Handling identifiers during an import
Importing your data
- Users can upload a .csv file or a .zip file containing multiple .csv files.
- The .zip file must be named, for example, Contacts.zip, Accounts.zip, etc.
Working with the Identifier Field
What are the Identifier Fields?
Identifier fields are fields used to find and match existing records when importing data into the product. They also help link related records, like connecting a contact’s name with their email address.
Each module supports different unique identifier fields for identification, as described in the table below:
Module | Unique Identifier Fields |
Accounts | Account ID Account External ID Account Name |
Contacts | Contact ID Contact External ID Last Name First Name Phone Number Mobile |
Tickets | Ticket ID Ticket External ID Ticket Number |
Products | Product ID Product External ID Product Name |
Tasks | TaskId Task External ID |
Calls | Call ID Call External ID |
Events | Event ID Event External ID |
Article Translation | Translation: External ID Translation ID |
Custom Modules | Record External ID Custom Module Name |
Points to remember:
- While these fields help find matching records.
- So, if multiple records match the value, the first matching record will be selected automatically.
- This can lead to unexpected matches or data being updated in the wrong record if you're not careful.
For your understanding:
Some users expressed a preference for matching Contacts by Last Name instead of Email, highlighting the importance of flexibility in their workflow. Furthermore, some additional users approached matching through the use of a custom field, emphasising the need for tailored solutions to fit their unique requirements. Moreover, users requested that the functionality be enhanced by updating existing records with the relevant entity's Zoho Desk ID, aiming to streamline their processes and improve data accuracy.
Commonly used identifier fields:
- Find By is used to identify an existing record during the import process.
- Map By is utilized to link a child record to a parent record, for instance, by linking a Contact to a Ticket.
You can now select specific fields for matching, providing enhanced control and customization during bulk processes or integrations. This functionality enables more precise data handling, ensuring that the information aligns with your specific requirements. By tailoring the matching criteria, you can streamline processes, ultimately leading to enhanced efficiency and better outcomes for your team. This flexibility enables you to harness the full potential of your data.
Import Systems
Let's start by preparing the CSV file.
A sample tickets module CSV file is given below,
External ID | Subject | Contact Email | Contact Name | About |
101 | Hitman | Sharma | Rohit Sharma's journey from a gifted schoolboy to an international icon and fierce competitor reflects resilience, elegance, and remarkable leadership. | |
102 | King Kohli | Virat | Virat Kohli is a world-renowned Indian cricketer known for his aggressive batting, unmatched consistency, and passionate leadership across all forms of the game. | |
103 | Lambu Ishanth | Sharma | Ishant Sharma is a tall and experienced Indian fast bowler known for his 300 test wickets and key performances in overseas conditions. |
Then choose the appropriate Find By identifier field.
The Find By field is selected from a predefined set of fields specific to each module. It is used to determine whether a record already exists in Zoho Desk.
When using the import tool, the system searches the Desk portal for a record (e.g., a ticket) that matches the value mapped to the selected Find By field. This prevents duplicate records by identifying existing entries based on the chosen field.
- Once the file is uploaded, you need to choose a Find By Field — for instance, Ticket External ID.
- Whichever Find By field we choose must correspond to the relevant column in the CSV file. Since we've selected the Ticket External ID, the Case External ID column in your file should be mapped to the Ticket External IDfield.
If the chosen operation is to 'create new records while avoiding duplicates', and there is no existing ticket with the External ID 101, the import tool will generate a new ticket using the mapped fields. To associate the ticket to the correct Contact, the import tool utilizes the Map By field feature.Finally, choose the appropriate Map By field.
The Map By field enables users to link imported records to their corresponding dependent records, such as associating a ticket with a specific contact. This functionality ensures that when you import ticket data, the import tool actively searches for a matching Contact in Zoho Desk based on the value defined in the selected Map By field.
For instance, during the field mapping process, you can specifically choose to map the Ticket to a Contact using criteria such as the Contact's email ID. This approach enhances the accuracy of data integration by ensuring that each ticket is correctly associated with the relevant Contact, thereby improving data integrity and streamlining the support process. This meticulous mapping not only minimizes the chances of errors but also facilitates a more organized and efficient ticket management system, ultimately leading to improved customer experiences and satisfaction.
Map by identifier field functionality
The tool efficiently searches for contacts associated with the provided email address.
Search: When a user submits a ticket, the system initiates a search for contacts associated with the specified email address.
Match found: If a single match is identified, the ticket is seamlessly associated with that Contact, ensuring that all relevant customer information is readily accessible for support agents.
Multiple Matches: If numerous contacts are found with the same email address, the system will prioritize and use the first match. This helps streamline the ticketing process while maintaining clarity in customer support.
In summary, the strategic use of Custom Unique Fields and External ID fields as identifiers, along with the potential for composite identifiers, positions support teams to operate more effectively and improve overall customer interactions.
