By default, Zoho Desk sends the same automatic ticket acknowledgement to every contact who raises a ticket. If you need a specific email address, or a whole domain, to be excluded from that acknowledgement, this is generally achieved with a Workflow Rule rather than a global setting.
The General Approach
- Turn off the default contact notification. In Setup, go to Notify and disable the standard automatic acknowledgement email sent to contacts on ticket creation.
- Create a replacement Workflow Rule. Go to Setup, then Automation, then Workflow Rules, and create a new rule that executes On Create.
- Set the exclusion criteria. Add a condition such as Email does not contain, followed by the specific address or addresses you want to exclude.
- Send the alert to everyone else. Configure the rule's action to send the acknowledgement, notifying the contact, so every ticket except those matching your exclusion criteria still receives the standard acknowledgement.
A known friction point: Users have reported that the specific "Notify Contact" action under Send Alert isn't always available as an option within the workflow builder, depending on the exact rule configuration and account setup. If you don't see this option when building your rule, it's worth checking your current Notification and Automation permissions, or raising it with Zoho support, since this has been a recurring point of confusion for others trying to set up the same exclusion.
Excluding a Whole Domain
The same approach extends naturally to excluding an entire domain rather than a single address, for example if a domain regularly sends automated emails into your helpdesk and you don't want those to trigger acknowledgements. List each address or domain fragment you want excluded within the same Email does not contain condition.
An Alternative: Automation Studio
If your account has access to Automation Studio, its visual, node-based flow builder can achieve the same result with an If block checking the sender's address against your exclusion list, offering more flexibility than a single Workflow Rule if your exclusion logic needs to branch further, such as taking a different action entirely for known automated senders rather than simply skipping the acknowledgement.
Need help? 1 Cloud Consultants can help you set up acknowledgement exclusions using Workflow Rules or Automation Studio in Zoho Desk.
Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.