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Zoho API IntegrationWorkDrive In Zoho CRM
A Zoho CRM extension that gives every record its own Zoho WorkDrive folder, then lets your team upload, preview, rename, search and share those files from inside the record - no tab-switching, no copy-pasted links, no files lost on someone's desktop.
Runs inside your own Zoho org - files stay in your WorkDrive.
Your CRM record and your files, finally in one place
Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive are both excellent, and they barely talk to each other. Deal documents end up in three places at once: a few as CRM attachments, some in a WorkDrive folder nobody can find, and the rest in an email thread. The moment a colleague asks "where is the signed contract?", somebody loses ten minutes.
WorkDrive In Zoho CRM closes that gap. When a record is created, the extension creates a WorkDrive folder for it and stores the folder id on the record itself. From then on the record shows a live view of that folder: your team uploads, previews, renames, searches and shares files from the record they are already looking at, and the files live in WorkDrive where sharing, versioning and permissions already work.
Nothing is copied to a third-party server. The extension runs inside your Zoho org, talks to WorkDrive through a Zoho connector, and every file stays in your own WorkDrive team - which is exactly what a document workflow handling contracts and customer data should do.
At a glance
- Version
- 12(8 October 2026)
- Platform
- Zoho CRM
- Modules
- LeadsContactsAccountsDealsTasksInvoicesCampaignsQuotesSales OrdersPurchase Ordersplus any standard or custom module you add yourself
- Requires
- Zoho WorkDrive plan
- Data location
- Your own WorkDrive
Six things it changes about working with files
Every one of these happens inside the CRM record your team already has open.
A folder for every record
Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals, Tasks, Invoices, Campaigns, Quotes, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders each get their own WorkDrive folder, created automatically when the record is - and since version 4.0 so does any other module you add, standard or custom. The folder id is stored on the record, so the link never breaks.
Preview without leaving CRM
Images, PDFs, CSVs and text files open inline in the record. No download, no new tab, no waiting to find out whether it is the right document.
Collect files from customers
Generate an upload-only link. The customer can add documents to the folder but cannot see, download or change anything already in it.
Folder names that make sense
Build the folder name from record fields plus smart tags - the record owner, the module, the date, the id - so folders sort and search the way your team thinks.
Bring existing attachments across
One click moves a record's existing CRM attachments into its WorkDrive folder, so you are not left with documents in two systems.
Share with the right permission
Create a full-access or download-only share link for a file or a whole folder, straight from the record.
Everything the extension can do
Inside the record
- Browse the record's WorkDrive folder as a related list
- Upload one or many files, with progress
- Inline preview for images, PDF, CSV, text and HTML
- Download any file
- Create sub-folders
- Rename files and folders
- Move to trash, restore, or delete permanently
- Search across the folder and everything under it
- Open the folder in WorkDrive in one click
Sharing
- Share a file or folder with a full-access link
- Share with a download-only link
- Collect Files - an upload-only link for customers and vendors
- Copy any link to the clipboard from the record
Automation
- Folder created automatically when a record is created
- Folder renamed automatically when the record is renamed
- Existing CRM attachments synced into the folder on demand
- Per-module folder structure provisioned during setup
Admin setup
- Create a new team folder, use an existing one, or point at any folder id
- Choose which record fields form the folder name
- Pick the separator between name parts
- Add fixed text and smart tags to the name
- Enable modules one at a time
Smart tags, so folders read and sort correctly
Drop these tokens into the folder name in the setup screen. They are resolved when the folder is created.
| Tag | Resolves to |
|---|---|
${record.id} | The record's CRM id |
${record.module} | The module label, e.g. Deal |
${record.owner} | The record owner's name |
${record.createdby} | Who created the record |
${zoho.currentdate} | 2026-08-29 |
${zoho.currentdatetime} | 2026-08-29 15-30 |
${date.year} | 2026 |
${date.month} | 08 - zero padded so folders sort |
${date.day} | 29 |
${zoho.loginuser} | The user who triggered it |
${zoho.loginuserid} | That user's email |
${zoho.adminuser} | The app owner's name |
For example
Acme Ltd - ${date.year}-${date.month} - ${record.id}
Acme Ltd - 2026-08 - 5798368000028572125
Where it earns its place
Sales teams handling contracts
Proposals, signed contracts and purchase orders live on the Deal, not in an inbox. Anyone opening the Deal sees the current paperwork.
Onboarding and document collection
Send the customer one upload-only link. Their documents land in the right folder without giving them access to anything else.
Field and site work
Photos and site reports go straight onto the Account from the record, and stay searchable in WorkDrive afterwards.
Teams already living in WorkDrive
Keep WorkDrive as the single source of truth for files, and stop maintaining a parallel pile of CRM attachments.
Setup guide & video walkthroughs
Step-by-step installation, the admin setup screen, folder naming and smart tags - with screenshots of every step.
Want a walkthrough before then? Ask us for a demo.
