# Set up Chat Journal to Zoho CRM

Chat Journal keeps your Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) up to date by writing the full message history from a chat session onto the matching contact once the conversation ends. This gives your team a single place to review past exchanges and follow up without leaving the CRM.

:::caution
A conversation is only journaled when the recipient's number on the chat session is an exact match for the number saved on the CRM contact, for example, `+1123456789` must appear identically in both places.
:::

## Requirements

Your Cloud Voice system must be running firmware version 84.23.0.83 or later.

## Before you start

Make sure the following are in place:

**On the phone system**

- Zoho CRM integration is already connected.
- At least one messaging channel is configured.

**In the Cloud Voice App**

- A CRM user (linked to a Cloud Voice extension) has already started an external chat with a CRM contact through a messaging channel.

## Turn on and configure Chat Journal

1. Sign in to the phone system web portal and open **Integrations > CRM**.
2. On the CRM integration page, enable **Chat Journal**.
3. Set your synchronization options.

   ![Chat Journal settings showing the Create Type and Subject fields on the CRM integration page](/images/pbx/zoho-chat-journal.png)

   - **Create Type**: Choose which Zoho CRM object holds the synced messages, **Task** or **Call**.
   - **Subject**: Enter the title used for each synced record. You can build the subject from variables so it reflects details of the conversation.

4. Select **Save**.

## What happens next

Once an external chat with a CRM contact is closed, whether the user ends it or the system does, the phone system copies the whole conversation to that contact's detail page in Zoho CRM.

:::note
Messages are written in the order they were sent and include the channel type, timestamp, sender, and message content.
:::

![A Zoho CRM contact record displaying a synced chat history in chronological order](/images/pbx/chat-journal.png)