Kaizen #8 - Handling Recurrence and Participants in the Events Module via API

Kaizen #8 - Handling Recurrence and Participants in the Events Module via API

Hello everyone!

We are back this week with an exciting post—Handling recurrence and participants in the Events module through API.

First things first—What is the Events module?
"Events" is a part of the Activities module in Zoho CRM. 
An event is an activity that happens at a given place and time. You can find Events on the user's Zoho CRM's home page, Activities home page, Calendar, and in other related records.

What are the types of Events?
Events are of two types—Recurring and non-recurring events.
Recurring events: These events repeat/recur at a set frequency. You can set them to repeat by day, week, month, or by year. You can also set them to repeat a fixed number of times. 
Non-recurring events: These are one-time events.
Both these events can also be all-day events.

Now, let us see how to handle a recurring event and add/update participants via API.

1. Creating a Recurring Event through API
You must use the Insert Records API to insert a record in the Events module.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v2/Events
Request method: POST

Sample input to create a recurring event that repeats every two weeks

{
    "data": [
        {
            "All_Day": false,
            "Event_Title": "Kaizen_9_Weekly",
            "Start_DateTime": "2020-02-02T10:00:00+05:30",
            "End_DateTime": "2020-02-02T11:00:00+05:30",
            "Participants": [
                {
                    "type": "contact",
                    "participant": "3652397000001281003"
                },
                {
                    "type": "lead",
                    "participant": "3652397000000415063"
                },
                {
                    "type": "user",
                    "participant": "3652397000000186017"
                }
            ],
            "Recurring_Activity": {
                "RRULE": "FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU;INTERVAL=2;UNTIL=2020-03-15"
            },
            "Remind_At": "2020-02-01T09:45:00+05:30",
            "Who_Id": {
                "id": "3652397000000649013",
                "name": "Patricia Boyle"
            },
            "Venue": "Chennai",
            "$se_module": "Accounts",
            "What_Id": "3652397000000624046",
            "$send_notification": true
        }
    ]
}


Mandatory keys
The following table lists the mandatory fields you must specify while creating a recurring event. Not including any one of these fields results in the MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND error.

Key
Data Type
Description
Event_Title
String
Title of the event. Accepts a maximum of 255 characters, alphanumeric, and special characters. 
Start_DateTime
DateTime
The date and time (in ISO8601 format) at which the event begins. 
End_DateTime
DateTime
The date and time (in ISO8601 format) at which the event ends. 
Recurring_Activity
JSON Object
JSON Object that contains information about the recurrence pattern of the event in the key "RRULE".

Other Keys

Key
Data Type
Description
All_day
Boolean
Represents if the event takes place all day.
Participants
JSON Array
Contains the ID and type of each participant in individual JSON objects. Possible participant types are "lead", "contact", "user", and "email".
Remind_At
DateTime
The date and time in the current user's time zone (in ISO8601 format) at which a reminder is sent to the participants. 
Who_Id
JSON Object
The name and ID of the contact that the event is related to; that contact may or may not be a participant of the event.
What_Id
JSON Object
The name and ID of the Account, Deal, Product, Quote, Invoice, Campaign, Vendor, Case, Purchase Order, or Sales Order that the event is created for.
$se_module
String
The API name of the parent module given in the key "What_Id". This key is mandatory when you include the "What_Id".
Venue
String
The place where the event takes place. Accepts a maximum of 255 characters, alphanumeric, and special characters.
$send_notification
Boolean
Represents if you want to send invitations to the participants of the event. The value true sends out invitations, and false does not. 

We will now discuss the Participants and RRULE keys in detail.

1.1 Participants
The Participants key is a JSON array of participant JSON objects. You can add four types of participants to an event—lead, contact, user, and email. 
You must include each of these participant types as individual JSON objects inside this array as shown below.

"Participants": [
        {
            "type": "contact",
            "participant": "3652397000001281003"
        },
        {
            "type": "lead",
            "participant": "3652397000000415063"
        },
        {
            "type": "user",
            "participant": "3652397000000186017"
        },
        {
            "type": "email",
            "participant": "carissa-kidman@yahoo.com"
        }
]

Where, 
type - The type of participant. The possible values are lead, contact, user, email
participant -  The record ID of the lead, contact, or user.

