Approval-based booking with Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings

Approval-based booking with Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings

Hi community members,

We have developed a workaround for approval-based booking using Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings! This provides a temporary solution as we work on the native feature, and it's useful for anyone needing an approval workflow when confirming appointments.

Solution overview

1. Intake form via Zoho Creator 

Zoho Creator serves as the intake form where customers can submit their booking requests by providing details, such as:

  • Name

  • Email

  • Contact number

  • Preferred service

  • Desired date and time slots

2️. Scheduling and booking management via Zoho Bookings  

Zoho Bookings acts as the scheduling engine in the background, handling:

  • Staff onboarding

  • Working hours configuration

  • External calendar and video conferencing integrations

  • Event creation and appointment management.

3️. Real-time data sync via API  

This solution leverages API integration between Zoho Creator and Zoho Bookings to ensure real-time data synchronisation. When customers fill out the intake form, it dynamically fetches and displays available slots from Zoho Bookings based on their selection.

Since we are using APIs, any changes made in Zoho Bookings (such as staff availability or service modifications) will be instantly reflected
in the Zoho Creator form, eliminating concerns about outdated information.

Prerequisites for the workaround  

  • Zoho Bookings: Any paid plan

  • Zoho Creator: Standard plan or higher

How to access this solution  

Zoho Creator allows you to export applications as DS files, making it easy to share and deploy solutions. We have attached the DS file for this solution so you can easily download and import it into your Zoho Creator account.

  • Download the DS file here: DS file code

  • Guide to import the DS file into Zoho Creator: Guide

Watch the working demo of this solution here: Solution demo

How it works 

1️. Customer appointment request form  

  • The Zoho Creator intake form allows customers to select their workspace, service, date, time zone, and preferred time slot.

  • The Zoho Bookings API dynamically fetches the available services and slots based on customer selections.

2️. Admin notification and approval dashboard  

Once a customer submits a request, admins receive an email notification with access to the approval dashboard.

Admins can approve requests using two methods:

Auto-assign staff  

  • If admins do not have a preference for assigning staff, they can simply click the Auto-Assign button.

  • The system checks the first available staff member for the selected service.

  • If the first staff member is available, the appointment is automatically assigned to them.

  • If the first staff member has an existing appointment for the day, the system will automatically move to the second staff member and check their availability for the approved date and time.

  • If the second staff member is also unavailable, an error message is displayed, prompting the admin to manually select a staff member.

  • This mechanism ensures that staff assignments are distributed efficiently every time the Auto-Assign button is clicked.

Manual staff assignment  

  • Admins can manually select a specific staff member before approving the appointment.

  • If the selected staff member is unavailable, the system notifies the admin to choose another staff member.

3️. Deny function and automation options  

If the appointment is denied, various automated actions can be configured, including:

  • Sending email notifications to customers about the cancellation

  • Notifying other admins or specific users

  • Triggering custom workflows based on business needs

Key highlights of the solution  

  • No need to manually configure complex workflows—everything is ready to go.

  • Simply pass the Workspace ID and Staff ID while making API calls.

  • The system fetches all required booking details dynamically using Zoho Bookings API.

How to retrieve IDs from Zoho Bookings  

Workspace ID  

  1. Navigate to Zoho Bookings and open the required workspace.

  2. Retrieve the Workspace ID from the URL.

Example:

https://bookings.zoho.in/?app_version=new#/home/dashboard/2209960000******/bookings-page?clview=false


     3. Workspace ID: 2209960000******


Staff ID  

  1. Open the Staff section and select the required user profile.

  2. Retrieve the Staff ID from the URL.



Watch this short video on where to replace the Workspace ID: Workspace ID video 

Watch this short video on where to replace the Staff ID: Staff ID video

Important notes on payment handling  

This solution does not currently handle payment processing. Since appointment requests require approval before confirmation, the payment function is not included by default.

However, if you need to integrate payment processing, here is a possible approach: Zoho Invoice and Zoho Books integration

You can connect Zoho Bookings with an invoicing system like Zoho Invoice or Zoho Books using Zoho Flow or Zapier.


How it works:

1️. When an admin approves an appointment, the booking is confirmed.

2. The system automatically generates an invoice based on the booked service.

This is just one way to integrate payments into this solution. If you have specific payment requirements or alternative workflows in mind, feel free to share them, and we will check the feasibility of implementation.


Need further customization?  

Note: This solution is in its initial stage of development, and we will refine it wherever possible based on new ideas, feedback, and better implementation approaches. Your suggestions are always welcome.

If you require additional automation or a custom approval/denial process, feel free to reach out.

Contact us at: hello@zohobookings.com

    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

      Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.

