Insert or Update Records (Upsert)

Purpose

To insert or update a record. The system checks for duplicate records based on the duplicate check field's values. If the record is already present, it gets updated. If not, the record is inserted.

Request Details

Request URL

{api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module_api_name}/upsert

Supported modules

Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Deals, Campaigns, Cases, Solutions, Products, Vendors, Price Books, Quotes, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Invoices, Appointments, Appointments Rescheduled History, Services and Custom

Header

Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken d92d4xxxxxxxxxxxxx15f52

If-Unmodified-Since: 2024-01-15T15:26:49+05:30

Scope

scope=ZohoCRM.modules.ALL
(or)
scope=ZohoCRM.modules.{module_name}.{operation_type}

Possible module names

leads, accounts, contacts, deals, campaigns, cases, solutions, products, vendors, pricebooks, quotes, salesorders, purchaseorders, invoices, appointments, appointments_rescheduled_history, services and custom.

Possible operation types

ALL - Full access to the record
WRITE - Edit records in the module
CREATE - Create records in the module

Sample Request

Copiedcurl "https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v6/Leads/upsert"
-H "Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.8cb99dxxxxxxxxxxxxx9be93.9b8xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf"
-d "@upsertlead.json"
-X POST
CopiedSyntax:
<response> = zoho.crm.upsert(<module>,<values>,<optional_data>,<[connection>]);
mandatory : module,dataMap

Sample Request:
resp = zoho.crm.upsert("Leads", {"Last_Name":"Patricia upsert UF2", "UF":"p.boyle@zylker.com", "Email":"d.grogan@zylker.com"}, {"duplicate_check_fields":["UF" , "Email"]});

In the request, "@upsertlead.json" contains the sample input data.

Note

  • The system checks for duplicate records based on the duplicate check field's values. There are two types of duplicate check fields:
    • The system-defined duplicate check fields - Certain system-generated fields are marked as unique, by default. When you upsert a record, the system checks for duplicate entries in these fields. Refer to System-defined Duplicate Check Fields section below to know the module-wise system-defined duplicate check fields.
    • The user-defined unique fields - The fields for which "Do not allow duplicate values" is enabled. Click here to know more.
  • You can set the order in which the system checks for duplicate records by specifying the duplicate_check_field array in the input. Note that you can add only system-defined duplicate check fields and user-defined unique fields to the duplicate_check_field array.

    Example for the Leads module:

    "duplicate_check_fields": [
    "Email",
    "Phone",
    "Fax"
    ]

    Here, "Email" is the system-defined duplicate check field, and "Phone" and "Fax" are the user-defined unique fields for the Leads module.

  • If you do not specify the duplicate_check_fields, the system checks for duplicate records in this order: system-defined duplicate check fields > user-defined unique fields..
  • The 'INVALID_DATA' error is thrown if the field value length exceeds the maximum length defined for that field.
  • If an API is used inside a Function and the field value length exceeds the limit, then that function receives an error response from the API. For ex: If the max length for a "Text field" is defined as 10, then value given for it in API cannot be "12345678901", since it has 11 characters.
  • A maximum of 100 records can be inserted/updated per API call.
  • You must use only Field API names in the input. You can obtain the field API names from
    • Fields metadata API (the value for the key “api_name” for every field). (Or)
    • Setup > Developer Hub > APIs and SDKs > API Names > {Module}. Choose “Fields” from the “Filter By” drop-down.
  • The trigger input can be workflow, approval, or blueprint. If the trigger is not mentioned, the workflows, approvals and blueprints related to the API will get executed. Enter the trigger value as [] to not execute the workflows.
  • Records with Subform details can also be updated to CRM using the Records API. Please look at Subforms API to learn more about updating subform information within a record.
  • Refer to Get Records API to know more about field types and limits.
  • The $append_values key represents whether you want to append the values of the multi-select picklist you specified in the input to the existing values. Specify the API names of the multi-select picklists and "true" or "false" as key-value pairs in this JSON object. The value "true" adds the values in the input to the multi-select picklist, while the value "false" replaces the existing values with the ones in the input.
  • You must provide the layout ID field if you want to
    • include the layout specific mandatory fields in the API-level mandatory check
    • include only the fields that are defined in your layout for API- level processing and ignore the rest

System-defined Duplicate Check Fields

Following are the default duplicate check fields for different modules.
Leads - Email, Accounts - Account_Name, Contacts - Email, Deals - Deal_Name, Campaigns - Campaign_Name, Cases - Subject, Solutions - Solution_Title, Products - Product_Name, Vendors - Vendor_Name, PriceBooks - Price_Book_Name, Quotes - Subject, SalesOrders - Subject, PurchaseOrders - Subject, Invoices - Subject, CustomModules - Name

To know the specific details about each field type in Zoho CRM and their limitations, refer to Sample Attributes section in Insert Records API.

