Discussions from Ask The Experts 19: Inside Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 : Zia in Focus

Hello everyone,  
We had insightful discussions in both the sessions of Ask the Experts(ATE) 19, diving deep into engaging conversations around Zia and the spring release. Your enthusiastic participation and thought-provoking questions brought the sessions to life!  
In this post, we’re spotlighting the Q&A highlights focused exclusively on Zia.

1. Why are Zia Answer bots not performing as intended after integrating them with the internal Knowledge Base (KB)? Why is the bot unable to provide relevant answers when questions are asked in natural language?

Zia's Answer bot's response is based on how closely the user's query matches the content of your Knowledge Base(KB) articles. Zia operates using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, which combines AI search and AI-generated responses. For AI search, we use AI training models specifically implemented for your knowledge base, while ChatGPT/Zia is used for generating the responses based on the service you select. Refer Setting up Generative AI Services: Zia or ChatGPT.

A. To improve this, we recommend following our best practices for training Zia Answer Bots. These include:
      i. Use simple and commonly-used phrases rather than jargons/isolated keywords in your help documents.
      ii. Include clear headings or sub-titles within your help documents to improve searchability and matching accuracy.
B. If you still do not receive relevant answers, we offer an improved Zia search powered by a new training model. If you would like to use it, please drop your request to support@zohodesk.com.

Additionally, we have introduced Generative AI powered by Zia, that is powered by open-source and run in Zoho's environment. To enable this, go to Setup(S) >> Zia >> Generative AI >> Services >> select Zia, under Choose service.  This is hosted entirely within Zoho's environment and is included at no additional cost and works with the Enterprise edition or Zoho bundles supporting Enterprise features.

 

2. How to optimize and incorporate the Zia bot within the Professional Edition?
Zia offers its complete range of functionalities exclusively within Zoho Desk Enterprise Edition and Zoho's bundle services.
However, there are specific Zia features available on the Professional Edition:
  a. Zia powered by ChatGPT: This integration is accessible within Zoho Desk, enabling responses based on open-domain data. In the Professional edition, Zia will  respond using information from the public domain, and the "Reply with Knowledge Base" feature is not available.

Additionally, Zia supports enhanced ticket handling through features like Ticket Summary, Zia Insights, Writing Assistance, and AI-generated content.
  b. Content Analysis: Launched in the recent spring update, this feature improves upon the existing spell-check capability and is accessible across all paid editions..

 

3. Is it possible to train Zia to provide answers based on resolutions from closed tickets rather than solely relying on the Knowledge Base?
Currently, Zia can only be trained using your Knowledge Base and not from tickets or their resolutions.
Tickets often contain sensitive customer data and personally identifiable information (PII), which should not be accessible to all agents or customers. Due to this privacy constraint, we currently do not train Zia using ticket data.
However, there's an option to add information from the Resolution under the Ticket tabs. While creating a resolution, the agent can select "Save And Add Article" to add the resolution to the Knowledge Base thereby giving Zia an option to train on the article. 
 

We plan to introduce a feature allowing agents to generate replies based on similar tickets. In this approach, Zia will reference similar tickets and their corresponding responses to suggest an answer. Instead of directly training Zia on potentially sensitive ticket data, this reply assistance feature will help agents by leveraging responses from comparable tickets.

4. Will Zoho offer additional AI models beyond Zia and OpenAI?  

Yes, we plan to introduce more AI models, primarily those hosted and managed by Zoho, considering the B2B nature of our services and ensuring data security and privacy.

5. How is data currently handled with OpenAI and Zia?  

Currently, when using OpenAI, fields marked as PII  are masked on the User Query or KB articles before sending them to Open AI for response generation alone and not for training. Similarly, Zia, powered by open-source models like Lama 3.1, uses data strictly for generation purposes. We've fine-tuned Lama 3.1 specifically for Zoho Desk requirements.

6. Which additional open-source models does Zoho plan to support in the future?  

Besides Llama, we plan to soon support additional models such as Qwen, and Mistral.

7. Will Zoho Desk allow users to integrate their own AI models?  

Yes, we are working towards creating a platform within Zoho Desk that allows users to bring their own open-source models or custom LLMs for various features.

 

8. How do we use the Zia GenAI-powered chat? Do we need to set it up with predefined answers?
To create an Answer bot, navigate to Setup > Zia > Answer Bot.The Answer Bot operates by learning from your existing knowledge base data. The Answer Bot leverages generative AI, which can either be powered by Zia using open-source technology or through OpenAI's ChatGPT integration, for which you would need an API key. In our recent spring release, we extended the availability of the Answer Bot across instant messaging (IM) channels. You can now deploy the generative AI-powered Answer Bot, trained specifically on your knowledge base, across IM channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and your own website. You can also deploy the Answer Bot through ASAP within your Mobile App (SDK). The AI-powered Self-Service with Answer Bot can be powered with Zia(Llama) or ChatGPT.

