Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

Message actions in Cliq are a great way to transform messages in a conversation into actionable work items. In this post, we'll see how to build a custom message action that'll let you add a message as a task to board on Zoho Connect. 

If you haven't created a board in Zoho Connect, then head over to this help document to know how to create one. 

For this example, we've created a board for the Zylker Campaigns team in Zoho Connect. The board has three sections: User Interface, Content Marketing, Customer Support. We'll see how the marketing team discusses about upcoming marketing initiatives and keeps track of tasks in their connect board. 



The workflow behind creating this message action is pretty simple. 

1. Once a user clicks on the Add Connect Task message action, the action's handler is triggered to display a form. 
2. The user fills all the information required. We use the form change handler to modify the form field values based on the users' inputs. For example, display networks that the user is a part of by default and on selecting a specific network, we'll show the list boards that the user is a part of under the selected network. The same applies for sections as well. 
3. On choosing the respective network, board and section, the user can add the task title, description, due date, assignee and more. Note that, the message on which the action was performed will be displayed as the task title by default. This can be modified.
4. On clicking Add Task, the form submit handler is invoked to create a task in Connect with all the provided details. 

Prerequisites
Create a connection between Cliq and Connect: 
You'll need an active connection between Cliq and Connect. To create a connection, 
  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
  2. Click on the Connections icon present on the left side menu of the Bots & Tools page. 
  3. Now, click on Create Connection. 
  4. In the Add Connections view, select the Zoho Oauth option. 
  5. Name your connection. For example you can name your connection: zoho_connect or zohoconnect and choose the following scopes: zohopulse.networklist.READ, zohopulse.tasks.READ, zohopulse.tasks.CREATE
  6. Make sure the Use Credentials of Login User option is enabled. 
  7. Click on the Create and Connect button to generate the invoke URL task with the connection name. 
We'll be using this invoke URL task in our code. 

Create a message action 

To create a message action on Cliq, 

  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
  2. Click on Message Actions in the left pane.
  3. Click on the Create Message Action button and fill in the required details. 
    Action Name: Provide your message action name. This field is mandatory.
    Hint: Brief explanation about the message action.
    Access Level: Decide who gets to access your message action. Choose between Organization, Team and Private. Default option is Private.
    Choose what kind of messages should have the message action. Options are Text messages, Attachments and Links. For this example, we're choosing messages of the type Text. 
  4. Click on Save & Edit Code. 
Create a form function

To create a form function on Cliq, 

  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools.
  2. Click on Functions in the left pane. Click on the Create Function button and fill in the required details. 
  • Name: Give your function name. Ensure to use the same function name in your form's code as well. 
  • Description: Briefly describe how your function works. 
  • Function Type: Choose the component with which the function should be associated. For this example, we're using the function of the type: Form 

Step 1: Configuring the message action handler
The message handler is triggered to return the Create Task form as a response. 

  1. messageText = message.get("content").get("text");
  2. getNetworks = invokeurl
  3. [
  4. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/allScopes"
  5. type :GET
  6. connection: "" // Give your connection name
  7. ];
  8. getNetworks = getNetworks.get("allScopes").get("scopes");
  9. netWorkOptions = List();
  10. for each  network in getNetworks
  11. {
  12. networkList = Map();
  13. networkList.put("label",network.get("name"));
  14. networkList.put("value",network.get("id"));
  15. netWorkOptions.add(networkList);
  16. }
  17. inputs = list();
  18. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"networks","label":"Network","hint":"Select a network","placeholder":"Select a network!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"trigger_on_change":true});
  19. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true","trigger_on_change":true});
  20. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true"});
  21. inputs.add({"name":"title","label":"Title","placeholder":messageText,"value":messageText,"hint":"Enter your task name","min_length":"0","max_length":"50","mandatory":true,"type":"text"});
  22. inputs.add({"type":"textarea","name":"note","label":"Description","hint":"Describe your task.","placeholder":"To be done by Tuesday","mandatory":false});
  23. inputs.add({"name":"duedate","label":"Due by","placeholder":"Give your task's due date.","mandatory":false,"type":"date"});
  24. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"priority","label":"Priority","hint":"Choose your task priority","placeholder":"High","mandatory":true,"value":"High","options":{{"label":"No Priority","value":"None"},{"label":"Low","value":"Low"},{"label":"Medium","value":"Medium"},{"label":"High","value":"High"}}});
  25. addTask = {"name":"addTask","type":"form","title":"Add a task","hint":"Add a task to a board in Zoho Connect. ","button_label":"Add Task","inputs":inputs,"action":{"type":"invoke.function","name":"connectTask"}};
  26. return addTask;





