Custom Function to Format Phone / Mobile numbers in Australian Standard format

Custom Function to Format Phone / Mobile numbers in Australian Standard format

So I got sick of phone numbers being formatted incorrectly and Zoho not doing anything to standardise phone numbers to meet E.164 formats. So I went and coded my own function to fix this.
And figured I'd share with the community

This is specifically for Australian numbers. 

The CF will take all mobile, local landline, 1800 & 1300 numbers and format them into the format we are used to in Australia.
It will also add the country code +61 to the prefix so you can call directly from the CRM.

It works with all 10 digit numbers (0400 000 000 or 03 9000 0000)
And with all 9 digit numbers (400 000 000 or 3 9000 0000)
IE works with both the starting 0 or without the starting 0 (ie 03 9000 1111 or 3 9000 1111)


The numbers will be formatted as below

All mobile numbers    0400111222 --> +61 400 111 222
                                       400111222 --> +61 400 111 222
All local numbers        0390001111 --> +61 3 9000 1111
                                       390001111 --> +61 3 9000 1111
1800 numbers            1800111222 --> +61 1800 111 222
1300 numbers            1300111222 --> +61 1300 111 222

For the local numbers it will work with all states area codes (02, 03, 07, 08)

Anything that isn't the above will be ignored and stay the way it was. IE 131122 will stay like that
As will any numbers that aren't 9 or 10 digits long. (ie +61400111222 wont be formatted with spaces)

**NB I may do a V2 to format numbers that are +61 already but not planning that for a while.

This function is specifically for the Leads module.
It is Phone/Mobile Field agnostic. In that it will take whatever value is in the Phone Field, format it return it to the Phone Field. and what ever is in the Mobile Field, format and return it to Mobile Field.

I did this specifically as we use Phone to be the contacts Primary contact number and Mobile to be their Secondary contact Number.

It should be pretty easy to adapt to Contacts Module or any other module. You only need to change line 1 & 211.


Setting up with Workflow and Triggering the Function:
This applies for CRM
  1. Go to Setup --> Automation --> Workflow Rules --> Create Rule --> Under Module, select Leads --> Give a Rule name and Description (ie Format Phone Numbers Australia) --> Next
  2. When = Select "On a Record action" --> "Create or Edit" --> Next
  3. Condition = In Conditions, choose "All Leads" --> Next.
  4. Instant Actions --> Function --> New Function --> Write your own --> Add a Function name (ie Format_Phone_Numbers_Au), Display Name (ie Format Phone Numbers Australia), Description --> Create
  5. Copy paste the code from below and proceed to save the code.
  6. "Edit the Arguments" --> Key is id, in Param Value type # and choose your fields (ie Leads and Lead Id) the end result should read id = Leads - Lead Id --> Save
  7. Save the Function 
  8. Save the Workflow.


NOTE: there is probably a better more efficient way of achieving this.
So if anyone know a better way to code the above I'd love to hear.

EDIT: I had to upload the code separately due to restrictions in the post lengths.

EDIT 2: now updated to work with brackets (03) 9000 1111 and hyphens 0400-000-000

EDIT 3: updated to work with the country code already added but no + ie 61400111222  


The number formatting will work with the following

All mobile numbers    --> +61 400 111 222
  1. 0400 111 222
  2. 400111222
  3. 0400-111-222
  4. 61400111222
All local numbers  --> +61 3 9000 1111
(works with 02, 03, 07, 08) 
  1. 0390001111                  
  2. 390001111
  3. (03) 9000 1111
  4. (03) 9000-1111
1800 numbers  --> +61 1800 111 222
  1. 1800111222
  2. 1800 111 222
1300 numbers  --> +61 1300 111 222
  1. 1300111222 
  2. 1300 111 222 
​
​
EDIT: May 2025

Theres been some requests about cleaning up existing phone numbers for leads/contacts.

To do this there are a few steps to do.

Step 1 - create a new Custom Function called "Format Phone Numbers Au - mass update"
(or what ever you want to name it)

Use the same code as the single run fuction and add a recurring "loop" section to the start of the code, and a small closing at the end.
The way I have it setup is to use the following opening code before Line 1. 
Line 6 of the below code replaces Line 1 in the full code.

