How to identify the cause of a problem

Zoho Flow lets you access the history of all flow executions in your organization as well as individual flows. To view an organization-wide history, navigate to Settings > History. To view a particular flow's history, navigate to My Flows, then to the required flow, and click History.

Further details of a flow execution can be accessed by clicking on a record. You will see the data exchanged between the trigger and the actions in that flow in a JSON or XML structure. In most cases, this data can help you identify the source and the cause of the problem.

General troubleshooting steps

If a flow fails, or if you are facing a problem with a flow's execution, follow these steps:

1. Perform the basic checks to see if your flow is configured correctly. For example, check if the flow is switched on, the app connections are made to the intended accounts, and so on.
   
2. Navigate to the flow's history. Identify the step that failed and the subsequent error message displayed in the error tab.
   Note: If the error tab is displayed without the input tab, check that step for data mapping related errors such as an invalid data type, incorrect formula formatting (for example, you may have entered "${trigger.name" instead of ${trigger.name}), etc.
3. Try to determine whether the error message is from the application or the Zoho Flow platform.
   For example, if the error message starts with the action app's name, say, "Zoho Mail says...", it means the error is coming from the API, and is application-related.
4. Cross-check the error message with the configuration of that particular step. In case of data or configuration-related errors, find the input variable that is causing the issue and trace back to the step from which it is mapped. If it is a 'Fetch' action that uses a value from the previous step to fetch a record, check the previous step also.
   
5. Reconfigure the trigger or the action that is causing the error. Sometimes, you may need to add decision blocks or custom functions to arrive at the desired result.
   

You can check the following section for the most common errors and their solutions. If none of these works, please write to us at support@zohoflow.com.

Common errors and their fixes 

"Mandatory field is empty" errors

Mandatory fields are very common in actions and will require you to either enter data or select an option to perform that step. If that required field is left empty, you are likely to get an error. You might also see "400 Bad request" in the error message.

Solution: Check the configuration of the concerned step for mandatory fields and insert data into them. 

App connection related errors

If the error message says "401 Unauthorized", or contains words like "Authentication failed", it might be due to a connection issue. You may have changed a password, or Zoho Flow's access was revoked.

Solution: Test your app connection, or reconnect your app to Zoho Flow, then try again.

Date formatting and data type mismatch errors

If the error statement contains phrases like "pattern mismatch" or "invalid data type", this might be due to an incorrect variable mapped to a particular field. For example, a variable that holds a string value should not be mapped to a field that expects an integer value.

When it comes to date formats, different apps communicate date and time values in different ways. If the date format passed on from one app doesn't match the date format expected by another app, it will result in an error. 

Solution: Check the variables and their data type when you map it to a field. You can see the data type of a variable right next to it in the Insert Variable section.

When you build flows, you need to ensure that date-time values are converted accurately. This minimizes errors in your flow and ensures that the right values are conveyed to other apps. Learn more

Errors with HTTP status codes: Handled by Auto Rerun

A host of internal and third-party application-related errors (for example, 408 Request timed out, 504 Gateway timeout, etc) are automatically rerun by Zoho Flow's Auto Rerun feature. You can check the list of errors here.

App-specific errors with HTTP status codes

1. Search for "<app name> API documentation" in a search engine, say Google. For example, Zoho CRM API documentation or Asana API documentation.
   
2. Click on the API documentation page of the required app.
   
3. Use the 'Find' tool in your browser and look for a section named "Errors" or "HTTP Status code".
   
4. You may also directly search for the error code that appeared in your flow's task history. 
   

For example, suppose when running a flow that has a Zoho Books action, you get an error message with the code "401". You can then follow the above mentioned steps to find the Errors section in Zoho Books API Documentation page. 

From the description provided, it can be deduced that the problem is with the AuthToken in your Zoho Books connection. To solve this issue, you can reconnect your existing connection and try again.

Most apps will provide error codes and their meanings in their API documentation page. You can use this information to try and solve the issue on your own. If you encounter any difficulties, please feel free to contact support@zohoflow.com.

Other errors with HTTP status codes

400 Bad Request

Solution: Check that all mandatory fields are correctly set up.

Solution: Reconnect your app connection in Zoho Flow.

This likely means that the app account you have connected is denying permission for Zoho Flow to complete a particular step.

Solution: If you are the account admin of the required app, check if you have provided the necessary permissions to complete the concerned step. Otherwise, contact the app account administrator.

This might indicate that a field, a record, or information that is required to complete the step is not found in the connected app. For example, if you have set up an action to update a contact detail but the contact ID doesn't match any records in that app.

Solution: Check that the fields are mapped correctly, and that the records exist in the connected app.

This could mean that the action method (Create, Update, Fetch, and Delete) is not allowed by the connected app.

Solution: Contact the Zoho Flow support at support@zohoflow.com