Automation #7 - Auto-update Email Content to a Ticket

Automation #7 - Auto-update Email Content to a Ticket



This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk.

Email is one of the most commonly used support channels and with Desk's easy setup you can easily convert your customer conversation into tickets. All you need to do is to forward the emails received at your support mailbox to Zoho Desk and every customer conversation is converted into tickets with a unique ticket ID.
 
The subject of the email is pulled and displayed as a tickets with a ticket ID in Desk. If you want to go a step ahead and pull the email content into the ticket description, then automations can come in handy. Using a simple custom script and a workflow rule you can create an automation to automatically update the email content in to the description field of the ticket in Desk. This helps you have all the context you need to resolve a ticket at one single place and avoid going back and forth between your inbox and help desk platform.
 
To create the workflow rule, perform the following steps:
  1. Go to Setup, and under Automation, click Workflows.
  2. Click "Create Rule" from top right corner.
    In the Basic Information section, perform the following steps:
  3. In the Module drop-down menu, select Tickets.
  4. Enter a name and description for the rule.
  5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, you can just create the rule now and activate it later on the Rules page.
  6. Click Next.
    In the Execute on section, perform the following steps:
  7. Select the Create checkbox to execute this rule every time a new ticket is created.  
  8. Click Next.
  9. In the Criteria section, add "Channel Is Email" and click "Next".
    In the Actions section, perform the following steps:
  10. Click the + icon under "Action" and select "New" next to Custom Functions
  11. Enter a name and description for the custom function.
  12. In the script window, input the Custom Function you find below:

    1. OrgID = Paste your OrgID here;
    2. getthreads = zoho.desk.getRelatedRecords(OrgID,"threads","tickets",ticketId,0,1);
    3. threadid = getthreads.getJSON("data").getJSON("id");
    4. getthreadcontent = zoho.desk.getRelatedRecordById(OrgID,"threads",threadid,"tickets",ticketId).getJSON("content");
    5. updateticket = zoho.desk.update(OrgID,"tickets",ticketId,{"description":getthreadcontent});
    6. info updateticket;

  13. Click "Edit Arguments"
  14. In the Name field type ticketId, and from the Value drop-down list select Ticket Id under Ticket Information
  15. Click "Save" to save the custom function.
  16. Click "Save" again to save the workflow.
Important Note: In line 1, replace your OrgId. You can get your OrgID by navigating to Setup > Developer Space > API > OrgId.


      • 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

        • Zoho Sites "pages" management page

          I have 80 plus pages on zoho sites. When I go to the "pages" link to view and edit pages, They are not in any kind of order, so I spend lots of time searching for pages when I need to edit or create new. How can I change the view order of all my pages
        • Staff rules

          Hi! Do you people know what are the default staff rules when a new booking is created? We have two staff members in my team (me as the admin, and my employee). As we share the same services, I'm wondering how Zoho will pick the staff for new apointments.
        • Add Image Upload Field to Zoho Bookings Registration Form

          Hi, We would like to request the addition of an image upload field to the Zoho Bookings registration form. Currently, Zoho Bookings only supports text-based fields (e.g., Single Line, Multi-Line, Email, Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio Button, and Date), but
        • Merge Tags Output Incorrect Placeholder Text After CRM Sync

          Hi everyone, I’m experiencing an issue with merge tags in Zoho Campaigns after last sync of contacts and leads from Zoho CRM (days before everything worked perfectly). Here’s the situation (seems like a default configuration in Campaigns) : My leads have
        • UI Improvement - Ability to Collapse Flow

          The UI for Flow is generally pretty good. However, when multiple decision trees are used, the layout can get pretty convoluted and hard-to-follow (see one of my Flows below): In these cases, even the auto-arrange fails to make this something that a normal
        • Windows agent 2025_M02 release notes

          Agent Version: 111.0.3.300 Release date: 24 February, 2025 Various Major enhancements to improve overall performance and optimize the user experience. Squashed a few bugs to improve overall product quality.
        • Windows agent 2025_M01 release notes

          Agent Version: 111.0.3.299 Release date: 05 February, 2025 Major Enhancement: Live Monitor feature compatibility released. Major Enhancement: Updated Scaling for multi technician cases with Android and Web based viewers. Various other bug fixes and performance
        • how to record deferred revenue?