1.2 RRULE
RRULE is the key in the Recurring_Activity JSON object that determines the recurrence pattern of the event. 
RRULE holds multiple key-value pairs for different types of recurring events (i.e Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly). You must separate each key-value pair by a semicolon.

Mandatory key-value pairs for RRULE
Key
Possible Values
Description
FREQ
DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY
Frequency; represents how often the event repeats. 
INTERVAL
1–99
The gap between each event. For example, for a weekly recurring event, if the INTERVAL value is 2, the gap between the first and the next event will be two weeks. 
COUNT
1–99
The number of events you want to create. For example, if the COUNT value is 3, three events will be created. 

Note
You must specify FREQ and (INTERVAL or COUNT) in RRULE.

Other key-value pairs in RRULE
Key
Possible Values
Description
BYMONTHDAY
1–31
The day of the month the event repeats on. Applicable only for  monthly and yearly events.
BYDAY
SU, MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA
The day of the week the event repeats on. Applicable for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly events.
BYSETPOS
1, 2, 3, 4, -1 
The week of the month the event repeats in.
Applicable only for monthly and yearly events.
1 - Event repeats every first week of the month
2 - Event repeats every second week of the month
3 - Event repeats every third week of the month
4 - Event repeats every fourth week of the month
-1 - Event repeats every last week of the month.
UNTIL
Date in yyyy-MM-dd format
The date until which the event must repeat.

Therefore, according to the sample input given at the beginning of the post, the event starts on Feb 2, 2020 at 10:00 AM and ends the same day at 11:00 AM.

According to  "RRULE":"FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU;INTERVAL=2;UNTIL=2020-03-15", the event occurs every Sunday, with an interval of 14 days (2 weeks), and recurs until Mar 15, 2020.
Therefore, the sequence is as shown below.
  1. The event begins on Feb 2, 2020.
  2. The first recurring event happens on Feb 16, 2020.
  3. The second recurring event happens on Mar 1, 2020.
  4. The last recurring event happens on Mar 15, 2020.
Therefore, the response will have four JSON objects—one for the first event as specified in the Start_DateTime key, and one for each recurring event.

Note
You can only create one set of recurring events using the RRULE in a single API call.

A few other examples of RRULE:
  • "RRULE": "FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=3;BYDAY=WE;BYSETPOS=2".
    This RRULE creates three events that recur every Wednesday in the second week of the month.
  • "RRULE": "FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=2;COUNT=3;BYMONTHDAY=14".
    This RRULE creates three events that recur on the 14th day of the month, and repeat once in two months.

2. Updating an Event
You must use the Update Specific Record API to update an event.
In this section, we will discuss
  1. Adding a participant to an event
  2. Updating all future events
2.1 . Adding a participant to an event
Details you need to add a participant to an event
  1. The event's record ID. You can obtain this from the response you received while creating the event.
  2. The ID of the participants that are added already. The GET Specific Event response will have a unique ID for each participant in the "Participants" JSON array.
The sample input is as follows.

{
    "data": [
        {
            "All_Day": false,
            "Event_Title": "Kaizen_10_Weekly",
            "Start_DateTime": "2020-02-02T11:00:00+05:30",
            "End_DateTime": "2020-02-02T12:00:00+05:30",
            "Participants": [
                {
                    "type": "contact",
                    "participant": "3652397000001281003",
                    "id": "3652397000001326102"
                },
                {
                    "type": "lead",
                    "participant": "3652397000000415063",
                    "id": "3652397000001326100"
                },
                {
                    "type": "user",
                    "participant": "3652397000000186017",
                    "id": "3652397000001326098"
                },
                {
                    "type": "email",
                    "participant": "john-butt@gmail.com"
                }
            ],
            "Remind_At": "2020-02-01T10:45:00+05:30",
            "$send_notification": true
        }
    ]
}
As you can see, a new participant of type email and email ID john-butt@gmail.com is added. Since the ID of the existing participant with the email ID carissa-batman@yahoo.com is not specified, it gets deleted.

Note
  • participant is the record ID of the participant (lead, contact, or user).
  • ID is the unique ID of the participant for that event.
  • While adding a participant, you must specify the IDs of other participants for the event. Otherwise, only the new participant is added, while the rest are deleted.

2.1 . Updating all future events
While updating an event, you can choose to update all future events with the new change.
Use the boolean key update_all_future_events. The value true updates all future events, and the value false updates only that particular event.
Here is a sample input.