Step 2: Configuring the form change handler

The form change handler will be triggered when the user is filling up the form. The handler is responsible for modifying the form field values based on the user's inputs. 

  1. targetName = target.get("name");
  2. inputValues = form.get("values");
  3. networkID = inputValues.get("networks").get("value");
  4. actions = list();
  5. if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("networks"))
  6. {
  7. getBoards = invokeurl
  8. [
  9. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/myBoards"
  10. type :GET
  11. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID}
  12. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  13. ];
  14. getBoards = getBoards.get("myBoards").get("boards");
  15. boardOptions = List();
  16. for each  board in getBoards
  17. {
  18. boardList = Map();
  19. boardList.put("label",board.get("name"));
  20. boardList.put("value",board.get("id"));
  21. boardOptions.add(boardList);
  22. }
  23. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"boards","input":{"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"options":boardOptions,"trigger_on_change":true}});
  24. }
  25. else if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("boards"))
  26. {
  27. boardId = inputValues.get("boards").get("value");
  28. getResponse = invokeurl
  29. [
  30. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/boardSections"
  31. type :GET
  32. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID,"boardId":boardId}
  33. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  34. ];
  35. getSections = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("sections");
  36. sectionOptions = List();
  37. for each  section in getSections
  38. {
  39. sectionList = Map();
  40. sectionList.put("label",section.get("name"));
  41. sectionList.put("value",section.get("id").toString());
  42. sectionOptions.add(sectionList);
  43. }
  44. getMembers = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("members");
  45. if(getMembers.isempty() == false)
  46. {
  47. boardMembers = List();
  48. for each  member in getMembers
  49. {
  50. memberList = Map();
  51. memberList.put("label",member.get("name"));
  52. memberList.put("value",member.get("zuid"));
  53. boardMembers.add(memberList);
  54. }
  55. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
  56. actions.add({"type":"add_after","name":"duedate","input":{"type":"select","name":"members","multiple":true,"label":"Assignees","hint":"Add assignees","placeholder":"Assign task to a member","mandatory":false,"options":boardMembers}});
  57. }
  58. else
  59. {
  60. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
  61. }
  62. }
  63. return {"type":"form_modification","actions":actions};



Step 3: Configuring the form submit handler

We'll call the create task API in form submit handler. The submit handler typically receives all the inputs filled by the user and will be triggered on form submission. 

