Featurecast Story 19 - WhatsApp Sandbox

Featurecast Story 19 - WhatsApp Sandbox

IM'ing (Instant Messaging) Feature Story Series  

Featurecast Story 19 - WhatsApp Sandbox

Maximize the benefits of business messaging without paying for it


What is a sandbox environment?

A sandbox environment is a virtual playground that allows you to freely test and experiment with various elements without impacting your live product. It provides a secure and isolated space for trying out new software, code, or configurations without unnecessary risks or costs. A sandbox is an excellent approach for learning, exploring, and verifying messaging functionality before integrating these elements into your business operations.

Let's say you're a developer working on a mobile app. Before releasing it to the public, you can create a sandbox environment to test the app's functionality, features, and compatibility with different devices. This lets you see how the app behaves in a controlled setting, identify and fix bugs or issues, and ensure a smooth user experience. It's like a virtual testing ground for your app before it enters the real world.

What is the WhatsApp business sandbox?

WhatsApp doesn't provide a specific sandbox environment for developers to test their apps. However, WhatsApp does offer a testing feature called "WhatsApp Business API Sandbox." It allows businesses to simulate interactions with the WhatsApp Business API before deploying it in production. This way, companies can ensure their integrations and messaging workflows work correctly before going live. It's a helpful tool for businesses to test and refine their WhatsApp integrations.

How does sandbox work? 

The sandbox comes with a pre-configured WhatsApp phone number that will be shared among all opted-in Sandbox users. You can map any of your WhatsApp test numbers to the Sandbox environment and start testing.

What is a test number?

A test number can be any default WhatsApp phone number of yours, which can be used for testing integrations within the sandbox environment.


Best practices

Zoho Desk's WhatsApp Sandbox enables you to prototype both sending and receiving messages in a test environment. You can start testing Sandbox with test numbers even before WhatsApp approves your business number and verifies your WABA. WhatsApp Sandbox is an easy way to test the functionality of WhatsApp Business Messaging APIs.

When using the WhatsApp sandbox, it's best practice to familiarize yourself with the platform's documentation and guidelines. This will help you understand the sandbox environment's features, limitations, and capabilities. Additionally, consider creating a test plan outlining the specific scenarios and use cases you want to explore within the sandbox. This will help you structure your testing process and ensure thorough coverage. Finally, collaborate with your team to gather feedback and insights from multiple perspectives, allowing you to make the most of the sandbox environment.
In summary, the sandbox environment allows businesses to validate the functionality of their WhatsApp Business API integration, resulting in a more dependable user experience.
There's more to come, so please watch this space for more IM feature stories.
 
Until next time,
 
Kavya Rao
The Zoho Desk Team

    • 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

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Super Admin Logging in as another User

        How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working
      • Kaizen #186 : Client Script Support for Subforms

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post on Client Script! In this edition, we’re taking a closer look at Client Script Support for Subforms with the help of the following scenario. " Zylker, a manufacturing company, uses the "Orders"
      • オンライン勉強会のお知らせ Zoho ワークアウト (2/19 参加無料)

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 2月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▶︎参加登録はこちら(無料) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6AyVUxp6QDmMQiDGXGkxPA ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは? Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目指すイベント「Zoho
      • Create an Eye-Catching Announcement Widget for Your Help Center

        Hello Everyone! In this week’s edition, let’s explore how to keep your customers updated with exciting news in the Help Center. See how ZylkerMobile wowed their customers by bringing updates right to their portal. ZylkerMobile, the renowned brand for
      • doubts about customer happiness in zoho desk

        Good afternoon, Desk community. The reason for my message is that I have a question regarding the customer satisfaction surveys we can ask our clients to rate our service. I know that in Desk, you can activate Customer Happiness to send a survey to the
      • COQL API in JS Widget only pulling 200 records

        Hello! We've been building a custom homepage widget using the Zoho JS SDK, and it seems that this https://help.zwidgets.com/help/latest/ZOHO.CRM.API.html#.coql only allows 200 records. I thought the limit was 2000 for COQL queries, but am I mistaken?
      • Standard Description Field - Can I change label or add dd tooltip

        Is there a way fo you guys to allow the customer to change the label name for the description field in the customer portal when submitting tickets. Or at least allow us to add a tooltip to clarify what description we need from them. I know I can create my own separate multi line description field but if I do that, it doesn't have the nice toolbar with Bold, Italic, Underline, color, font, indent, etc. Can you please allow us to add a tooltip to the zoho standard description field?
      • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

        Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child
      • Ability to CC on a mass email

        Ability to CC someone on a mass email.
      • Different Task Layouts for Subtasks

        I was wondering how it would be possible for a subtask to have a different task layout to the parent task.
      • Zoho Support - contract notifications

        Hi, I have a few questions about using Zoho support. Is there a way to add custom contract notifications like (90 days before expiry send notification e-mail to agent and customer, then another 60 days before expiry and another 30 days.). And is it possible to add (embed) the contract expiry date to a costom notification e-mail. is there a way to manualy change or costomize the status of a contract (i.e.to blocked if they run out of support hours). if it is  possible to see this on new tickets (i.e.
      • Turn off Knowlege Base Follow options and Follower lists

        Is there a way to hide or turn off the option in the Knowledge Base for users to follow specific departments/categories/sections/articles? If not, is there a way to turn off the public list of followers for each of those things? Otherwise, customer names
      • Compensation | Salary Packages - Hourly Wage Needed

        The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 55.7% of all workers in the US are paid by the hour. I don't know how that compares to the rest of the world, but I would think that this alone would justify the need for having an hourly-based salary package option.
      • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

        Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything
      • Customizing Helpcenter texts

