Retrieving user groups in Zoho CRM requires understanding which product context you're working in, as user groups function differently across Zoho's ecosystem. This guide covers the primary methods to access and retrieve group information.
Why this matters
User groups help you organize and segment your user base for better access control, reporting, and analytics. Whether you're managing permissions in Zoho Analytics, organizing users by attributes in Zoho Apptics, or controlling document access in Zoho Sign, knowing how to retrieve group data is essential for administration and compliance.
Step-by-step
Step 1. Determine your product context
User groups exist across multiple Zoho products with different retrieval methods. Identify whether you're working with Zoho Analytics (on-premise), Zoho Apptics (mobile analytics), or Zoho Sign (document management). Each has distinct APIs and interfaces for accessing group information.
Step 2. For Zoho Analytics on-premise: Authenticate with OAuth
Set up OAuth authentication by obtaining your access token from the Zoho accounts endpoint. Include your clientid, clientsecret, and refreshtoken in a POST request to https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token with granttype set to refreshtoken. Store the returned accesstoken in your request headers as Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken <access_token> [3].
Step 3. Call the GROUPINFO API endpoint
Send a POST request to https://analyticsapi.zoho.com/api/<email>/<workspaceName> with the following parameters: set ZOHOACTION to GROUPINFO, ZOHOOUTPUTFORMAT to JSON, ZOHOERRORFORMAT to JSON, and ZOHOAPI_VERSION to 1.0 [3]. Include your authorization header from Step 2.
Step 4. Parse the group metadata response
The API returns a JSON array containing all groups in your workspace. Each group object includes groupId, groupName, groupDescription, createdTime, and membersList (an array of member email addresses) [3]. Extract the groups you need from this response for further processing.
Step 5. For Zoho Apptics: View groups in the console
Navigate to Marketer > User groups in the left menu to see active, new, and inactive user groups for your selected date range [1]. This interface displays the total count of groups and a detailed list showing group name, registration date and time, last active session, new users, active users, new devices, and active devices [1].
Step 6. Click individual groups for detailed insights
Select any user group from the list to access granular analytics specific to that group [1]. This allows you to analyze which segments drive adoption and identify usage patterns across different user categories.
Common pitfalls
- Single attribute limitation in Apptics: You can only group users by one attribute at a time (such as organization, region, or language) [1]. Plan your grouping strategy accordingly.
- Permission requirements: Only Server Administrators and Workspace Owners can retrieve user lists and group information via the Analytics API [7]. Ensure your account has the necessary role.
- Workspace context: Always include the correct workspace name in your API URI. Requests without a valid workspace will fail.
What to check
- Verify your OAuth token is valid and hasn't expired before making API calls
- Confirm the email address and workspace name in your request URI match your Zoho Analytics account exactly
- Review the
membersListarray in the response to ensure all expected group members are present
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*This article is provided by Beam Help — independent expert support for Zoho. We are not official Zoho support.*