Zoho Desk custom fields let you auto-personalize templates, build powerful autoresponders, and more. They are amazing for saving time. And with ChannelReply, you can pull Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Back Market, Etsy, Newegg, and Shopify data straight into your custom fields.
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How to Get ChannelReply Custom Fields in Zoho Desk
Setup is easy. First, make sure you have integrated Zoho Desk with ChannelReply.
Next, go to your ChannelReply dashboard and click either Helpdesk Settings button.
Open the CUSTOM FIELDS dropdown menu.
You can now generate all our custom fields or just the ones you want.
Option A: Generate All Fields at Once
If you want all our custom fields in your Zoho Desk account, click “Generate Custom Fields in One Click.” This will automatically create all possible custom fields with our default names for each.
Note that this may take a minute or two and no loading animation displays while the fields are generating. A success notification will appear in the upper right of your screen once your fields have been generated and saved.
Option B: Generate Only the Fields You Want
If you don’t want to clutter Zoho Desk with unneeded fields, you can manually type in the name for each field you want instead.
Hit “Enter” or click anywhere outside the box to save your custom field. You’ll see a success notification. A slider will also appear in the “DUPLICATE TO MESSAGE BODY” column, along with a trash icon in the “DELETE” column.
Repeat for all other custom fields you want in Zoho Desk.
Want to learn more about what each custom field and setting does? See “Answers to Common Questions about Custom Fields” to learn more.
How to Use Custom Fields in Zoho Desk
Custom fields can be used in Zoho Desk templates, snippets, workflows, autoresponders, views and reports. Those are just the features we know about—you may find even more possibilities if you dig deeper!
Templates
To start editing a template, click “Setup” (the gear icon in the upper-right of your Zoho Desk screen).
Under “CUSTOMIZATION,” click “Templates.”
Choose any existing template to edit it, or click “Add” > “New Template” to start creating a new one.
Scroll down to the “Message” field and click “Insert Placeholders.”
All your available placeholders will appear on the right—including ChannelReply custom fields. Click on any custom field and it will automatically be entered as a placeholder in your message.
When you enter the template in a ticket, the placeholders will automatically transform into data unique to the customer’s order.
Snippets
Snippets are a little tougher to set up because custom fields don’t appear in the list of available placeholders.
However, they still work! There are two options:
Option A: Copy Placeholders from Templates
If you want to use custom fields in snippets, the easiest option is actually to use the template editor.
First, follow our template instructions above and draft your snippet inside the template’s message field. Write the content of the snippet you want, including all the custom fields you want as placeholders.
Copy the message from your template’s message field. Then open a ticket and hit “Reply” or “Reply all” to open the message editor.
Click the snippet icon and then “Add Snippet” to open the snippet editor.
Finally, copy the message from your template and paste it into the Snippet Description section of the snippet editor. Make sure your snippet has a name with no spaces in it, then click “Save.”
When you preview your snippet or enter it in a ticket, the placeholders will automatically change into order data.
Option B: Create Placeholders Manually
In Zoho Desk, placeholders always follow this format: ${Cases.Field}
For example, ${Cases.First Name} will enter the customer’s first name by default.
To create a placeholder for a ChannelReply custom field, simply replace Field in ${Cases.Field} with the exact title of your custom field. This includes any spaces.
So, if you were working with the custom field Item Title, you would enter the following placeholder:
${Cases.Item Title}
You can find the titles of your custom fields in two places:
- In ChannelReply’s Helpdesk Settings.
- In the Ticket Information sidebar on any Zoho Desk ticket.
Note that you must match the custom field title exactly, including spaces and capitalization. If anything is missing or different, the placeholder won’t work.
Once you’ve created a placeholder, you can enter it in any snippet or template. It will transform into data from the corresponding custom field anytime you enter that snippet/template on a ticket.
Workflows
ChannelReply custom fields will appear in the Criteria options for any Zoho Desk workflow. To get started, go to Setup in Zoho Desk.
Click “Workflows” under “Automation.”
Choose any existing workflow or click “Create Rule” in the upper right.