    • Announcing: custom color palette + free workshop

      Hello everyone, We're excited to share new feature in Zoho Bookings—a color palette within booking page themes. You'll find this option under Manage Bookings > Workspaces > Booking Page Themes. You can customize the color of every element in your booking page and even alter the transparency of your background image. Please note that this is a paid feature included in the Basic and Premium plans. At the moment, it's available only under the Modern Web theme. This means you can create billions (7,

    • Complete walk-through of Zoho Bookings (video)

      Save time for both you and your customers. Use Zoho Bookings, the appointment scheduling app from Zoho, to free yourself from email and paper-based scheduling. Zoho Bookings can give you a common calendar by syncing multiple calendars, including yours and your staff's. Your customers can book a time convenient for them, and pay for services, through your website or the customizable webpage features available in Zoho Bookings. They'll also get emails reminding them about their appointments and any

    • New Features: Service Availability and staff booking page themes!

      Dear All,  Want a dedicated schedule for your one-on-one services? How would it feel to have one-on-one services open for consultations only during certain times? You need a superpower to make that happen and we give it to you - Service Availability is

    • Zoho Bookings has a new pricing - Pay per user

      Dear customers, Businesses around the world use Zoho Bookings. Customers have booked 1.5 million appointments and over 200K online meetings using Bookings. We are only set to cross more milestones, thanks to your support. We are excited to introduce to

    • Recent Topics

    • New integration: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects

      Hey there! We’re excited to announce the brand-new Zoho Sign integration for Zoho Projects! With this integration, users can now send documents for signatures, track their progress, and manage approvals—all without leaving Zoho Projects. This bridges

    • Update to attachment display in ticket threads

      This enhancement will provide faster access for support teams and end-users, significantly boosting productivity for everyone. Get ready for a more efficient and satisfying experience! Immediate benefits Faster ticket rendering reduces wait times and

    • Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes Even organizations that deliver quality products and services can face low customer satisfaction when their

    • Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches

      We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now? 

    • Batch/lot # and Storage bin location

      Hi I want to ask for a feature on Zoho inventory I own a warehouse and I've gone through different management software solutions with no luck until I found Zoho, it has been a game changer for my business with up to the minute information, I'm extremely happy with it. It's almost perfect. And I say Almost because the only thing missing for me (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is the need of being able to identify the lot number of my inventory and where it is located in the warehouse. Due to the nature

    • ZOHO BOOKS - RECEIVING MORE ITEMS THAN ORDERED

      Hello, When trying to enter a vendor's bill that contains items with bigger quantity than ordered in the PO (it happens quite often) - The system would not let us save the bill and show this error: "Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered." 

    • Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

      Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities

    • Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)

      Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:

    • Writer update results in BitDefender blocking it as malware

      After updating Writer to latest update, Bitdefender blocked the app and writer no longer runs.

    • Zoho Books - New Interface keep details with PDF View

      Hello, The Zoho Books Interface has changed for estimates etc... One thing is causing issues though. Before the change, in PDF view you could see the detail information including custom fields entered for the estimate. Now, you have to switch between

    • Zoho One Unified Portal - Applications

      Hello, It is great to see the work on the New Unified Customer Portal. Thanks for that. The number of applications is limited though. It is now only around the Zoho Books ecosystem (Books, Expense...) and Zoho Social. = Are other applications planned

    • Refresh frequency

      Dear Zoho Team, I really, truly appreciate that Zoho Books gets frequent updates. As a matter of fact this is how a good SaaS company should stay on top. However, I feel that I have to hit refresh almost every day. This was exciting at the beginning but

    • Refund

      My plan expired today, and I updated my payment details with a new credit card. At the same time, I wanted to downgrade, but the system wouldn’t allow the downgrade until the payment details were updated. As a result, I was charged for the same plan before

    • Can we generate APK and IOS app?

      Dears, I want to know the availability to develop the app on zoho and after that .. generate the APK or IOS app  and after that I added them to play store or IOS store.. Is it possible to do this .. I want not to use zoho app or let my customers use it. thanks 

    • Add "Fetch Composite Item" Action for Inventory

      I want to make a Flow that uses information returned in the GET call for Composite Items, and it's not currently available in Zoho Flow. Please consider adding this functionality.

    • Calling Function via REST API with API Key gives 401 using Zoho Developer

      Hi, I created a couple of functions using the one month trial of Enterprise edition, which I was able to call using the API Key method from Postman and from an external site. Now that my trial has expired, I have created the same functions in the Developer

    • Error due to - 'Internal Exception' when uploading Sign-generated PDF file to workdrive via Deluge in Zoho CRM

      Hi I wasnt getting this error a few days ago and my code had not changed, so I'm wondering if there's a Zoho bug somewhere? I am downloading a PDF file from a Zoho Sign url using invokeurl and then uploading it to a Workdrive folder using zoho.workdrive.uploadFile.