{
    "data": [
        {
            "All_Day": false,
            "Event_Title": "Kaizen_10_Weekly",
            "Start_DateTime": "2020-02-02T11:00:00+05:30",
            "End_DateTime": "2020-02-02T12:00:00+05:30",
            "Participants": [
                {
                    "type": "contact",
                    "participant": "3652397000001281003",
                    "id": "3652397000001326102"
                },
                {
                    "type": "lead",
                    "participant": "3652397000000415063",
                    "id": "3652397000001326100"
                },
                {
                    "type": "user",
                    "participant": "3652397000000186017",
                    "id": "3652397000001326098"
                },
                {
                    "type": "email",
                    "participant": "carissa-kidman@yahoo.com"
                }
            ],
            "Remind_At": "2020-02-01T10:45:00+05:30",
            "update_all_future_events": true,
            "$send_notification": true
        }
    ]
}

Points to Note
While creating recurring events,
  • You must specify either COUNT or INTERVAL in the RRULE. Otherwise, the system creates 365-day events.
  • For WEEKLY recurring events, you must include BYDAY in RRULE. Otherwise, the system creates 365-day events that recurs weekly.

While updating a recurring event,
  • You must specify the record ID of the event you want to update. 
  • You must set the value of the key update_all_future_events to true to update all future events. Otherwise, the system updates only that event and the other recurring events that you created previously will remain unaltered.
  • While adding a participant, you must specify the IDs of other participants. Otherwise, only the new participant is added, while the rest are deleted.
  • You cannot update RRULE through the API.
  • You cannot update check-in related information through the API.

We hope you found this post useful. Please reach out to us if you have questions, or let us know in the comment section.
Cheers!

















      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • 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.
          • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

            Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Can't change form's original name in URL

                                    Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new
                                  • Can't rename groups on Mac desktop app

                                    I'm working on an up-to-date Mac with a freshly downloaded Notebook app. I'm trying to rename a group within a notebook. Here I have, left to right, a note, a group, and a note. I select the group. On the top left, I select Action. On the dropdown, "Rename"
                                  • Custom CSS for Zoho CRM Team Bookings embeded widget

                                    Hello, we are adding Zoho CRM Team Bookings (crm.zoho.com) in our public website. We know that we can change Theme Color, Font Color and Background Color: Zoho CRM Booking Styling But is it possible to change other CSS attributes e.g. Font Family, like
                                  • Metadata API Access to Functions

                                    I think it would be incredibly helpful to have api access to every function's code. Our team primarily uses deluge functions to update fields across modules according to business logic. I would like to create a visual dependancy model for our CRM, but
                                  • Strange behavior in CRM Number Field – Characters allowed but not "e"?

                                    Hi everyone, Has anyone faced this strange issue in Zoho CRM? In a Number field, it is possible to type some characters, but the character "e" cannot be entered. This was really surprising to me. Normally, a number field should restrict all characters
                                  • Best Way to Manage Approvals Within Blueprint Stages?

                                    Hi, I am working on a requirement involving Blueprint and approval logic in Zoho CRM and would appreciate some guidance. I understand that approval processes do not trigger when a record is currently within a blueprint, which makes it challenging to implement
                                  • Marketing Tip #25: Grow your social presence with a simple posting routine

                                    Consistency is one of the biggest growth drivers on social media. Regular content keeps your store visible and helps customers remember you. Even 3–4 posts a week can build momentum over time. The easiest way to stay consistent is to stop trying to create
                                  • How to add "All Open AND Overdue" back to the Home Page Task Component?

                                    Hi everyone, I’m looking for a way to restore the Tasks component dropdown list on the Zoho CRM Home Page. Since the recent update to the Task area in my Home Page Classic View, the dropdown options (e.g., My Next 7 Days + Overdue) are too restrictive
                                  • Duplicate Leads Concerns with Round Robin and Lead Approval Process

                                    It is great to have the Duplicate Lead Approval Process,  there are a few issues with the process that I would greatly appreciate taken consideration in enhancing. It appears that A Lead comes in Lead owner assigned by the Round Robin Check for Duplicate, If the lead is a Duplicate the Lead owner gets an email of a duplicate needs approval email assign to the approval process      This causes problems, The duplicate approval process is done by a different level person, they do not get the email notification
                                  • Dashboard target enhancements