Significant improvements in user experience
Transparent process and status tracking
Unique identifiers for entity mapping
Enhanced error handling and log accessibility
Support for custom modules
Takeaway
Topic Participants
Kavya Rao Addepalli
Sticky Posts
Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences
Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynoteWhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025
Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business PlatformLive Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration
Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few toolsApple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users
Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to helpZoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End
Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next
Recent Topics
Workflow for deposit to bank account
Hello, Is it possible to make a workflow when a deposit is made to your bank account which is coupled to Zoho books? I want Zoho to sent an email each time a deposit is made to our bank account via a workflow. Regards, StevenMarking Retainer invoice paid through Deluge
Hey Everyone, We have a scenario where we are collecting deposit payments on our website. Now, in zoho books, we need to create a retainer invoice and mark it as paid automatically using deluge just like we can mark normal invoices as paid. I have triedExport Invoices to XML file
Namaste! ZOHO suite of Apps is awesome and we as Partner, would like to use and implement the app´s from the Financial suite like ZOHO Invoice, but, in Portugal, we can only use certified Invoice Software and for this reason, we need to develop/customize on top of ZOHO Invoice to create an XML file with specific information and after this, go to the government and certified the software. As soon as we have for example, ZOHO CRM integrated with ZOHO Invoice up and running, our business opportunitiesCreate a new record in custom module vi custom button
I have zoho books premium plan . I have 2 custom modules in zoho books. 1. Goods Receipt 2. Delivery Order, I need to select multiple records from Goods Receipt and create a new Delivery order from these multiple records. (like multilple sales order intoProfile date settings
At present I have "EEE, MMMM dd, yyyy" but this takes an exessive amount of column space, we should be able to input our own format. I would like to use "EEE, MMM dd, yy" - a much shorter version of the above but with the same abbreviated info, requiringDelivery Method Field in Sales Order Module
In Books and in Sales orders, the "Delivery Method" field seems to allow for anything to be entered and it seems to store those entries for future use. When you chose to convert a sales order to a purchase order, the related field is now called "ShipmentEditing / Removing stages for pipeline
Hello, I'm trying to create a new pipeline. I created a new stage and made an error when entering the probability. How can I edit fields in stages that I created? Can I delete these stages from "Add Stages" list?Dynamically Filter User Lookup in CRM Subform
We have a subform called Pricing Calculator in the Zoho CRM Opportunity module and need some assistance. Current Setup: First column: Picklist (Level) Second column: User Lookup field When a Level is selected, we want the User lookup to display only userschange time zone
can't seem to figure out how to change the time zone of the projectBigin iOS app update: Built-in telephony and RingCentral support
Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce Built-In Telephony and RingCentral support in the latest iOS version(v1.11.13) of the Bigin mobile app. Once the integration is completed on the Bigin desktop site(bigin.zoho.com), you can choose the Built-InAdd Image or Update Image API - for Items Module
I am trying to add new Items to Zoho Inventory from Zoho Creator. I achieved this using Zoho Inventory Create Item API, but how to add or update the item image from Zoho Creator to Zoho Inventory Item Module?Introducing Booking Pages—a topping for your Calendar Scheduling needs!
Greetings, We're here with a new topping for Bigin! Let's dive into the details. What does this topping do? Scheduling appointments with customers is one of the most common challenges small businesses face on a daily basis, as it often involves frequentDebugging `try` blocks : Tip
I find it annoying that if one line inside a `try` block has an error, the Deluge arser points the beginning of the block to the location of the error. BUT, if you temporarily comment out the initial `try {`  The parser goes through the whole block and[Product Update] TimeSheets module is now renamed as Time Logs in Zoho Projects.
Dear Zoho Analytics customers, As part of the ongoing enhancements in Zoho Projects, the Timesheets module has been renamed to Time Logs. However, the module name will continue to be displayed as Timesheets in Zoho Analytics until the relevant APIs areUse approval workflow comments in record scripts
Greetings, i'm running an approval workflow for my records, during approval/rejection there is a step where comments are entered. i want to add there comments to the record and to use them in various deluge scripts like sending emails and so on. howZOHO Store
Not able to make a payment We are using Zoho One, and we are from India. The payment currency, which shows for us, is in USD. But the system says we can choose Country/Region India if it shows INR only. Attaching screenshots for more info.Support Migration into Aliases in Zoho Mail
Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We are in the process of migrating some of our users from Google Workspace (Gmail and Google Drive) to Zoho. During this process, we noticed that Zoho Mail currently only supports migration into a primary mailbox andAPI for Z Workdrive Flow Make-Integromat ?
