Automation#25: Move Tickets to Unassigned When the Owner Is Offline

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to this week's Community Series!

'Tis the holiday season—a time when work often takes a brief pause. 

The holiday spirit is in full swing at Zylker Techfix too, with employees taking some well-deserved time off. During this period, ticket owners are frequently offline at work.

Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, customers continued responding to tickets. Unfortunately, tickets assigned to agents on leave went unnoticed, as they were not listed under unassigned requests.

Zylker Techfix needed a solution to ensure such tickets were reassigned to "Unassigned," preventing any customer requests from being overlooked. This is where a custom function came to the rescue, just in time!

Here’s how you can use this custom function to move tickets automatically to "Unassigned" when the ticket owner is offline and a customer replies. Follow these steps to implement the custom function within a workflow rule.

Prerequisites

1. Create a connection

  1.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.

  1.2 Click Create Connection.

  1.3 Select Zoho Desk under Default Services.

  1.4 Set the connection name as deskconnection.

  1.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:

Desk.settings.READ

Desk.basic.READ

Desk.tickets.UPDATE

Desk.tickets.READ

  1.6 Click Create and Connect.

  1.7 Click Connect and click Accept.

Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule

1. Go to Setup, choose Workflows under Automation. 

2. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,

3. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.

4. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.

5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.

6. Click Next.

 

In the Execute on section, follow these steps:

7. Select Customer Reply.  

8. Click Next.

 

9. In the Criteria section, select Ticket Owner is not empty. click Next. 

10. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.

11. Enter a Name and Description for the custom function.

12. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below: 

  12.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and select Ticket Id under the Tickets Section.     
                                      

13. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:

1. // ----<<<< User Inputs >>>>----
2. // --- Replace ".com" with appropriate domain extension based on customer's location/DC --- 
3. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
4. //Replace your Current Configured Department Id
5. departmentId = "DEPARTMENT_ID";
6. // ----<<<< Initial Configs >>>>----
7. logs = Map();
8. onlineAgentsId = List();
9. //---------------------------
10. try 
11. {
12. // ---- start your logic from here ----
13. getTicketInfo = invokeUrl
14. [
15. url : deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId
16. type : GET
17. connection : "deskconnection"
18. ];
19. logs.insert("getTicketInfo":getTicketInfo);
20. assigneeId = getTicketInfo.get("assigneeId");
21. onlineAgentsInfo = invokeUrl
22. [
23. url : deskURL + "/api/v1/onlineAgents?departmentId="+departmentId+"&limit=100"
24. type : GET
25. connection : "deskconnection"
26. ];
27. logs.insert("onlineAgentsInfo":onlineAgentsInfo);
28. if ( onlineAgentsInfo != null && onlineAgentsInfo != "" && onlineAgentsInfo.get("data").size() > 0 ) 
29.     {
30. for each agentInfo in onlineAgentsInfo.get("data")
31.         {
32. onlineAgentsId.add(agentInfo.get("agentId"));
33.         }
34.     }
35. logs.insert("onlineAgentsId":onlineAgentsId);
36. if (!onlineAgentsId.contains(assigneeId.toString())) 
37.     {
38. ticketUpdate = invokeUrl
39. [
40. url : deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId
41. type : PATCH
42. parameters : {"assigneeId":""}+""
43. connection : "deskconnection"
44. ];
45. logs.insert("ticketUpdate":ticketUpdate);
46.     }
47. }
48. catch (errorInfo)
49. {
50. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
51. }
52. info "logs: \n" + logs;
53. if(logs.containKey("errorInfo"))
54. {
55. throws "Error happen in the CF execution";
56. }

NOTE

a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.

b. In Line 5, add the departmentId of the department where you want to configure this custom function.

How to fetch the DepartmentId? 

To find the departmentId, navigate to Setup (S) >> Organization >> Departments.
Select the department where you want to configure the custom function. Copy the numerical ID at the end of the URL from the address bar.

14. Click Save to save the custom function.

15. Click Save again to save the workflow.

Our Community Series is here to provide practical tips and solutions. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us at support@zohodesk.com—we’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you a joyful and productive holiday season. 

Until next time,

Best Wishes,

Lydia | Zoho Desk 

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• Amelia

• Shivani | Zoho Desk

  

• 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

• Bigin, more powerful than ever on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and watchOS 26.