Regardless of which kind of “Execute On” options you select, you’ll find all your ChannelReply custom fields under “Select Field” in “Criteria.”
You can base your workflows on what any custom field is, isn’t, starts with, ends with, contains, or doesn’t contain, as well as whether the field is empty or not.
This allows for unbelievable customization. For example, you could increase the priority for tickets about certain items. Or, you could trigger different auto-replies based on whether the customer’s order has shipped. It’s all up to you!
Autoresponders
Custom fields take autoresponders to the next level. Not only can they personalize your auto-replies, they can also be set as criteria for whether the autoresponder fires. Since our advanced autoresponder setup uses workflows that send out email templates, you can use them exactly as shown above!
To learn how to set up your autoresponder, see "How to Create a Zoho Autoresponder for Amazon, eBay & More."
Views
Zoho views can show or hide tickets based on custom field data. For example, you can create a view that only shows tickets about a certain SKU, or that excludes tickets where no buyer phone number is available. There are literally hundreds of possible setups!
To use custom fields in an existing view, simply open the view in Zoho Desk. Mouse over its name at the top of the screen and click “Edit” (the pencil icon).
To create a new view instead, click “Views” in the left-hand sidebar, then the plus sign that appears beside it.
Either way, you’ll then be able to select any custom field in the “Select Filter Criteria” dropdown. Get creative and design the filter that works best for you!
Reports
Custom fields can be used in ticket reports. If you want to create a new one, click Analytics and select Reports on the next page.
Next, click "Add Report."
Leave Tickets as the selected module and hit Continue.
Alternatively, you can click Customize on any existing ticket report.
Either way, go to the Columns tab and you’ll see your fields available as report columns.
If you go to the Criteria tab, you’ll also see a “Select field” option that lets you use any custom field to filter tickets in or out of your report.
You can use these to build anything from executive-level reports to simple views for sorting tickets by a custom field.
Answers to Common Questions about Custom Fields
Knowing exactly how custom fields work can help you get much more out of them. Here are the custom field questions we get asked most often:
What Info Appears in Each Custom Field?
You can learn what kind of data appears in each field in “Custom Fields FAQ and Definitions.”
What Does “Duplicate to Message Body” Do?
“Duplicate to Message Body” is a custom field option found in Helpdesk Settings in your ChannelReply account. It is available on any custom field you have generated.
Enabling “Duplicate to Message Body” will cause the contents of the custom field to appear in the customer’s first message in each new ticket.
This is helpful if you want a permanent record of the order data related to each ticket as it appeared at the time the ticket was created. Data in the ChannelReply app and custom fields can change or disappear if enough time passes. Data duplicated to the message body will be available as long as the ticket exists in Zoho Desk.
How Do I Delete a Custom Field?
Clicking the trash can icon next to a field in Helpdesk Settings will delete it.
The trash can will turn a lighter grey and the field’s title, placeholder and API name will be erased.
How Do I Add Back a Deleted Field?
Simply type in a new title for the deleted field.
Hit “Enter” or click anywhere outside the box to save your changes, then wait for the confirmation message to appear.
Where Do Custom Fields Appear on Zoho Desk Tickets?
Open any Zoho Desk ticket. You’ll see your ChannelReply custom fields in the left-hand sidebar, under “Ticket Information.”
When Do ChannelReply Custom Fields Populate/Update in Zoho Desk?
A ticket’s custom fields are populated or updated whenever the following events occur:
- When the ticket is first created.
- Anytime the ChannelReply app is opened and allowed to finish loading in the ticket sidebar.
- Every time you send or receive a message.
This means up-to-date information will almost always be available in custom fields when needed. When writing replies, just be sure to let the ChannelReply app open and load to make certain you have the latest data.
Can I Search for Tickets by Custom Field Contents?
Yes! While data in the ChannelReply app is not searchable, custom fields are. You can use our custom fields to search for Zoho tickets by order ID, tracking ID, eBay username, Amazon ASIN, and much more.
How to Get Help
Having trouble using ChannelReply custom fields in Zoho Desk? Have no fear—our support team is here to help! Contact us and we’ll be happy to assist you.
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