Understand Zoho CRM’s Deal Prediction Mechanism and how to use the Link/Unlink Deal Email APIs compa

Understand Zoho CRM’s Deal Prediction Mechanism and how to use the Link/Unlink Deal Email APIs compa



Hi All,

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!
Emails are a core channel for customer communication in any CRM system. In Zoho CRM, emails can be associated with records across multiple modules.
In this post, we will focus on email associations with the records of the Deals Module. 

Deal Prediction Mechanism

In Zoho CRM, Deal Prediction Mechanism automatically associates emails with the contact's deal.
When an email is received for a Contact:
  1. If the contact has only one open deal, the email is linked to that deal.
  2. If the contact has multiple open deals, the email is linked to the most recently modified deal, provided the deal is not closed-lost.
  3. If there are no valid open deals, the email is not linked to any deal.
While deal prediction simplifies email association, certain scenarios require manual control over how emails are linked to deals.
In such cases you might want to:
  1. Correct an incorrect association.
  2. Attach an email to a deal that the prediction could not infer.
Zoho CRM provides two focused APIs for this:
  1. Link Deal to Emails API.
  2. Unlink Deal from Emails API.
These APIs do not create emails — they simply manage associations.

Link Deal to Emails API

The Link Deal to Emails API lets you programmatically attach one or more emails to a specific deal.

Endpoints

POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record
POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/{message_ID}/actions/link_record

Sample request for linking a single email

Request URL

POST
https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000005878180/Emails/b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77/actions/link_record

Input JSON

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "linked_record": {
                "module": {
                    "api_name": "Deals",
                    "id": "5843104000000003735"
                },
                "name": "Travel Insurance",
                "id": "5843104000004382122"
            },
            "owner": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "5843104000000424672"
            }
        }
    ]
}

 You can also link a single email by mentioning message id in the request body in the endpoint POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record

Request URL

POST
https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000005878180/Emails/actions/link_record

Input JSON

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "message_id":   "b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77",
           "linked_record": {
                "module": {
                    "api_name": "Deals",
                    "id": "5843104000000003735"
                },
                "name": "Travel Insurance",
                "id": "5843104000004382122"
            },
            "owner": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "5843104000000424672"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Response

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "message_id": "b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77"
            },
            "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}

Sample request for linking multiple emails

Input JSON

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "owner": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "5843104000000424672"
            },
            "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1",
            "linked_record": {
                "module": {
                    "api_name": "Deals",
                    "id": "5843104000000003735"
                },
                "name": "Travel Insurance",
                "id": "5843104000004382122"
            }
        },
        {
            "owner": {
                "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                "id": "5843104000000424672"
            },
            "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5",
            "linked_record": {
                "module": {
                    "api_name": "Deals",
                    "id": "5843104000000003735"
                },
                "name": "Travel Insurance",
                "id": "5843104000004382122"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Response

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1"
            },
            "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",
            "status": "success"
        },
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5"
            },
            "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}

Keys

  1. owner (JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the user whose email you want to link. It consists of the following keys
    1. name:  Specify the name of the user whose email you want to link.
    2. id: Specify the ID of the user whose email you want to link.
  2. message_id (string, mandatory when message_id is not mentioned in the endpoint):  Specify the unique message ID of the email to which the deal will be linked. You can obtain message ID of a record through Get Emails of a Record API. [/crm/[version}/Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails]  
  3. linked_record(JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the Deals record to be linked to the email. It consists of the following mandatory keys
    1. module(JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the Deals module. It consists of the following keys
      1. api_name: Specify the API name of the Deals module.
      2. id: Specify the ID of the Deals module.
    2. name: Specify the name of the Deals record that the email must be linked to. Refer to the field: Deal_Name in the Get Records API for the Deals record. [/crm/[version}/Deals/{deals_record_ID}]  in the Get Records API.
    3. id: Specify the ID of the Deals record that the email must be linked to.

Notes 

  1. An email can be linked to only one deal at a time.
  2. You can link multiple emails in a single request by providing multiple Emails objects in the request body.
  3. This API works only with existing email records.

Unlink Deal from Emails API

If an email is linked to the wrong deal through deal prediction or the Link Deal to Emails API, you can use the Unlink Deal from Emails API.