9. I'm using Zia to predict the"Issue Theme" field automatically, and it shows as successful. However, when I open a ticket, it doesn't suggest any value for me to confirm. Why is this happening?
Regarding Zia's field predictions, there are two available options:
     i. Auto-update predicted value.
     ii. Allow agents to confirm the predicted values manually ("Let me confirm predicted value manually" option).
        To enable Field predictions, navigate to Setup (S) >> Zia >> Field Predictions >> Create A Field Prediction. In the Field Update mode field, you can choose to  predict the field automatically or confirm the predicted value manually.
If you're using the "Let me confirm" option, you need to manually confirm the predicted values. To do this, navigate to the Field Prediction section within the Ticket Detail View. You'll find a wand (star) icon in the sidebar (ibar). Click this icon to view the predicted values from Zia. Here, you can either confirm or reject the suggested value, and your choice will help improve Zia's training data.
We're actively working on integrating this feature directly into the ticket properties, so that Zia's recommended values will appear directly within the field itself.

 

10. Does Zia learn from our responses to tickets as well?
Currently, Zia does not learn from the responses you send. It does not have the capability to learn from the messages you type and send. We are working on expanding the capability for Zia to respond in the business tone based on the custom instructions added by agents for each feature.

11. Do I need to upgrade all licenses to Enterprise to use the new Zia LLM if I'm currently on Zoho One?
Yes, you have to upgrade Zoho Desk to the Enterprise edition to use Zia powered by open-source models. Zia is available by default in the Enterprise plan and all Zoho bundles supporting the Enterprise edition of Zoho Desk.
 

12. How does Zia determine that an agent needs to intervene in a ticket? Does it instruct the user to contact support, or can it notify agents to own the ticket?
Currently, Zia cannot request an agent to intervene in a ticket.
However, we have a feature called Field Predictions, which uses your historical ticket data to predict and assign ticket ownership. When a customer replies, Zia analyzes the customer's message and, based on its training data, assigns the ticket to an appropriate agent who has previously handled similar conversations. Currently, we do not have a feature that proactively prompts an agent to intervene.

13. While managing multiple departments, can we enable Zia Reply Assistance for just one department?
Currently, the Zia Reply Assistance is configured at the organization level, meaning it applies to all the departments. However, we are actively working on making it department-specific.

14. As I understand, does Zia use ChatGPT for translation purposes?
No, Zoho uses its own translation model. In our recent spring release, we introduced a feature called Writing Assistance. This feature allows you to draft replies in your preferred language (for example, English) and translate them into other languages like Spanish or Italian using Zia. In this scenario, Zia does not utilize ChatGPT. However, for summarizing content or providing reply assistance, we rely primarily on ChatGPT to generate responses directly in languages such as Spanish or Italian.
Additionally, Zia uses open-source models without any associated charges.

 

15. How can we utilize AI to analyze data and generate reports?
Currently, Zia is not available for the Reports module. We do have Zia dashboards to monitor Zia's performance, however, we are developing a feature that will allow you to interact with Zia conversationally to create reports on the go.
If you have a subscription to Zoho Analytics, you can already leverage AI to generate reports. Zoho Analytics integrates with Zoho Desk, allowing you to ask questions in natural language and receive AI-generated reports.

16. Can we obtain customer tone reports from Zia Insights?
Currently, Zia Insights, powered by open-source models, is in its initial phase and does not yet support sending insights directly to reports.
Another way to obtain customer tone reports from Zia insights is using Zia API. Identify the tone and record it on a custom field. Generate reports based on the custom field to get insights on customer tones. We are working on this capability to send Zia Insights results from individual tickets to reports and dashboards. 

17. Could you please clarify how Zoho ensures the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in relation to data retention and Zia’s learning processes?
Regarding data retention, Zoho does not retain your data for training the generative AI models. Zia and ChatGPT utilize your data temporarily for generating responses. For other features, such as field predictions, all data remains within our Zoho ecosystem and does not share data externally for training purposes. Zoho complies with GDPR and HIPAA and sends data to Open AI only after masking Personally Identifiable information.