                                    Often individuals in IT are creating dashboards for their sales team. The ability to create a single dashboard that can be used by multiple people is key. A components for a dashboard have the ability to filter by logged in user which is great. However
                                  • How to update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records

                                    Hello Zoho CRM, How do I update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records at once? To give you a background, these leads were uploaded or Imported at once but the lead status record was incorrectly chosen. So since there was a way to quickly add records in the system no matter how many they are, we are also wondering if there is a quicker way to update these records to the correct "Lead Status". I hope our concern makes sense and that there will be a fix for it. All the best, Jonathan
                                  • Finding rhythm through poetry

                                    Poetry has long been a powerful form of expression, discovery, and reflection. For many, it is a way to pen down their thoughts and experiences. The "poetic license" allows writers to shape their words with rhythm and flow. This year, on World Poetry
                                  • Bring your own credentials (BYOC) for connections in Zoho Creator

                                    Hello everyone, We're excited to announce an important step forward in how integrations and authentications work in Zoho Creator. Zoho Creator is a versatile platform for integrations, enabling you to connect with thousands of third-party services using
                                  • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

                                    Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
                                  • Project Management Bulletin: March, 2026

                                    We are passionate about equipping our users with efficient solutions that help them run their businesses successfully. Our collective efforts over the past 2 years have culminated in the launch of Sprints 3.0— built with reliable features, impactful integrations,
                                  • Composite items inside of composite items; bill of materials needed

                                    Hi Zoho and Everyone, I am evaluating whether Zoho Inventory will work for my small business. I grow and harvest herbs and spices but also get from wholesalers. I use all these items to make herbal teas, but also sell them as individual items on my Shopify store and Etsy. I discovered the composite item bundling and am wondering if I could get some assistance since there is no bill of materials: Our herbal company's best selling tea is a sleepytime tea. Sleepytime Tea can be purchased in three weights
                                  • Automation Series: Sync Task Status with Zoho Desk Tickets

                                    In Zoho Projects, you can automatically close and reopen an associated Zoho Desk ticket when the status of a task is changed. This syncs the current state of the task with the support ticket without manual updates. For instance, a support team handling
                                  • Auto-Generate Line Numbers in Item Table Using HTML & CSS Counters (Zoho Books & Zoho Inventory Custom Templates)

                                    <div> <style> /* Start counter from 0 inside tbody */ tbody#lineitem { counter-reset: rowNumber; } /* Increment counter for each row */ tbody#lineitem tr { counter-increment: rowNumber; } /* Show counter value in first column */ tbody#lineitem tr td:first-child::before
                                  • Does zoho inventory need Enterprise or Premium subsrciption to make Widgets.

                                    We have Zoho One Enterprise and yet we can't create widgets on inventory.
                                  • Introducing Radio Buttons and Numeric Range Sliders in Zoho CRM

                                    Release update: Currently out for CN, JP, AU and CA DCs (Free and standard editions). For other DCs, this will be released by mid-March. Hello everyone, We are pleased to share with you that Zoho CRM's Layout Editor now includes two new field formats—
                                  • New UI for Writer - Disappointed

                                    I've been enjoying Zoho Writer as a new user for about 6 months, and I really like it. One of my favorite things about it is the menu bar, which you can hide or leave out while still seeing most of your page because it is off to the left. I think this
                                  • Zoho CAMPAIGNS working hours

                                    Hi I use Campaigns Automation workflows to automate follow-ups to my Leads. I discovered this weekend that emails are being sent out on Sundays. How do I limit my Campaigns outgoing emails to business working hours? This is very important! Thanks, D
                                  • Depositing funds to account

                                    Hello, I have been using Quickbooks for many years but am considering moving to Zoho Books so I am currently running through various workflows and am working on the Invoicing aspect. In QB, the process is to create an invoice, receive payment and then
                                  • Create Receipt of a Donation (not a sale)

                                    We are a non-profit organization that receives general donations. How do I create a receipt of payment for the donor and categorize the payment as a Gift? I tried the method of creating an invoice; however that automatically created a "Sales" transaction
                                  • Function #2: Create a Deal in Zoho CRM when an Estimate is created in Zoho Books

                                    For those who use Zoho CRM integrated with Zoho Books, here's a nifty function that helps you optimize your sales process by adding a Deal in Zoho CRM whenever an estimate is created in Zoho Books. Custom Function: To create the custom function, go to
                                  • New Custom View -Sorting the Custom fields

