Automation#24: Auto-Update custom field from Accounts to Tickets

Automation#24: Auto-Update custom field from Accounts to Tickets



Hello Everyone!
Welcome back to the Community Learning Series! 

This episode dives into how Zylker Techfix streamlines account-related ticket references. Previously, employees had to manually check account details to retrieve specific customer information, making the process time-consuming and inefficient.
To solve this, Zylker Techfix introduced a custom solution: a custom field that seamlessly syncs data between accounts and tickets. When a customer raises a ticket, the custom field in the ticket layout automatically fetches and updates values from the corresponding field in the account.
This integration has transformed their operations, enabling Zylker Techfix to map tickets to their respective accounts effortlessly. 
The result? Streamlined workflows and an improved customer service experience.
You can achieve better results in your ticketing operations, too! Here’s how to implement the custom function:

Prerequisites
1.1 Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields. Select Tickets under Layouts and the required Department. Access the active layout and add a custom field of your choice.  
1.1.1 Hover the mouse pointer over the custom field created, click on the Gear wheel icon >> Edit Properties. Note the API Name under the Edit Field. Click Update. Then, click Save and Close
1.2  Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields. Select Accounts under Layouts, and in the Department drop-down, select the default department. Access the active layout and add a custom field of the same type as you have added in Tickets layout (1.1) .  
1.2.1 Hover the mouse pointer over the custom field created, click on the Gear wheel icon >> Edit PropertiesNote the API Name under the Edit Field. Click Update. Then click Save and Close.     
2. Create a connection
      2.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.
      2.2 Click Create Connection.
      2.3 Select Zoho Desk under Default Services.
      2.4 Set the connection name as deskconnection.
      2.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:
             Desk.contacts.READ
             Desk.tickets.UPDATE
      2.6 Click Create and Connect.
      2.7 Click Connect and click Accept.
Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule
1. Go to Setup, choose Workflows under Automation
2. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,
3. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.
4. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.
5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.
6. Click Next.
 
In the Execute on section, follow these steps:
7. Select Create.  
8. Click Next.
 
9. Leave the Criteria section blank and click Next. (Add a criteria if you require it.) 

10. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.
11. Enter a Name and Description for the custom function.
12. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below: 
12.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and select TicketId under the Tickets Section, from the Value drop-down list.
12.2 In the Argument Name field, type accountId and select Account Id under the Accounts Section, from the Value drop-down list.                      
13. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:
  1. // ----<<<< User Inputs >>>>----
  2. // -- Replace ".com" with appropriate domain extension based on customer's location/DC --- 
  3. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
  4. //place the corresponding API name of the custom fields from the Accounts and Tickets layout
  5. accountTicketsFieldApiNameMapping = {"ACCOUNT_FIELD_API_NAME":"TICKET_FIELD_API_NAME"};
  6. // ----<<<< Initial Configs >>>>----
  7. logs = Map();
  8. logs.insert("ticketId":ticketId);
  9. updateTicketCFPayload = Map();
  10. //---------------------------
  11. try 
  12. {

  13. // ---- start your logic from here ----
  14. if(accountId != null && !accountId.isEmpty())
  15. {
  16. primaryAccountDetail = invokeurl
  17. [
  18. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/accounts/" + accountId
  19. type :GET
  20. connection:"deskconnection"
  21. ];
  22. logs.insert("primaryAccountDetail":primaryAccountDetail);
  23. if(primaryAccountDetail != null && primaryAccountDetail != "" && primaryAccountDetail.containsKey("cf") && primaryAccountDetail.get("cf") != null && !primaryAccountDetail.get("cf").isEmpty())
  24. {
  25. if(primaryAccountDetail.containsKey("cf") && primaryAccountDetail.get("cf") != null && !primaryAccountDetail.get("cf").isEmpty())
  26. {
  27. accountsCF = primaryAccountDetail.get("cf");
  28. for each  customField in accountTicketsFieldApiNameMapping.keys()
  29. {
  30. if(accountsCF.containsKey(customField))
  31. {
  32. updateTicketCFPayload.put(accountTicketsFieldApiNameMapping.get(customField),accountsCF.get(customField));
  33. }
  34. }
  35. logs.insert("updateTicketCFPayload":updateTicketCFPayload);
  36. if(updateTicketCFPayload != null && !updateTicketCFPayload.isEmpty())
  37. {
  38. updateTicketPayload = {"cf":updateTicketCFPayload};
  39. updateTicket = invokeurl
  40. [
  41. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId
  42. type :PATCH
  43. parameters:updateTicketPayload + ""
  44. connection:"deskconnection"
  45. ];
  46. logs.insert("updateTicket":updateTicket);
  47. }
  48. }
  49. }
  50. }
  51. }
  52. catch (errorInfo)
  53. {
  54. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
  55. }

  56. info "logs: \n" + logs;

  57. if(logs.containKey("errorInfo"))
  58. {
  59.     throws "Error happen in the CF execution";
  60. }
NOTE
a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.
b. In Line 5, add the API name of the custom field created within the Account and Tickets layout in this pattern {"cf_account_field":"cf_ticket_field"}
14. Click Save to save the custom function.
15. Click Save again to save the workflow.

