Kaizen #196 - Zoho CRM Queries - Best Practices

Kaizen #196 - Zoho CRM Queries - Best Practices

 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you!
Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone. 
​
Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series!

Queries in Zoho CRM can power much of what makes a customized CRM experience work—Canvas views, Kiosk pages, custom related lists, and more.

But writing effective queries goes beyond just “getting the data.” It’s about writing queries that are reusable, performant, and easy to maintain.

This Kaizen highlights some of the field-tested best practices to make your queries smarter and your CRM UI smoother.

1. Choose the right query type

Your choice of query type defines your flexibility, and matching the query type to the task reduces unnecessary complexity.
  • Module-type queries work best when you need a quick fetch from a single module. For straightforward data retrieval, a simple Module query is often faster and easier to manage.
  • COQL-type queries follow the SQL-like language model and allow you to filter, sort, and join data more deeply.
  • REST API-type queries enable Zoho CRM to retrieve real-time data from external systems via GET requests, allowing you to display externally computed or stored information within CRM views.

2. Name your queries clearly and consistently

  • Avoid query names like Get_Contacts_Test or Canvas_Query_1 as they become confusing over time.
  • Instead, use names that reflect what the query actually returns and where it is used. For example, Open_Deals_By_Owner_For_Canvas, Upcoming_Activities_By_Account. This helps you or your team find and reuse queries faster.

3. Use nested lookups selectively

  • Use nested lookups in COQL-type queries selectively to balance power and performance. Nested lookups in COQL help in reducing the number of API calls by fetching related records in the same query, but use only the lookup fields that are truly necessary when using queries in UI components or optimizing for speed.
  • Limit yourself to the lookup fields your UI or logic actually needs. For example, do not retrieve Account.Owner.Territory.Name if you're only displaying the account name.
  • If multiple nested fields are needed for display, consider flattening the data using serializers to keep the query clean and efficient.

4. Limit returned record count for list views

  • For queries used in related lists or Canvas, fetch only the required number of records/rows to keep your UI focused and efficient.
  • For example, in a Canvas View, it is best to fetch only the immediately relevant records like the latest notes, top deals, most recent activities etc,. This ensures that the data is concise, relevant, loads the UI quickly, and remains user-friendly across devices.

5. Use Variables to keep queries reusable

  • Hard-coding values like record IDs or user names limits reusability.
  • Instead, define variables like {{User_ID}}, {{Record_ID}}, or {{Account_ID}}, and pass them dynamically. This means you can use the same query across multiple records, users, or components.

6. Blend static and dynamic filters

  • Not all values need to be variables.
  • If a certain condition will always be true like 'Status = Open', hard-code it. But for user-specific and record-specific values, create variables. This mix of static and dynamic variables in your filters makes your query both specific and versatile.

7. Avoid fetching unnecessary fields

  • Avoid selecting all fields by default. Fetching unnecessary fields increases response size and adds clutter.
  • Limiting the field selection makes the query easier to maintain, especially when working with nested lookups and across modules.
  • Smaller and focused responses are easier to format and bind in the UI components leading to better data handling.
  • Even though CRM handles larger data well, brevity in the query leads to faster rendering and, ultimately, a better user experience.

8. Use serializer to format your output

  • Don’t pass raw API data directly into your UI. Use serializers to clean, rename, and shape your response.
  • For example, merge first and last names into a single full name field in the serializer.
  • This keeps the UI logic clean and puts formatting responsibility where it belongs—inside the query layer.

9. Customize the schema after your query

  • Zoho CRM auto-generates a schema for your query output, but it may not reflect exactly how they're used in your interface.
  • Rename keys to reflect how they’re used in your interface, remove unused fields, and flatten nested objects where possible.
  • A clean and relevant schema makes data binding faster and reduces errors.

10. Understand your return type: Map vs Table

  • Use a Map when returning a single record (like in a summary view).
  • Use a Table when returning a list (like in a data grid or related list).
  • Using the wrong type and misalignment can break your Canvas component, show blank widgets or broken layouts.

11. Map queries to the right components

Design your queries with the target component in mind. This ensures clarity, reusability, and context-driven results.
  • In Canvas, use queries to control what each widget displays.
  • In Kiosk, tie queries to user flows or form submissions.
  • In Custom Related Lists, pass record-level variables like {{Deals.Deal_ID}} for contextual filtering.

