Episode III : Powering Automation: Custom Functions in Action

Episode III : Powering Automation: Custom Functions in Action

Hello Everyone,

In our previous episodes, we explored custom functions and the Deluge programming language. If you’ve been wondering why the Episode series have been quiet, here’s the reveal!
On our community, we've been showcasing custom functions integrated with various automation tools on the Automation Series – to perform specific operations. Over the past few weeks, we’ve introduced how custom functions work within different automation types.


In this episode, we’ll explore the five key automations in Zoho Desk that support custom functions:
  • Workflows
  • Macros
  • Schedules
  • Blueprint
  • Guided Conversation
Do you remember how we closed Episode II with this line:
Quote
"To make a custom function work, it must be integrated with Automation"?
The automation tools within Zoho Desk shape your processes to fit your business needs. Now, let’s dive in and explore how they can work your way.

Workflow Rules : Automate with Ease

Workflow rules in Zoho Desk are simple yet powerful tools that trigger actions based on specific execution points like ticket create, edit, customer reply and criteria. With a steady stream of queries from both new and existing customers, automation is key. Depending on customer needs and ticket volume, you may want to:
  • Auto-assign tickets
  • Update fields
  • Add tags
  • Send instant replies
Workflow rules help streamline these routine tasks, boosting both efficiency and response times.
For more complex automation, you can enhance workflows using custom functions, enabling tailored operations that go beyond standard actions.
Here's an example of how custom functions can elevate your workflows and make your support process smarter and more efficient. Automation #4 - Auto Delete Tickets based on Rules  

Blueprint : Define your process

Every organization operates with defined processes and department structures to be consistent, efficient, and offer customers a fulfilling experience. While much of this is documented and shared through verbal training, there can be gaps, especially while onboarding new agents.
That’s where Zoho Desk's Blueprint comes in. It lets you build a structured flow, guiding agents through every step of ticket handling: assigning, resolving, seeking approvals, or escalating, ensuring consistency without overwhelming them.
This workflow framework supports:
  • Clear status transitions
  • Better customer communication
  • Efficient hand-offs between teams
  • Time tracking and compliance
The intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows you to set conditions, actions, and transitions. You can also enhance the process using Custom Functions to automate approvals, share tickets, and perform advanced operations tailored to your needs.
The "After Transition" section in Blueprint helps you trigger tasks, alerts, updates, or custom functions.
Let’s explore how to use Custom Functions with Blueprint in Zoho Desk here: Automation#36: Auto-create time-entry after performing the Blueprint transition  

Macros :Perform Single Action

When you need to update a field, send bulk emails, or create tasks for multiple tickets with a single click, Macros are the go-to solution.
In cases where a group of customers is affected by the same issue or waiting for an update, following up individually can be time-consuming. Macros help you handle these repetitive actions efficiently, saving time and effort.
You can also enhance Macros with custom functions, enabling more advanced, tailored operations beyond the standard actions:

Schedule actions : Schedules in Zoho desk

Schedules let you automate actions at a specific date and time, with the option to repeat them as needed. They are ideal for time-based automation and work seamlessly with custom functions.
You can either link existing custom functions from the gallery or create new ones directly within Schedules to handle tailored tasks.
To learn how to configure schedules, refer Creating and Managing Schedules in Zoho Desk.
To learn to configure custom function with Schedules, try this out: Automation#28 Notify Agents on Article Expiry  

Guided Conversations : Formatter

Self-service empowers customers, and Zoho Desk’s Guided Conversation (GC) feature makes it easy to create interactive, kiosk-style support flows. You can embed these conversations across messaging platforms like WhatsApp, LINE, Messenger, the Help Center, and ASAP, allowing users to find answers from your Knowledge Base.
GC includes blocks to:
  • Connect with an agent
  • Create tickets
  • Integrate with Zoho products
Guided Conversations support Custom Functions within the Webhook block, enabling advanced automation and personalized responses.
Here’s an example of how to configure a Custom Function within a Guided Conversation: Automation#23: Automate Guided Conversations in Zoho Desk with Business Hours  

Let’s wrap things up!

We hope this gave you a clear view of how to configure custom functions within Zoho Desk's automation tools. Whether it's Workflows, Macros, Schedules, Blueprint, or Guided Conversations—each one opens new possibilities for making your support process smarter and smoother.
If there’s a topic you’re curious about or would love to see us cover next on the community, drop your ideas in the comments below. We’d love to hear you speak and write to us.

​
Happy automating!
See you in the next post,
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

    • Woocommerce Line Item Information

      I'd like to add each line item from a Woocommerce order to a zoho creator form record. The line items are found within the line items array, but I'm not sure how to get each item out of the array? Any help would be much appreciated.