          Dear Zoho Team, We issue invoices relating to 12-month web hosting service. When we issue the invoice, we should record the entire amount of the invoice as DEFERRED REVENUE (ie. $10 x 12 mths = $120, balance sheet item). After the particular month of the hosting service, $10 of revenue has been earned and deferred revenue amount will be $110. We must keep adjusting the balance sheet and income statement over the course of the service until the company has fulfilled its obligation of services and
        • Narrative 13: Importing your data

          Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 13: Importing your data When importing data into an application, it is crucial to prevent data loss or duplication. These types of errors can hinder the development of a clean and
        • Blueprint Not Triggering When Lead Status Is Updated by Workflow (IndiaMART Integration)

          I have set up a blueprint that triggers when a lead’s status is “New Lead.” Our CRM is integrated with IndiaMART, and when leads are created from IndiaMART, their Lead Status is initially set to None. To handle this, I created a workflow that automatically
        • Update Subform in specific field(Status) without affecting other fields in Zoho CRM using Deluge?

          Scenario: PRODUCT Module(change name Plot) in any product status change From Available to Booked then on PROJECT Custom Module have Subform So, Subform name is Property Details now in that Subform 1 field is STATUS that update according to  product status
        • YouTube Live #2: Agreement Intelligence with Zoho Sign's eSign AI assistant

          Hi there, We're back again with our YouTube live series and this time, we'll take you through our holistic agreement intelligence powered signature workflows. Struggling to draft an agreement? Need help double-checking clauses and going through complicated
        • Can I Build a POS using ZOHO creator and integrate it with ZOHO Books?

          Hello,  I have a Zoho Books account and I was wondering if I can have a POS system that integrates with it. Primarily with Inventory, Customers and Payment and ofcourse Create invoices and credit notes.   So, would Zoho creator provide me with this solution?  Thank you, 
        • An important update for Zoho Cliq desktop users

          The latest version of the Zoho Cliq desktop app (v1.8.0) will no longer be supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier versions. This is because the framework we use (Electron) no longer supports some older macOS versions. If you’re using macOS 10.15
        • Zoho Projects - Visual improvement to parent and sub-task relationship

          Hi Projects Team, My feature request is to improve sub-task visibility. Please see screenshot below. I really think parent child relationships could be visually improved. Even if the first letter of the parent task was inline with other same level tasks
        • New Toolbar in Zoho Sheet

          We have revamped our toolbar design in this new version of Zoho Sheet. Below are some screenshots to help you get accustomed to this new interface. Click on the picture below to view the animated image in its original size. Scroll down this post to learn about the changes. Highlight of Changes: The previous format tab is now split into 2 tabs - Home and Format. The Home tab contains the commonly used functions and the Format tab holds formatting related options. Under the Home tab towards the far
        • Zoho inbuilt Telephony made a lot of issues!

          Hi there, I am a user that I am working with zoho inbuilt telephony around 1 month. Non of my colleagues are happy with this app! most of the time customer cannot hear my customer service team, customers say our voice is breaking. whenever Telephony support
        • Sending workflow notifications using popular chat services

          Hello everyone, We have introduced instant and scheduled notifications on some of the most popular chat platforms to facilitate easy collaboration, quick action, and wider reach. Workflow notifications can be sent to the following chat platforms: Zoho
        • Webhook not firing.

          I created a webhook using the Web UI, it looks very nice and the testing worked without an issue, but when i save/ update a ticket, the webhook is not firing. Here are the details of the web-hook i get from using the API "modifiedTime": "2019-10-22T09:23:37.380Z",
        • Adding Images to a Quote in Zoho CRM

          We are currently preparing to use Quotes in Zoho CRM and we are building out our Quote templates.  We came across an issue of not being to add Images of the products to the Quote - specifically in the body of the Quote templates.   This is a problem,
        • Applications built with Zoho Creator

          Hi, I’m really interested in seeing how others have built their application using Zoho Creator, especially those designed for external users (clients, vendors, or the public). If you’ve developed something along those lines and don’t mind sharing, I’d
        • Is it posssible to add Asap Widget on Wordpress?

