Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

Hello everyone,

We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link.

Business Scenario:

Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information from Zoho Subscriptions to the URL. The URL can be your:

• company's intranet URL;
  
• external third-party website or application; or
  
• company's website or application.
  

Let's consider the following scenario to understand this better. Zylker is a Saas business that provides customized IT integration solutions. They use Zoho Subscriptions to manage their customers' subscriptions. Also, they have a back-end system to store the details of the integrations they've provided to their customers.

During customer queries, employees use an intranet URL (https://zylker.com/app/customers?q={ Customer_ID}) to access the back-end system and view the specific customer's details. Usually, they copy the unique Customer_ID from the customer details page in Zoho Subscriptions and append it to the intranet URL to access the customer's integration details in the back-end system.

This can be tedious as the Customer_ID has to be appended to the URL, every time they want to access a specific customer's details. This process can be simplified by setting up custom links in Zoho Subscriptions. Now, employees can open the desired page with just a click.

How can you do it?

Let's see how you can create a custom link and open a third-party URL by appending the data from Zoho Subscriptions.

1. Go to Settings > Preferences > Customer.
   
   
2. Select the Custom Buttons tab.
   
   
3. Click the New Custom Button dropdown and click New Custom Link.
   
   
4. Enter a name for your custom link.
   
   
5. Configure the URL as per your requirements by inserting placeholders. These placeholders will be used to access the data in Zoho Subscriptions.
   
   
6. Click Save.
   

Now you will find the custom link listed as an action in your customer details page. Click the button and the customized URL will open in a new tab. Please find the below images for reference.

Found this useful? Try it out for tour subscription business and let us know how it works. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below! We are here to answer.

Cheers,

Sasidaran K,
The Zoho Subscriptions Team.

• Topic Participants

• Sasidaran K

  

• Sticky Posts

• Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

  Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers

• Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

  Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's

• Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

  Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can

• Tips And Tricks - Announcement

  Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,

• Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

  Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information

• Recent Topics

• Automatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates

  Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into our

• Solution to Import PST File into Office 365.

  MailsDaddy OST to Office 365 Migration Tool is an outstanding solution to recover OST files and migrate them into Office 365 without any hassle. Using this software users can multiple OST files into Office 365 with complete data security. It offers users

• Series Label in the Legend

  My legend reads 'Series 1' and 'Series 2'. From everything I read online, Zoho is supposed to change the data names if it's formatted correctly. I have the proper labels on the top of the columns and the right range selected. I assume it's something in

• Associate emails from both primary and secondary contacts to deal

  We need to associate emails from multiple contacts to a deal. Please advise how this can be achieved. At present, only emails from primary contacts can be associated. Thanks

• 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

• 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,

• Next Page