  1. response = Map();
  2. formValues = form.get("values");
  3. scopeID = formValues.get("networks").get("value");
  4. boardId = formValues.get("boards").get("value");
  5. sectionId = formValues.get("sections").get("value");
  6. title = formValues.get("title");
  7. priority_value = formValues.get("priority").get("value");
  8. parameters = {"scopeID":scopeID,"boardId":boardId,"sectionId":sectionId,"title":title,"priority":priority_value};
  9. desc = formValues.get("note");
  10. if(desc != "" && !desc.isEmpty())
  11. {
  12. parameters.put("desc",desc);
  13. }
  14. duedate = formValues.get("duedate");
  15. if(duedate != "" && !duedate.isEmpty())
  16. {
  17. duedate = duedate.toList("-");
  18. eyear = duedate.get(0);
  19. emonth = duedate.get(1);
  20. edate = duedate.get(2);
  21. parameters.put("eyear",eyear);
  22. parameters.put("emonth",emonth);
  23. parameters.put("edate",edate);
  24. }
  25. assignee = formValues.get("members");
  26. if(assignee != {} && !assignee.isEmpty())
  27. {
  28. userIds = list();
  29. for each  assgineeID in assignee
  30. {
  31. userIds.add(assgineeID.get("value"));
  32. }
  33. parameters.put("userIds",userIds.toString());
  34. }
  35. addTask = invokeurl
  36. [
  37. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/addTask"
  38. type :POST
  39. parameters:parameters
  40. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  41. ];
  42. if(addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").isEmpty() == false)
  43. {
  44. taskTitle = "[" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("title") + "](" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("url") + ")";
  45. taskpriority = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("priority");
  46. tasksection = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("section").get("name");
  47. taskboard = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("partition").get("name");
  48. response = {"text":"Task added in " + taskboard + ". Take a look at the task details below.","card":{"title":"Task Details","theme":"modern-inline"},"slides":{{"type":"label","title":"Task Details: ","data":{{"Title":taskTitle},{"Priority":taskpriority},{"Section":tasksection},{"Board":taskboard}}}}};
  49. }
  50. return response;






End notes: 

Message actions in Cliq are super versatile like all other Cliq platform components. You can choose to create a message action that's specific to a message type. This example can be customized even to suit messages of the type attachments and links. So go ahead and give it a try! You can download the source code file attached with this post or access this link here: https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/external/6OxchwzzBCF-J8HFH

Useful Links: 
Zoho Connect Rest API Guide: https://www.zoho.com/connect/api/intro.html


    • Sticky Posts

    • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

      Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

    • Accelerate Github code reviews with Zoho Cliq Platform's link handlers

      Code reviews are critical, and they can get buried in conversations or lost when using multiple tools. With the Cliq Platform's link handlers, let's transform shared Github pull request links into interactive, real-time code reviews on channels. Share

    • App Spotlight : PagerDuty for Zoho Cliq

      App Spotlight brings you hand-picked apps to enhance the power of your Zoho apps and tools. Visit the Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations, and extensions. In today's fast-paced world, seizing every moment is essential for operational

    • Automate your status with Cliq Schedulers

      Imagine enjoying your favorite homemade meal during a peaceful lunch break, when suddenly there's a PING! A notification pops up and ruins your moment of zen. Even worse, you might be in a vital product development sprint, only to be derailed by a "quick

    • Bulk user onboarding for Cliq Channels in a jiffy

      As developers, we frequently switch between coding, debugging, and optimizing tasks. The last thing we want is to be burdened by manual user management. Adding users one by one to a channel is tedious and prone to errors, taking up more time than we could

    • Recent Topics

    • Ship via Carrier Not Working Since Commerce Update

      Since the recent update to the Commerce platform, I can no longer use the ship via carrier function. It will take me to the address screen and let me verify them but when I go to save and move tot he next screen it will not do anything. This is happening

    • automations: Can I execute a step on a specific date?

      I have created a form in Zoho forms, and created a contacts list. I have also begun setting up an automation with the intention of sending the form to the contact list on a specific date every month (via email) for the entire year (essentially sending

    • Zoho Expense - The ability to add detail to a Trip during booking

      As an admin, I would like the ability to add more detail to the approved Trips. At present a requestor can add flights, accommodation details and suggest their preferences. It would be great if the exact details of the trip could be added either by the

    • Adding Folders in Android App

      Is it possible to create a new email folder within the Zoho Mail Android app?  Or can this only be done from the desktop version of Zoho Mail? Cheers!

    • Schedule Exports for Regular Project Updates

      Tracking project data often means exporting data at regular intervals. Instead of manually exporting data every time, users can schedule exports for Phases, Tasks, and Tasks in Zoho Projects. These exports can be set to run once, daily, weekly, or monthly

    • Question about custom fields using Pivot Tables.

      I have created a pivot table showing annual revenue of a client and how much payment that client is paying my company. Is there a way using pivot table to add an additional field that subtracts those to fields / shows me a percentage of that difference?

