Building extensions #1: Creating and testing extensions for Zoho Finance Suite applications

Building extensions #1: Creating and testing extensions for Zoho Finance Suite applications

Hello developers!

We're excited to announce a new series called "Building extensions" to assist developers in creating efficient extensions for Zoho Finance Suite products. We'll support and guide you through the process of creating an extension and using the features offered in the developer portal.

What are extensions?

Extensions are installable plugins or add-ons that help enhance the existing functionality of your Zoho product or seamlessly integrate and interact with third-party applications for data transmission.

How can you build extensions?

Zoho offers a developer platform called Zoho Developer that allows you to build different types of applications. Sigma is a platform offered within Zoho Developer that is specifically designed for creating extensions for various Zoho products. Throughout this series, we'll look at how to create and develop extensions for the Zoho Finance Suite applications using Sigma.

Get to know all about extensions and building them further in detail.

Sigma extension support

The Zoho Finance Suite consists of seven applications: Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Expense, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Billing, Zoho Checkout, and Zoho Payroll. Currently, the Sigma platform supports creating and building extensions for these five Zoho Finance applications:
  • Zoho Books
  • Zoho Inventory
  • Zoho Expense
  • Zoho Invoice
  • Zoho Billing
Creating an extension
  • Log in or sign up at developer.zoho.com.
  • Go to Sigma and access your workspace.
  • Once you enter your workspace, you'll be taken to the Extensions section in Sigma.
  • Click the New Extension button to start building an extension.                                                                                     
  • Enter a name and description for the extension and choose the service you want to build the extension for. As mentioned earlier, Sigma offers support for Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Billing, and Zoho Expense.                                                                                          
  • For our demo, let's choose the service as Zoho Books. Accept the terms and conditions, and then click Create.                                                                                          
  • The extension is successfully created. You can click the Extension Details icon to see an overview of the extension.                                                                                          
The extension details page shows the general details of the extension, such as creation date, creation time, and version, and allows you to associate developers with the extension.
  • Click the Edit Extension icon to start developing the extension.                                                                                  
  • The Zoho Books Developer Portal opens with the options and native features available to customize, curate, and develop your extension.                                                                
Zoho Books Developer Portal sections

The developer portal has four different sections to help customize and build your extension.

Learn: This section lists the native Zoho Books capabilities that can be used to create and develop extensions. Clicking the Set up Now button next to each feature will take you to the feature's development setup page.
                                                                                           

Build: This is the development setup section, which includes customization, automation, and components like connections, widgets, schedules, webhooks, and signals. You can customize your extension preferences, establish connections to integrate with other applications, and design custom interfaces to enhance user experience.
                                                                                          

Configure: This section assists with handling your extension's required configurations, whether they are generic settings or customizations required from the user. You can add global fields, which can be incorporated as either variables that store static data or through custom widgets that retrieve user inputs. You can also define functionalities that happen during installation and uninstallation.
                                                                                          

Publish: Once the extension has been built and configured, you can use this section to publish it for either private or public use. In both cases, the Zoho Books team will review the extension; for public extensions listed on Zoho Marketplace, the Zoho Marketplace approval team will also review them. You can share your privately published extension with other users using the Shared List option.
                                                                                          

We will explore more about each of these sections and their features in upcoming posts.

Testing an extension

The Zoho Books Developer Portal offers a dedicated testing environment for each extension, allowing you to test and validate it before publishing.

As a developer, you can use the Test Your Extension option in the top right corner of the portal to access your extension's sandbox environment.
                                                                  

This will redirect you to the sandbox testing environment for the extension you're developing, which is similar to Zoho Books and contains relevant modules to test with.
                                                                  

You can populate necessary data and test your extension functionality. Once everything is validated, you can go ahead and publish your extension for private or public use.

For support or questions related to Zoho Finance Suite extension development, you can email developer@zohofinance.com.

We hope you found this guide useful. Keep following this space for more information!

Next>>

    • Recent Topics

    • Make panel configuration interface wider

      Hi there, The same way you changed the custom function editor's interface wider, it would be nice to be able to edit panels in pages using the full width of the screen rather than the currently max-width: 1368px. Is there a reason for having the configuration panel not taking the full width? Its impossible at this width to edit panels that have a lot of elements. Please change it to 100% so we can better edit the layouts. Thanks! B.

    • Tip 7: How to fetch data from another application?

