That doesn't
                                                                                                          • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

                                                                                                            How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details
                                                                                                          • Signature issue

                                                                                                            Problem: The signature does not appear when replying or forwarding an email. solve issue: settintgs/Signature Check option place a signature above the content with quotation marks
                                                                                                          • Feature Suggestion for Zoho Websites – Inspired by Squarespace Systems

                                                                                                            Dear Zoho Team, I’m a Zoho user and also a Squarespace Platinum Circle member, and I recently noticed the launch of Zoho Websites in India. I wanted to share some ideas for features that could enhance the platform for professional users and agencies.
                                                                                                          • Custom View - Sort by Custom Field

                                                                                                            I created a custom field for our Engineering team to know which tickets to work first by numbering them.  I created a custom view to general data which includes the Engineering Priority.  However, I cannot sort the Engineering Priority column ascending
                                                                                                          • Zoho Indeed Intergation not pulling candidate details

                                                                                                            We have recently integrated zoho with indeed. Prior to this our candidates came into the candidates tab via the zoho.resumes email address from indeed and it pulled through the candidates mobile number, and majority of the time a postcode. However since
                                                                                                          • Next Page