Automation#31: Automate Splitting Names for New Contact Records

Automation#31: Automate Splitting Names for New Contact Records


Hello Everyone, 
This week, we present to you a custom function, which allows you to split the first and last names from the user's email ID based on the separator used in the ID.
Having grown into a large firm, Zylker Techfix aims to optimize its processes, data management, and organization. By default, contacts are created by extracting the customers' names from the email addresses and saving them in the "Last Name" field in the Customers' module. 


To create an organized directory, Zylker Techfix wanted to separate the first and last names from the email address using the (.) separator in the email ID. 
This custom function allowed them to achieve this with their contacts. Now, you can organize your contacts within Zoho Desk too.
Follow the steps below to configure the custom function within the workflow rule.

Prerequisites
1. Create a connection.
  1.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.
  1.2 Click Create Connection.
  1.3 Select Zoho OAuth under Default Connection.
  1.4 Set the connection name as deskcontact.
  1.5 Disable the toggle for User Credentials of Login User.
  1.6 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:
Desk.contacts.UPDATE
Desk.contacts.READ
  1.7 Click Create and Connect.
  1.8 Click Connect and click Accept.
Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule
1. Go to Setup(S), choose Workflows under Automation. 
2. Under Workflows, click Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,
3. Select Contacts 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. In the Criteria section, add criteria if required. click Next.
 
10. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.
11. Under Basic Information, enter Name and Description for the custom function. Choose Contacts under Module.
12. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below: 
       12.1 In the Argument Name field, type contactId and select Contact ID under the Contacts Section.                                
13. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:
  1. //------------- User Inputs ----------
  2. orgId = "60xxxxxxxx0"; //replace with your Org ID
  3. operator = "."; 
  4. //---------------------------------
  5. logs = Map();
  6. try {
  7. contacts = zoho.desk.getRecordById(orgId,"contacts",contactId, "deskcontact");
  8. firstName = contacts.get("firstName");
  9. lastName = contacts.get("lastName");
  10. if(lastName.contains(operator))
  11. {
  12.        if(operator.contains(".")){
  13.          lastName = lastName.subString(0,lastName.indexOf("@"));
  14.        }
  15.        firstName = lastName.subString(0,lastName.indexOf(operator)).trim();
  16.        lastName = lastName.subString(lastName.indexOf(operator) + 1);
  17.        updateContact = zoho.desk.update(orgId,"contacts",contactId,{"firstName":firstName,"lastName":lastName},"deskcontact");
  18.    }
  19. }
  20. catch (errorInfo)
  21. {
  22. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
  23. }
  24. info "logs: \n" + logs;

  26. if(logs.containKey("errorInfo"))
  27. {
  28. throws "Error happen in the CF execution";
  29. }
NOTE
a. In Line 2, Enter your OrgId with  "  ".
To access OrgId, go to Setup (S) >> Developer Space >> APIs >> API Authentication.
14. Click Save to save the custom function.
15. Click Save again to save the workflow.
Context
Once configured, this function splits the first and last names for incoming new contacts. This custom function applies to new contacts and new incoming tickets.

​
We hope this custom function helps you manage your contacts efficiently. Share your feedback and connect with us for more tips and insights. 
See you next week!
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

        • populate email address and name in zoho desk?

          Is it possible to populate the email address and name in the zoho desk widget? We only use it in the context of an authenticated user, so we already know the user's name and email. Thanks,

        • Are there default/pre-built dashboards in Zoho Desk?

          Hi, I am looking for some pre-built dashboard templates in Zoho Desk, similar to what we can find in CRM/Projects, etc Thank you

        • Add image to report...

          Greetings, I send a weekly color coded report via Creator email. I would like to add the legend somewhere in the report. Header, footer where ever. I have the legend saved on Google Drive and can access it via shared link. Sure someone has wanted to add

        • Enable Locations for Expense

          Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.

        • Has anyone integrated SMS well for Zoho Desk?

          Our company does property management and needs to be able to handle inbound sms messages which create a ticket for Zoho Desk. We then need to be able to reply back from Zoho desk which sends the user an sms message. This seems like a fairly common thing

        • Adding branded signature to tickets reply

          Hi, i am unable to figure out how to add signatures with logo to tickets reply. please advice .

        • Zoho Calendar not working since a few days

          Hey there, first off a minor thing, since I just tried to enable the Calendar after reading this in another topic (there was no setting for this though) : For some reason my current session is showing me based in New York - I'm in Germany, not using a

        • Settings Icon No Longer in ZOHO Desk?

          In ZOHO desk, there has been a gear icon for settings. as of yesterday, it is no longer there. I showed up briefly this morning but is gone again. Anybody else experiecing this?

        • Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0 - Landing Page function not working

          Dear Zoho Team, I am working on implementing Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0, and am now looking into the section "Lead Generation". If I open the "Landing Pages" section, I immediately get an Error code: Error: internal error occurred. Can you help me

        • WebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing

          I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful if you implemented standard protocols such as WebDAV / FTP / SFTP so that alternative inc clients can be used.

        • Zoho Mail Android app update: Manage folders

          Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.9) of the Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support for an option to manage folders. You can now create, edit, and delete folders from within the mobile app. You can also manage folders for the POP

        • How to share ticket numbers across different ticket types

          I'm running an event and have three different ticket types. Add on Event + Main Event - Early bird Main Event only - Early bird Add on Event only - Early bird And Standard class - shown but not available until early bird finishes Add on Event + Main Event

        • Adding Social Media Buttons to Basic Campaigns

          Hi, I'm quote new to using Zoho Campaigns and I can't work out how to add Social Media Buttons into my basic campaign? In MailChimp there's a button that brings the icons into your campaign for you. I've tried adding the social media icons as 'buttons' in Zoho but it's not looking great. Can anyone help? Thanks!

