Hey Biginners!
We're excited to kick off our Developer Community series on building toppings for Bigin, and our goal is to provide an accessible, beginner-friendly, and relevant path for every developer.
Imagine creating tiny pieces of software that unlock enhanced functionalities and seamlessly integrate Bigin with other applications. Those pieces of software are Bigin's "toppings."
Let's dive in!
What are toppings?
Toppings are add-ons that help you to integrate Bigin with other third-party applications or extend existing functionalities, eliminating the need for Bigin users to switch between multiple service-providing applications. With Bigin's Developer Center, developers can build toppings and bundle them into all the features necessary to manage the businesses they serve. Users can install them in their Bigin accounts to enhance their user experiences with custom features and integrations.
How are toppings useful?
Imagine using Bigin and managing your business via different pipelines that cater to different business departments, like sales and support. On a daily basis, the customer support team may receive multiple emails related to these different departments; manually checking each email and saving them as records in the appropriate pipelines would be a time-consuming process and might lead to errors. Bigin's
Email-In topping serves to address this functional inefficiency. By creating unique email aliases for different departments, Email-In ensures that any emails sent to these aliases are automatically converted into records in the related Bigin pipeline, eliminating manual intervention, saving time, and reducing the risk of errors. Teams can focus on responding to customers quickly rather than spending hours sorting and categorizing emails.
Or consider another scenario: A business is juggling multiple client meetings, managing several projects, and finding it difficult to track contracts and renewal dates. Without a system in place to manage these contracts, they run the risk of missing renewals, disrupting client relationships, and losing revenue. What they'd need is a topping that helps them organize their contracts in Bigin, set automated reminders for renewals or expirations, and seize every opportunity. Then, the team can focus more on nurturing customer relationships instead of worrying about missing crucial deadlines.
These scenarios highlight the important role toppings can play in business processes.
Now, let's explore where you can build toppings and the features available there.
Bigin Developer Center
To develop a topping for Bigin, make sure you have access to the Bigin Developer Center. You also need to have a clear picture of the functionalities and features you want to include in your topping.
The Bigin Developer Center is a cloud platform that provides developers with ready-to-use tools to create and publish toppings. In the Developer Center, each developer has a designated developer workspace where they can create and manage toppings. From the workspace screen, you can create a topping and enter the Bigin Developer Console, which serves as the space wherein you'll build, test, and publish your toppings, and offers various components to create, customize, and automate them. Read more about the platform's functionalities
here.
Once you've developed a topping, the next step is to decide how you want to distribute it. For that, let's look into the types of toppings available.
Types of toppings you can build
Toppings can be either public or private, depending on the distribution method you choose, which in turn defines its visibility to users.
Public toppings
Public toppings are accessible to all users and listed in the
Bigin Marketplace, an online store where users can find and install toppings. Users can also search for specific toppings or filter them from the available list.
This enables topping developers to generate revenue based on the number of times their toppings are installed. Based on user ratings and reviews, developers can periodically improve and enhance their toppings. The Bigin Marketplace team has provided guidelines for creating public toppings. Once a developer submits the topping, the Marketplace team will review and approve it, provided that it complies with the established approval policies.
Private toppings
You can create or use private toppings for specific users or organizations. The Developer Console generates a hashed URL that allows access to these toppings and enables you to control how your toppings are distributed.
Private toppings don't require approval from the Bigin Marketplace team and receive validation automatically. Once published, these toppings are immediately available for use. You can publish toppings privately if you want to provide an organization or client with customized features.
How to build a topping
Let's dive into the step-by-step process of creating a topping.
Accessing the Bigin Developer Center
1. Log in to or sign up for Bigin's Developer Center.
Note: The Bigin Developer Center is currently available in the US Data Center (DC). If your existing Bigin account is in another DC, you can still develop toppings by creating a free account in the US DC. To create a developer account, please contact our
support team, and they'll assist you in setting it up.
2. After logging in successfully, access the Bigin Developer Center and enter a name for your workspace.
3. Click the Create Workspace button to set it up.
4. Once you create your workspace, you'll land on the Developer Center screen, where you can build your toppings.
Creating a topping
1. On the Developer Workspace screen, find and click the Create Topping button in the top-right corner.
2. Provide details for your new topping.
Enter the desired name for your topping in the Name field. The Unique Namespace is automatically created using the name you provide. Remember, you cannot change the namespace after you create the topping.
- Provide a brief overview of what your topping does in the Description field.
- Select the Terms and Conditions checkbox and click Save.
Now that your new topping has been created, it's ready to be customized. In the next post, we'll dive into the components and features available in the Bigin Developer Console to build your topping.
Stay tuned for more!
Recent Topics
Can't add a sender adress from zoho campaigns
hi, I need to change the sender address for a campaign. When i try to add it i get a message to say 'duplicated email address found while adding your sender address'. This is the first campaign i'm sending so I don't understand why this message is displayed? Thanks Jane
Export History timeline
Hi, I have an idea, bout zoho desk history of the ticket it would be great if the agent or admin of the zoho desk can export the timeline of the ticket history for agent report or on other matter.