          I have tried to add the ASAP widget so users could iniciate chats and see the KB information but nothings seems to work. I have tried to add the script using a php snippet that adds the to the footers and also tried one for the header in the functio
        • Require ticket resolution

          Hi Zoho team, Is there a way to require resolution even if an agent did not use a blueprint? for example, our blueprint has a "resolve" transition but what if agent revoked blueprint and manually set the status of ticket to closed? Is there a way where
        • Tables from ZohoSheets remove images when updated from source

          I have a few tables from a ZohoSheet in a ZohoWriter document that will remove the images in the cells when I refresh from the source. The source still has the images in the table when I go to refresh. After updating from the source, as you can see the
        • API Pagination Error: 'from' Parameter Limit

          Hello, I am encountering an error while paging through the Zoho Desk API results: Status code: 422 - {"errorCode":"UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY","message":"The value passed for field 'from' exceeds the range of '0-4999'."} Is 5000 the maximum number of records
        • How to go to the next open ticket in the queue when agents closes ticket

          Zoho Desk When agent closes a ticket - eg when they choose 'Send and Close" - where is the setting that automatically redirects them to the next open ticket in the queue?
        • CRM verify details pop-up

          Was there a UI change recently that involves the Verify Details pop-up when changing the Stage of a Deal to certain things? I can't for the life of me find a workflow or function, blueprint, validation rule, layout rule ect that would randomly make it
        • Custom templates for calendar report

          What about being able to design custom templates for the calendar report, as well as for other types of reports? I think more users are waiting for this.
        • Print a price list or price book

          Hi Community. Am I right in concluding that Zoho has no functionality to print a price list from either Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books? I won't get stuck on the fact that Zoho doesn't sync price books between Zoho CRM and Books/Inventory (more
        • Disable payment thank-you emails

          Hello, can someone please tell me how to disable sending of the "Payment Thank-You" emails? 
        • Maximum tags possible in Contacts Records

          I read in some documentation that Zoho allows a total of 200 tags across all records. Is this correct? So is it not possible to have one tag per record for 500 records?
        • Any way to "Pay with Check" or "Refund with Check" for Credit Notes?

          When we have a Bill in Zoho Books, we can select the "Pay with Check" option which then allows us to print/cut the check directly out of Zoho Books. When we created a Credit Note and want to refund the customer, is there any way to Refund with Check,
        • CRM Mobile reports

          When our engineers finish a job they like to email the customer a job report. This is best done todate as an email template but we can find no way to include an image field from that module. Is there any other options?
        • When Zoho Tables Beta will be open to EU data center

          Hello all, We in EU are looking at you all using and testing and are getting jealous :) When we will be able to get into the beta also? We don't mind testing and playing with beta software. Thank you!
        • Start Form on a different page (i.e., hide form pages)?

          I have a Zoho form that uses the `Field Alias - Prefill URL` feature. My goal is to have a pre-filled field that directs the user to a specific starting page in the form. For example: The URL will have a field alias that will auto-populate a field with
        • How can we disable "My Requests"?

          We are not using this functionality in our system at all and our users get confused.
        • PayPal payment received recording problem

          Hi, A little while back one of our customers used the PayPal payment option to pay an invoice For some reason though the payment is showing up twice within the Payments section of the invoice! Instead of setting the invoice value to ZERO, it now shows a negative value Anyone else face this problem? I've checked PayPal and there is only 1 payment in reality... A bug? Actonia ps: for anyone from Zoho Customer Service or tech team,  its Invoice 785 in our account
        • string(87) "{"code":"INVALID_TOKEN","details":{},"message":"invalid oauth token","status":"error"} " grtting this error

          Using access token i am trying to add sales orders through api but it is throwing errors like the above i have mentioned. Please help me for that
        • How to mute chat notification sound by default in Zoho SalesIQ?

          We’ve recently embedded the Zoho SalesIQ chatbot on our website, and we’ve noticed that notification sounds sometimes play even when the visitor hasn’t interacted with the chat widget yet. We’re trying to understand two things: Why do these sounds occur
        • Kanban View for Projects.

          At our organization, we describe active projects with various statuses like "In Proofing" or "Printing" or "Mailing". In the Projects view, one can set these project statuses by selecting from the appropriate drop-down. While this works, it's difficult to view and comprehend the progress of all of your projects relative to each other in a table. Creating a Kanban view for projects where I can move them from one status to another allows me to see where each project is in the order of our workflow.
        • Next Page