# Set up Chat Journal to Zoho CRM

With the Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Management) integration in place, you can enable Chat Journal so that every message exchanged between a user and a CRM contact is written back to Zoho CRM. This gives your team a complete, time-stamped record of each conversation to reference during follow-up or reporting.

:::caution
A chat history is archived only when the recipient number on the chat session is an exact match for the contact's number in Zoho CRM. Both values must be identical, including the country code (for example, `+1123456789` in each place).
:::

## Requirements

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

## Before you begin

Make sure the following are ready:

- The Zoho CRM integration is already set up.
- At least one messaging channel is configured on your phone system.
- Using the Cloud Voice App, a user assigned to a phone system extension has opened an external chat session with a CRM contact through the messaging channel.

:::note
A messaging channel is the connection (for example, an SMS or social messaging app link) that lets a user hold a chat session with an external contact. Chat Journal only has conversations to archive once at least one channel is live and a chat has taken place.
:::

## Set up Chat Journal

1. Sign in to the phone system management portal and go to **Integrations > CRM**.
2. On the CRM integration page, switch on **Chat Journal**.
3. Set your synchronization options.

   ![Chat Journal synchronization settings on the CRM integration page](/images/pbx/zoho-chat-journal.png)

   - **Create Type**: Choose the Zoho CRM object that will hold the synced messages, either a **Task** or a **Call**.
   - **Subject**: Enter the subject line for the synced record. You can build this value from variables so each record is labeled consistently.
4. Click **Save**.

## What happens next

When an external chat session with a CRM contact ends, whether the user closes it or the system does, Cloud Voice pushes the whole conversation to that contact's details page in Zoho CRM.

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

![Synced chat history shown on a Zoho CRM contact record](/images/pbx/chat-journal.png)