How does the duplicate check work?

Consider a case where the user has configured two unique fields unique1 and unique2 for a module (user-defined unique fields), and Email is a system-defined unique field.
The following table explains how the duplicate check happens for different user inputs to the duplicate_check_fields array.

User Input to the "duplicate_check_fields" ArrayDuplicate Check Pattern
unique1unique1, unique2
unique2unique2, unique1
unique1, unique2unique1, unique2
EmailEmail, unique1, unique2
No inputSystem-defined duplicate check field for that module followed by unique fields. That is, Email, unique1, unique2

If you do not specify system-defined duplicate check fields in the array, the system will ignore them and check only for user-defined unique fields.

Sample Input

Copied{
  "data": [
    {
      "Last_Name": "Lead_changed",
      "Email": "newcrmapi@zoho.com",
      "Company": "abc",
      "Lead_Status": "Contacted",
      "Foreign_Languages": [//multi-select picklist
        "Korean"
      ],
      "$append_values": {
        "Foreign_Languages": false
      }
    },
    {
      "Last_Name": "New Lead",
      "First_Name": "CRM Lead",
      "Email": "newlead@zoho.com",
      "Lead_Status": "Attempted to Contact",
      "Mobile": "7685635434",
      "Foreign_Languages": [//multi-select picklist
        "Korean", "Spanish"
      ],
      "$append_values": {
        "Foreign_Languages": true
      }
    }
  ],
  "duplicate_check_fields": [
    "Email",
    "Mobile"
  ],
  "trigger": [
    "workflow"
  ]
}

Possible Errors

  • INVALID_MODULEHTTP 400

    The module name given seems to be invalid
    Resolution: You have specified an invalid module name or there is no tab permission, or the module could have been removed from the available modules. Specify a valid module API name.

  • INVALID_MODULEHTTP 400

    The given module is not supported in API
    Resolution: The modules such as Documents and Projects are not supported in the current API. (This error will not be shown, once these modules are been supported). Specify a valid module API name.

  • INVALID_DATAHTTP 400

    invalid data
    Resolution: The input specified is incorrect. Specify valid input.

  • INVALID_URL_PATTERNHTTP 404

    Please check if the URL trying to access is a correct one
    Resolution: The request URL specified is incorrect. Specify a valid request URL. Refer to request URL section above.

  • OAUTH_SCOPE_MISMATCHHTTP 401

    Unauthorized
    Resolution: Client does not have ZohoCRM.modules.{module_name}.WRITE/ZohoCRM.modules.{module_name}.CREATE scope. Create a new client with valid scope. Refer to scope section above.

  • NO_PERMISSIONHTTP 403

    Permission denied to upsert
    Resolution: The user does not have permission to upsert records. Contact your system administrator.

  • ALREADY_MODIFIEDHTTP 412

    Record updated time has already passed if-unmodified-since time 
    Resolution: The record has been updated after the specified If-Unmodified-Since timestamp. Try again with a more recent value for the If-Unmodified-Since header.

  • INTERNAL_ERRORHTTP 500

    Internal Server Error
    Resolution: Unexpected and unhandled exception in the server. Contact support team.

  • INVALID_REQUEST_METHODHTTP 400

    The http request method type is not a valid one
    Resolution: You have specified an invalid HTTP method to access the API URL. Specify a valid request method. Refer to endpoints section above.

  • AUTHORIZATION_FAILEDHTTP 400

    User does not have sufficient privilege to upsert records.
    Resolution: The user does not have the permission to upsert record details. Contact your system administrator.

  • MANDATORY_NOT_FOUNDHTTP 400

    required field not found
    Resolution: You have not specified one or more mandatory fields in the input. Refer to Fields Metadata API to know the mandatory fields.

Sample Response

Copied{
    "data": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "duplicate_field": "Email",
            "action": "update",
            "details": {
                "Modified_Time": "2020-10-14T10:31:43+05:30",
                "Modified_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "4150868000000225013"
                },
                "Created_Time": "2019-09-11T16:21:15+05:30",
                "id": "4150868000000376008",
                "Created_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "4150868000000225013"
                }
            },
            "message": "record updated",
            "status": "success"
        },
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "duplicate_field": null,
            "action": "insert",
            "details": {
                "Modified_Time": "2020-10-14T10:31:43+05:30",
                "Modified_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "4150868000000225013"
                },
                "Created_Time": "2020-10-14T10:31:43+05:30",
                "id": "4150868000003194003",
                "Created_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "4150868000000225013"
                }
            },
            "message": "record added",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}