    • Request for Light/Dark Mode

      Would love the ability to switch between Light and Dark mode similar to Zoho CRM. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/introducing-dark-mode-light-mode-a-new-look-for-your-crm

    • Journey Email - Ignored Contacts

      I have a journey setup which simply sends a string of emails over time. For some reason I am getting large amounts of the contacts who enter the first email being ignored and I can't find anywhere in reports or audit logs why these contacts are not

    • Involved account types are not applicable when create journals

      { "journal_date": "2016-01-31", "reference_number": "20160131", "notes": "SimplePay Payroll", "line_items": [{ "account_id": "538624000000035003", "description": "Net Pay", "amount": 26690.09, "debit_or_credit": "credit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000403", "description": "Gross", "amount": 32000, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000427", "description": "CPP", "amount": 1295.64, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000376", "description":

    • Zoho Books - Include Payment Terms as a Custom View filter

      It would be great if you could created a custom view based on Payment Terms. This would be really handy for seeing a list of customers who have credit terms. A workaround is not required. I could do something with a creditor checkbox, but it would be

    • How to update changed purchase account of item in invoice

      I have selected the wrong purchase account for various articles and created invoices. I had to adjust the purchase account in the article afterwards, but the old purchase account is still posted in the transaction-journal of the invoice. To adjust the

    • Help - Zoho CRM notification on mobile (IOS/Android)

      Hello Community! Can I get the IOS/Andoid CRM app to notify me of events, calls, etc. due as I can with MANY other apps?   I am running the free Zoho I would like this to be native to the Zoho CRM app. I do not want to write a sep. mobile app

    • Zoho Books Idea - Include another field in Bank Details for Address

      Hi Books team, Currently use the Description field in the Bank Details to store the bank's address. This works fine but it would be great if you could add another field for Bank Address, so that other notes about the bank account could be stored in the

    • a question about the COQL API v8

      When I specify eight or more values in a WHERE IN clause and execute it, an error occurs. Is there a limit to the number of values that can be specified in a WHERE IN clause? ↓Error select * FROM Vendors WHERE (id in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)) ↓Success

    • Zoho Books Idea - Bank Details Button on Banking

      Hi Books team, Sometimes I'm asked to share bank details with a customer or a colleague. So I go to the Banking Module, find the correct bank account, click Setting > Edit, then copy and paste the bank details. Wouldn't it be great if there was a button

    • JS SDK 8.0 – TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'getCacheStore') with sample code

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I’m integrating the Zoho CRM JavaScript SDK v8.0 and I’m getting the error below when running your official sample. I tested directly from: https://github.com/zoho/zohocrm-javascript-sdk-8.0/blob/main/samples/create_records_sample/create_records.js

    • Function #55: Convert multiple quotes to single SO using Custom Button

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! In Zoho Books, after a quote is accepted by your customer, it can be converted into a sales order or an invoice. Often, a customer might have multiple quotes, and for easier billing or upon the customer's

    • Time based workflow without edit/action

      Hello I need help solving this problem if possible. We have Deals come into the CRM via Live Transfer which have the field properties: Stage = New Channel = Inbound Some of them don't get answered so we want these to automatically go into our Outbound

    • What's New - August 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      Every month, Zoho Backstage grows with you. These updates aren't just features and fixes, they're about making your workday smoother, your events more impactful, and your attendees happier. We’ve listened, learned, and shaped this release to keep things

    • prevent selling expired items

      Hello. I need to make a constraint on expired batch items not to be sold. Is it possible in Zoho Inventory? if so, then how? Thanks for further help.

    • Product details removed during update from other system

      We maintain our product details in an other system. These details are synchronized with Zoho at the end of each day, through an API. This has worked perfectly sofar. But last Monday, all product codes and some other product data have been wiped during

    • Client Customer

      I purchased a customer user license, but we cannot see the project I added in the customer account. I would like to ask for support on what we should do.

