Kaizen #178 - Filters & Criteria in Zoho CRM APIs

Kaizen #178 - Filters & Criteria in Zoho CRM APIs


Hey everyone, and welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

Ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data in your Zoho CRM? Sifting through countless records to find exactly what you need, or to operate on specific records that meet a certain criteria, can indeed be a real time-sink. Fortunately, Zoho CRM provides powerful filtering capabilities through its APIs to streamline this process.

What is criteria or filter?

In Zoho CRM APIs, criteria refer to the conditions applied to filter records when making API requests. These conditions can be simple (single condition) or complex (multiple conditions) and are specified using various comparators.

Depending on the API type and request method, the filter can be provided either:
  • As a query parameter (filters) – Used in GET requests.
  • As an input key in the request body (criteria)– Used in POST and PUT requests   

Where is "filters" used in Zoho CRM APIs?

The filters parameter is supported across multiple Zoho CRM API endpoints, including but not limited to:

Where is "criteria" used in Zoho CRM APIs?

The criteria key is supported across multiple Zoho CRM API endpoints, including but not limited to:
The filters parameter and criteria key are supported across multiple Zoho CRM API endpoints. Refer to our API help documentation for individual APIs to check if these options are available. Check the Parameters section for filters and the Input JSON section for criteria
 in the API's help documentation.

Constructing a criteria or a filter

Zoho CRM APIs use JSON-based criteria/filters expressions, which consist of:
  • Field API Name – The field to filter (e.g., Email, Created_Time, Status).
  • Comparator – The operator defining how the field should be compared (equals, greater_than, etc.).
  • Value – The specific value to compare against.

Single Condition

A single condition is structured as follows:
{
  "field": {
    "api_name": "Post_Number"
  },
  "comparator": "greater_than",
  "value": 1
}

Here,
  • field specifies the API name of the field to be filtered.
  • comparator indicates the type of comparison to be made (e.g., greater_than).
  • value is the value against which the field is compared.

Multiple Conditions

When multiple conditions are required, they can be grouped using the logical operators "and" or "or". Here’s the syntax of how to structure multiple conditions:
{
  "group_operator": "or",
  "group": [
    {
      "field": {
        "api_name": "Post_Number"
      },
      "comparator": "greater_than",
      "value": 1
    },
    {
      "field": {
        "api_name": "Pre_Number"
      },
      "comparator": "greater_than",
      "value": 1
    }
  ]
}

Here,
  • group_operator can be "and" or "or". It defines how the conditions within the group array are evaluated. "and" means all conditions must be true, while "or" means at least one condition must be true.
  • group
     contains an array of condition objects, each with its own field, comparator, and value.
Following is an example for a criteria with more than two conditions:
{
  "criterion": {
    "group_operator": "and",
    "group": [
      {
        "field": {
          "api_name": "Post_Number"
        },
        "comparator": "greater_than",
        "value": 1
      },
      {
        "group_operator": "or",
        "group": [
          {
            "field": {
              "api_name": "Pre_Number"
            },
            "comparator": "greater_than",
            "value": 1
          },
          {
            "field": {
              "api_name": "Status"
            },
            "comparator": "equals",
            "value": "Active"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Supported Comparators for Different Field Types

The available comparators depend on the field type. The following table outlines the supported comparators for different field types:

Field Type
Supported Comparators
Example
text/ textarea
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains , starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "text"
   },
   "value": "zoho"

}
email
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "contains",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Email"
   },
   "value": "patricia"
}
phone
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Phone"
   },
   "value": "9999999999"
}
website
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "contains",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "website"
   },
   "value": "zoho"
}
picklist
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "picklist"
   },
   "value": [
       "Cold Call",
        "Call"
   ]
}
multiselectpicklist
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Multi_Select_Picklist"
   },
   "value": [
         "Cold Call",
        "Call"
   ]
}
date
equal, not_equal, less_than, greater_than, between, not_between, less_equal, greater_equal
Example 1:
{
   "comparator": "less_than",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "date"
   },
   "value": "01-01-2025"