Endpoints

DELETE /Contacts/{contacts_records_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record?owner_id={owner_ID}&message_ids={message_ID1},{message_ID2},..
DELETE /Contacts/{contacts_records_ID}/Emails/{message_id}/actions/link_record?owner_id={owner_ID}

Sample request for unlinking multiple emails

Request URL

DELETE
https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000000425349/Emails/actions/link_record?owner_id=5843104000000424672&message_ids=8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1,6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5

Response

{
    "Emails": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1"
            },
            "message": "email has been unlinked from the deal successfully",
            "status": "success"
        },
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5"
            },
            "message": "email has been unlinked from the deal successfully",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}


Mandatory Parameters
  1. owner_ID Specify the unique ID of a user whose email you want to unlink. 
  2. message_ids Specify the unique message IDs of the emails which you want to unlink. You can obtain message IDs of a record through Get Emails of a Record API.
Example use case
  1. Prediction linked an email to deal A.
  2. Your business logic determines that the email belongs to deal B.
  3. Call the Unlink API.
  4. Call the Link API with the correct deal.
Key behavior
  1. Unlinking does not delete the email.
  2. Email remains visible under the Contact.
  3. Only the Deal association is removed.

Link Deal to Emails API v/s Associate Email with a Record API

At first glance, these two APIs may look similar because both are about emails and their record associations. However, they serve different purposes.
The Associate Email with a Record API is used to create and store an email in Zoho CRM and associate it with a record. You must provide the complete email details such as From, To, CC, Subject, Content, attachments, and the original message id. In short, this API is used when the email does not yet exist in Zoho CRM and needs to be logged as a new email record and associated with a records in modules like Leads, Contacts, Deals etc.
On the other hand, the Link Deal to Emails API does not create an email. Instead, it works only with emails that already exist in CRM. It allows you to associate or re-associate a Contact's emails with a Deal. It is primarily used to control which deal an existing email should be linked to.
  1. Use Associate Email API when you want to log a new email into CRM and associate it to a record.
  2. Use Link/Unlink Deal APIs when you want to manage the Deal association of an existing email.

Key differences

Aspect
Associate Email API
Link Deal APIs
Creates Email Record
Yes
No
Requires email content
Yes
No
Works on existing emails
No
Yes
Purpose
Log emails into CRM and associated to a record
Manage associations between deal and contact's emails.

Zoho CRM’s Deal Prediction Mechanism is designed to reduce manual effort, but APIs give developers the flexibility to handle complex business workflows.
  1. Deal Prediction handles the common association scenarios.
  2. Link and Unlink APIs provide manual control over Email-Deal associations.
  3. Associate Email with a Record API brings external emails into Zoho CRM.
Used together, these features ensure emails are always associated under the right Deal.

We hope that you find this post on Email-Deal Associations useful.
If you have any feedback, please let us know in the comments, or reach out to us via support@zohocrm.com. 

    • 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

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • How to apply customized Zoho Crm Home Page to all users?

        I have tried to study manuals and play with Zoho CRM but haven't found a way how to apply customized Zoho CRM Home Page as a (default) home page for other CRM users.. How that can be done, if possible? - kipi Moderation Update: Currently, each user has

      • Plug Sample #14: Automate Invoice Queries with SalesIQ Chatbot

        Hi everyone! We're back with a powerful plug to make your Zobot smarter and your support faster. This time, we're solving a common friction point for finance teams by giving customers quick access to their invoices. We are going to be automating invoice

      • Enrich your contact and company details automatically using the Data Enrichment topping

        Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're happy to announce the latest topping we've added to Bigin: The Data Enrichment topping, powered by WebAmigo. This topping helps you automatically enhance your contact and company records in Bigin. By leveraging

      • Zoho Billing Partial Proration...

        Hi, In Zoho billing, we offer upgrades, downgrades, suspends, and resumes. We use online payment for most subscriptions, but have only a few that are offline, but we treat them the same either way.. We prorate only parts of these changes.. Right now zoho

      • Any update on adding New Customer Payment Providers who support in store terminal devices?

