Email Parser | Zoho Vertical Studio Help
Email Parser — Data Extraction from Emails
What is an email parser?
An email parser analyzes incoming emails to extract data that is then used to automate the process of adding records to your application. The email parser will extract the leads' information and upload it directly to your records.
For example, consider an application for the real estate industry. Your application users may have listed the specifics of their property on a real estate website. Through the website of the portal, prospective purchasers or tenants input their information, and the application users are emailed with user information. An email parser can extract the data from the email and add it as a record under any module in the application account rather than requiring to enter the information manually.
How to configure an email parser in Zoho Vertical Studio applications
To integrate Email Parser into your application, go to
Components > Email Parser.
Inside the Email Parser window, follows these five steps to create a parser.
Step 1: Create your email parser, select a parser name, and associate a module
After you give the parser name and select the module to which the parser should be linked, an email address for the parser is generated. This parser email address is a system-generated email address, which is used for this particular parser rule. Emails sent by the customer are received at this parser email address, and a new record is thereby created using the data.
Notes:
- You can create a parser for modules such as Leads, Contacts, Accounts, and any custom modules.
- For the Deals module, you can't create a parser.
- You can create up to 20 email parsers, only 10 parsers can be active at any given time.
Step 2: Configure parsing details
You can create a template for a specific sort of email content. The template you develop will be used to parse subsequent emails. Any email content that does not adhere to the template will be considered invalid. As a result, it's critical to create a standard template that can handle many emails.
To create a template:
- Copy and pasting email content: Ensure the content you copy and paste contains details about the module's data fields.
A certain structure must be used to send the email so that the fields that need to be parsed can be comprehended. Understanding delimiters is necessary for formatting it correctly.
Step 3: Update Field
When a new record is generated, you may utilize the Update Field option to update a field. Text fields, picklists, websites, dates, numeric fields, fax fields, double field currency types, double field decimals, long integers, currencies, and booleans are all types of fields that are supported in the Update Field option. Any of the above fields can be added to the rule, and up to five fields can be updated concurrently. The fields stated in the Update Field option are automatically updated whenever a new record is created using this parser rule.
Note: This step is not mandatory.
Step 4: Assign a record owner
For each record you create, you must designate a record owner. When a new record is created, the email parser enables you to assign a record owner automatically. Record owners can be assigned depending on User, Role, or assignment rule.
Step 5: Entering the approved email address
Your company may get a lot of emails, some of which are spam. To prevent junk data from being transmitted to the application, only emails from allowed email addresses should be processed. You can add up to five allowed approved emails.
The steps described above are the basic steps for creating a parser rule. Now, let's see some of the important features in detail.
Configuring parser details
You can copy and paste any email content that you want to use as a template. Ensure the content you paste has the information necessary for the data fields. Here, also, delimiters are used as separator between key-value pairs.
You can also add the attachments that come along with the email.
Now, let's discuss the delimiters in detail.
Understanding Delimiters
In delimiters, you can use the key-value pair approach to retrieve data. There are three types of delimiters, namely:
- Colon (:)
- Hyphen (-)
- Equals (=)
As a separator between the key-value pair, any of the delimiters can be used. There are no differences in their specifications; all delimiters perform the same functions. You can use any delimiter you choose.
If there are several delimiters mentioned in the email content, the delimiter mentioned first is used as the delimiter for configuration. Note the following example:
As you can see in the screenshot above, both colon and hyphen delimiters are mentioned, but only the first delimiter mentioned is taken into account for configuration. In this situation, the colon is considered as the delimiter.
The screenshots below provide additional examples of how only the first delimiter is taken into account:
Delimiter:
- Hyphen (-) : After you assign hyphens as the delimiter in the configuration rule, any email received at the parser email address is only parsed if the Hyphen delimiter is used as the separator. The email content is not parsed if the received email contains any other delimiter. Such emails are considered invalid. No new record is created since the data in the invalid emails is not generated.
- Colon (:) : After you assign colons as the delimiter in the configuration rule, emails received with any other delimiters are considered invalid.
- Equals (=) : After assigning equal signs as the delimiter in the configuration rule, emails that contain other delimiters are not parsed and are considered invalid.
Apart from delimiters, you can also use paragraph format for parsing. There are no delimiters or separators between the key-value pairs in this format. Each sentence and paragraph you type into the data fields is considered data. This format should only be used when data is present instead of key-value pairs. The entire email text is treated as description data and is mapped to the appropriate data field. Some of the fields that come under these types of formats are as follows:
- Description fields
- Address field - address of the customer/company
- Reason for loss description field - field shown while the deal stage is lost
- Customer requirement field - a customer's basic requirements
- Trip description field - in the case of a travel agency
- Detailed description of design - in the case of a design company
- Disease detail/ Medication details - in the case of a healthcare organization
- Feedback field - feedback collected from the customer
Packaged Email Parser
A packaged email parser is an email parser created in the Developer Console and deployed to subscriber organizations during sign-up or through an upgrade. The following content explains how these email parsers behave in subscriber organizations.
To learn more about packaging, please refer to our guide on Components Packaging in the Vertical Studio Platform.
Property | Upgrade Type | Modify Access |
Name | Upgradable | Developer Only |
Module | Non-upgradable | Non-Editable |
Status | Upgradable | Developer and Subscriber Editable |
Content Template | Upgradable | Developer Only |
Field Update | Upgradable | Developer Only |
Record Owner Assignment | Non-upgradable | Developer and Subscriber Editable |
Approved Email Address | Non-upgradable | Developer and Subscriber Editable |
Changes and Impacts
When a packaged email parser is added/modified, published, and deployed as an upgrade to the subscribers' accounts, it will have the following impact on the subscribers' accounts.
- Create Email Parser : The new email parser will be available in the Subscriber orgs.
- Delete Email Parser : If a packaged email parser is deleted from the Developer Console, upon upgrading, it will be deleted on the subscriber orgs.
Caution!
Deleting a packaged Email Parser is a destructive action. It can have lasting effects on your subscriber configurations. Please consider the consequences carefully before proceeding, and move forward only if necessary.
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