If you’d like to automate the updating of more custom fields between Accounts and Tickets, feel free to reach out to us at support@zohodesk.com
We’d love to hear how this solution works for you. Share your experience with us—your feedback inspires us to keep improving. Happy ticketing!

Until next week,
Warm regards,
Lydia | Zoho Desk 


      • Sticky Posts

      • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

        With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features
      • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

        Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 
      • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

        Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 
      • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

        Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here
      • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

        With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

        • Recent Topics

        • Add multiple users to a task

          When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman
        • iOS Books app shows filtered view after changing to All sales orders

          My boss often checks sales orders on his iPhone. The app is mostly working fine, but there's an ongoing issue: When switching between different filters (also called custom views on the web), going back to All doesn't often work. It typically gets stuck
        • Problem with the blueprint flow.

          Scenario: 3 departments in a single environment: A-B-C agents from department 1 D-E-F agents from department 2 G-H agents from department 3 Since we've been using Zohodesk (2023), agents can assign tickets to the correct department using the blueprint
        • Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM

          Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals
        • Recurring Invoices

          I'm looking to set up recurring invoices on a monthly basis, using GoCardless as a payment gateway. I've done this successfully, however there's a big problem with the Invoice Date and Due Date. We prefer to provide sufficient notice of collection (10
        • Recurring Events Not Appearing in "My Events" and therefore not syncing with Google Apps

          We use the Google Sync functionality for our events, and it appears to have been working fine except: I've created a set of recurring events that I noticed were missing from my Google Apps calendar. Upon further research, it appears this is occurring
        • Vorrei disdire l'abbonamento

          Vorrei disdire l'abbonamento, ma non trovo il modo. Mi assistete?
        • Service line items

          Hello Latha, Could you please let me know the maximum number of service line items that can be added to a single work order? Thanks, Chethiya.
        • Has anyone successfully gotten conditional rendering to work in Zoho Books Sales Order HTML PDF templates?

          I’m trying to hide a custom field box when the custom field is blank. The value placeholder itself works perfectly: ${salesorder.cf_distribution_reference_numb} If the Sales Order has a value, it renders correctly. Example: 45488045. But when I wrap that
        • What's New in Zoho Inventory | April & May 2026

          Hello users, We're excited to roll out the latest Zoho Inventory updates for April and May 2026. These enhancements are designed to make your daily operations smoother and more efficient, from advanced inventory management and flexible pricing to automated
        • Latest updates to Zia in Office Integrator

          Hello Zoho Office Integrator users! We’re pleased to share exciting updates to the proofing capabilities of Zia, our AI-driven writing assistant, in Office Integrator. With these updates, you can now get spell and grammar check in Brazilian Portuguese,
        • How To Invoice Immediately for Future Subscription

          Hi, When a new subscription is created that has a future start date, Zoho Subscriptions does not invoice the customer until the start date of the subscription. Is there a way to immediately invoice the customer as soon as the subscription is created,
        • Implementing Back Button Navigation in Zoho Creator

          Zoho Creator does not currently support a native Back button within forms, so implementing backward navigation requires a workaround. We recently implemented this in an application that was split into 9 modular forms. Since users needed to move between
        • Deleted User Emails

          I need to delete a user as I need to re-use their license, but I'd like to keep all their emails that are attached to various contacts in the CRM. Their emails are hosted externally on an M365 license. Anyone any idea how best to engineer this? TIA
        • In wiki editor, dragging an image fails

          Expected behavior: Within the WYSIWYG editor, we have been able to select and drag an image (that is already inserted in the page) to move it to a different position on the page. Current behavior: For a few days recently (possibly longer and I didn't
        • Not able to see appointements when the territory permission is activated

          Hello, I created different territories to separate the various departments within the company that will be working on different projects. The issue I am currently experiencing is that when I enable territory-based permissions, I can see the work order
        • Print multiple uploaded images in an HTML snippet in a Page

          I have a Form: Job_Preparation It stores details of each new item that must be built by the fabricators in our workshop. The form has a field: Documents I upload 4 image files to the Documents field. I want to print a sheet for our workshop staff with
        • Quotes Module - import data

          Hello Zoho, is it possible to import Quotes records? I was trying and i have no results. Raport shows no data imported. Could you help me please how to do it?
        • Introducing the new Zoho Announcements Hub

          Hello, Enterprise Support Community! We are excited to announce a new way to keep up to date with recent product releases and announcements for the Zoho apps you use on a regular basis. Introducing our new centralized location to bring together all Zoho
        • Introducing Custom Columns in Forecasts in Zoho CRM

          Hello all, Forecasts in Zoho CRM help sales representatives, managers, and business stakeholders evaluate performance and plan future sales activities. While standard metrics such as Target, Achieved Amount, and Pipeline Amount provide a baseline view,
        • Can Zoho CRM Emails be used in Zoho Analytics in any capacity?