        Currently there is only one Customer payment provider listed for terminal devices in USA- Everyware. They charge a monthly fee of almost $149 minimum. Will you add other providers - like Zoho Payments or Stripe or Worldpay that would allow integrated

      • Getting Subform Fields to Display Top to Bottom

        I have a form where the fields are all in one column. I want to insert a subform where the fields are stacked in one column as well. I have built both the form and subform but the subform displays the fields from left to right instead of a stacked column. This will cause a problem displaying the subform correctly on mobile apps. How can I do this please?' Here is my form with subform now. As you can see the subform "Follow Up Activity" is displaying the fields left to right. I need them to go top

      • [Feature Deprecated] Gamescope in Zoho Projects

        This feature is no longer available. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, yes. That's true! Tiring work, buzzing coffee makers, busy turnstiles , occupied meeting rooms, back-to-back status updates and what not. Your everyday routine need not have to be this hectic. It can be more rewarding. It can be more fun. Zoho Projects believes in this fact and hence has launched Gamescope - A module that turns every project into an exciting game and boosts the spirit of your team by leaps and

      • Creating a task, i can not work out how to get ID for What_Id

        hi From Module A function I map Module B record reference membershipid (ours). I need Module B Zoho ID to create the related to on task. All examples i've seen start with the Zoho ID. void automation.LTM_Assign_Dispute_Task(String membershipid) { try

      • How to Convert NSF to PST Format Effortlessly? - SYSessential

        It is highly recommended to obtain the error-free solution of the SYSessential NSF to PST converter to convert NSF files from Lotus Notes. Using this professional software, it becomes easier to convert all NSF database items, including emails, journals,

      • Can't connect to POP and SMTP over VPN

        I use Thunderbird to access Zoho Mail via POP and SMTP. I have configured an app-specific password for Thunderbird to use. Everything is properly configured and works correctly — until I enable my VPN. I'm using a paid commercial VPN service (Mullvad).

      • my zoho mail is hacked

        my email is sending my username and password to people i dont know

      • Suministrar accesos

        Asunto: Enable UPLOAD_RULE for API Attachments Mensaje: Hola, Necesito habilitar la capacidad de subir attachments vía API en Zoho Mail. Actualmente recibo el error: "UPLOAD_RULE_NOT_CONFIGURED" al usar el endpoint: POST /api/accounts/{accountId}/messages/attachments

      • Introducing real-time document commenting and collaboration in Zoho Sign

        Hi, there! We are delighted to introduce Document commenting, a feature that helps you communicate with your recipients more efficiently for a streamlined document signing process. Some key benefits include: Collaborate with your recipients easily without

      • Ticket Loop from Auto Responce

        We’re seeing an issue where a client’s help desk triggers a ticket loop. When they email us, our system creates a ticket and sends the acknowledgement. Their system then creates a ticket from that acknowledgement and sends one back to us, which creates

      • How to make rule to filter out some emails from receiving the notification "Receiving a new ticket"?

        Good Morning, We are currently using the "Receiving a new ticket" notification rule to provide that auto reply template to a customer that emails us for support. However, there are some emails we don't want to receive this auto-reply. Where can I set

      • Zoho Signatures Missing

        In the past after collecting signatures from two different PDFs I would merge them by calling an api and the signatures would appear in the combined PDF. Recently the signatures have disappeared whenever I combine the PDFs together. Why did this randomly

      • Filter button in the Zoho Sheet Android App doesn't toggle on

        I am a new Zoho Sheets user and experiencing a specific issue with the filter functionality in the Android mobile application. Detailed Issue Description: The filter icon appears correctly in the toolbar. Upon tapping the filter icon/button, the toggle

      • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

        Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They

      • Exciting Updates to the Kiosk Studio Feature in Zoho CRM!

        Hello Everyone, We are here again with a series of new enhancements to Kiosk Studio, designed to elevate your experience and bring even greater efficiency to your business processes. These updates build upon our ongoing commitment to making Kiosk a powerful

      • Reply to Email for SO/PO

        Hello, We are new to Zoho Books and running into an issue. Our support@ email is our integration user. When our team is sending out PO/SO's we are updating the sender email, but for some reason many of our responses are coming back to our support@ email

      • New activity options for workflows

        Greetings, We are excited to announce the addition of two new dynamic actions to our workflow functionality: Create Event and Schedule Call. These actions have been thoughtfully designed to enhance your workflow processes and bring more efficiency to