  1. string button.Format_Phone_Numbers_Au_mass_update(String leadIDs)
  2. {
  3. idList = leadIDs.toList("|||");
  4. for each  rec in idList
  5. {
  6. a = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Leads",rec);

Then to close the function replace the final Map (line 208-213) with the following

  1. }
  2. mp = Map();
  3. mp.put("Phone",nph);
  4. mp.put("Mobile",nmob);
  5. update = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Leads",rec,mp);
  6. info mp;
  7. info update;
  8. }
  9. return "Success";
  10. }

This new function will take your selected list of Leads and then "for each Record in the idList will run the function"

Step 2 - Create a Mass Update Button in the List view of the Leads/Contacts Module

Go to Settings > Customizations > Modules and Fields > [Module Tab} > Leads
Then go the the Buttons tab > Create New Botton

Button Name: Phone Numbers Mass Update
Define action: Function
Select Page: In List
Select Position: Mass Action Menu  (preview to see where the botton will be placed)
Configured Function: Select the function you created in the above step

Doing the above will create a new botton in the main list view for the Module. 
To use the button you need to select the entries you want to run the function then click the button.

Step 3 - Create a custom View for your Leads/Contacts so that you have less than 1000 

Zoho CRM Limits mass update functions to run for max of 1000 entries at a time. So if you have 10,000's leads you need to figure out how to narrow your view down to less than 1000 entries.

One way is to create a View with specific criteria like 
Email starts with A - this will show all leads with email address beginning with A
If this is still more than 1000 then figure out how to reduce it further to less than 1000

Step 4 - Select all records
Select the check box of the view at the top of the Column. This will select all records in the current window.
Windows are limted to 100 records, so you need to select all 1000 
You will then see a Blue text option to "Select All records in this view". Click this and all records will be selected.
If you have more than 1000 records in the view you wont be able to do the following step so make sure you've limited the view.

Step 5 - click the Mass Update button

Click the Mass Update Button you created above in Step 2. This will run the fuction for all the entries.
It'll take some time and entries will be added to the execution que. If you are interested you can check the api usage to make sure you keep your usage under the daily limit.

Step 6 - Figure out how to vary your list View for the next batch

Rinse and repeat Step 3-5. 
Figure out how to change the View so you see the next 1000 batch but exclude the ones you have already done.

Step 7 - Finish

Make sure you remove the Button you created in Step 2, otherwise someone will definitily run it in future when you dont want them to.


    • Recent Topics

    • Not able to item an item to non taxable via api, despite sending is_taxable as false

      Hi everyone, I'm trying to update an item via books api and even when sending is_taxable as false, the item still shows Taxable in zoho, I get no errors as well when I update, any help appreciated in this!

    • Collection & Payment Mapping Automation

      We book Sales Invoices and Purchase Invoices against Same Projects. Both Sales Invoices & Purchase Invoices can have one or multiple Projects mentioning the Project ID. We prefer to Make vendor Payments Once we have received The Collections from Clients

    • Nested Sub-forms (Subform within subform)

      Hi Team, Whether there is any possibilities to add sub-form with in another sub-form like Main Form       -> Sub form A             ->Sub form B If we tried this, only one level of sub form only working.  Any one having any idea about this? Thanks Selvamuthukumar R

    • Restore Trashed Records Anytime Within 30 Days

      Access the recycle bin from the Data Administration tab under the settings page in Zoho Projects, which gives better control over the trashed data. When records like projects, phases, task lists, tasks, issues, or project templates are trashed, they are

    • Avoiding Inventory Duplication When Creating Bills for Previously Added Stock

      I had created several items in Zoho Books and manually added their initial stock at the time of item creation. However, I did not record the purchase cost against those items during that process. Now, I would like to create Purchase Orders and convert

    • Applying EUR Payments to USD Invoices in Zoho Books

      Hello, I have a customer to whom I issue invoices in USD. However, this customer makes payments in both EUR and USD. I have already enabled the multi-currency feature in Zoho Books Elite, but I am facing an issue: When the customer makes a payment in

