Understand Zoho CRM’s Deal Prediction Mechanism and how to use the Link/Unlink Deal Email APIs compa

Hi All,

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

Emails are a core channel for customer communication in any CRM system. In Zoho CRM, emails can be associated with records across multiple modules.

In this post, we will focus on email associations with the records of the Deals Module. 

Deal Prediction Mechanism

In Zoho CRM, Deal Prediction Mechanism automatically associates emails with the contact's deal.

When an email is received for a Contact:

1. If the contact has only one open deal, the email is linked to that deal.
2. If the contact has multiple open deals, the email is linked to the most recently modified deal, provided the deal is not closed-lost.
3. If there are no valid open deals, the email is not linked to any deal.

While deal prediction simplifies email association, certain scenarios require manual control over how emails are linked to deals.

In such cases you might want to:

1. Correct an incorrect association.
2. Attach an email to a deal that the prediction could not infer.

Zoho CRM provides two focused APIs for this:

1. Link Deal to Emails API.
2. Unlink Deal from Emails API.

These APIs do not create emails — they simply manage associations.

Link Deal to Emails API

The Link Deal to Emails API lets you programmatically attach one or more emails to a specific deal.

Endpoints

POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record

POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/{message_ID}/actions/link_record

Sample request for linking a single email

Request URL

POST

https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000005878180/Emails/b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77/actions/link_record

Input JSON

{     "Emails": [         {             "linked_record": {                 "module": {                     "api_name": "Deals",                     "id": "5843104000000003735"                 },                 "name": "Travel Insurance",                 "id": "5843104000004382122"             },             "owner": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "5843104000000424672"             }         }     ] }

 You can also link a single email by mentioning message id in the request body in the endpoint POST /Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record

Request URL

POST

https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000005878180/Emails/actions/link_record

Input JSON

{     "Emails": [         {             "message_id":   "b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77",            "linked_record": {                 "module": {                     "api_name": "Deals",                     "id": "5843104000000003735"                 },                 "name": "Travel Insurance",                 "id": "5843104000004382122"             },             "owner": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "5843104000000424672"             }         }     ] }

Response

{     "Emails": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "message_id": "b9c24f3b403f8c3b197f2b8ab967c104d597ab1b968e3b8a59437278f4f26f77"             },             "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

Sample request for linking multiple emails

Input JSON

{     "Emails": [         {             "owner": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "5843104000000424672"             },             "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1",             "linked_record": {                 "module": {                     "api_name": "Deals",                     "id": "5843104000000003735"                 },                 "name": "Travel Insurance",                 "id": "5843104000004382122"             }         },         {             "owner": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "5843104000000424672"             },             "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5",             "linked_record": {                 "module": {                     "api_name": "Deals",                     "id": "5843104000000003735"                 },                 "name": "Travel Insurance",                 "id": "5843104000004382122"             }         }     ] }

Response

{     "Emails": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1"             },             "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",             "status": "success"         },         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5"             },             "message": "email has been linked with the deal successfully",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

Keys

1. owner (JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the user whose email you want to link. It consists of the following keys
1. name:  Specify the name of the user whose email you want to link.
2. id: Specify the ID of the user whose email you want to link.
2. message_id (string, mandatory when message_id is not mentioned in the endpoint):  Specify the unique message ID of the email to which the deal will be linked. You can obtain message ID of a record through Get Emails of a Record API. [/crm/[version}/Contacts/{contacts_record_ID}/Emails]  
3. linked_record(JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the Deals record to be linked to the email. It consists of the following mandatory keys
1. module(JSON object, mandatory): Specify the details of the Deals module. It consists of the following keys
1. api_name: Specify the API name of the Deals module.
2. id: Specify the ID of the Deals module.
2. name: Specify the name of the Deals record that the email must be linked to. Refer to the field: Deal_Name in the Get Records API for the Deals record. [/crm/[version}/Deals/{deals_record_ID}]  in the Get Records API.
3. id: Specify the ID of the Deals record that the email must be linked to.
   

Notes 

1. An email can be linked to only one deal at a time.
2. You can link multiple emails in a single request by providing multiple Emails objects in the request body.
3. This API works only with existing email records.

Unlink Deal from Emails API

If an email is linked to the wrong deal through deal prediction or the Link Deal to Emails API, you can use the Unlink Deal from Emails API.

Endpoints

DELETE /Contacts/{contacts_records_ID}/Emails/actions/link_record?owner_id={owner_ID}&message_ids={message_ID1},{message_ID2},..