        • Hide Inactive Social Sign-In Providers from Login Screen

          Hello Zoho Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, Zoho One allows admins to configure security policies and enable or disable Social Sign-In options for third-party providers such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook,

        • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

          Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly

        • Calls to accounts rather than leads or contacts?

          So..... We have a dilemma and I'm hoping someone has encountered this before and figured out a fix. We have just migrated to Zoho. It's great.....expect for how "Calls" are handled.... We are B2B. We do not use the leads module. A "Lead/Prospect" for

        • LESS_THAN_MIN_OCCURANCE - code 2945

          Hi I'm trying to post a customer record to creator API and getting this error message. So cryptic. Can someone please help? Thanks Varun

        • Sending emails from an outlook account

          Hi, I need to know if it's possible to send automatic emails from an Outlook account configured in Zoho CRM and, if so, how I can accomplish that. To give you some context, I set up a domain and created a function that generates PDF files to be sent later

        • [Free Webinar] AI Agents in Zoho Creator - Creator Tech Connect

          Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar that runs for around 45 minutes. It comprises technical sessions in which we delve deep into

        • Can Zoho Flows repeat Actions more than once?

          I'm attempting to make an intentional Zoho Flow loop using the below layout. However, when "WithinLimit" condition is met, the program fails to execute the action "Get & Add Request Co..." again. Is this by design? Is Zoho Flows unable to repeat actions

        • How 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, Jonathan

        • Ship via Carrier Not Working Since Commerce Update

          Since the recent update to the Commerce platform, I can no longer use the ship via carrier function. It will take me to the address screen and let me verify them but when I go to save and move tot he next screen it will not do anything. This is happening

        • automations: Can I execute a step on a specific date?

          I have created a form in Zoho forms, and created a contacts list. I have also begun setting up an automation with the intention of sending the form to the contact list on a specific date every month (via email) for the entire year (essentially sending

        • 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

        • Image Upload Field | Zoho Canvas

          I'm working on making a custom view for one of our team's modules. It's an image upload field (Placement Photo) that would allow our sales reps to upload a picture of the house their working on. However, I don't see that field as a opinion when building

        • Zoho sheet desktop version

          Hi Zoho team Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important as web version is slow and requires one to be online all the time to do even basic work. If it is available, please guide me to the same.

        • Zoho Expense - The ability to add detail to a Trip during booking

          As an admin, I would like the ability to add more detail to the approved Trips. At present a requestor can add flights, accommodation details and suggest their preferences. It would be great if the exact details of the trip could be added either by the

        • Simplified Call Logging

          Our organization would like to start logging calls in our CRM; however, with 13 fields that can't be removed, our team is finding it extremely cumbersome. For our use case, we only need to record that a call happened theirfor would only need the following

        • Signup forms behaviour : Same email & multiple submissions

          My use case is that I have a signup form (FormA) that I use in several places on my website, with a hidden field so I can see where the contact has been made from. I also have a couple of other signup forms (FormB and FormC) that slight differences. All

        • Adding Folders in Android App

          Is it possible to create a new email folder within the Zoho Mail Android app?  Or can this only be done from the desktop version of Zoho Mail? Cheers!

        • Schedule Exports for Regular Project Updates

          Tracking project data often means exporting data at regular intervals. Instead of manually exporting data every time, users can schedule exports for Phases, Tasks, and Tasks in Zoho Projects. These exports can be set to run once, daily, weekly, or monthly

        • Question about custom fields using Pivot Tables.

          I have created a pivot table showing annual revenue of a client and how much payment that client is paying my company. Is there a way using pivot table to add an additional field that subtracts those to fields / shows me a percentage of that difference?

        • Request for Light/Dark Mode

          Would love the ability to switch between Light and Dark mode similar to Zoho CRM. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/introducing-dark-mode-light-mode-a-new-look-for-your-crm

        • Signature field is showing black

          Hello, When customer signed the service form, it is showing as below picture Phone model: iPhone 16 Pro We tried delete and install application, but it not solved. This has on phone of a few person. There is any advice to solve this?

        • Range names in Zoho Sheet are BROKEN!

          Hi - you've pushed an update that has broken range names. A previously working spreadsheet now returns errors because the range names are not updating the values correctly. I've shared a video with the support desk to illustrate the problem. This spreadsheet

        • Journey Email - Ignored Contacts

          I have a journey setup which simply sends a string of emails over time. For some reason I am getting large amounts of the contacts who enter the first email being ignored and I can't find anywhere in reports or audit logs why these contacts are not

        • Involved account types are not applicable when create journals

          { "journal_date": "2016-01-31", "reference_number": "20160131", "notes": "SimplePay Payroll", "line_items": [{ "account_id": "538624000000035003", "description": "Net Pay", "amount": 26690.09, "debit_or_credit": "credit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000403", "description": "Gross", "amount": 32000, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000427", "description": "CPP", "amount": 1295.64, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000376", "description":

        • Zoho Books - Include Payment Terms as a Custom View filter

          It would be great if you could created a custom view based on Payment Terms. This would be really handy for seeing a list of customers who have credit terms. A workaround is not required. I could do something with a creditor checkbox, but it would be

        • How to update changed purchase account of item in invoice

          I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust the

        • Help - Zoho CRM notification on mobile (IOS/Android)

          Hello Community! Can I get the IOS/Andoid CRM app to notify me of events, calls, etc. due as I can with MANY other apps?   I am running the free Zoho I would like this to be native to the Zoho CRM app. I do not want to write a sep. mobile app

        • Next Page