}
Example 2:
{
   "comparator": "between",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "date"
   },
   "value": [
          "01-01-2025",
           "02-01-2025",
}
datetime
equal, not_equal, less_than, greater_than, between, not_between, less_equal, greater_equal
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "date"
   },
   "value": "2025-01-01T12:12:06+05:30"
}
autonumber
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "starts_with",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Auto_Number"
   },
   "value": "A01"
}
integer
equal, not_equal, less_than, less_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, between, not_between
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "integer"
   },
   "value": 4
}
currency
equal, not_equal, contains, not_contains, starts_with, ends_with
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Currency"
   },
   "value": "INR"
}
double
equal, not_equal, less_than, less_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, between, not_between
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Double"
   },
   "value": "123"
}
Boolean
equal
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Boolean"
   },
   "value": true
}
big int
equal, not_equal, less_than, less_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, between, not_between
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "id"
   },
   "value": "1234800023843923"
}
lookup
equal, not_equal, less_than, less_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, between, not_between
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Lookup.name"
   },
   "value": "Name1"
}
ownerlookup/userlookup
in, not_in 
{
   "comparator": "equal",
   "field": {
       "api_name": "Modified_By",
       "id": "400029000000000479"
   },
   "value": [
       {
           "id": "400029000003984001",
           "name": "User1"
       },
       {
           "id": 400029000003984002,
           "name": "User2"
       }
   ]
}
formula
Comparator will depend on the return type
-



Notes
Note: 
  • Use quotes for strings and picklists; do not use quotes for numbers and boolean values.
  • While Zoho CRM’s filtering capabilities are extensive, certain field types — including subforms, multi-select lookup fields, multi-user lookup fields, and multi-module lookup fields — are not supported in filters and criteria. The above table lists all the supported field types. 

Filtering in COQL Queries

COQL (CRM Object Query Language) provides a structured way to retrieve records from Zoho CRM using SQL-like queries. Unlike the standard API filters discussed above, COQL uses the WHERE clause to define conditions.

Here is a sample COQL query:

{
  "select_query": "SELECT Full_Name, Email FROM Leads WHERE Lead_Status = 'Qualified'"
}

Here, Lead_Status = 'Qualified' acts as the filtering criteria.

{
  "select_query": "SELECT Full_Name, Email FROM Leads WHERE (Lead_Status = 'Qualified' AND City = 'New York') OR (Industry = 'Software')"
}

The AND and OR operators allow for multiple conditions in the WHERE clause. We have covered COQL API, and all the supported field types and operators in detail in our Kaizen posts. Kindly refer to them for more details.

Criteria in Search API

In Search API, filtering records is done using the criteria (string) input key in the request body. Unlike filters in GET requests or criteria in other APIs, criteria here is a text-based filter expression that follows a specific syntax.

(({api_name}:{operator}:{value})and/or({api_name}:{operator}:{value}))
  • You can combine up to 10 conditions using and or or.
  • Only the equals operator is supported for encrypted fields.
  • When using "equals" in Search API, it behaves like "contains", meaning it fetches records that include the specified value, not just exact matches.
  • If you use parentheses (), commas, or backslashes \ in values, you must escape them properly and encode the value before making the request.
Field Type
Supported Operators
Date, DateTime
equals, not_equal, greater_equal, greater_than, less_equal, less_than, between, in
Integer, Currency, Decimal
equals, not_equal, greater_equal, greater_than, less_equal, less_than, between, in
Boolean
equals, not_equal
textarea
equals, not_equal, starts_with
Lookup (user/owner)
equals, not_equal, in
Picklist, Autonumber
equals, not_equal, in
Text, Email, Phone, Website 
equals, not_equal, starts_with, in
multiselectpicklist
equals, not_equal, in, starts_with.
bigint
equals, not_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, less_than, less_equal, between, in
percent
equals, not_equal, greater_than, greater_equal, less_than, less_equal, between, in
formula
The supported operators of the formula datatype will depend on the return type of the formula


Have questions or use cases to share? Feel free to share them in the comments below or reach out to our support team directly at support@zohocrm.com.

Thank you for joining us this week. Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming Kaizen posts! Happy Coding!!



      • Recent Topics

      • I can't log in to my account on Thunderbird

        I've just had to rebuild my PC (calamitous mess from Microsoft with Win10/Win 11 'upgrade' - they confirmed I had to start with a new build). I have used Zoho mail for years via Mozilla Thunderbird, but now I've had to download the latest version of TBird,

      • Should I Use DMARC?