  Hot on the heels of Apple’s latest OS updates, we’ve rolled out several enhancements and features designed to help you get the most from your Apple devices. Enjoy a refined user experience with smoother navigation and a more content-focused Liquid Glass

• Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

  I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm

• Is Desk Down?

  Across department - always an error. [Status Mode] - error [Table View and the rest] - working

• How do I change the wording of the tile of SignForm?

  When my user opens a SignForm url, the title that is presented is always "SignForm signer Information" and a form is displayed asking for the username and email address. This can be confusing to the end user. How can I change the title at least (Or at

• How to link tickets to a Vendor/Vendor Contact (not Customer) for Accounting Department?

  Hi all, We’re configuring our Accounting department to handle tickets from both customers and vendors (our independent contractors). Right now, ticket association seems to be built around linking a ticket to a Customer / Customer Contact, but for vendor-originated

• Problem with CRM Connection not Refreshing Token

  I've setup a connection with Zoom in the CRM. I'm using this connection to automate some registrations, so my team doesn't have to manually create them in both the CRM and Zoom. Connection works great in my function until the token expires. It does not refresh and I have to manually revoke the connection and connect it again. I've chatted with Zoho about this and after emailing me that it couldn't be done I asked for specifics on why and they responded. "The connection is CRM is not a feature to

• Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

  Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

• Unify Overlapping Functionalities Across Zoho Products

  Hi Zoho One Team, We would like to raise a concern about the current overlap of core functionalities across various Zoho applications. While Zoho offers a rich suite of tools, many applications include similar or identical features—such as shift management,

• Automation #7 - Auto-update Email Content to a Ticket

  This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Email is one of the most commonly

• Ticket to article and Ticket to template

  Hello! I would like to know if it is possible (and how) to do the following actions: 1. To generate an article from a ticket (reply + original message) 2. Easy convert an answer to an email template

• Is there API Doc for Zoho Survey?

  Hi everyone, Is there API doc for Zoho Survey? Currently evaluating a solution - use case to automate survey administration especially for internal use. But after a brief search, I couldn't find API doc for this. So I thought I should ask here. Than

• Kaizen #225 - Making Query-based Custom Related Lists Actionable with Lookups and Links

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series! This week, we will discuss an exciting enhancement in Queries in Zoho CRM. In Kaizen #190, we discussed how Queries bridge gaps where native related lists fall short and power custom related

• WebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing

  I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful

• Non-responsive views in Mobile Browser (iPad)

  Has anyone noticed that the creator applications when viewed in a mobile browser (iPad) lost its responsiveness? It now appears very small font size and need to zoom into to read contents. Obviously this make use by field staff quite difficult. This is not at all a good move, as lots of my users are depending on accessing the app in mobile devices (iPads), and very challenging and frustrating. 

• [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - AI-Enhanced Logistics Management in Zoho Creator

  Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. About Learning Table Series Learning Table Series is a free, 45-60

• How to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?

  I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possible

• Zoho Creator to Zoho CRM Images

  Right now, I am trying to setup a Notes form within Zoho Creator. This Notes will note the Note section under Accounts > Selected Account. Right now, I use Zoho Flow to push the notes and it works just fine, with text only. Images do not get sent (there

• Error Logs / Failure logs for Client Scripts Functions

  Hi Team, While we are implementing client scripts for the automation, it is working fine in few accounts but not working for others. So, it would be great if we can have error Logs for client scripts also just like custom functions. Is there any way that

• Zoho Books blocks invoicing without VeriFactu even though it is not mandatory until 2027

  I would like to highlight a very serious issue in Zoho Books for Spain. 1. The Spanish government has postponed the mandatory start of VeriFactu to January 1st, 2027. This means that during all of 2026 businesses are NOT required to transmit invoices

• Problem : Auto redirect from zoho flow to zoho creator

  Hi there, I've been waiting for zoho team to get back on this for last couple of days. Anyone else have the problem to access zoho flow? everytime I click on zoho flow it redirects me to zoho creator. I tried incognito mode but it still direct me to zoho

• Why am I seeing deleted records in Zoho Analytics syncing with Zoho CRM?

  I have done a data sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics, and the recycle bin is empty. Why do I see deleted leads/deals/contacts in Zoho Analytics if it doesn't exist in Zoho CRM? How can I solve this problem? Thanks

• How to use MAIL without Dashboard?