    • How to prevent users from editing mail merge templates from Zoho crm

      We want users to use public mail merge templates. They should not be able to edit templates but only preview data merge and send emails. We did prohibit "manage mail merge template" in the user profile. But they can still edit the template in the zoho

    • Customer Addresses cannot be edited/deleted in invoices

      In the invoices we have an option to change the customer address and add a new address Now I dont know why for some reason if we add an address through this field, the address doesn't appear in the customer module We cannot delete the addresses added

    • Custom Fields connected to Invoices, Customers, Quotes, CRM

      I created the exact same custom fields in Books: Invoices, Customer, Quotes, and in CRM but they don't seem to have a relationship to one another. How do I connect these fields so that the data is mapped across transactions?

    • 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

    • Heads up: We're going to update the VAT Summary table's visibility (UK and Germany Editions)

      Hello users, Note: This change only applies to organisations using the UK and Germany editions of Zoho Books. Currently, if you've enabled the VAT Summary table in a template, it will be displayed only in PDFs sent to your customers whose default currency

    • Partial payment invoicing

      Greetings I have questions related to payments and retainer invoices: 1. When I want to issue a partial payment invoice, I can't specify the portion to be paid or already paid, then balance to be shown as Due. 2. Retainer invoice is only available as

    • Inputting VAT Pre-Registration expenses for first VAT Return

      Hi Zoho, I've just registered for VAT and am setting up Zoho to handle calculations and VAT return submissions. I'm struggling to figure out how to input the last 4 years worth of expenses into Zoho so that they're calculated in the VAT module. When I

    • Anyone else experiencing very slow loading of pages in Zoho Projects?

      I reported this yesterday only to be told there are no issues but is anyone else experiencing stupidly slow loading of pages. On our loading screen, it is taking often as long as 60 seconds to load a page and just stays on this screen for ages! Other

    • Zoho Desk Lookup Field Reporting

      Thank you for adding the ability to add additional lookup fields for desk tickets. My question is how do you report against these fields? For example: Associating related accounts to the primary desk ticket account, I am not able to add the lookup fields

    • Integrating asana will cause notification messages to pop up continuously

      When I create or edit a task in Asana, the Asana bot keeps updating messages to group chat, which causes the cliq to keep popping up notifications.

    • Entire notebook that had notes has disappeared

      I don't know how tf this happened. All I did was uninstall and reinstall the mobile app after fixing a bug I had. After I reinstalled the app, everything was synced back except for one folder which had a bunch of notes in it. None of those notes are in

    • My site has disappeared from web builder

      www.mproperties.uk My site above is still working. However it has completely disappeared from my Zoho sites' web builder. I am therefore unable to edit my site whatsoever. Please help.

    • Trying to trigger email notification based on rollup summary field

      Hi there, I'm trying to trigger an email notification via Workflow Rules wherever the rollup summary field "Total Shipments" goes from empty to not empty. However this field is not available from the picklist of options in the Workflow rule. Can anyone

    • zia data enrichment - switch to webamigo Extension

      Hello, I have so far used data enrichment via Zia. Now I have installed the Webamigo extension to expand personal data. Unfortunately, nothing has changed after the installation; are there any additional steps needed to switch from the previous method

    • Export Timeline

      With the new Timeline features, it would be really helpful to have the option to export a timeline. When handling customer complaints, having the full breakdown of everything that happens on a module is great but we usually have to send this to another

    • Interactions Tab in Zoho CRM: A 360° Omnichannel View of Every Customer Touchpoint

      Hello Everyone, Hope you are well! We are here today with yet another announcement in our series for the revamped Zoho CRM. Today, we introduce Interactions Tab a new way to view all customer interactions from one place inside your CRM account. Customers

    • How to resubscribe a contact marked as "Unsubscribed (Marked by Recipient)" without using a form?

      Hello, I have a question regarding Zoho Marketing Automation functionality. Is there a way for an administrator to change the subscription status of a contact marked as "Unsubscribed (Marked by Recipient)" back to "Subscribed" without using a form? Ideally,

    • Linkedin: when Zoho Social is going serious with it?