      • Remove the “One Migration Per User” Limitation in Zoho WorkDrive

        Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to raise a critical feature request regarding the Google Drive → Zoho WorkDrive migration process. Current Limitation: Zoho WorkDrive currently enforces a hard limitation: A Zoho WorkDrive

      • Kaizen #228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions

        Howdy, tech wizards! This week’s Kaizen explores how Catalyst Solutions in the Zoho CRM Developer Hub help import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and simplifying the migration process. Why Catalyst Solutions? Catalyst

      • Zoho Expense Import Reports Won't Work Because Default Accounts Already Exist

        Im trying to import reports from another Zoho expense account to mine and im getting errors that won't allow the import to happen The account name that you've entered 'Ground Transportation' already exists. Enter another name for the account and try again.z

      • Inactive License for free account.

        I recently upgraded my Cliq subscription not my team (on the free version), are unable to login to their accounts. The error message received is Inactive License Looks like you have not been covered under the current free plan of users. Please contact

      • Make panel configuration interface wider

        Hi there, The same way you changed the custom function editor's interface wider, it would be nice to be able to edit panels in pages using the full width of the screen rather than the currently max-width: 1368px. Is there a reason for having the configuration panel not taking the full width? Its impossible at this width to edit panels that have a lot of elements. Please change it to 100% so we can better edit the layouts. Thanks! B.

      • Syncing zoho books into zoho crm

        I was wondering how I can use zoho books in crm as I have been using them separately and would like to sync the two. Is this possible and if so, how? Thanks

      • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.34.0)

        Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the latest updates to Trident, which are designed to take workplace communication to the next level. Let’s take a quick look at what’s new. Connect with customers using Zoho Voice integration. You can now easily

      • Massive Zoho Books failure

        We have not received any communication or notification from Zoho, but we have detected that Zoho Books is not working for all our users. We cannot access or use Zoho Books. This is critical. We are trying to contact Zoho on the Spain telephone number,

      • The Social Wall: January 2026

        Hello everyone, We’re back with the first edition of The Social Wall of 2026. There’s a lot planned for the year ahead, and we’re starting with a few useful features and improvements released in January to help you get started. Create a GBP in Social

      • How to block whole domain?

        I am getting at least 50-75sometimes over 100 spams emails a day. I see a lot of the spam is coming from .eu domains. I would like to block /reject all email coming for the .eu domain. I do not have any need for email from .EU domains. Why won't the BlackList

      • How Zoho Contracts Makes Negotiations Clear, Secure, and Transparent

        Negotiation is one of the most critical—and often most chaotic—stages of the contract lifecycle. Multiple stakeholders review the same document, propose changes, debate terms, and exchange feedback. Without the right tools, this collaborative process

      • Error: Invalid Element tax_override_preference

        In both Books and Inventory, we're getting the following error whenever we try to enter any Bill: I think this is a bug. Even cloning an old bill (that obviously was entered just fine), this error occurs.

      • Assign Income to Project Without Invoice

        Hello, Fairly new user here so apologies if there is a really obvious solution here that I am just missing... I have hundreds of small deposits into a bank account that I want to assign to a project but do not want to have to create an invoice every time

      • How to Print the Data Model Zoho CRM

        I have created the data model in Zoho CRM and I want the ability to Print this. How do we do this please? I want the diagram exported to a PDF. There doesnt appear to be an option to do this. Thanks Andrew

      • our customers have difficult to understand the Statements

        our costumers have big problems to understand Zohos Statements. we need a text box after the payment number to explain what the payments are for. Is it possible to develop a version of the Statement with that kind of box and if so whu can do it

      • How to track a list of ALL the items that ONE customer bought?

        Hello, I am interested in getting a list of all the items that only ONE of my customers bought, and the invoices are what show up instead. It's very tedious to go through every single invoice when we sell a lot of items to this customer. Surely there

      • Exchange Rate Updates

        Hi, It would be great that when you work with multiple currencies, the exchange rate updates automagically every day (as seen on Zoho Books) or at least that when you create/update an opportunity the exchange rate could be manually updated, or maybe both!

      • Locked Out of Super Admin Account

        I'm locked out of my Super Admin account and the external e-mail is no longer associated with it. There seems to be a problem during set up, the system ought to ask to assign a new password instead of using Google accounts. Please help me get back access.

      • Emails are going to notification folder and not in inbox

        emails are going to notification folder and not into inbox

      • Next Page