    • Synching changes to Stripe when changes are made in Zoho Billing

      We have a situation where we have merged customers in Zoho BIlling and then found out later that the payment in Stripe was not updated and still associated with the old customer record. The card gets updated and billed, but that payment is still associated

    • How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

    • Disable Smart Filters By Default

      The smart filters "feature" is causing confusion for Zoho Mail users. New emails should be delivered to the inbox unless they have specifically opted to redirect them somewhere else. People don't understand that new emails might be waiting in a random

    • ME SALE ESTE ERROR: No fue posible enviar el mensaje;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked

      Ayuda!! Me sale este error al intentar enviar mensajes desde mi correo electronico de Zoho! Tampoco recibo correos pues cuando me envia rebotan. Ayuda, Me urge enviar unos correo importantes!! Quedo atenta MAGDA HERNANDEZ +5731120888408

    • Client Script | Update - Client Script Support For Custom Buttons

      Hello everyone! We are excited to announce one of the most requested features - Client Script support for Custom Buttons. This enhancement lets you run custom logic on button actions, giving you greater flexibility and control over your user interactions.

    • Zoho Mail not working

      Zoho Mail not working

    • Queries on Project-Based Inventory Consumption and Proforma Invoice in Zoho ERP

      We would appreciate your clarification on how Zoho ERP plans to handle the following: Project-based inventory consumption without itemized sales orders Accurate project cost tracking along with inventory reduction Proforma Invoice usage We look forward

    • I can't add a new customer in Zoho invoice? Anyone had this issue before?

      Ive been using Zoho invoice for over 6 years. Today I wanted to add a new customer to send an invoice to but it doesn't save when I try to access it from the pulldown menu when you go to send a new invoice.

    • Spreadsheet View click & focus issue in Arabic (RTL) localization

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I am facing an issue in Zoho Creator Spreadsheet View when using Arabic localization (RTL). Scenario: My app supports English (LTR) and Arabic (RTL). I created a Spreadsheet View for a form. In English, everything works correctly.

    • Customer address in Zoho Bookings

      Hello,  Is it possible to add customer address information to the Zoho bookings appointment screen? Or have it pull that information automatically from the CRM? We are wanting to use this as a field management software but it is difficult to pull the address from multiple sources when it would be ideal to have a clickable address on the appointment screen that opens up the user's maps.  It would also be advantageous for the "list view" to show appointment times instead of just duration and booking

    • Ghost email notification on a form

      Hello, We have recently encountered an error where I can not see a email notification set up for a form which I am currently the owner, although neither the form nor the notification were created by me. However, neither can the Super Admin access the

    • bulk edit records and run internal logic

      hi there is few logics in manner "it this than that" logics work well when i edit entry openning it one by one (via workflow "on add/edit - on success" , for custom field "on update/on user input") but when i try bulk edit records - logic does not work.  how can i turn on logic to work as programmed - for mass editing records via bulk edit?

    • Bulk bank rule creatioin

      Hi team, I am exploring Option to create a multiple bank rule. Could please suggest the option to implement this?

    • Limitations on editing a message in Cliq

      Hi I've checked the documentations and there's no mention of how many times a message can be edited. When trying with code, I get various numbers such as ~1000 edits or so. Please mention if there's a limit on how many times one can change a message via

    • email address autocomplete

      Is there a way to eliminate certain addresses from showing up in auto complete when entering an address? Many old and unused addresses currently show up, many of which I would like to get rid of. Thanks

    • How to use MAIL without Dashboard?

      Whenever I open Mail, it opens Dashboard. This makes Mail area very small and also I cannot manage Folders (like delete/rename) etc. I want to know if there is any way to open only Mail apps and not the Dashboard.

    • How can i download and secure all my mails from the archive folders?

      Hi, i would like to download all my mails from my archive folders and secure it on my external HDD. Is this possible? Thx. amir

    • How to open filtered report in popup using Zoho Creator Deluge?

      First report: There is so many records in Report, If I click one record, pop up is occur. Second report (Pop up): there is also so many record data, and this pop up is also Report, not Form. First report: It has got "Sales Order" field. when I click any

    • Can you default reports/charts to report the current week?