      Hi, it's been said in the past that Linkedin related features in Zoho Social were well behind those of other social networks because of limitations imposed by the platform. Now that we see around my tools (take taplio.com) frankly outpacing ZSocial on

    • 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(7/24)

      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。 7月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 2ヶ月ぶりに、渋谷にて「リアル開催」します！ ▷▷詳細はこちら：https://www.zohomeetups.com/20250724Zoho ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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「Zoho ワークアウト」を開催します。 Zoho サービスで完了させたい設定やカスタマイズ、環境の整備など……各自で決めた目標達成に向け、

    • How to get fields centered in a form?

      Is it possible to center fields in a form? Some of my forms do some don't and it is really not aestheticly pleasing?  Any help would be greatly appricated. Thanks, Michael McNeill 

    • Webhooks and Integration

      Hey, I was looking to create automation using webhooks or something equivalent of a trigger based mechanism, to connect it as an integration. But I don't find any relevant APIs to setup these webhooks/notifcations for the "Zoho Books". Can anyone please

    • Zoho Books X Zoho Expense

      Hello there, Please can you tell me if it is possible to sync from Books to Expense? I much prefer the Expense reports to that of Books and the Credit Card feeds work via expense and not Books for me. However I find books is much better to deal with the

    • ABILITY TO LOG INTO CUSTOMER PORTAL

      I think it would be very helpful to have a button in Zoho Books to be able to see the customer portal so we can see what they see to help them navigate through the portal. Many times, the customer will call about the portal, but without visibility into

    • Sort, filter & save views for BOOKS PROJECTS

      Thanks for all the updates. Our firm uses the module for simple internal project accountancy. This means we do everything from the Projects Section but this isn't user friendly at all. You can't do anything with customized your own fields which basically

    • edit input format in custom field - sales order

      hi, I want to integrate a custom field (multi line text box) in our sales order. It needs to show upper case and lower case letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and "/". What do I need to put in the custom format to configure these signs? Thanks, Tina

    • This transaction type cannot be matched with a line on the statement.

      When using the books API https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/banktransactions/uncategorized/${transaction.transaction_id}/match I get this error "This transaction type cannot be matched with a line on the statement." What I'm doing is for the uncategorized

    • Timesheets

      I wanted to create the timesheets remainder for our team mates who miss out the weekly timesheet entries. While creating the email templates, I couldn't see anything related to timesheets. Since it shows projects Can you help me find and build a one

    • Can we embed a Kanban Type of report using iframe too?

      I tried embedding a report as iFrame but it only appear as List View. It would be helpful if can also embed a Kanban Type of report.

    • Weekly Tips : Save Time with Saved Search

      Let's assume your work requires you to regularly check emails from important clients that have attachments and were sent within a specific time period. Instead of entering the same conditions every time—like sender, date range, and attachments included—you

    • Hidden Fields with Data Pre-Population and Notification Integration in Zoho Bookings Forms

      Dear Zoho Bookings Support Team, We'd like to propose a feature enhancement for Zoho Bookings forms that would improve data management and workflow efficiency: the ability to create hidden fields with pre-populated data. Current Functionality: Zoho Bookings

    • Tip #37 – How to ensure compliance and accountability using Advanced Session Audit – ‘Insider Insights’

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! This week we will be discussing how to strengthen your remote support operations with better visibility and control. Let’s say your support team handles a growing number of remote sessions each day. At the end of the week,

    • Replace an existing zoho show file with an uploaded one.

      For Zoho WorkDrive Upload API method, I have override-name-exist option, which I can use like this: curl https://www.zohoapis.eu/workdrive/api/v1/upload \ -F "filename=mypres.pptx" \ -F "parent_id=j3tzq1ae09c0cd91540df8d01670af05b657e" \ -F "override-name-exist=true"

    • Tip of the Week #66– Use internal comments to collaborate and resolve issues faster!

      Ever found yourself stuck on a customer query because you needed inputs from your teammate? Or sent a reply too soon and realized later that someone else on your team had a better context? When you rely on back-and-forth messages in external chats or

    • Using Zoho One to manage two (or more) businesses

      We are one company that operates two business, a scenario that Zoho One doesn't really seem to handle very well, and one which I can't imagine is at all unique to us! (It is basically designed to facilitate branding and use for one business only per subscription).

    • Next Page