18. What permissions can be configured when creating knowledge base articles for use with the Answer Bot?  
The Answer Bot operates on two channels: one for agents and the other for customers, and uses permission-based generation. When creating knowledge base articles, you can set permissions such as "All Users," "Agents Only," or "Registered Users." Agents accessing the Answer Bot through the Ticket Detail view will have access to all articles, while end-users accessing via ASAP will only see articles marked for "All Users." Currently, the "Registered Users" permission is supported only for agents. Based on these permissions, the Answer Bot determines which articles it can use to generate responses.
We also have a private beta available for a new AI training model: New Retrieval System. If you're interested, please email us your details, and we can enable this feature to further enhance your Answer Bot's accuracy.

 

19. I currently have Generative AI enabled. What is the difference between ChatGPT and Zia? Should I switch to Zia under Generative AI?
ChatGPT is an integration with OpenAI, where you need your own API key and add credits to your wallet. With ChatGPT, your Zoho Desk data is sent outside Zoho servers to OpenAI for generating responses. On the other hand, Zia is powered by open-source language models, such as Llama, and your data remains within Zoho's servers.
If you switch to Zia under Generative AI, it will be included in your existing Enterprise plan without any additional cost. Zia also offers greater contextual intelligence regarding your data. For example, ChatGPT supports summarizing only up to five conversations per ticket, whereas Zia can summarize up to 30 conversations. Refer here for details. 

Here are the recordings from our Ask the Experts 19 sessions: 

ATE19 Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 Session 1 | ATE 19 Zoho Desk Spring Release 2025 Session 2

Stay tuned on the Ask the Experts Community for more updates as we gear up for the upcoming sessions focussed exclusively on Zia and AI in Zoho Desk. 
Regards, 
Lydia | Zoho Desk

• Topic Participants

• Lydia | Zoho Desk

  

• Sticky Posts

• Ask the Experts 10: A 5-hour online Q&A on Zoho Desk Best Practices

  Welcome to Zoho Desk's Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion on our forums; wherein a panel of experts will take on questions specific to topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and will answer any

• Ask the Experts 7: A 5-hour online Q&A on Telephony and Call Module

  Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

• Ask the Experts 5: Online Q&A on Zoho Desk Extensibility

  Welcome to Ask the Experts session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

• Ask the Experts 4: A 5 hour online Q&A on agent productivity

  Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

• Ask the Experts 3: A 5 hour online Q&A on reports and dashboards

  Welcome to Ask the expert session! This is a monthly discussion in forums; each session, a panel of experts will take questions on specific topics related to Zoho Desk. The panel will be available for a 5-hour period and answer any questions posted here.

• Recent Topics

• What's New - April 2025 | Zoho Backstage

  Hello there, Phew! It’s been a busy month—and it’s all for you. You know that feeling when your to-do list is long, your coffee’s gone cold, but your team is absolutely crushing it behind the scenes? That’s been us this month. Between brainstorming, building,

• Mi cámara se desconecta permanentemente.

  Buenos días. Tengo una cámara web de última generación. En concreto el modelo W4DS de VIZOLINK. Realiza una primera conexión pero después se desconecta con el mensaje de que no es compatible con ZOHO. Me extraña mucho que una aplicación tan reciente cometa

• Overall unsubscribes from mailing/contact lists

  Hi, I’m looking to track how many people are unsubscribing from our mailing/contact lists overall — not just from individual campaigns. Is there a way to access this total unsubscribe number on a weekly basis for internal reporting? Thanks in advanc

• Tips and Tricks #40: Find and add YouTube videos to your slide from within Show

  Hi Everyone!  When using the right videos in a presentation, you can easily capture your audience's attention and help them connect with your message. This is useful especially when you want to explain any complex concept. For example, you can use a video

• I want to add a button in Zoho Creator that, when clicked, opens a Zoho authorization window and then redirects to my website to obtain API tokens.

  Here's the translation of your text into English: "I want to add a button in Zoho Creator that, when clicked, opens a Zoho authorization window and then redirects to my website to obtain API tokens. When running in the developer environment, I get the

• Enhance Data Visibility with Mapping Fields from Lookup Module

  We’re thrilled to announce an exciting new feature in Zoho Recruit: Mapping Fields from Lookup Module! This powerful addition is designed to display additional details from a related module when using lookup fields. This enhances data visibility and provides

• Feature Request – Support for Stripe Direct Debit for Canadian Customers in Zoho Books

  I’d like to request support for Stripe Direct Debit as a payment option for Canadian customers within Zoho Books. Currently, while Stripe credit card payments are supported for Canadian businesses, there is no option to enable Direct Debit (ACH/EFT) through