      Our data table maintains two years of data. Management wants certain report to automatically filter the report to the latest calendar week. I know I can do this manually with filters but I want the report to automatically default to the latest calendar

    • Rendering PDF to view on page

      My company upload lots of PDF files onto Zoho. But every time we open it, it downloads the file instead of viewing it on the web page. Does Zoho allow uploaded PDF files to be rendered to view on web page yet? I've been trying to use <embed> or <object> but it cannot be loaded.  (similar thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/community/topic/how-to-open-a-pdf-file-of-a-view-in-preview-mode)

    • Overlapping Reports in Dashboards

      It's rare, but occasionally it would be a good feature if I were able to overlap reports, either fully or partially in the Dashboards. Also, then having the ability to move objects to the front or rear, or make them transparent/translucent would be good

    • Feature request - pin or flag note

      Hi, It would be great if you could either pin or flag one or more notes so that they remain visible when there are a bunch of notes and some get hidden in the list. Sometimes you are looking for a particular name that gets lost in a bunch of less important

    • Admin guide: Handling Mailbox Settings for better user management

      Managing day-to-day email scenarios, such as supporting users with multiple email addresses, ensuring uninterrupted email access during employee absences, enabling secure mailbox sharing, and enforcing organizational security and compliance, can be challenging

    • Cisco Webex Calling Intergration

      Hi Guys, Our organisation is looking at a move from Salesforce to Zoho. We have found there is no support for Cisco Webex Calling however? Is there a way to enable this or are there any apps which can provide this? Thanks!

    • Designing a practical Zoho setup for a small business: lessons from a real implementation

      I recently finished setting up a Zoho-based operating system for a small but growing consumer beauty business (GlowAtHomeBeauty), and I wanted to share a practical takeaway for other founders and implementers. The business wasn’t failing because of lack

    • DKIM (Marketing emails) UNVERIFIED (Zoho One)

      I'm having a problem with Zoho One verifying my Marketing Email DKIM Record for MYFINISHERPHOTOS.COM. I have removed and re-entered the ownership, DKIM (Transactional emails), SPF and Marketing DKIM and all of them come back verified except the DKIM (Marketing

    • Zoho Recruit Community Meet-up - India

      Namaste, India. 🙏🏼 The Zoho Recruit team is hitting the road—and we 're absolutely excited behind the scenes. Join us for the Zoho Recruit India Meet-up 2026, a morning designed to make your recruiting life easier (and a lot more effective). Date City

    • Generate a Zoho Sign link

      From time to time I get a response "I never received your you e-document for electronic signature" is there a way to generate a Zoho Sign link to share.

    • Is it possible to create a word cloud chart in ZoHo Analystics?

      Hi there, I have a volume of transaction text that I would like to analyse using word cloud (or other approcah to detect and present word frequency in a dataset). For example, I have 50,000 records describing menu items in restaurants. I want to be able

    • How to Fix the Corrupted Outlook 2019 .pst file on Windows safely?

      There are multiple reasons to get corrupted PST files (due to a power failure, system crash, or forced shutdown) and several other reasons. If You are using this ScanePST.EXE Microsoft inbuilt recovery tool, it only supports the minor corruption issue

    • [Webinar] A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025

      Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for January 2026: A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025. This webinar will provide a recap of the features and enhancements we added in 2025 to enhance your productivity. Choose your preferred

    • How to drag row(s) or column(s)?

      Hi. Selecting a row or column and then dragging it to a new position does not seem to work. Am i missing something or this is just not possible in Zoho Sheet? Cheers, Jay

    • Building Toppings #5 - Creating and configuring custom service connections in Bigin Toppings

      Hello Biginners, Integrating Bigin with external applications extends its capabilities and enables customized functionalities. In our last post, we saw how to create a default service connection. Today, we'll see how to create a custom service connection

    • Optimising CRM-Projects workflows to manage requests, using Forms as an intermediary

      Is it possible to create a workflow between three apps with traceability between them all? We send information from Zoho CRM Deals over to Zoho Projects for project management and execution. We have used a lookup of sorts to create tasks in the past,

    • Marketing Tip #15: Rank better with keyword-rich URLs for product pages

      Your product page URL is a small detail that can make a surprisingly big difference. Clean, readable URLs help in two ways: They’re easier for customers to trust and remember (no one likes clicking a link that looks messy or random). They help search

    • Conditional fields when converting a Lead and creating a Deal

      Hi, On my Deal page I have a field which has a rule against it. Depending on the value entered, depends on which further fields are displayed. When I convert a Lead and select for a Deal to be created as well, all fields are shown, regardless of the value

    • ATE Session on Payment Gateways: Our experts are live now. Post your questions now!

      Hello everyone, Our experts are all excited to answer all your questions related to payment workflows. Please feel free to join this session and learn more about this topic. If you have a query at anytime, please post them here.

    • Upload data deleted all Zoho form data that we manage

      Good morning. Let me introduce myself, I'm Iky from Indonesia. I'm experiencing an error or problem using Zoho Forms. I manage Zoho Forms, but I previously encountered an error when I misclicked the delete button in the upload format. It apparently deleted

    • ZOHO FORMにURL表示ができない

      初心者です。 ZOHO FORM で宿泊者名簿を作っています。 ゲストが、URLをクリックするとStripeで支払いができるようにURLを表示をしたいのですが、 上手くできません。 やり方が分かる方、ぜひ教えてください。

    • Next Page