Desk fails to create a new ticket on Reply email
When I send a direct email to support@mysite.com, Desk will create a new ticket as expected. When I REPLY to an email sent from support@mysite.com, Desk will NOT generate a new ticket. This is very bad. How can I fix this? Use case: In a separate system
Ask the Experts 25: Experience the full spectrum of Zoho Desk’s autumn and spring releases for 2025
Hello Everyone, We’re on the 25th episode of our ATE series! It's a true milestone in our live community interactions! It’s been an amazing journey since we started in October 2018. Zoho Desk has come a long way, evolving with the support of a wonderful
Addin Support in Zoho Sheet
Is there any addin support available in zoho sheet as like google marketplace to enhance productivity by connecting with other apps, providing AI data analysis, streamlining business processes, and more?
Wise integration in Zoho Books
Hi, it is now time for zoho books to support Wise.com integration for payment links. Wise has launched credit card payments, now about 0.5% cheaper than Stripe. Also their bank payments are much much cheaper than credit cards. Its time for books team
Function #61: Automatically add free item to the invoice based on item quantity
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another Custom Function Friday! During holiday seasons or special promotions, businesses offer deals like BOGO (Buy One, Get One), Buy 3 Get 1 Free, Buy 2 at 50% off, and much more to attract customers. These promotions
Notes for Items for Future Purchase Order
Next time when I order an item, tau have to make some changes in it, that order has to be placed after 4-5 months, I want to save those changes or points somewhere in the item, how will that be possible..
Schemes of different tyoe
How can easily apply hourly, day wise or month wise schemes on Bill, Quantity, and other schemes. Like I want to apply a scheme Form today to next 7 days .where i can mention in zoho books so scheme will implement automatically to all customers and
Clients not receiving emails
I've been informed that my emails are not being received. Is there anything that I should look into to rectify this? Many thanks!
Free Plan mail accounts details
In the zoho mail pricing there's a free plan that includes: FREE PLAN Up to 25 Users 5GB* /User, 25MB Attachment Limit Webmail access only. Single domain hosting. I need to make sure that I'm able to create multiple email accounts in the form of: name@domain.com
No more IMAP/POP/SMTP on free plans even on referrals with NO NOTICE
Outraged. Just referred a colleague to use her domain (not posting it publicly here) to Zoho, just as I have other colleagues, clients, friends. Expected the exact same free plan features as I have and as everyone else I ever referred got. I was helping
Unable to receive email - "5.3.0 - Other mail system problem 554-'5.2.3 MailPolicy violation Error delivering to mailboxes'"
My users are unable to receive emails from one particular domain, apparently. The domain known to be kicked back is whitelisted in the spam control. I sent an email to support earlier this morning but I have not received a reply. The error in the title
Caixa de saída bloqueada. Como desbloquear?
Olá, meu e-mail isabela.celli@sivirino.com está com a caixa de saída bloqueada. Não consigo enviar e-mails. Acredito que tenha sido porque mandei o mesmo e-mail para várias pessoas, pedindo uma cotação de serviço. Vocês podem desbloquear para mim? Quantos
Zoho Forms - Improve the CRM integration field to query data from more than one module
Hi Forms team, Something I get stuck on regularly is pre-populating a form with data when that data is spread across 2 or 3 modules. For example Contacts, Accounts and Deals. I don't want to duplicate the information in CRM so I end up writing a function
desbloquear cuenta
Buenos dias Cordial saludo Tengo una cuenta libre en zoho mail asociado a un dominio, pero uno de los usuarios se bloquea el correo porque dice que ha excedido el límite de correo, por favor podrian desbloquearla y como hago para que esta persona debe enviar sus correos sin ningun probleama. Gracias de antemano
Not Receiving Incoming Mail
I can send emails from my account but I do not receive any. I originally set up forwarding and it worked for a while and then stopped. I turned off forwarding and now do not receive any emails. Could you please check what is causing this issue? Thank you
Making preview pane "stick"
Hello, Is it possible to fix/dock the preview pane so that it's always there? The modern monitors are all very wide so there's plenty of space horizontally. Having the preview pane disappearing and appearing again when you click on an email message in
Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked
I have been struggling to set up my email address for some time now; it's difficult to locate what I need. Additionally, I cannot send or receive any emails. I keep receiving the "Reason: 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked" error. There doesn't seem to
Trouble Connecting Zoho Mail via IMAP in n8n – Need Help
Hi everyone 👋, I'm trying to connect my Zoho Mail account to n8n using the IMAP Email Trigger node, but I'm facing issues getting it to work fully. ✅ Here's what I’ve done so far: ✅ IMAP access is enabled in my Zoho Mail settings ✅ I’m using the correct
Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked
Hi, I sent few emails and got this: Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked And now I have few days since I cant send any email. Is there something wrong I did? Also can someone fix this please
Changes to the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM
Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously enhance our security measures to ensure a safer experience for all users. As part of our ongoing security enhancements, we're making an important update on using the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM. What's changing?
