Create Custom Connections in Zoho Books
- siteadmin
- Difficulty: N/A
- Estimated reading time: 15 mins
Zoho Books Custom Connections
Tutorial for creating custom connections in Zoho Books—part of The Workflow Academy Zoho training and education series.
Weirdly enough, Zoho Books does not have a default Connection for using Zoho APIs. Also to note, the Zoho APIs have more capabilites than the standard Deluge functions.
For example’s sake let’s walk through how to connect to the Zoho Books API in…Zoho Books. So meta, right? Actually we can use this same process for all Zoho APIs that use OAuth 2.0:
- Zoho Books
- Zoho CRM
- Zoho Desk
- Zoho Projects
- Zoho Invoice
- Zoho Inventory
- Zoho Sign
- and then some…
Tutorial
Create API Credentials:
Connecting to an external REST API:
It is very common to want to import data from another software provider. Before you make a Custom Connection in Books, make sure you have taken a look at the list of ready-to-go connections.
You will need to generate some authentication credentials from your API. This tutorial assumes this API will be using OAuth 2.0. If the API does not use OAuth 2.0, reach out to us at https://theworkflowacademy.com/get-help/ and we may be able to help.
IMPORTANT: When creating a Custom Connection in Zoho Books or CRM, you must register the following URL as an approved Redirect URI:
https://deluge.zoho.com/delugeauth/callback
Zoho Books will use this when completing the OAuth 2.0 workflow.
Connecting to a Zoho REST API:
It’s very easy to register our “app” with Zoho to get OAuth 2.0 permissions:
- Go to the Zoho API Console
- Click Add Client and select Server-based Applications
- Fill in the following fields:
- Client Name ->
Zoho Books API - Homepage URL ->
https://books.zoho.com - Authorized Redirect URIs ->
https://deluge.zoho.com/delugeauth/callback
- Client Name ->
- Click Update
- Notice the Client ID and Client Secret here. You will need these in the next step, so keep this tab open.
Want to learn even more?
Sign up for one of our Zoho courses!
Create Custom Connection
Now, we’re going to actually create the Connection in Zoho Books.
- Visit Zoho Books
- Click Settings > Automation > Custom Functions
- Select + New Custom Function and give it a random name and module. We will only use this function for a simple test.
- Choose Connections on the right hand side, then Go To Connections.
- Click Add Connection. Choose Custom Service.
- Fill in the following fields (This has to be very exact):
- Service Name ->
Zoho Books - Service LinkName ->
zoho_books - Authentication Type ->
oAuth2 - Param Type ->
Header - Grant Type ->
Authorization Code - Client ID ->
[YOUR_CLIENT_ID] - Client Secret ->
[YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET] - Authorize URL ->
https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/auth? - Access Token URL ->
https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token? - Refresh Token URL ->
https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token? - Connection Name ->
Zoho Books - Connection LinkName ->
zoho_books - Scope ->
ZohoBooks.fullaccess.allor [YOUR_SCOPE_HERE] (Note: Be sure to click the ‘+’ to add the scope. You can also add multiple scopes.) - Use credentials of login user ->
UNCHECKED
- Service Name ->
- Click Create and Connect. If asked to authenticate, enter your login details.
This should have created the connection. If it was unable to connection, please verify you data inputs. If you continue to face issues, please reach out to us at https://theworkflowacademy.com/get-help/.
Happy workflowing!
Click here to copy these scripts. For more Zoho-wizardry, check out our GitHub page.
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