Automation #11 - Auto Update Custom Fields with Values from Emails

Automation #11 - Auto Update Custom Fields with Values from Emails



This is a monthly series designed to help you get the best out of Desk. We take our cue from what's being discussed or asked about the most in our community. Then we find the right use cases that specifically highlight solutions, ideas and tips to optimize your customer support with the automation capabilities of Zoho Desk.

With the help of Custom fields in Zoho Desk you can extract context that is specific to your business. For example, a travel company might want their customers to enter PNR numbers while submitting their tickets. Or, a product manufacturing company may have a mandatory field for serial numbers in the add ticket form.
 
But when your customers send in emails with vital information like Order numbers and PNR numbers listed in the email content, extracting it to add it to the custom fields can be a challenge. Here's an automation designed to help you sidestep this challenge. It extracts specific context from the email content and updates the custom fields automatically.
 
Let's take the example of "Order Number" to understand how we can achieve this automation.
 
You may recall how we replaced Auth-tokens with Connections for all the existing custom functions. So the first step to making the most of ZohoDesk's automation capabilities is to create a connection to be used in the custom function later.
 
To create a  connection, carry out the following steps: 
  1. Click on Setup > Developer Space > Connections 
  2. Click Create Connection
  3. In the Pick Your Service section, under Pre-Defined Services find and select Zoho OAuth
  4. In the Connection Details section, add zohodesk as the Connection Name and Connection LinkName
  5. In the Choose Scopes list, select all values that start with 'Desk.' and ending with '.ALL' and then include Desk.search.READ, Desk.products.READ
  6. Click Create and Connect
  7. In the page that appears, click Connect
  8. If you have more than one portal associated, select the Portal to which this connection should be added and click Accept. 
Say you receive an email with the content: 
Order Number: 4345312

Contact Name: Sundar

To extract the value of the Order Number from the above email, proceed with these steps: 

  1. Go to Setup, and under Automation, click Workflows.
  2. On the left panel, under Workflows, click Rules > Create Rule.
    In the Basic Information section, carry out the following steps:
  3. In the Module drop-down menu, select Tickets.
  4. Enter a name and description for the rule.
  5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, you can just create the rule now and activate it later, on the Rules page.
  6. Click Next.
    In the Execute on section, perform the following steps:
  7. Select the Create checkbox to execute this rule every time a new ticket is created. 
  8. Click Next.
    In the Criteria section, do not select any criteria and move to the next section.
    In the Actions section, carry out the following steps:
  9. Click the + icon and select Custom Functions > New
  10. Click Edit Arguments
  11. In the Name field type TicketID, and from the Value drop-down list select Ticket Id under Ticket Information.
  12. In the script window, input the Custom Function you find below:
    orgId = "paste orgId here";
    fromWord = "Order Number:";
    toWord = "Contact Name:";
    lenfromWord = fromWord.length();
    T_Info = invokeurl
    [
    url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/tickets/" + TicketID + "/latestThread?include=plainText"
    type :GET
    connection:"zohodesk"
    ];
    plainText = T_Info.getJSON("plainText");
    orderNumber = plainText.subText(plainText.indexOf(fromWord) + lenfromWord ,plainText.indexOf(toWord));
    updateTicket = zoho.desk.update(orgId,"tickets",TicketID,{"cf":{"cf_order_number":orderNumber}});
    info updateTicket;
Once the steps are completed, the value will be updated in a custom field named Order Number and the API name of the field that is cf_order_number. For other business scenarios, you can replace "Order Number" with other keywords that describe the specific values you need to extract.

 

 

 

 

 


    • 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

    • Recent Topics

    • Custom fields and filters for Timesheet

      HI Zoho Projects team. IT would be great and useful if we can add custom fields to the Timesheet design And is needed more options for filtering the timesheet dashboard, like "Milestones" and task list asociated to the record. Thank you

    • How do I rename the dropdown that contains a form and a report?

      I want to rename this, but I can't find how

    • Filtering two fields

      Hoping somone can assist, i am trying to create a report to show values from two different fields. e.g I have Field 1 Field 2 In some records, fields 1 and 2 are both "yes"; in other records, only one of the fields has the value "yes". Can we generate

    • Unable to Convert Quote to Invoice – Integration Active but User Not Recognized

      I’m having trouble converting a Quote into an Invoice inside Zoho CRM, even though the Zoho Finance Suite integration is enabled (Invoices, Quotes, Products, and Customers are all checked), and my user is an Admin in both Zoho CRM and Zoho Books, using

    • Owner drawings

      I entered an owner’s drawing transaction in 2023 but it’s still appearing on 2024 books. Is that supposed to happen? Or should Is there an additional step? I prefer for this transaction not to appear.