DELETE /Contacts/{contacts_records_ID}/Emails/{message_id}/actions/link_record?owner_id={owner_ID}

Sample request for unlinking multiple emails

Request URL

DELETE

https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/5843104000000425349/Emails/actions/link_record?owner_id=5843104000000424672&message_ids=8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1,6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5

Response

{     "Emails": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "message_id": "8937fb892cc6f15b95bc22ecb91b6f85e9f60916ef9314d484543df546f09ad1"             },             "message": "email has been unlinked from the deal successfully",             "status": "success"         },         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "message_id": "6622e532084a2c329b44f4d7c58a93bb2f616d21e1e73cc1e9cc71d24ef6b5f5"             },             "message": "email has been unlinked from the deal successfully",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

Mandatory Parameters

1. owner_ID Specify the unique ID of a user whose email you want to unlink. 
2. message_ids Specify the unique message IDs of the emails which you want to unlink. You can obtain message IDs of a record through Get Emails of a Record API.

Example use case

1. Prediction linked an email to deal A.
2. Your business logic determines that the email belongs to deal B.
3. Call the Unlink API.
4. Call the Link API with the correct deal.

Key behavior

1. Unlinking does not delete the email.
2. Email remains visible under the Contact.
3. Only the Deal association is removed.

Link Deal to Emails API v/s Associate Email with a Record API

At first glance, these two APIs may look similar because both are about emails and their record associations. However, they serve different purposes.

The Associate Email with a Record API is used to create and store an email in Zoho CRM and associate it with a record. You must provide the complete email details such as From, To, CC, Subject, Content, attachments, and the original message id. In short, this API is used when the email does not yet exist in Zoho CRM and needs to be logged as a new email record and associated with a records in modules like Leads, Contacts, Deals etc.

On the other hand, the Link Deal to Emails API does not create an email. Instead, it works only with emails that already exist in CRM. It allows you to associate or re-associate a Contact's emails with a Deal. It is primarily used to control which deal an existing email should be linked to.

1. Use Associate Email API when you want to log a new email into CRM and associate it to a record.
2. Use Link/Unlink Deal APIs when you want to manage the Deal association of an existing email.

Key differences

Aspect	Associate Email API	Link Deal APIs
Creates Email Record	Yes	No
Requires email content	Yes	No
Works on existing emails	No	Yes
Purpose	Log emails into CRM and associated to a record	Manage associations between deal and contact's emails.

Zoho CRM’s Deal Prediction Mechanism is designed to reduce manual effort, but APIs give developers the flexibility to handle complex business workflows.

1. Deal Prediction handles the common association scenarios.
2. Link and Unlink APIs provide manual control over Email-Deal associations.
3. Associate Email with a Record API brings external emails into Zoho CRM.

Used together, these features ensure emails are always associated under the right Deal.

We hope that you find this post on Email-Deal Associations useful.

If you have any feedback, please let us know in the comments, or reach out to us via support@zohocrm.com. 

Previous Kaizen Post: Kaizen #228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions| Kaizen Collection: Directory

• Topic Participants

• Mable Mary M P

  

• DJ

• Sticky Posts

• Announcing the new SKILL.md for Zoho CRM and the updated OAS repository!

  We are introducing a new zoho-crm skill to make working with Zoho CRM Developer tools (like APIs, functions, widgets, client scripts, queries etc) easier and faster, with the help of AI in your preferred AI harness like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VSCode

• Kaizen #261 : Using Zoho CRM Skill to generate complex COQL queries

  Hello everyone, In the previous Kaizen posts, we introduced the zoho-crm SKILL.md and discussed how it can help you when you are working with Zoho CRM APIs and Client Script. In this Kaizen, we will focus on using the Zoho CRM `SKILL.md` with GitHub Copilot

• Kaizen #256 - Build an Arrival Readiness Web Tab in Zoho CRM

  Hi everyone! Welcome back to the Kaizen series! In the post, we discuss a use case in hospitality industry: how an Arrival Readiness web tab widget can be used to let reception staff identify and resolve issues before arrival of guests. Use case In the

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Recent Topics

• Notes Acknowledgement

  It would be great to have emojis that can be used for Notes. Emojis such as Thumbs Up to let someone know you agree with them or a emoji for thanks. It's a simple way to acknowledge that you read someone's note. Moderation update: Emoji reactions for

• Is it possible to log text messages from iphone into Zoho CRM

  My team is more and more utilizing text messaging to communicate with clients. Does Zoho have a solution for logging these text messages when clicking "Send Text Message" from the Zoho app. Much like when you call, you get prompted to log a call, can

• Project Finances: Fully Accessible within Projects

  Project finances and work items are now on the same screen and it transforms the way you run your project. Managing your project finances is now much easier and in the same screen as your work items. Access quotes, invoices, bills, sales orders, and purchase