          We're wanting to display details about Lead Activity in regular reports through Zoho Analytics but we're having difficulty integrating Emails at all. We'd like to be able to note when an email is received and when it is sent somewhere other than just
        • Related list view for Assets

          We first set up all our parent assets in FSM and now we are adding child assets which are the parts for the parent assets. When under the customer related list, since it only displays 5 rows of data, I have to click through many assets to locate the parent
        • Zoho Books - France

          L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité
        • Smart URL Determination

          I would like to see Vault implement some sort of "smart" URL determination. When one starts to add a new username-password combination from a new site, Vault brings in the exact URL of the page from which this is happening. All too often, it looks something
        • Project Statuses

          Hi All, We have projects that sometimes may not make it through to completion. As such, they were being marked as "Cancelled". I noticed that these projects still show as "Active" though which seems counter intuitive. In fact, the only way I can get them
        • Composite Services and Account Tracking

          I am looking to garner support/request the ability to make composite services. A quick search in the forums brings up multiple requests for this feature. I fail to see why an item is mandatory while services are optional. I also would like to see the
        • Marketer's Space: Lists vs. segments—what's the difference?

          Hello Marketers, Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! In email marketing, reaching the right audience is just as important as crafting the right message. Yet many marketers often confuse lists and segments, using them interchangeably without
        • Building a Multi-Step Form Experience in Zoho Creator Using Standard Forms

          Zoho Creator does not currently provide native multi-step form functionality. For applications with a large number of fields, a common requirement is to split data collection into manageable sections while maintaining a single application record. In this
        • Add Video link to interview record

          Hi Team, we are having team members consistently go to the interview record to find the link for their upcoming meeting and have been confused that they have not been able to find them. When the interview is created can you please upload the link to the
        • Zoho projects dependancies is a joke

          About to cancel our Zoho One subscription because Zoho Projects is a mess. Can't build a proper progream in it because the dependancies doesn't work properly. Can't believe this software is promoter as a project program when one can't even build a proper
        • Wiki Add Attachment upload fails at about 15.3 MB

          I am seeing consistent "Error in uploading file" for files larger than about 15,430 kB. For 15,300 kB or smaller, no problem, but 15,430 kB or larger always fail. This is over numerous trials. My test files, to examine this problem, were generated by
        • Stop Wasting Clicks: Let Us See All Notes in Quick View

          Hi Zoho Recruit team, I would like to suggest an improvement to the candidate/application experience in Zoho Recruit. Today, it is difficult to get a full picture of a candidate when working from the Quick View, since notes are split between: Notes related
        • Zoho Books | Product updates | June 2026

          Hello users, Welcome to this month's roundup of what's new in Zoho Books! We have an exciting line-up this time. The highlight is the launch of the all-new France Edition with full ISCA compliance. We're also introducing features such as Layout Rules
        • issue invoice for future subscription

          Hi, I selected the invoice at the date of subscription from the setting (since the alternative is to pre-set a date of a month) which is not my case. So, my question : Some times I need to create a subscription that will start at a future date but I need
        • Associate emails from both primary and secondary contacts to deal

          We need to associate emails from multiple contacts to a deal. Please advise how this can be achieved. At present, only emails from primary contacts can be associated. Thanks
        • How to set default reply email address depending on receipt email address

          Hi, I have a number of different customer support email addresses (info@XYZ.com, retuns@XYZ.com etc.) and want to set Zoho Desk so that the email address from which an agent replies is automatically defaulted to a predetermined address depending to which
        • Writer is horrible

          Form filling is about unusable for complex forms! I am so tired of it.
        • How to Migrate from MDaemon to Zoho Mail Account?

          Hi there, Zoho Mail is one of the most popular as well as leading competitor for several cloud email service providers. It is It provide cloud email service as well as desktop based email client. In recent years people are migrating from third party cloud servers to Zoho Mail. The reasons are plenty, i.e. the user interface, security, high performance and many countless amazing features. On the other hand MDaemon Mail (aka WorldClient) is also popular among cloud email servers. But there are some
        • Trigger workflows from SLA escalations in Zoho Desk?

          Hey everyone, I’m currently working with SLA escalation rules in Zoho Desk and ran into a limitation that I’m hoping someone here has solved more elegantly. As far as I can tell, SLA escalations only support fairly limited actions (like changing the ticket
        • CRM Portal Lookup Linkage and Related Fields

          hi, if someone can give me the right path, would be greatly appreciated. we want to do a customer portal for our partners who we issue work orders for our customers, the linkage via lookup fields Partner -> Work Order -> Customer in our portal, the primary
        • Next Page