    • Running Balance in Account Statement.

      Running balance should come by default in the accounting statements but in ZOHO we need to customize every time to get the running balance in accounting statement. I did not understand, when the bank account statement opened from Bank Menu can show the

    • Importing Invoices

      Dear Team I used the enclosed csv file to import some invoices and it worked fine. I had to delete the file and when I am trying to re-upload it, I am getting the error for invoice number and branch "Resource does not exit." I tried a number of different

    • Enhance "Send Cliq Notification" Action in Zoho Desk Workflows (and also add Happiness Rating Support)

      ello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request regarding the “Send Cliq Notification” action available in Zoho Desk workflows — specifically in workflows triggered by Happiness Ratings, but also relevant to all workflows

    • Treatment of Non-Refundable Income after cancelling an Invoice

      A customer made part payments of 30,000 for an invoice 0f 100,000, and then he is unable to pay up the remaining and has asked for a refund. As per company policy, he can only get 75% of the amount paid, which is 22,500. The remaining 7,500 is non-refundable

    • I need refund

      I have purchased the Zoho Book standard plan; I had the impression that I would get the purchase > Bill feature. After purchasing, I found that billing is not included in the Zoho standard plan. I immediately canceled the subscription. I love the product,

    • Handling identifiers during an import

      Importing your data When importing data into an application, it is crucial to prevent data loss or duplication. These types of errors can hinder the development of a clean and well-organised database, which is essential for effective data management and

    • Creating Deposit Invoices

      Hi, we are a company that does project based work with a request at the begining of each project for a deposit payment. At the moment we are creating invoices for the deposit and an invoice for the completion of the project, however they are completely

    • Marketer’s Space - WhatsApp Pricing Update: What Marketers Need to Know and Do

      Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketer’s Space! WhatsApp made changes to their pricing model on July 1, 2025, moving from conversation-based pricing to a per-message pricing model. This week’s post focuses on what these changes mean for your WhatsApp

    • It's time to say goodbye to Zoho Recruit for me.

      Hello, I have been a Zoho Recruit user since 2013. The tool has evolved, with a better UI, new features and so on. The pricing is still a great asset too. BUT, that being said, important features are not coming fast enough. I tried to share my point of

    • change subscription within customer portal

      Would be great for the customer to be able to change their own subscription (or restart existing one) within the customer portal. Also, would like to be able to have early termination fee on subscriptions if canceled early.

    • How to make the add-on optional at the time of subscription?

      The scenario is this, we have a service which has optional add-ons. Like the customer who purchased the subscription may or may not want to get the add-on. In our case if the customer choose the addon we have monetary benefit. In case the user does not

    • Unable to add attachments to knowledge base anymore

      I have been adding articles to knowledge base in Zoho Desk (as part of Zoho One). Today suddenly i found that I am unable to upload and attachments to the articles. I get the following error: "Attachment couldn't be added." I have uploaded the screenshot

    • Advanced factors for multiple scoring rules: Now with Zia scoring automations for all modules

      Greetings all, We're happy to offer improved scoring features by adding extra scoring factors, including Zia Scores, in our multiple scoring rules (MSR) feature. These new factors—which empower existing traditional scoring factors—include criteria for

    • Sortie de Zoho TABLE ??

      Bonjour, Depuis bientôt 2 ans l'application zoho table est sortie en dehors de l'UE ? Depuis un an elle est annoncée en Europe Mais en vrai, c'est pour quand exactement ??

    • Restrict Agents from Editing Shared Custom Views in Zoho Desk

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request regarding the custom views functionality in Zoho Desk. 🎯 Background We’re actively using custom views to filter and display tickets for different teams based on specific

    • Introduction Dario Schiraldi Deutsche Bank Executive

      Hello Everyone, Dario Schiraldi serves as a key leader at Deutsche Bank, where he plays a crucial role in shaping the bank's strategic direction and driving operational success. With a solid foundation in finance and leadership, Dario is committed to

    • Is Zoho Shifts included in the Zoho One plan?