What is new in version 12.0
Released 8 October 2026. Updates arrive through Zoho Marketplace, and your settings and folders are kept.
Version 12.0
WorkDrive In Zoho CRM 12 is the largest release so far, and most of it is new ground rather than polish: file requests that let someone outside your team drop files straight into a record's folder without a WorkDrive account, labels, data templates, WorkDrive workflows, full version history, a whole folder downloaded as one ZIP, editing a share link after you have already sent it, extracting a ZIP, converting an Office file to Zoho Writer, Sheet or Show, a file summary written by Zia, and a 30-day activity log for the folder you are in. It also lifts the 50-item ceiling that quietly hid the rest of a large folder from the record, along with the same ceiling in Sync Attachments and in the Move and Copy destination lists, and the extension has a new logo. This one needs upgrading to version 12 in Zoho Marketplace, and because it asks for new WorkDrive permissions the WorkDrive connector has to be authorized once more afterwards; until an org upgrades, none of the new items appear and the panel works as it did. Comments can be read in Versions & details, but writing them - posting, replying, resolving and deleting - is locked until v13: the tab says so and links to the file in WorkDrive, where you can comment meanwhile. Labels and workflow steps are done in WorkDrive under the WorkDrive account the extension is connected with, since that is the account every action from CRM runs as, so everyone using the panel shares that account's labels.
- added
Request files from a customer
The ⚙ menu has Request Files from a Customer. It makes a link you send to someone outside your team; they open it, give their name and email, and drop their files, which land straight in the folder you were looking at. They need no WorkDrive account and cannot see what is already there. You can set an end date and the largest file they may send, see who has sent what, and stop or delete the request when you are done.
- added
Labels
A file's or folder's menu has Labels, to tick the labels it should carry or make a new one. The labels show as small coloured dots beside the name in the list.
- added
Data templates
A file's menu has Data template. Pick one of your WorkDrive team's data templates and fill in its fields, and the values are saved on the file in WorkDrive, where they can be searched. Fields named like the record's own fields start with the record's values, and any field can be filled from the record in a click.
- added
Workflows
A file's menu has Workflow, to start one of your team's WorkDrive workflows on it, such as a review or an approval, see which step it is at, and take the next step. If WorkDrive will not say what a workflow asks for, it still starts, and WorkDrive says so if anything was needed.
- added
Download a folder as one ZIP
The ⚙ menu has Download Current Folder as ZIP. The ZIP is made in the folder itself and offered for download when it is ready, so you can also close the dialog and download it from its row later.
- added
Version history
Versions & details on a file lists every version, and lets you make an older one current again or delete one.
- added
More in Versions & details
Alongside versions and comments: how many times the file has been viewed and downloaded, inside your team and through public links, and a summary of the file written by Zia, when you ask for one. Zia works on documents such as PDF and Word files; when it cannot summarise a file, the panel says so instead of asking you to try again.
- added
Change a link after sharing it
In Anyone with the Link, each existing link has Edit, to add or remove a password, move its end date, or turn downloading on or off, without sending a new link.
- added
Extract a ZIP, convert to a Zoho document
A .zip file's menu has Extract here. A Word, Excel or PowerPoint file's menu has Convert to Zoho Writer, Sheet or Show, which makes an editable Zoho copy beside the original.
- added
Recent activity
The ⚙ menu has Recent Activity in This Folder: what was added, renamed, moved or deleted here, and by whom, over the last 30 days.
- changed
A new logo
A record card rising out of an open folder: the record's files, kept in WorkDrive. It is the extension's icon in Marketplace and the logo at the top of Settings, where it sits as well on the dark theme as on the light one.
- changed
Settings shows the "WorkDrive Files" step only when it needs you
That is when the widget is missing, points at the wrong address, or has just been created. Once it is in place the step stays out of the way, and Back-fill becomes step 4.
- changed
A file over 250 MB says where to upload it
The panel's upload limit stays 250 MB; the message now says to upload a bigger file in WorkDrive directly.
- fixed
A missing WorkDrive permission showed a general error
It now says to ask the administrator to re-authorize the WorkDrive connector, which is what an org sees if it upgrades and skips that step.
- fixed
Folders with more than 50 items showed only the first 50
The rest were in WorkDrive but out of reach from the record. The list now has pages, and sorting a long folder sorts all of it, not just the page on screen.
- fixed
Sync Attachments could copy a file twice into a large folder
It only checked the first 50 names in the folder for a file that was already there. It now checks them all.
- fixed
Move and Copy offered only the first 50 folders as destinations
- fixed
A file's menu could run off the bottom of the panel, leaving Move to trash out of reach
The menu now fits on screen, and scrolls when the panel is too short for all of it.
- fixed
The star, lock and final marks sat a little off the middle of a file's name
They, and the file's icon, are now centred on it.
WorkDrive In Zoho CRM - questions we get asked
Install it, or have us set it up
The extension installs in a few minutes. If you would rather have the folder structure and naming rules designed around your process, we can do that with you.