        When I configure Zoho Mail's DMARC settings, it's mandatory to fill in the RUA and RUF (Aggregate notification email address*, Forensic notification email address*) addresses. When we enter an email address in these fields, we receive reports from the

      • Introducing Profile Summary: Faster Candidate Insights with Zia

        We’re excited to launch Profile Summary, a powerful new feature in Zoho Recruit that transforms how you review candidate profiles. What used to take minutes of resume scanning can now be assessed in seconds—thanks to Zia. A Quick Example Say you’re hiring

      • Books API Receiving an Error that Doesn't Make Sense when Creating Credit Note - trying to use 'ignore_auto_number_generation' argument

        Hello, I'm working on a newly created routine and I'm getting an error that doesn't make sense when trying to create a new Credit Note. Here is my POST request. Endpoint: https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/creditnotes?organization_id=########## Body:     {

      • How to move emails to Shared Mailbox?

        Hello, I created a Shred Mailbox instead of using a distribution group. But I cannot move previous emails to certain shared mailbox. Is it possible move some emails from inbox to shared mailbox?

      • Collaboration with free plan user.

        Hello. Do both users need to be on Pro plan to collaborate? Or can a Pro user share a note with a free plan user with the ability to edit?

      • Send email template "permission denied to access the api"

        Hello, Per the title, I'm trying to send a Zoho CRM Email template based on the advice given here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/specify-an-email-template-when-sending-emails-in-custom-functions (I'd prefer to send right from Deluge

      • Zoho Inventory Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain

        Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia Estatal

      • Connection to other user

        Zoho Cliq handles sharing of Custom OAuth Connections that require individual user logins.

      • Missing information data Zoho inventory

        there some missing data in Zoho inventory connection. pick list stock counts bin location we have requested it via mail and the support team doesn’t gove feedback. has anyone achieve to get these info or to ask other ya les

      • In arattai received message can't be deleted

        The issue has been noticed in following: arattai app (Android) arattai app (Window) arattai web While the message posted by me may be deleted, the ones received from others can't be. The item <Delete> change to <Report> when the message is a received

      • Analytics Portal

        I have the "standard plan" and want to explore the portal option; I activated the 15-day trial but do not see the pricing for the add-on. How can I get the price under "Upgrade add-ons." Thanks Rudy

      • Can I filter a Lookup field to only show related records from another Lookup in Zoho CRM?

        In our Leads module, we have two Lookup fields: Recruitment Agency – the agency that the lead came from Recruiter – the individual contact from that agency who sent us the lead Both fields link correctly to their respective records in CRM. However, our

      • Zoho Books API invoice email bouncing with 'relaying-issues' error

        I have waited over 30 days for zoho books uk to assist with the following and i have had no replies or tickets erronously closed. The service has been terrible - very unlike zoho! So i am raising this here hoping that a community member can assist: Hello,

      • How do I filter contacts by account parameters?

        Need to filter a contact view according to account parameter, eg account type. Without this filter users are overwhelmed with irrelevant contacts. Workaround is to create a custom 'Contact Type' field but this unbearable duplicity as the information already

      • Zoho Writer to Zoho Sign Template Misalignment – Request for Community

        We are currently facing a critical issue impacting our live business operations due to a misalignment problem between Zoho Writer templates and Zoho Sign output. Issue Summary: We have an automated workflow in Zoho CRM using Deluge scripts that generates

      • Account blocked

        Yesterday I got my Zeptomail account blocked due to too many hard bounces. My account is used exclusively for sending transactional emails (eg. your order has been shipped, a form has been filled, etc) and the sudden blocking impacted hundreds of websites

      • IF Formula

        Hi, I'm having trouble setting up a custom formula in a field. Can you help me with it? The formula should do the following: If the created date is less or equal to 30 days the field should display a string New in pieline or Exisitng pipeline if above

      • View comprehensive logs of all actions in Custom Module History

        Hello everyone, We are happy to announce our new feature, Detail View in Custom Module History, which enhances visibility, control and accountability over your records. Users can now access a detailed timeline of every action that has been performed on

      • Track ZohoForm Conversion using Postmessage event

        Hi, I’ve been using a third-party lead tracking tool to capture leads from my website along with their source. Earlier, with the HubSpot form, the third-party script was able to detect the postMessage event that iframe forms typically send back to the

      • Email task creator when task is updated/marked complete

        I am looking for a way to notify the creator of a task in zoho todo when - Task is updated Task is closed Comments entered 1 and 2 are critical, and I cannot find a zoho flow to do this. There is no way that as a manager I will know when someone has completed

      • Email Recall Feature In Zoho Mail Which Should Also Work For Outside Organisation Members

        Add a feature to recall or undo sending an email within a configurable short time window (e.g., 30 seconds to 2 minutes) after hitting send, similar to Gmail’s undo send. Currently the sent email can not be recall If the recipient is not from within your

      • How to implement calculating average value of averaged values?