• Form fields appearing twice on creator mobile

  We have a custom application created in Zoho Creator. When we look at the application form on desktop everything looks normal. Whenever we access the application on Creator Mobile App some fields appear twice instead of only ones. I provided an example

• Creator Widget using values from Creator Form on the same page

  Hi all, I have a widget I'm working on that I'd like to use values from a form that's on the same page as the widget. I have something working right now, where I have a stateless form on a page. On input to the form I load an inner page, setting query

• Smart Hiring Made Easy: Experience our Optimized Chatbot

  We're thrilled to announce that Zoho Recruit's Chatbot has received an exciting update! With this enhancement, recruiters will have access to even more features that will help them passively find the best candidates for their open positions. Listed below

• `insert into` Always Fails with “Improper Statement” — Even with Minimal Code

  Im develeping my inventory database using ChatGPT to help me and I´m running into an issue in my scan inventory form script when I try to make a form for logging the scanned items. 🆘 Zoho Creator: `insert into` Always Fails with “Improper Statement”

• I want to know the gross profit by sales person. How?

  Kindly guide me how to know the amount of gross profit which is calculated on the basis of sales person. That means, how much is the amount of gross profit made by a particular sales person.

• ZOHO CRM Lead_Status_History

  Hi, ZOHO CRM Lead_Status_History table is showing only ID and Modified Date. I want the history of status change in CRM Lead

• Instant Sync of Zoho CRM Data?

  With how valuable Zoho Analytics is to actually creating data driven dashboards/reports, we are surprised that there is no instant or near instant sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics. Waiting 3 hours is okay for most of our reports, but there are

• Zoho Writer page break in a merge repeating region always adds an unwanted blank page

  Hi I'm merging a Zoho CRM record to a Zoho Writer document with a repeating region to display subform records on their own page within the document. When I try to insert a page break in a repeating region, the resulting merge always adds an unwanted blank

• Creating a grid of worker activity in Zoho analytics

  Hi, We provide medical services to patients and billing is time based. We want to create a filterable grid in which we can look at any month by day and any worker and how many minutes of billable activity they performed by patient. I know exactly what

• Power of Automation :: Automatically start / pause / stop timer on task status update.

  Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

• Restrict users on Form Submission

  In Zoho Creator, is there a way to restrict users/customers on form submission, on-click event of the submit button, they will be redirected to the customer login portal page (where they sign in / sign up) to complete a service purchase. We want a common

• Update date field custom module using Zoho Inventory Update Record

  I'm trying to update a date field in a custom module inside zoho inventory but keep getting this error: "code": 6, "message": "syntax.error.invalid.json" This is how my code looks: campo_sku = Map(); campo_sku.put("cf_sku_master",i_sku); campo_sku.put("cf_sku_common",i_sku_common);

• Are we able to bring FontAwesome icons into a Zoho Page?

  The OOTB Zoho icons are insufficient. Also, are we able to pull in standard emojis?

• CRM Hack #3: How to update formula functions for already created records.

  Hello everyone! It’s Wednesday and we are back with yet another hack.. I'm sure you've used formula fields to meet some requirements specific to your business. Let's consider an example each for external (customer-facing) and internal facing scenarios

• Inventory Blocking for serial number tracking.

  Hi We are using multiple channels to get orders which adds the product to committed stock. But is there a method to block serial number of products based on FIFO automatically when an order is created, or when SO is approved?

• CRM List view for text fields that check "Does not start with" or "Does not end with"

  So these filter options are available when making reports and such, but they don't seem be available when creating a filtered view.  The text filter options there are are: "contains", "does not contain", "starts with", "ends with". Is there an easy technique to recreate the "Does not start with" and "Does not end with" functionality that I'm missing?

• Is PageSense included in Zoho One?

  PageSense is marketed as part of the Zoho One product suite, but when I login to PageSense it prompts me to upgrade (in 31 days I suppose) even though I am on a Zoho One subscription. Is PageSense included or not? If not, then please don't market it as

• [Product Update] Introduction of Task Lists Module in Zoho Projects Integration

  Dear Customers, As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance our integrations, we’re introducing support for the "Task Lists" module in the Zoho Projects integration with Zoho Analytics. Currently, Task List-related information is available within the Tasks

• Marketing Automation Access

  Hello, Is anyone having issues getting started with Marketing Automation? I keep getting an internal error during the start up screens. I've been trying and it hasn't been resolved in a week. Is the app worth waiting for or should I just use campaigns?