    • Add Ability to Use Zoho Finance Tags

      For Zoho Finance (Books and Inventory), the current actions do not allow us to affect the tags associated with the entities in question (customers, vendors, items, etc.). Please consider adding this functionality into the actions.

    • Embeded Signing doesn't work on Safari Browser

      We have implemented Zoho Sign in our website by using embeded signing, It works perfectly on Chrome. But it fails on Safari, We get stuck on Zoho Sign Page during redirection from Zoho Sign to our website after signing the document, Please let us know

    • Dataprep Webhook Limits and Cannot update column with Dataprep

      I have two problems : 1 - I am using Airflow to trigger my pipeline, and when I tested it, it worked fine a couple of times. However, after that, I received an error: {"code":429,"message":"Request rate limited"}. I didn’t send too many requests — maybe

    • New in Zoho Forms: Google reCAPTCHA v3 for smarter spam protection

      Hello form builders, Spam submissions are one of the biggest challenges when you share your forms online. They not only clutter your data but can also waste valuable time. To help you combat this without making life harder for genuine respondents, we’re

    • Project Management Bulletin: August, 2025

      We’ve touched a grand 19 years since we started pioneering project management solutions with Zoho Projects. What started as a simple one-page interface is now a suite of products with Zoho BugTracker, Zoho Sprints, and our new debut Zoho Projects Plus,

    • Zoho Sign and Zoho Workdrive Integration

      Hello, there. I want to know if it's possible to save a signed document from Zoho Sign in an specific folder for each signer in Zoho Workdrive.  For example: If John Doe signs the document in Zoho Sign I want to save it automatically in a folder named

    • How do you list multiple contacts for a lead?

      My sales team wants to be able to add additional contacts for leads, how do we do that? Is there a different way we should be using the lead / contact functionality? Moderation update (9th September 2025): Our developers have built an extension to achieve

    • Modifying Three Dot Menu Options

      Is there a way to modify the three dot menu options that display in a Report header? They currently display: Show As (List, Calendar, Timeline), Print, Import, Export. I'd like to remove the Show As and Print options, since they aren't applicable for

    • Field Not Updating in FSM Script - Service and Parts module.

      Dear Team, I am reaching out regarding a script I have implemented in Zoho FSM to automate the calculation of the End of Service date based on the End of Sale date in the Service and Parts module. Overview of the script: Fetches the End_of_Sale__C and

    • Zadarma + Zoho CRM Integration – Missed Calls Saved as Contacts Instead of Leads

      Hello everyone, I’m looking for input from anyone with experience using the Zadarma + Zoho CRM integration. Currently, I’m seeing that missed calls are automatically being created as Contacts instead of Leads. From a CRM perspective, this doesn’t make

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | September 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From PayNow payment method to applying journal credits to invoices and bills in other locations, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Integrate

    • How to update Multiple Users field in Quote Module from Deal Module

      Scenario : Deal Module having Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) which having more than 1 User and through Deluge Script I need to get that Users Details and need to put into Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) of Quote Module. Note: Both Module

    • Auto-sync field of lookup value

      This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.

    • Clone a Module??

      I am giong to repurpose the Vendors module but would like to have a separate but very similar module for another group of contacts called Buyers. I have already repurposed Contacts to Sellers. Is it possible to clone (make a duplicate) module of Vendors

    • How to change the text in WhatsApp Zobot integrated to Zoho Booking?

      I have integrated Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ, I want to change the text in WhatsApp when creating a booking in Zobot how to change those text?

    • Updating Subform Record from other Form

      Just wanted to ask how to properly approach this. I have 2 forms and would like to trigger an auto update on the subform once record submitted. block below only updates 1 row for each recordRow in input.AV_System { AssetRecord = Site_Asset_Services[SOR_No

    • Zoho Books - Hide Convert to Sales Order if it can't be used.

      Hi Books team, I noticed that it is not possible to convert a Quote to a Sales Order when a Quote is not yet marked as accepted. My idea is to not show the Convert to Sales Order button when it is not possible to use it, or show it in a grey inactive

    • How do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects

      Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapil

    • Next Page