        Hi, I'm trying to implement a formula in my layout for a module that calculates the average of 2 averaged values, but I can't do so using the formula custom field. To calculate the 2 averaged values, I could use the formula custom field, but in the custom

      • Zoho Recruit update published job boards

        If we have a job thats already posted on several different job boards and we edit this job in zoho recruit (e.g. the description of the job), does this then automatically update this new information to all the published job boards?  If not, how does the

      • Narrative 14: The magic bazaar of Desk

        Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 14: The magic bazaar of Desk Marketplace is a centralized platform where users can discover Zoho and third-party applications that can be integrated with their Desk account to facilitate

      • Collections Management: #2 Late Payment Automation

        "Sir, I'll process the payment by evening, please don't apply any late payment charges", the customer said while arranging papers on his desk. Sanjay stood there with a tired smile. He had already visited twice that week. Payment collection was one thing.

      • Create a table in the layout section of modules

        Dear Sirs, I would like to know whether is possible to create a table under new fields in layouts section of modules. In fact in this section there are single line, multi line, pick list, multi-select, date, formula etc. but I am unable to add a table

      • Nimble enhancements to WhatsApp for Business integration in Zoho CRM: Enjoy context and clarity in business messaging

        Dear Customers, We hope you're well! WhatsApp for business is a renowned business messaging platform that takes your business closer to your customers; it gives your business the power of personalized outreach. Using the WhatsApp for Business integration

      • Power of Automation :: Automatic Task Status Handling for Users

        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

      • Question - why no way to input a 'tool description' and 'tree of 'tools'

        Every business is different, with different business processes. To be truly useful Zoho MCP needs to have user editable tool descriptions (or ruleset) and a 'tool tree' so that the LLM is context aware when being used. For example, the tool description

      • Develop Zoho Meeting as a Full Native Application (Not a Browser Wrapper)

        Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to suggest an important improvement regarding the Zoho Meeting desktop application. At the moment, the Zoho Meeting app feels more like a mini browser window or an iframe that loads the web

      • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

        Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.

      • Suggestion to improve zoho writer

        I am using your product, I believe it is very useful, however, i was writing a note and I needed to draw an arrow in different angles to explain a point and I couldn't. it would be helpful, to add draw functions to the zoho writer. thanks

      • Can I create a custom function for chart of accounts?

        I'm trying to add a custom function that should run whenever a record in the Chart of Accounts module is edited, but on the form for creating a new function, the module dropdown does not include the chart of accounts as an option.

      • billing

        hi, I am being billed $12/year, and I can't remember why. My User ID is 691273115 Thanks for your help, --Kitty Pearl

      • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

        Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

      • Unable to confirm Super Admin assignment — confirmation button not working

        I’m trying to change the roles within my organization. I am currently a super admin and would like to add another user as a super admin. When I attempt to confirm the action, a screen appears asking for my password to verify my identity. However, when

      • Inactive Items - Make Less Prominent by Default

        Currently, when one marks an Item as "Inactive", it really doesn't do much of anything to hide it or get it out of the way. Search and reporting within Finance should, by default, hide inactive Items from standard reports, searches, etc. If one specifically

      • How to unlink a SAML user from the existing Zoho Desk user (domain change case)

        Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand how to handle a situation where a customer changes their company domain. In our setup, users authenticate via SAML, so when the domain changes, the SAML system treats them as a new user. However, in Zoho Desk, I’d

      • Automation#36: Auto-create time-entry after performing the Blueprint transition

        Hello Everyone, This week’s edition focuses on configuring a custom function within Zoho Desk to streamline time tracking within the Blueprint. In this case, we create a custom field, and request the agent to enter the spending time within the single

      • Next Page