    • Embed CRM record images in email templates

      I have email templates that I want to embed dynamic images in their body - not as an attachment. For the context, the image is a QR code individual to each contact. So there are couple of challenges for which I think there is no solution in CRM: 1/ I

    • Assign multiple departments to multiple helpcenters

      Hi there! I have a reseller company for a software and I'm using Zoho Desk as my helpcenter and ticket management system. The software is great and I would like to make a suggestion! With multi-branding activated, your departments that visible in help

    • Zoho Desk Training

      Hello, We've had Zoho desk for a while now, but we run into issues occasionally, and I was wondering if there was a customer who currently uses it and really enjoys the functionality, that would be wiling to chat with us?

    • Advanced Customization of the Help Center using JavaScript

      Hello everyone, The Help Center in Zoho Desk can be customized by using HTML and CSS to provide structure and enhance the page's appearance—but what if you want to add interactive and dynamic elements? You can add these effects with JavaScript, a programming

    • 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

    • Edit default "We are here to help you" text in chat SalesIQ widget

      Does anyone know how this text can be edited? I can't find it anywhere in settings. Thanks!

    • PO Based Advance payment to Vendor

      We recommend to introduce a provision at PO to make advance payment to vendors and auto apply that advance paid later at the time of Vendor Bill submission for that PO. This will help us track PO-wise Total Payments.

    • Converting Customer Invoice to Purchase Bill

      Hi, In my service-based business, I sometimes create the customer invoice first, and later I receive the purchase bill from the vendor for the same job. Is there any option in Zoho Books to: Convert a customer invoice into a purchase bill, or Link/associate

    • Getting Project Template List using the REST API

      I am trying to confirm that I can use the REST API to create a project using a project template. The API documentation indicates this is possible by providing the Template ID, but it is not clear at all how to get a list of available Project Templates

    • How to get Quickbooks Desktop Info into Zoho?

      Our team has used Quickbooks desktop for years and is looking at switching to Zoho books in 2026. I want to bring all old sales history over since we use Zoho CRM. I can export Item sales history and generic sales orders from Quickbooks desktop. How do

    • ZeptoMail API Request

      We tried to send mail using ZeptoMail using Django. Following is my payload {'from': {'address': 'abc@abc.com'}, 'to': [{'email_address': {'address': 'xyz@xyz.in', 'name': 'Bhavik'}}], 'subject': 'Report Name', 'htmlbody': '<p>Test</p>'} Following is

    • Zoho Inventory - Allow Update of Marketplace Generated Sales Orders via API

      Hi Inventory Team, I was recently asked by a client to create an automation which updated a Zoho Inventory Sales Order if a Shopify Order was updated. I have created the script but I found that the request is blocked as the Sales Order was generated by

    • 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?

    • Mass import of documents into Zoho Writer

      I'm using Google's word processor at the moment but feel that Zoho does a better job (on the online apps market). Iwant to move my documents (about 50-70) to Zoho but it seems to me that I have to import them seperately. Is it already possible to upload several documents at a time or is this a forthcoming feature? Cheers Rolli :?:

    • How we cut CRM updates from ~20 minutes down to 2, our real workflow

      Updating the Zoho CRM after every call used to be one of the biggest time sucks for our team. By the time you write your notes, clean them up, fill in the fields, and log everything properly… you’ve easily lost 15–20 minutes per call. We started experimenting

    • Add home page or dashboard in CRM customer portal

      is it possible to add home page or dashboard in CRM customer portal?

    • User Tips: How to change the the label display name of a system defined field

      Most users know how to change field label names via Settings > Modules & Fields but if you want to change the name of a system defined field you can’t as there is no “edit properties” option.  However with a simple hack you can edit any system defined

    • Search not working!

      I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?

    • Zoho CRM Community Digest - October 2025 | Part 1

      Hello Everyone! Here's a quick recap of first two weeks of October! Product Updates: Zoho CRM Android App Update: Surveys, Blueprints, and Smarter Mobile Features! Zoho CRM’s Android app just got a useful upgrade. You can now share records, upload your

    • Automate onboarding emails with CRM Workflow and Accounts module

      We’re a B2B SaaS company selling to public-sector organisations. Each organisation is stored as an Account in Zoho CRM, and each organisation typically has multiple associated Contacts. Our backend syncs product-usage data (setup status, user activity,

    • Using a CRM Client Script Button to create a Books Invoice

      Hello, I need help handling error messages returned to my client script from a function. The scenario I have setup a client script button which is available from each Deal. This CS executes a crm function, which in turn creates an invoice based on the

    • Important update: Enhanced security measures for account operations in Zoho Cliq

      Greetings from the Zoho Cliq team! We’d like to share an important security update that has an influence on some admin actions such as password reset, MFA reset, and MFA backup code generation. What’s changing? With our latest security enhancements, these

    • Sales Receipts Duplicating when I run reports why and how do we rectify this and any other report if this happens

      find attached extract of my report

    • Next Page