      Hi everyone, Following our Zoho Creator - Tips and Tricks series every fortnight, we are back today with a tip based on one of the most popular questions asked in our forum. This tip would help you fetch data from another application(App B) and use it

    • The Social Wall: May 2025

      Hey everyone, We're excited to share some powerful updates for the month of May! Let's take a look! Reply to your Instagram and Facebook comments privately through direct messages Are you tired of cluttered comment threads or exposing customer queries

    • Sub-Form Fields as Filters for Reports

      Hi, I would like to use the Sub-Form Fields as Filters in Reports just like we do for Main Page Fields. Thanks Dan

    • Zoho CRM Formula - Current Time minus Date/Time field

      Hello, I am trying to prevent duplicate emails going to clients when more than 1 deal is being updated. To do this, I would like to create a formula to identify if a date/time field is >= 2 hours ago. Can someone please help me write this formula? Example:

    • Per Level Approval for admins

      We need Process admins like Zoho CRM in Zoho Books for per stage approval Currently in books, admins only have the option for Final Approval But for example, in cases like when an employee is on leave, we can't just approval one level we only have option

    • Billing Management: #7 Usage Billing in Telecom & Internet Service Provider

      Telecom and Internet Service Providers operate in markets where usage varies drastically from one customer to another. While flexible, usage-based models align revenue directly with consumption, they also introduce operational challenges like real-time

    • Zoho Sprints - Q3 updates for 2025

      The updates for the third quarter of 2025 are out. A few significant features and enhancements have been rolled out to improve user experience and product capabilities. The following are the updates: Manage tags and cluster tags Record and maintain project

    • Kaizen #208 - Answering your Questions | Functions, AI and Extensions

      Hello Developers! Welcome back to a fresh week of Kaizen! We are grateful for your active participation in sharing feedback and queries for our 200th milestone. This week, we will answer the queries related to Functions and Extensions in Zoho CRM. 1.

    • Zoho CRM still doesn't let you manage timezones (yearly reminder)

      This is something I have asked repeatedly. I'll ask once again. Suppose that you work in France. Next month you have a trip to Guatemala. You call a contact there, close a meeting, record that meeting in CRM. On the phone, your contact said: "meet me

    • Creating Restaurant Inventory Management on Zoho

      Hi,  We run a small cloud kitchen and are interested to use Zoho for Inventory and Composite Item tracking for our food served and supplied procured to make food items.  Our model is basically like subway where the customer can choose breads, veggies,

    • To Zoho customers and partners: how do you use Linked Workspaces?

      Hello, I'm exploring how we can set up and use Linked Workspaces and would like to hear from customers and partners about your use cases and experience with them. I have a Zoho ticket open, because my workspace creation fails. In the meantime, how is

    • Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM : First/Last Name to just Name ?

      When integrating a Zoho Form into the Accounts menu of the CRM I'm having trouble with how names are formatted ; In Forms the data is available as First Name or Last Name In the CRM there is only one field called Name How can I ensure that "John" "Smith"

    • This festive season, offer discounts with coupon code support in Stripe Checkout

      Hello form builders! It’s the festive season, the perfect time to spread joy and great deals! Now, with Zoho Forms’ latest enhancement for Stripe Checkout, you can do exactly that with coupon codes! Your payment forms integrated with Stripe Checkout can

    • Cómo creo una factura negativa o de abono?

      NEcesito anular una factura y crear una nueva igual pero en negativo. El sistema no me lo permite

    • Power of Automation::Streamline log hours to work hours upon task completion.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

    • Is CRM On Premise available

      Hi Zoho team, Can you please let me know that CRM Zoho is available for On Premise as well? Thanks, Devashish

    • CRM : Function to add user name to text field

      I have a lookup field in a module that is linked to the CRM users so we can assign a Project Lead to the customer. Sadly Zoho Marketing Automation doesn't sync Lookup fields so I need to extract information from the lookup to text fields: Lookup field

    • Zoho CRM - Restrict Login based on work hours

      Hi there, I'm wondering if we can restrict users to login during works - For example the users would be able to login from 8am to 5pm. I have seen the IP address restriction - the only downfall is what if the customer has dynamic IP. thanks Jiri

    • Tips and Tricks #46: Customize themes and templates using Show's Master View

      Hi All!  Let's say you want to revamp your presentation and make changes to its visual design. You can do this easily using the Master Slide and its associated layouts. The Master Slide stores information about all the layouts used in the presentation.

