Eighth Insight - Oversee module relationships with Lookups

Eighth Insight - Oversee module relationships with Lookups

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

Oversee module relationships with Lookups


‌Learning about lookups

A lookup field provides a powerful way to display and utilize data from another module directly within a field of your current module. This functionality establishes a seamless connection between different data sources, enabling users to access and work with related information effortlessly. Rather than duplicating data, which leads to inconsistencies and increased data management complexity, a lookup field acts as a bridge that consolidates information.

A lookup field enables users to retrieve and display data from a specific module based on an established relationship between two records. The data from the associated record is displayed within the lookup field, making it easy to view and use related information. Lookup fields are generally editable and show information retrieved from the associated record.
Quote
Lookup fields help display related information, filter data based on related fields, and manage complex relationships between different modules.
IdeaIn a ticketing system, the Contact ID field in the "Tickets" module is a lookup field that retrieves contact information from the "Contacts" module. 

Linking modules

To create connections between two custom modules, it's essential to incorporate lookup fields. These fields are added to module layouts to establish relationships across different modules, whether they are standard-standard, custom-standard, or purely custom. For example, an "Assets" custom module can connect to another custom module or a standard module, such as "Contacts."

This connection allows users to link relevant records (such as contacts) with their respective items (like assets), making it easier to access and view information from either module. Adding a lookup field establishes a direct relationship, which enables users to perform actions such as linking, viewing, unlinking, or generating new tickets without needing to navigate away from the current module.

The importance of linking two modules through a lookup field lies in its ability to enhance information flow and improve data accessibility. By forming distinct relationships between various data points (such as assets and contacts), Zoho Desk facilitates more effective tracking, management, and resolution of customer inquiries and operational tasks. 
Info
Users with the "Manage Layouts and Fields" permission or those in a support administrator role can connect custom or standard modules by adding a lookup field to the module's layout (Standard layout for custom modules) through an easy drag-and-drop interface. 

How it works in practice

There was a small but mighty help desk company called "Fix Tickets." The team at Fix Tickets was dedicated to resolving customer issues promptly and efficiently. One day, they decided to improve their ticketing system with a new feature: lookup fields.


On Monday morning, a customer named Amy reached out with a problem. Her internet was down, and she submitted a ticket through the help desk portal to request assistance. As her ticket entered the system, a lookup field allowed the help desk staff to view relevant information from the Accounts module instantly, the Contracts module, as well as any past tickets. 

Using lookup fields eliminated the need for manual search, and a support agent quickly realized that Amy's account required verification. Meanwhile, Gunther received an email update regarding the status of the customer's ticket. They sent Amy an email update with instructions to verify her account and restore her connection. The entire process was seamless, all thanks to the lookup field functionality, which allowed Fix Tickets to access information quickly and enhance customer satisfaction.


As the week progressed, more tickets came in, and the team continued to rely on the lookup fields. They noticed a significant increase in their efficiency and a decrease in the time spent per ticket. Soon, customer satisfaction scores began to increase as positive reviews poured in from happy customers like Amy.

Uses of Lookup Fields

Data integrity

Lookup fields ensure that data entered into Zoho Desk is valid and consistent. By referencing existing data, such as user accounts or product information, you minimize the chances of errors and maintain the overall integrity of the database.

Consistency across records

Lookup fields ensure that the same values are used consistently across different records. This benefits teams by reducing duplication, enhancing the quality of data available in tickets, and providing team members with more insight into relevant information by linking records across modules.

Improved user experience

By allowing users to select from predefined options, lookup fields make data entry faster and easier. This reduces the time spent typing and searching for information, providing a more efficient ticket submission process.

Improved reporting and analytics

Lookup fields facilitate more accurate and meaningful reporting. By linking tickets to specific accounts, departments, or products, you can generate insights that help improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Streamlined workflow automation

Lookup fields can be utilized in workflow rules to automate ticket assignments and efficiently escalate issues. For instance, if a ticket pertains to a specific product, it can automatically be routed to the relevant product team.

Better relationship management

By associating tickets with customers or contacts through lookup fields, support teams can easily view related interactions and history. This context enables agents to provide more personalized and informed responses.

Simplified data management

Lookup fields enable organisations to manage relationships and processes involving various entities, such as users, products, and departments. Changes to the data automatically reflect wherever it’s invoked by a lookup field to ensure that all users are working with the most current and relevant information.

Faster issue resolution

Providing agents with quick access to related data through lookup fields speeds up the resolution process. Whether it’s identifying the correct department to solve a problem or accessing customer history to investigate an account issue, lookup fields enhance data quality, user experience, and operational efficiency.

Takeaway

Lookup fields can help your organization leverage its data to enhance all aspects of customer service, including routing and managing tickets, resolving customer inquiries, and reporting and analysis. This approach equips users with insights into exactly when and where they need them, which empowers them to make well-informed decisions and deliver effective service.