• UI / UX Improvements

  Please consider changing the Dependency Details window from a column-based layout to a list-based layout, or allowing users to choose their preferred layout. The current column-based view uses screen space inefficiently and makes navigation difficult,

• Zoho CRM and Desk sandboxes for testing native integration

  Hello team, We are evaluating the native integration between Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk, We have sandbox instances of both products and want to test the integration there, without any effect on our production CRM or production Desk data. While setting up

• Function #24: Automatically display deal name from Zoho CRM on quotes in Zoho Books

  Deals allow businesses to organize and visualize their sales pipeline. This provides a clear overview of all potential opportunities and helps in making informed decisions. Zoho CRM empowers you to create deals or potentials for your clients and monitor

• Zoho Books | Product updates | August 2026

  Hello users, July has been an exciting month for Zoho Books! This month, we're excited to introduce HTML PDF Templates, Placeholders as Pills, expanded approval workflows for Sales Returns and Journals, and significant compliance updates across the India,

• Auto-Sync Field of Lookup Values When Parent Record Changes

  Hi Zoho Team, Currently, when you use a "Field of Lookup" in Zoho CRM, the value is captured as a snapshot at the time the lookup is set. If the parent record is later updated, the Field of Lookup value on the child record does NOT update and stays stale.

• [Request] Pivot filter date option : from set date to relative value ie from 01Jan to LastMonth

  I don't think I can currently do this... but it's worth asking if it's possible. My use case is concerning annual leave which is calculated from the beginning of the calendar year (01Jan) then each month I want to have details of leave taken etc... In

• Customer Statement Showing Incorrect Negative Balance Due to Unused Advance

  Dear Zoho Support Team, We are facing an issue with the Customer Statement in Zoho Invoice related to customer advances/mobilization advances. The issue is that when a customer has made an advance payment that has not yet been fully utilized against invoices,

• Mois de la sensibilisation à la cybersécurité 2026 : faites de la sécurité un réflexe avec Zoho

  Imaginez : vos systèmes informatiques répondent aux normes de sécurité en vigueur et votre entreprise est assurée contre les cyberattaques. Pourtant, un matin, tout bascule. Vos données sont chiffrées et un message glaçant s’affiche à l’écran : « Si vous

• Specifying time increments on a Date/Time field

  Hi all, Im using a Date/Time field in my CRM module. At the moment the increments are 30 minutes. How can I change these to be 15 minutes? Thanks

• What's new in Zoho Workplace | August 2026

  Hello Zoho Workplace community! Here's a roundup of all the new features and announcements that went live across Zoho Workplace applications in August. Zoho Mail Zoho Mail is now available in AWS Marketplace! AWS Marketplace users can access and subscribe

• What's new in Zoho Social - Q3 recap

  Hello everyone, We've rolled out a bunch of exciting updates in Q3, and we're thrilled to walk you through them. Here's a quick look at everything we released in July, August, and September to help you experiment with content, automate engagement workflows,

• Zoho Books | Product updates | October 2026

  Hello users, October brings a range of new features and enhancements to Zoho Books, designed to simplify compliance, streamline accounting workflows, and improve inventory management. From the launch of the Nigeria Edition and France’s e-invoicing capabilities

• The Social Wall: September 2026

  Hello everyone! This month, we’re bringing Snapchat to Zoho Social. You can now connect your Snapchat account and manage your content alongside your other social channels. Whether you want to reach a wider audience through Spotlights or share quick updates

• Turning off the recorded welcome in Zoho Webinar

  Is there a way to turn off the recorded voice that comes up at the beginning of every webinar session? It devalues the experience for attendees from feedback, interrupting their connection with our brand and delaying webinar start unnecessarily.

• Option to Disable Knowledge Base Section in Feedback Widget Popup Hello Zoho Desk Team

  Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are actively using Zoho Desk and would like to make more use of the Feedback Widget. One of the ways we implement it is through the popup option. At the moment, the popup always displays the Knowledge Base section,

• Outgoing Mail Blocked – Suspicious Login Activity (Need Clarification and Solution)

  Hello, I’m currently facing an issue where my Zoho Mail account has been blocked due to “suspicious login activity,” and outgoing emails are restricted. Here are the details shown: Block type: Outgoing mail blocked Reason: Suspicious login activity A

• Account Blocked due to Suspicious Activity.

  Hello, Trying to get access to my account, I have found this message above in the subject of this message. I am unable to log back to my account (see err. mess. below.) and thus cannot get rif of this following the Zoho procedure : I followed the step

• Zoho Recruit mailserver get blocked by Microsoft!