    • Sheet View in CRM portal

      Hi, When will it be possible for my CRM portal users to edit/add records with Sheet View? George

    • What's New in Zoho Invoice | July - September 2025

      Hello everyone! We’re back with the latest updates and enhancements we’ve rolled out in Zoho Invoice from July to September 2025. Here’s what’s new this quarter: Introducing the Singapore Edition in Zoho Invoice Share Invoices through WhatsApp GST 2.0

    • Alert: Audio Call Support to be discontinued for Old Live Chat Widget from December 31, 2025

      Action Required: Upgrade to the New SalesIQ Live Chat Widget We're reaching out with an important update regarding the SalesIQ Live Chat Widget that requires your immediate attention. Effective December 31, 2025, audio call functionality will no longer

    • multiple contacts for one account

      We currently use Zoho CRM where each Account represents a club or organization, and each Contact represents a manager or owner. However, some of our managers own or manage multiple clubs, and Zoho only allows a contact to be linked to one account at a

    • Rich text Merge field - Not using font specified in HTML

      I have a rich text merge field in a writer template which is creating a table. I have chosen to use this method instead of a repeat region because I need to specify specific cell background colours which change every time the document is created. The

    • ヒートマップ詳細設定について

      はじめまして マーケティング担当の浅田です。 PageSenceのヒートマップ設定について質問です。 単一ページ毎の設定は上手くできるのですが 詳細設定にて、トップページのURLを含ませ全体のヒートマップを計測できないか試したところ お知らせ：データを受信していません。と表示されてしまいます。 トップページURLで始まるページの条件も試しております。 全頁を反映させたいと思い、詳細設定を上手く設定できたらと考えております。 どなたか詳しい方がいらっしゃいましたら、教えて頂けませんでしょうか 宜

    • Automatic category assignment

      Hi, I’d like to ask if there is a way to automatically assign an expense category based on the recognized Merchant. What would be the simplest way to set up automatic category assignment? Alternatively, is there an option to first choose the category

    • Experience with Zoho Vertical Studio

      I'm considering Zoho Vertical and would love to hear from some devs who've been using it. The Zoho ecosystem is pretty solid, so I assume the experience has been pretty good, but sometimes Zoho has its quirks. Overall, has your experience been positive?

    • LinkedIn Chrome Extension

      Hello - I believe it is a known issue that the LinkedIn extension Resume Extractor has stopped working and they are working on potential fixes. Wondering how others users are finding this issue and if there are any better workarounds for this issue? It

    • Advance PDF creation from CRM data

      I'm trying to create a PDF export of data in the CRM. My problem is I want a pretty complicated format for the data. I'm trying to export multiple modules worth of data, with nested one-to-many relationships between the modules. Along with that, I want

    • Sub-Form Padding in CSV Export

      Hi, When you use the Sub-Form, and for example you have a Date Field on the Main Page, then Option 1 and Option 2 fields on the Subform, when you export this to CSV the Date column will only have the Date in 1 row, the first row, it would be nice to pad

    • More Formula Functions

      Hi, I would like for example to be able to have a Date Field and Formula Fields, and then in the Formula Fields I would like to grab just the Month of the above Date Field or the Week Number of the above Date Field. So more "Functions" than the current

    • File upload size limits

      I am designing a contact form in Zoho Creator with File upload facility. I am not sure where and how to set the following properties for the same: Allowed File Types Maximum Size of the Attachment Number of Attachments

    • Composite Services and Account Tracking

      I am looking to garner support/request the ability to make composite services. A quick search in the forums brings up multiple requests for this feature. I fail to see why an item is mandatory while services are optional. I also would like to see the

    • All operation codes getting Not applied in WO-TT22J1025WOR0471, SR-TT22J1025PRE0423,FOR VIN-W1K6G2AB2SL005130.

      Dear Support Team, Please refer attached screenshot. All operation codes getting not applied in work order. Request you to please check and update ASAP.

    • Bank Receipt Catagorization

      Hi, how can I match a bank deposit to multiple customer's invoices ? For e.g. A single person paid to us on behalf of different five customers. I need to keep the separated invoices for each customer

    • Exclude Segment from Campaign Recipients

      I've created two Segments in order to separate Non-Marketing Contacts from Marketing Contacts. I'd like to send an Eblast to all Marketing contacts in my lists, but when I go to select Recipients, I have two options: 1. To Choose Lists to Send to; 2.

    • Reschedule Multiple/Mass Calls at Once

      When we go into a Call record, we have the option to "Reschedule Call." How can we select multiple Calls at once from the Activities tab and Reschedule them? The big use case for us: We have many leads that our reps are supposed to call on a daily basis.

    • Option to Empty Entire Mailbox or Folder in Zoho Mail

      Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Mail that would allow administrators and users to quickly clear out entire folders or mailboxes, including shared mailboxes. Current Limitation: At present, Zoho Mail only

    • I want to Make the due date of the project appears automatically

      hello everyone I want to know if the zoho projects app can add automatically the END DATE of the project I added the duration, start after dates of each tasks in the project template & the starting date of the project itself and the end date of it doesn't

    • Next Page