We are zoho workdrive fans Also we would like to have an api to work with Zoho Flow or with Make better known by its old name INTEGROMAT Is it planned and when? 3 months -6 months or more?Apps Pane no longer visible
I have read all the info and help and nothing works, I do not have a "show apps" anywhere and I can no longer see my Apps pane in the left hand side of mail, please advise how to get this backCanvas View - Print
What is the best way to accomplish a print to PDF of the canvas view?5名限定 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ(8/21)
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。Zoho ユーザーコミュニティチームの藤澤です。 8月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにてオンライン開催します。 ▷▷参加登録はこちら：https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/eVOEnBsSQ2uvX4WN5Z5DeQ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「ZohoNew in Zoho Forms: Inline OTP Verification
Hello form builders, We are excited to announce the launch of Inline OTP Verification in Zoho Forms, a smarter way to ensure the authenticity of the contact details you collect. Until now, OTP Verification in Zoho Forms worked as a pre-access step: respondentsZoho Mail : Associate emails with Meeting records and allow multiple emails to be assocaited at once
Is there a workaround that would allow either of these? I want to associate emails with Meeting records. I also would like to be able to select multiple emails at once for association with a record.Create task from email
Is there a way on mobile to create a task from an email? I use this feature a lot and when traveling now I read email on mobile. By the time I get to my office I forget about them since I didn't add it to a task. Is this feature missing on moble?Zoho Socials - Unable to view Channels and SmartQ
Hi, The channel Facebook has been added by the admin, however, it is not visible on the User level (employee). Other channels are visible. Also, we have the premium account, and SmartQ is not working. Can anyone help? Regards, PriyankaEliminating Manual Consolidation: Automating Currency Field Sync from Task to Project
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:We want to set the "Converted from Lead" value in Deals using a Workflow or via a Deluge script. How?
For use in Zoho Analytics, we need the field "Converted from Lead" filled in our deal records. This field is empty everywhere, because we do not create deals directly when converting a lead to a contact. We want to do that using the API or a workflowSales Orders: Quoted_Items + items in another subform -> into Ordered_Items ?
hello, When creating Sales Orders, is it posible to inherit/fill the Ordered_Items with all the items from Quoted_Items + all the items from a customized subform with similar fields? Since you can create a sales order in different ways (convert, new -How to cancel the GSTR1 pushed to GSTN
How to cancel the GSTR1 Pushed to GSTN, some rectifications to be done in HSN & SAC codeZoho Books API — Invalid Operation Type / Scope does not exist
Hello Team, We are unable to use the Zoho Books API from our registered application. We’ve already: Created a client in Zoho API Console using (Admin in Books) Generated the OAuth code and token successfully Used the correct scopes: ZohoBooks.fullaccess,ZohoOauth.userinfo.READEnhancements in Canvas
Dear All, Greetings! Canvas lets you design the record details page to suit your brand or business preferences. We are glad to introduce the following enhancements to uplift your design experience. Reusable Components Style Presets Let's go! ReusableMinimum order quantity
Is there a way to enforce a minimum order quantity - ie has to have a minimum of 250?【Zoho CRM】ポータル機能のアップデート：UIとポータルの作成フローの変更
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、ポータル機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 概要 ユーザーグループの作成フローの変更 ユーザーグループ詳細画面内のタブについて 「タブと権限」タブについて 「設定」タブについて 概要 UIとポータルの作成フローが変更されました。ポータルの新機能に先立ち、UIを一部変更しました。タブやオプションの配置を見直し、機能へよりアクセスしやすくなっています。 また、「ポータルユーザーの種類」は今後、「ユーザーグループ」と呼称され、ページ上のボタンも「ユーザーグループを作成する」に変更されます。Tax on Imported goods charged by Shipping Company
Hi Folks, I imported goods from outside Canada, for better understanding I will give an example data. imported goods value: 2000$ The shipping company sent me an invoice containing the following information: Custom duty on imported goods: 400$ AdministrationPrefilled Date fields auto-changed and then locked when using “Edit as new”
If a document out for signature has date fields (not SignedDate fields) that were pre-filled before sending, and then you use “Edit as new” to create a new version of the same document, the value of those date fields gets automatically changed to todayZoho Webinar via Social Media
Hello, is it possible to stream a Zoho Webinar via Social Media like Linkedin or Facebook?Add Hebrew & RTL Support to Feedback Widget
Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are using Zoho Desk and would like to utilize the Feedback Widget. While Zoho Desk itself supports Hebrew and RTL, the Feedback Widget unfortunately does not. We kindly request that Hebrew and full RTL support beOAUTH2 isn't working with Power Automate and N8N (Zoho Desk)
Hello, I am trying to set up an OAuth2 connection to the Zoho Desk API, but the authentication flow fails immediately. I am experiencing this issue in two separate platforms: Microsoft Power Automate (using a Custom Connector) and n8n. Instead of beingKit Items Breaking Automations - "Provide mapped components for all kit items"
This has been brought up in other threads, but I believe this issue warrants its own topic. Whenever a sales document (Estimate, Sales Order, Invoice) is created or manipulated programmatically, trying to include a Kit as an Item throws this error: "ProvideShow item Cost value on Item screen
The Item screen shows Accounting Stock and Physical Stock. It would be very helpful if value information could be displayed here as well, for instance Cost Price. Currently, to find the Cost Price (as used for inventory valuations) from inside the itemNext Page