                                    While creating a New Custom View in invoice , Customers, Bills ,expense etc , the sorting of custom fields are not available , a query function "order by / sort by  " may also be included in  Define new criteria module  which will be more beneficial to
                                  • Grouping Undeposited Funds to Move to other accounts

                                    In the bank option it would be nice to check what transactions in undeposited funds I want to move to other accounts. Then while checking this it can accumulate totals and created whats essentially a deposit slip. Once the transaction is moved it should
                                  • Sync your CRM Tasks with Zoho Projects

                                    Zoho Projects integration with Zoho CRM helps you manage your tasks more efficiently. You can create all project related activities right inside your CRM using this integration. Create new portal or associate an existing portal, add projects to the portal,
                                  • Zoho CRM strips whitespace in text fields

                                    When editing field text with multiple spaces: CRM - both UI and API trim / compress the whitespace to a single space when saving: Is this known / expected / documented behaviour?
                                  • WorkDrive API returning empty response even after placing file in Team Folder

                                    Hi everyone, I am trying to fetch a file from Zoho WorkDrive using a Deluge standalone function in Zoho People. The API call executes successfully using a configured connection, but the response is coming back empty. I have verified the following: The
                                  • Custom Button makes scroll bar go down in report

                                    I have a report with a Custom button called Completed. A colleague mentionned to me that when he pressed this custom button it scrolled down the page which is annoying since he want to stay at the same space on the repoort. There is no reload linked to
                                  • Quickbooks Integrations Stopped Working

                                    All of our Quickbooks integrations have stopped working. I am checking in to see if: a) this is a known issue b) if anyone else is having this issue. As usual, Zoho support is unavailable.
                                  • sync two zoho crm

                                    Hello everyone. Is it possible to sync 2 zoho crm? what would be the easiest way? I am thinking of Flow. I have a Custom Module that I would like to share with my client. We both use zoho crm. Regards.
                                  • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

                                    Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage
                                  • Incorrect Functioning of Time Logs API (Version 3)

                                    We need to fetch the list of time logs for each task for our company internal usage. We are trying to achieve it by using the next endpoint: https://projects.zoho.com/api-docs#bulk-time-logs#get-all-project-time-logs Firstly, in the documentation the
                                  • Zoho CRM Queries Now Support Databases and Cloud Data Sources

                                    Hello everyone! We're thrilled to announce a major enhancement to the Queries feature in Zoho CRM! Queries now support a broader range of external data sources, allowing you to fetch live data and combine it with CRM records, all using a unified query
                                  • Salesforceに添付ファイルを格納したい

                                    お世話になっております。 Salesforceに添付ファイルを格納したく、カスタムオブジェクトに連携し、 「ファイルのアップロード」項目を設けました。 実際、エラーもなく送信出来たのですが、実際生成されたカスタムオブジェクトのレコードを見ると、どこにも添付ファイルがありません。仕様として、この添付ファイルはSalesforceのどこに格納されるのでしょうか? 今回作りたいフォームは、複数の書類を添付するため、Zohoformのファイルアップロード項目「本人確認書類」「源泉徴収票」などの項目を、Salesforce側にも設けた「本人確認書類」「源泉徴収票」という各項目にURLリンクとして紐づけたいと思っておりました。
                                  • Dynamic image in form works in the app but not on the customer portal.

                                    img = frm_Fichas[ID == input.Nombre].Foto; imgno = Nophoto[ID2 = 1].Image; if(len(img) > 1) { img = img.replaceAll("/sharedBy/appLinkName/",zoho.appuri); img = img.replaceAll("viewLinkName","Fichas_de_personal_public"); img = img.replaceAll("fieldName","Foto");
                                  • Is it possible to retrieve function (Deluge) code from Zoho CRM externally?

                                    Hi Everyone, Is it possible to fetch or retrieve the Deluge function code from Zoho CRM using an external method (API or any other approach)? I would like to know if there is any way to access or extract the function script outside of Zoho CRM, or if
                                  • Uplifted homepage experience

                                    Editions: All editions. Availability update: 17th February 2026: All editions in the CA and SA DC | JP DC (Free, Standard and Professional editions) 23 February 2026: JP (All Editions) | AU, CN (Free, Standard, Professional editions) 27 February 2026:
                                  • Next Page