 

Please stay tuned for more Desk Feature stories.

 

Cheers,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    • Recent Topics

    • ZUG Meet-ups are back - Across India (December 2025)

      The Zoho User Group (ZUG) meet-ups are back, and this time, we’re travelling across India to reconnect with our amazing community! From Chennai to Delhi, Bengaluru to Mumbai, we can’t wait to meet you all in person and talk everything Zoho SalesIQ, automation,

    • Categorise Attachments

      We take ID, proof of address, right to work documentation and more.  I can upload a single file in to field, but we often receive multiple files for each category e.g. someone may send a separate file for the front and back of their national ID card.  My team don't have time to manipulate the files in order to upload them as a single file. The options, as far as I can tell, would be to create additional fields on attachments in order to categorise what the file is, or to be able to upload single

    • Scheduling a meeting for just a 1:1 phone call

      My business is B2C and many of my customer's don't want to engage in an online meeting for what can be handled in a regular phone call. I am trying to create a new meeting invitation, but there is no venue optoin for "phone call". How are other's handling

    • Need more details on API Usage Dashboard

      Hi Team, We have implemented Zoho Expense for a client and has done some integrations with well known third party ERP via api. Recently we have noticed a huge spike in the API consumption. But we couldn't get the root cause for the same. I accept there

    • Power of Automation:: Automating SLA Timelines for First Response & Resolution for Issues module.

      Hello Everyone, Ever wished SLAs could update automatically based on issue severity i.e no manual tracking, no missed timelines? That is exactly what one of our customers, Alex, wanted to achieve in the Issues module. So, we have setup a simple automation

    • Can't login to Zoho mail

      I'm logged into Zoho but when I try to go in zoho mail I get: Invalid request! The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try again. I just set up my mx records and stuff with namecheap a few

    • Power of Automation :: Quick way to associate your Projects with Zoho CRM

      A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and

    • Free webinar! Build smarter apps with Zoho Sign and Zoho Creator

      Hello, Bring the power of digital signatures to the apps you build in Zoho Creator! Connect Zoho Sign as a microservice and enable seamless e-signature workflows in your applications. This integration allows you to automate signing tasks using Deluge.

    • Move orders scan ISBN

      Hi We have ISBN setup to be searched in items zoho but move orders dissent recognize the ISBN is there q missing configuration? regards, JS

    • What's New - October 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      Hey everyone! We’ve been busy rolling out a host of upgrades for Zoho Backstage. While some major features are still going through final rounds of testing to make your event experience smooth as butter, here’s what was new and improved in October 2025.

    • Zoho People Attendance Regularization – Wrong Total Hours Displayed

      While using Zoho People, I observed that the attendance regularization is showing wrong total hours when applied to past dates. For example, if a check-in is added at 10:00 AM and check-out at 6:00 PM for a previous date, the system sometimes calculates

    • Add Flexible Recurrence Options for Meeting Scheduling in Zoho Cliq (e.g., Every 2 Weeks)

      Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, when scheduling a meeting inside Zoho Cliq, the recurrence options are limited to Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. There is no ability to set a meeting to occur every X weeks — for example,

    • AI generated meeting notes associated to Account or Deal

      As our organization works to improve efficiency we are looking for a solution to leverage AI to generate meeting notes and then add those notes to a CRM record such as an Account or Deal. I see Zoho has a Notebook AI offering that talks about the ability

    • Subform Disabled Fields Should Remain Disabled on Edit/View

      Currently, when we disable a subform field using on user input or on add new row, it works perfectly during the initial data entry. However, when the record is saved and reopened for viewing or editing, these disabled fields become editable again. This

    • How do you print a refund check to customer?

      Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does anyone print a refund check to a customer? We cant find anywhere to either just print a check and pick a customer, or where to do so from a credit note.

    • What is Resolution Time in Business Hours

      HI, What is the formula used to find the total time spent by an agent on a particular ticket? How is Resolution Time in Business Hours calculated in Zohodesk? As we need to find out the time spent on the ticket's solution by an agent we seek your assistance

    • Is it possible to turn off all capabilities for a customer to schedule, reschedule or cancel an appointment?

      Is it possible to turn off all capabilities for a customer to schedule, reschedule or cancel an appointment? I would like to set it up so only staff can schedule appointments. Is this possible?

    • Hide "Section" headers when using a form as a subform in "List view"

      When using a form as a subform and setting the "View Type" to "List View" it is not possible to hide the section headers. This can become an issue if I have a section which is not applicable to this subform and I hide the fields within that section and

    • Add additional field to quick search results

      IN the advanced search, we can add any field to the columns. In the regular search results (before you press enter, there is no option to modify the results. It would be super useful to include a custom field where it currently displays the pipleine

    • Need Help: Updating Related Records via Subform Entries in Zoho Creator

      Hi everyone, I’m trying to set up a workflow in Zoho Creator where each row in a subform updates related records in another form automatically. Here’s the situation: My main form (e.g., “Receipts”) contains a subform where each row selects a related record

    • Disable signing in using email aliases?