        I’m customizing the Zoho Desk Help Center and I’d like to change the wording of the standard widgets – for example, the text in the “Submit Ticket” banner that appears in the footer, or other built-in widget labels and messages. So far, I haven’t found
      • Ability to Edit Ticket Subject when Splitting a Ticket

        Often someone will make an additional or new request within an existing ticket that requires we split the ticket. The annoying part is that the new ticket maintains the subject of the original ticket after the split so when the new ticket email notification
      • Automatically Update Form Attachment Service with Newly added Fields

        Hi, When I have a Form Setup and connected to a 3rd Party Service such as OneDrive for Form Attachments, when I later add a new Upload Field I have to remove and redo the entire 3rd Party Setup from scratch. This needs to be improved, such as when new
      • 🚀 WorkDrive 6.0 (Phase 1): Empowering Teams with Content Intelligence, Automation, Accessibility, and Control

        Hello, everyone! WorkDrive continues to evolve from a robust file management solution into an intelligent, secure, and connected content collaboration platform for modern businesses. Our goal remains unchanged: to simplify teamwork, strengthen data security,
      • Extend the Image Choice Field

        Hi, The New Yes/No field is great for what it does, and the Image Choice Field is good but could be better with some functions from the Yes/No field. Take an example, rather than just Yes/No you want Yes/No/Maybe (Or more than 3 choices), but unlike the
      • Reopen ticket on specific date/time

        Is there a way that we can close a ticket and setup a reopen of that ticket on a specific date and time? (without using the "on hold" ticket option)
      • [Important announcement] Zoho Writer will mandate DKIM configuration for automation users

        Hi all, Effective Dec. 31, 2024, configuring DKIM for From addresses will be mandatory to send emails via Zoho Writer. DKIM configuration allows recipient email servers to identify your emails as valid and not spam. Emails sent from domains without DKIM
      • Column letter from number

        Hello, I am trying to select a cell and i have the column number. How do i do this or is there a way of getting the letter from the number? Thank you
      • API credit COQL COUNT

        The docs describe API credits in COQL from the LIMIT perspective: https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/api/v8/COQL-Overview.html When using aggregate functions such as `COUNT` or `SUM`, is that billed as 1 API credit?
      • Trigger a Workflow Function if an Attachment (Related List) has been added

        Hello, I have a Case Module with a related list which is Attachment. I want to trigger a workflow if I added an attachment. I've seen some topics about this in zoho community that was posted few months ago and based on the answers, there is no trigger
      • Weekly Tips : Save Time with Saved Search

        Let's assume your work requires you to regularly check emails from important clients that have attachments and were sent within a specific time period. Instead of entering the same conditions every time—like sender, date range, and attachments included—you
      • Remove 'This is an automated mail from Zoho Sign' in footer

        Hi there, Is it possible to remove or change the text under the e-mail templates? I can't figure out how to do that: Would love to hear from you. Kind regards, Tristan
      • How can I link Products in a Deal Subform to the Products Module

        Hello, I have a pricing subform on our Deals page and use a lookup field to associate a product with each line. I want to be able to look at a product page within the Products module and see a list of the deals connected to that product. I have this working
      • Organize and manage PDFs with Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard

        Hello users, Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard is a one-stop place to upload, sort, share PDF files, and more. This article will explore the various capabilities that Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard offers. A few highlights of Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard: Upload
      • Updating records through Zoho Sheets View doesn't update timeline or trigger workflow rules

        I have noticed that when i update a series of record with the zoho sheets view (see here http://d.pr/i/ahnR) it doesn't update timeline history or trigger workflow rules. I am using it in the Deals module. Looking forward for some more info. Denis
      • Passing Info from Function to Client Script

        Hello, I have recently started making use of client script for buttons, allowing me to give the user information or warnings before they proceed. This is great. However, I have never quite managed to pass back any extra information from the function to
      • Cannot get code to work with v2.mergeAndStore!

        Please can someone help me pass subform items into a repeating mail merge table row using v2.mergeAndStore? I have a mail merge template created in Writer and stored in Workdrive. This template is referenced by a custom CRM function which merges all of
      • Drag 'n' Drop Fields to a Sub-Form and "Move Field To" Option

        Hi, I would like to be able to move fields from the Main Page to a Sub-Form or from a Sub-Form to either the Main Page or another Sub-Form. Today if you change the design you have to delete and recreate every field, not just move them. Would be nice to
      • Zoho Payroll for Canada

        Is anyone else having problems getting setup for Canada?
      • Passing the CRM

        Hi, I am hoping someone can help. I have a zoho form that has a CRM lookup field. I was hoping to send this to my publicly to clients via a text message and the form then attaches the signed form back to the custom module. This work absolutely fine when
      • One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

        I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and
      • User Automation: User based workflow rules & webhooks

        User management is an undeniable part of project management and requires adequate monitoring. As teams grow and projects multiply, manual coordination for updating users & permissions becomes difficult and can give way to errors. User automation in Zoho
      • Disable Zoho Contacts

        We don't want to use this app... How can we disable it?
      • Default Ticket View - Table?

        Guys, We mostly use the table view to queue tickets. Maybe I am missing it - but how can I set that view as 'default" for all our agents? Thanks JV
      • Zoho One IS BUGGY

        Here are some things that just don't work: - Disabling applications from certain Spaces - Adding users (probably only for me) - Renaming applications in Zoho One Portal (fixed by now) - Reordering applications in Spaces When I try to reorder: It feels
      • Paid Support Plans with Automated Billing

        We (like many others, I'm sure) are designing or have paid support plans. Our design involves a given number of support hours in each plan. Here are my questions: 1) Are there any plans to add time-based plans in the Zoho Desk Support Plans feature? The
      • Next Page