Page Rules in Forms
🚀 Dynamic Page Navigation Implementation I successfully implemented dynamic page navigation based on a user's radio button selection. The goal was to direct users to a specific, corresponding page while ensuring they only interact with the flow determined
Cancellation of written-off invoice
Hi, Can I know when we cancel the write off (write back), in which FY, the reversal is recorded. It doesn't ask as to when the write off should be cancelled to reflect!. It shouldn't reflect in the year in which the invoice was written off since the Year
Create Invoice automated with Package
Does anyone knows how to create an invoice from a SO when we have created the package? We do these manually. and validate that the product packed is the product invoiced (if the order is partially packed) Regards, JS
I want to create a mailing list, NOT a group.
Can I create a mailing list in Zoho mail? I just want to be able to make a list of email addresses and give the list a name. Then when I type the list name, the list of email addresses will be automatically listed. When I create a group it sends an email
ERROR CODE :554 - Your access to this mail system has been rejected due to poor reputation of a domain used in message transfer
This message was created automatically by mail delivery software. A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. *****, ERROR CODE :554 - Your access to this mail system has been rejected due
no me llegan los correos a Zoho mail
No puedo recibir correos pero sí enviarlos, ya hice la modificación de MX y la verificación de teléfonos, qué es lo que ocurre? gracias
Group Calendar as Default for adding new events, etc?
Hi, I want to make the group calendar (that I created, if that makes a difference) the default for anything new I add to the calendar. How can I do that? thanks.
Bookmark Loading is Buffering
Hi, i clicked on the bookmark tab, around yesterday and since then it's been constantly buffering and doesn't allow me to access the mail's i have tried login in and out but of no help also trying to share a screenshot of the issue around 232 kb size,
Zoho Webinar custom registration fields into Zoho CRM
I am pushing webinar registrations into zoho crm as leads and this is working fine. I have added a few custom fields to my webinar registration and I wish for these fields values to get mapped into the resulting CRM lead record. I am not seeing anywhere
GitLab Extension for Zoho Desk: Connecting support and development for faster resolutions
Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the GitLab Extension for Zoho Desk, an integration that bridges the gap between support and development teams. This allows tickets to be converted into actionable GitLab issues for faster resolutions, better
Download Google Drive Shared Image/File Using Deluge – Complete Guide
Download Google Drive Shared Image/File Using Deluge – Complete Guide When working with Google Drive share links inside Deluge, many developers face a common challenge: 👉 How can we download a Google Drive file directly using Deluge? This article explains
How to update Acuity appointment fields from Zoho Flow?
Hi, I need help with Zoho Flow → Acuity Scheduling integration. What I’m doing Appointment created in Acuity Zoho Flow creates a Zoho Calendar event I want to send the Zoho Calendar Event UID back into Acuity (into a custom form field) This is so that
No horizontal scroll bar in reports
Hi support team, I created a pivot table report which contains many columns (in my application about 15). The problem is that there is no bottom scroll bar to display colums that does not fit within the browser page. I saw that it was possible to resize colums, but colums sizes are not saved within the session. So could you add scroll bar, and eventually make colums sizes stored in the user session ? Best regards,
Zoho Map integration tasks have changed - you need to "Locate all instances of Zoho Map integration tasks in your Deluge scripts by searching for the v1 marker... before 16 January 2026"
Details of an issue specific to Zoho CRM + Deluge Functions (originally posted in this forum) can be found here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/zoho-map-integration-tasks-have-changed-you-need-to-locate-all-instances-of-zoho-map-integration-tasks-in-your-deluge-scripts-by-searching-for-the-v1-marker
filter broke my data
I uploaded a file recently from Sheets and it has top 2 rows frozen, with table headers in second row and each one is filterable. somehow my first 2 columns became unfiltered and no matter what I do I cannot reapply the filter?? also didn't realize they
Request to remove domain "greentechcoatings.vn" from previous Zoho account
Hello Zoho Support, I would like to register the domain "greentechcoatings.vn" in my new Zoho Mail account, but I receive the message "This domain is already associated with another account". Please remove the domain from any previous/unknown account
Trigger actions in third-party apps using Zoho Flow
Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're excited to share an enhancement to Bigin's workflow capabilities. Zoho Flow Actions are now available in Bigin, enabling you to automate tasks across third-party applications directly from your workflow and
Enroll, Script, Win: Hackathon 2025!
Hello CRM Developers! Are you ready to create some magic with Client Script, Widgets and Functions in Zoho CRM? Let’s make Hackathon 2025 an unforgettable adventure! The Zoho Developer Community Hackathon 2025 is here, and it’s your time to shine! REGISTER
Next Page