  Hi, We have experienced this issue twice now, where Zoho Recruit outbound IP addresses are being blocked by Microsoft. We are confident that Microsoft is the blocking party, as all outbound emails to candidates with @hotmail.com, @live.com, and @outlook.com

• Owner's Draw

  Example: I have a charge account at ABC Company. During the month I charge one $50 item for my business. I also pick up a $20 item for personal use. At the end of the month, I receive a statement with a balance due of $70 and I want to PAY THE ENTIRE

• Months of WooCommerce–Zoho Inventory sync failures and repeated support requests – has anyone experienced this?

  Months of WooCommerce–Zoho Inventory sync failures and repeated support requests – has anyone experienced this? I run a small retail business using WooCommerce and Zoho One. For months, I have been trying to resolve recurring synchronisation failures

• Name autocomplete

  Hi, During searching emails the web tool does not always propose the auto-completion of the saved emails. As a result I either have to go to contacts and look up the exact email, or the exact full name including the middle name and any dots, which is

• View Cannot Use UPC as Criteria

  When creating a new custom view, the UPC field is not available as a criterion for the view. This seems strange, because both ISBN and EAN are available in the dropdown. Because of this, I feel like the situation is possibly an oversight rather than by

• What are the best practices for managing tax records and financial information for a small business?

  I’m interested in learning how other small business owners and accounting professionals organize their financial records and prepare for tax filing. With bookkeeping, expense tracking, income records, and tax documents all needing to stay accurate, having

• Automating CRM backup storage?

  Hi there, We've recently set up automatic backups for our Zoho CRM account. We were hoping that the backup functionality would not require any manual work on our end, but it seems that we are always required to download the backups ourselves, store them,

• not able to convert pdf to jpg and other forms and vice versa.

  i want to change my pdf to jpg, word, etc and some times jpg to pdf. i don't know how to do in this.

• How Can I Collect Payments for Credit Sales Directly from Zoho POS Billing App?

  We are currently testing Zoho POS for a retail business and have encountered an issue with collecting payments on outstanding invoices from customers who purchase on credit. When we process a Credit Sale, Zoho POS correctly creates an Unpaid Invoice.

• Indeed has retired Organic (Free) job posting support for Staffing Agency edition users

  Dear Zoho Recruit Users, Due to a policy change by Indeed, Organic Job Posting support for staffing agencies is no longer be available in all regions, except Japan. Keep in mind that Corporate HR edition accounts will not be impacted by this change in

• Changing an existing item to different accounts & inventory-tracked

  Hi everyone, I have an item in Zoho Books that was originally set up as a non-inventory item. Over time, I associated it with different sales and purchase accounts, and I now have many invoices, bills, and reports that use this item. My business process

• Create a single record from multiple images with ICR

  Hello all, Zia's Intelligent Character Recognition can now create a single record from multiple images based on the configured ICR rule. Users can upload up to three images at once, such as an ID, a passport, and a business card, and Zia will extract

• Online Payment Fees

  We don't take many online credit card payments so the merchant service provider (PayPal) charges us the 2.9% fee for processing the amount. I would like the ability for the fee to be automatically added to the total amount for "ease of payment". We'd

• Lookups and Custom Modules

  I created a Custom Module that I'm calling "Item Purchasing Group". This module will store information for groups of Items that must be purchased together (including minimum overall quantities and/or values, etc.). This will have a one-to-many relationship

• Why is it so hard to get a fiscal YTD P&L report in Zoho Books?

  Yes I know that it could be done in Zoho Analytics, but I would have expected this default report view to be easily accessible in the list of Books accounting reports. Just like any other basic accounting system, I'm looking for monthly columns of the

• Button or Links order

  Is there a way to re-order the buttons or links that are created? Moderation Update: With our recent enhancement to custom button creation from the layout editor, administrators can now reorder custom buttons directly from the layout editor, and this

• Grok Bot integrations ASAP

  Grok Bot integration is critical. Please hurry. Zoho Books, CRM, all of it needed right away.

• Bulk updating tags

  My organisation handles a number of restricted funds. We previously did this by having a chart of accounts where each restricted fund has its own income and expense accounts. However, our accountant changed this, moving all transactions into accounts

• Zoho Writer Label Template Merge/Print Via API/Webhook/Flow

  Short version of goal: To be able to kick off a Zoho Writer Label Template Document via API or Webhook or even using Zoho Flow. As of right now I have been unable to figure out a way to do that. Long version of goal: We would like to press a button (run

• Generate a Zoho Sign link

  From time to time I get a response "I never received your you e-document for electronic signature" is there a way to generate a Zoho Sign link to share.

• Next Page