12. Use record ID-based filters properly

  • Filtering with ID variables is common and useful, but too many queries filtered by IDs can lead to firing many API calls and consuming more API credits.
  • Reuse queries and batch where possible.

13. Standardize REST API outputs with the 'crmAPIResponse' object

  • REST API type queries give you flexibility, but may not return the response in the format that your UI expects.
  • Use the 'crmAPIResponse' object to standardize the output, extract what you need, and define fallback values in case something is missing.
  • This control in the output structure allows you to fit the output to your schema and maintain consistency across your queries.

14. Use Queries to supercharge related lists

  • Queries can now power custom Related Lists where you are not limited to predefined module relationships.
  • Use parent record variables to filter child records, apply sorting logic, and format fields for a clean display.
  • Keep the row count reasonable for performance and readability.

15. Always test and monitor

Before going live
  • Try the query to preview data, validate filters, and confirm variable substitution. It’s far easier to fix errors here than once the query is embedded in a Canvas view or live layout. Include user role and profile tests where needed.
  • Check how schema or field updates affect the output.
  • Log serializer issues or failed REST calls during development.

Good queries don’t just fetch data—they shape the user experience. Whether you’re building a dashboard or a simple record view, thoughtful query design ensures you deliver the right information, fast, and in the format that makes sense to your users.

We hope you liked today's post. We will see you next week with another one!
Cheers!






    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

      Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

    • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

    • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

      Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

    • Recent Topics

    • 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

    • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

      Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?

    • 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。

    • Custom module - change from autonumber to name

      I fear I know the answer to this already, but thought I'd ask the question. I created a custom module and instead of having a name as being the primary field, I changed it to an auto-number. I didn't realise that all searches would only show this reference.

    • No Automatic Spacing on the Notebook App?

      When I'm adding to notes on the app, I have to add spaces between words myself, rather than it automatically doing it. All my other apps add spacing, so it must be something with Zoho. Is there a setting I need to change, or something else I can do so

    • Holidays - Cannot Enter Two Holidays on Same Day

      I have a fairly common setup, where part-time employees receive 1/2 day's pay on a holiday and full-time employees receive a full day's pay. Historically, I've been able to accommodate this by entering two separate holidays, one that covers full-time

    • Zoho Bookings and Survey Integration through Flow

      I am trying to set up flows where once an appointment is marked as completed in Zoho Bookings, the applicable survey form would be sent to the customer. Problem is, I cannot customise flows wherein if Consultation A is completed, Survey Form A would be

    • Campaigns set up and execution assistance

      Hello Community, Can someone recommend a professional who can assist with the completion of my set up and deployment of Campaigns? Looking for a person or company that is not going to ask for big dollars up-front without a guarantee of performance to

    • Zobot with Plugs

      Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs. Here is my current flow: When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the

    • Kaizen #223 - File Manager in CRM Widget Using ZRC Methods

      Hello, CRM Wizards! Here is what we are improving this week with Kaizen. we will explore the new ZRC (Zoho Request Client) introduced in Widget SDK v1.5, and learn how to use it to build a Related List Widget that integrates with Zoho WorkDrive. It helps

    • Remove Powered by Zoho at the footer

      Hi, I've read two past tickets regarding this but it seems that the instructions given are outdated. I assume the layout keeps on changing, which makes it frustrating for me to search high and low. Please let me know how exactly do I do this now? Th

    • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

      Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.

    • No Need To Fix Something That Is Working

      Zoho Books is a great financial tool which helps businesses to become more efficient and productive with day-to-day operations. As such, every change, upgrade, improvement needs to be carefully thought before implemented in the software and I'm sure Zoho

    • Using email "importance" as workflow-criteria

      I'd like to set up a workflow that triggers if an incoming email has been flagged as "high importance" but I'm not seeing any way to do that. Hopefully I'm just missing something obvious...?

    • This domain is not allowed to add. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

      I am trying to setup the free version of Zoho Mail. When I tried to add my domain, theselfreunion.com I got the error message that is the subject of this Topic. I've read your other community forum topics, and this is NOT a free domain. So what is the

    • Next Page