• Best Way to Integrate a Shared Sales Inbox with Zoho CRM

  I’m setting up a shared email inbox (e.g., sales@mycompany.com) for our sales team and want to integrate it with Zoho CRM Leads and Deals so that multiple team members can collaborate efficiently. Since Zoho CRM doesn’t support IMAP for shared inboxes,

• 【Zoho CRM】詳細ページからサブフォーム行追加の禁止

  ■概要 いつの時点からか確認ができなかったのですが、サブフォームの行を編集ページではなく詳細ページから直接追加出来るようになっていました。便利な機能追加なのですが、サブフォームでクライアントスクリプトを使ってフィールドの読み取り専用設定などをしている環境だと、詳細ページから行挿入されるとクライアントスクリプトが動作しないので想定していたフィールドの読み取り専用設定が効かない状態になってしまいます。クライアントスクリプトを使って、詳細ページから行挿入されると保存できないようにすることで間接的に詳細ページから行挿入を禁止する方法をご紹介します。

• The Social Wall: April 2025

  Hey everyone, Welcome to the April edition of the Social Wall, where we keep you in loop about the latest feature updates, changes, and more. Let's see how April went by: Manage and respond to comments on your Threads posts from Inbox With the latest

• link non- VAT tax invoice to Fatoora portal

  Hi all Actually I have VAT tax invoice and non- VAT tax invoice About VAT tax invoice I have no problem I can link any invoice to Fatoora portal But the problem in the non VAT tax invoice because I have customers outside of Saudi Arabia No VAT ID no CRN

• Pdf/A-3 ( embedded with xml)

  Mr. Abdur rahman, Please give me answer of my questions. Does your software generate PDF/A-3 (with embedded XML) and XML formats, fully compliant with ZATCA Phase 2 for B2B invoices? Are Phase 2 fields (e.g., UUID, Previous Invoice Hash, Invoice Counter

• Updating field from the UI or from function take more that 1 minute to be updated

  I have activity order model with dropdown status field, I've changed the status from Completed to Canceled on the CRM like on the attached image: But once I fetch the record on function the record didn't updated behind the scene The strange thing in here

• Zoho Voice & Zoho CRM

  I was using Twillio to send automated messages to my clients when a new lead comes in Zoho CRM. The twillio integration was stopped by Zoho and hence I used Zoho Telephony which doesn't support SMS. Now someone from Zoho told me to use Zoho Voice. I bought

• Deleting unwanted ticket replies

  Hello, In a Zoho Desk Ticket thread, sometimes one of the recipients has auto-reply activated. This creates a new message in the Ticket thread that not only pollutes the thread, but most importantly cannot be replied properly because usually auto-reply e-mails don't do "reply all", so the other recipients are not included. I want to delete such a message in the Ticket thread. I searched the help of Zoho Desk, but only found a way to mark as Spam (https://help.zoho.com/portal/kb/articles/marking-support-tickets-as-spam)

• Why Format section gets disabled when we create Merge Template over PDF

  I need some assistance I have a Client who is going to give certificates to users who passes his exam. So, I am using mail merge but in ZOHO writer after I upload the PDF and create merge Template over PDF the format Section gets disabled. My problem

• Import contacts - invalid pattern with encrypted emails

  Hello, I have a list of encrypted emails provided by an external partner. They need to be imported into a custom list. Problem is, the import process is ignoring the entire list, maybe because of the weird format? Since they are encrypted, they all look like this example: d+NDd5wqi3neiQWEwquie1bnwquien@example.com What can I do to import this list? Also, is there a way to allow my user to add contacts without this "ignore filter" from now on? The fact is that our partner will provide us a new list

• Important: Microsoft Outlook Bulk Email Updates

  Dear Marketers, We want to bring your attention to an important upcoming change announced by Microsoft (Outlook) that will impact users sending bulk emails to Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, and other Microsoft-hosted inboxes. This update focuses on strengthening

• UI and other enhancements in Community module

  Hello everyone, The Community module has undergone a UI revamp to improve user experience. In addition, we have introduced Status Board and Bulk Approval of posts to provide better engagement. Improved User Interface The new interface brings the following

• Add Pre-Trigger Filter Capability for Webhook Triggers in Zoho Flow

  Dear Zoho Flow Team, Greetings, We’ve been working extensively with Zoho Flow and appreciate the flexibility it offers for automation across our tools. We’d like to request a feature enhancement specifically related to Webhook triggers: Use Case: Currently,

• Getting data from subforms

  Bonjour, I have a Product form that has a subform with 2 fields : Unit (Kg, boxes...) and Price. In an Order form, I select an item from Product, and I already managed to input the Unit choices in a dropdown field with the following script: RefProduit

• Next Page