      Hi, I currently have user accounts that have multiple aliases, for example: Main: name@domain.com Alias: alias1@domain.com, alias2@domain.com Currently, I am able to use any of those 3 emails in the 'username' box during login, and it will log me into the email. Is there a way to setup so that email aliases cannot be used to sign on? I'd still be able to receive and send emails using those aliases in the main email account like it works now, except only the main email can be used to login. Cheers!

    • Zoho Desk - Community - Customer Portal - Description Field UX Improvement

      Hi Zoho Desk Team, As a prolific user of Zoho Cares Community, I find it very frustrating that I cannot increase the size of the Description box (this one which I am typing this message). Many apps with multi line text fields have a small handle in the

    • Add the same FROM email to multiple department

      Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

    • Can I change the format of the buttons in the email templates?

      Hi all! We have been working hard trying to brand our email templates, and have some way to go yet. One of the things we can't seem to edit is the green ${Cases.CUSTOMER_PORTAL_BUTTON} button and the font of the View Ticket text. Is there any way of doing

    • Lead to Contact Conversion with multiple email address fields

      We are a B2C business with a strong repeat cycle, and as such it's not uncommon for customers to use multiple email addresses with us. We have both our Contacts & Leads modules set up with 3 email fields. (Primary Email / Secondary Email / Historic Email)

    • Does Thrive work with Zoho Billing (Subscriptions)?

      I would like to use Thrive with Zoho Billing Subscriptions but don't see a way to do so. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you

    • Exporting Charts from ZohoCRM

      Hi...I'm relatively new to ZohoCRM, but very happy with it so far. I have all my leads and potentials accurately entered, and like the reports that I can view, with charts at the top of the data. But when I export the data, I'm receiving only the data, whether I export as excel, csv or pdf. How can I export both the chart and the data? In case it makes a difference, I'm using the free version right now. I tried researching the other editions to see if a paid version of the software offered the ability

    • Automatically Update Ticket Status in Zoho Desk Based on Actions in Zoho Projects

      Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to manage tasks related to customer tickets, and it works well for linking and tracking progress. However, there are a few important automation capabilities

    • sms long credits

      I’m trying to purchase Long Code credits so I can send SMS campaigns to my contacts. However, when I click the “Buy Now” button, the page appears blank and doesn’t load any purchase options. Could you please assist me in purchasing the Long Code credits

    • Tip #48- Power Your AI Workflows with Zoho Assist on Zapier’s MCP- 'Insider Insights'

      We’re thrilled to announce that Zoho Assist is now part of Zapier’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), bringing remote support automation right into your AI ecosystem. What is MCP? The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is Zapier’s new framework designed to connect

    • Insert Cookie Policy in Zoho Sites

      Hello, i need to insert a banner on my site because i'm in Italy so i have to respect EU laws for Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy. I see that i need to insert a code in <head> section of my site to show a banner/popup with cookie info. How i can do this? Thank you Luca

    • Marketing Tip #1: Optimize item titles for SEO

      Your item title is the first thing both Google and shoppers notice. Instead of a generic “Leather Bag,” go for something detailed like “Handcrafted Leather Laptop Bag – Durable & Stylish.” This helps your items rank better in search results and instantly

    • Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account

      Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, they

    • Forced Logouts - Daily and More Frequent

      In the last month or so, I've been getting "power logged out" of all of my Zoho apps at least daily, sometimes more frequently. This happens in the same browser session on the same computer, and I need to re-login to each app separately after this happens.

    • ENTER key triggering Submit

      Is it possible to stopped the ENTER key from the mandatory triggering of the Submit button on Creator form? I want forms submitted "ONLY" when the Submit button is pressed. 

    • Is it possible to assign Client user to external task ON PROJECTS' TEMPLATES?

      Is it possible to assign Client user to external task ON TEMPLATES PROJECTS?

    • How to download all attachments from inbox, send, other folders in one go

      Hi All, Appreciate if anyone could help me with steps for below requirement. How to download all attachments from inbox, send, other folders in one go. Even mapping to new folder will help me.  Thanks in advance. 

    • Cliq does not sync messages after Sleep on Mac

      I'm using the mac app of Cliq. When I open my mac after it was in sleep mode, Cliq does not sync the messages that I received. I always have to reload using cmd + R, which is not what I want when using a chat application.

    • Link to images

      I have added images in pages. I would like to link those images with linked in URL so that they open in new window. There is an option of image -> link but I am not able to use the same to open URL in new window. Please check the attached image. Can you

    • Canvas View - Print

      What is the best way to accomplish a print to PDF of the canvas view?

    • Next Page