  Whenever I open Mail, it opens Dashboard. This makes Mail area very small and also I cannot manage Folders (like delete/rename) etc. I want to know if there is any way to open only Mail apps and not the Dashboard.

• Peppol: Accept Bill (Belgium)

  Hi, This topic might help you if you're facing the same in Belgium. We are facing an issue while accepting a supplier bill received by Peppol in Zoho Books. There is a popup with an error message: This bill acceptance could not be completed, so it was

• Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout

  Hello everyone,   We're glad to be announcing that Zoho Books is now integrated with Zoho Checkout. With this integration, you can now handle taxes and accounting on your payment pages with ease.   An organization you create in Zoho Checkout can be added to Zoho Books and vice-versa. Some of the key features and benefits you will receive are:   Seamless sync of customer and invoice data With the end-to-end integration, the customer and invoice details recorded via the payment pages from Zoho Checkout

• Sync Issue

  My Current plan only allows me with 10,000 rows and it is getting sync failure how to control it without upgrading my plan

• Add Zoho PDF to Zoho One Tool Applications

  It should be easy to add from here without the hassle of creating a web tab:

• JOB WISE INVOICE PROCESS

  I WANT TO ENABLE JOB WISE TRACKING OF ALL SALES AND PURCHASE

• PDF Template have QTY as first column

  I want to have the QTY of an item on the sales orders and invoices to be the first column, then description, then pricing. Is there a way to change the order? I went to the Items tab in settings but don't see how to change the order of the columns on

• RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) Type Q+A Environment with Zoho Learn

  Hi All, Given the ability of Zoho Learn to function as a knowledge base / document repository type solution and given the rapid advancements that Zoho is making with Zia LLM, agentic capabilities etc. (not to mention the rapid progress in the broader

• In App Auto Refresh/Update Features

  Hi,    I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users.   The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps.    I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With the

• Consolidated report for multi-organisation

  I'm hoping to see this feature to be available but couldn't locate in anywhere in the trial version. Is this supported? The main aim to go to ERP is to have visibility of the multi-organisation in once place. I'm hopeful for this.

• IMAP mail after specify date

  Hi My customer's mail server is on premise and mail storage is very huge. So It never finish sync. and finally stop sync. Cloud CRM have a option like zoho mail sync mail after some date.

• Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM Integration – AI-Powered Sales Automation

  Hello Zoho Community 👋 I’m excited to share a recent integration we’ve worked on at OfficehubTech: ✅ Claude + MCP Server + Zoho CRM This integration connects Zoho CRM with Claude AI through our custom MCP Server, enabling intelligent AI-driven responses

• Search Bar positioning

  Why is the Search bar on the far right when everything is oriented towards the left?

• Import Error: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date

  Hello, I've tried multiple times to import a CVS Potential list from another Zoho account. But the error message I get is: Empty values for mandatory fields - Closing Date There are valid dates in this field, so I don't understand why this error messages

• Feature Requests - Contact Coloured Picklist Visibility & Field Visibility During Ticket Creation

  Hi Desk Team, I have 2 feature requests for you. Since Coloured Picklists are now available in Desk, It would be great if the colours were visible on the Related Details (Contact Information) when creating a ticket. In the screenshot below, I have 2 fields

• How to integrate XML with Zoho CRM

  Hi, I have an eCom service provider that gives me a dynamic XML that contains order information, clients, shipments... The XML link is the only thing I have. No Oath or key, No API get... I want to integrate it into Zoho CRM. I am not a developer nor

• Feature Request - Ability to Customise Contact Info Card on Ticket Details View

  Hi Desk Team, I've added a "Contact Priority" and "Account Prioirty" field and it would be very useful to agents if they could see that information in the Contact Info card on the Ticket Details view. It would be great if we could choose some fields to

• Tax in Quote

  Each row item in a quote has a tax value. At the total numbers at the bottom, there is also a Tax entry. If you select tax in both of the (line item, and the total), the tax doubles. My assumption is that the Tax total should be totalling the tax from

• Zoho Flow integration with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp

  Hi there,  any plans of adding integrations with Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp into Zoho Flow? Seems that more and more business are delivering automated updates such as "your order is received",  "your order has been shipped" and so on via these two platforms. Not sure if Whatsapp has the API access needed i am pretty sure that Facebook Messenger has... Kind regards Bo Thygesen 

• Next Page