      In case the answer is no: there's any plan to make it available via One? Thank you

    • Feature Request: API Access for Managing Deluge Functions (with OAuth & Change Tracking)

      Hi everyone, I wanted to share a thoughtful request that came in from one of our Zoho clients this week. I believe many of us as partners and developers might relate to it. “One quick item to flag: we’d love an official way to manage Deluge functions

    • Moving Subscriptions from one Customer to another

      We frequently need to move subscriptions from one Customer to another Customer in Zoho Billing and the only way we have figured out to do this is to cancel it in the old owner's profile and manually recreate in in the new owner's profile. In doing this,

    • how to add new line in Deluge?

      I want to make string with line separation like this: this is the first line second line third line I have tried to use \n <br> or </br> inside the string but I can't achieve the result like the example above. I want to create a task by using custom function

    • How to pause a subscription/recurring order ?

      Hello, I'm evaluating Zoho Subscriptions for a food co-op where members order a box of produce every week. The software that we're currently using allows members to set up a recurring order. Members can pause the recurring order when they don't want a box for a while and then resume it later. Is it possible to pause/resume a subscription ? Thanks John

    • Hosted Payment Pages - how to update the address in zoho billing

      I"m playing around with the muti-page hosted payment pages which have places for customers to enter their addresses when paying. Why does this not update their address in Zoho Billing after payment? What can I do to make this happen?

    • Tracking training certification expirations

      Hi Zoho Community! I'm looking for some input on the best and most efficient ways to track training expirations in Zoho CRM. I have a very specific workflow that I am looking for - my company offers trainings, and the certification expires every 2 to

    • Kaizen #164 : Client Credentials

      Hello everyone, Welcome back to Kaizen. In this post, we will discuss Client Credentials Flow and when it can be used. What is Client Credentials Flow? According to RFC6749, the official specification for the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, "The client

    • CRM Email Template Align Left Instead of Center

      Is there a way to make a basic template align to the left instead of center? I know I'm likely forced to the 600px wide with the basic templates but I would REALLY like to set the email to the left instead of center. The basic templates make all the emails

    • Client Script - "Click' Button on Purchase Order - Specify "To Contact" or "To Supplier"

      The send email button is unique on the purchase order in that is has an additional submenu to send email "To Contact" or "To Supplier" It appears that the "click" event in Client script doesn't work correctly, probably because the button click didn't

    • Add Client Credentials Flow to Python SDK

      The Zoho CRM API supports a client credentials flow to automatically generate ephemeral access tokens, and this can be done programatically. The Python SDK however requires you to provide a grant token, refresh token, or access token when initializing

    • Conditional display of fields in Zoho Books Custom modules based on another field

      We're currently working with a Custom Module in Zoho Books and have a question about improving data entry efficiency and user experience. Our module includes a "Client Type" dropdown field, which determines the type of information to be collected. Each

    • Background Image for page in Zoho Creator

      Is it possible to use an image as the background in a page in Zoho Creator? I see it is possible to use an image as the background within a panel, but about about the page itself?

    • Zoho IP address blocked by Microsoft

      Today I tried to send emails to Outlook email addresses and all of them failed. The log displays like this: Reporting-MTA: dns; mx.zohomail.jp Arrival-Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:52:30 +0800 Original-Recipient: rfc822; ######@outlook.com Final-Recipient:

    • Request to Enable Full DNS Management Access for My Domain

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I have purchased the domain "digimarts365.online" through Zoho, and I need to add A and CNAME records to connect it with my Shopify store. However, DNS Toolkit is not allowing me to edit or add any records. Kindly enable full

    • Backup flow, see change log / history

      Hello, I would like to know, how flows can be saved, copied and tracked. If I work on a Flow with multiple other colleagues we need to see the Changes made by others. Is there a history, changelog or something else? Also we need to backup/import flows

    • Problème de validation du domaine spelam.ma

      Bonjour équipe Zoho, J’ai l’honneur de vous contacter car je rencontre un problème technique au niveau de la validation de mon compte ou de mon domaine spelam.ma. En effet, j’ai déjà acheté le domaine, mais la validation ne semble pas être correctement

    • Critical:- Eneble TDS filing for 26Q from the zoho book

      We currently extract TDS data from Zoho Books and manually input it into a separate TDS software to generate the FUV file and file returns. Previously, while using Tally, we benefited from an integrated feature that seamlessly recorded transactions and

    • Add a way of clearing fields values in Flow actions

      It would be great if there was an option to set a field as Null when creating flows. I had an instance today where I just wanted to clear a long integer field in the CRM based on an action in Projects but I had to write a custom function. It would be

    • Next Page