What's New in Zoho Expense: August - October 2023

Hello users,

We're back again with our What's New post to inform you about the most exciting feature rollouts over the past three months. An all-new edition, an integration for business travel management, iOS 17 updates, and more are in store for you! Get set to delve into the full details and read everything there is to know about these new features.

New edition - Germany

We're excited to announce the launch of another regional edition—Zoho Expense: Germany. If your organization is operating in Germany, simply select the country as Germany on the sign-up page to get started. You can then enable VAT, and Zoho Expense will preconfigure the applicable tax rates for businesses in Germany. While recording business expenses, users can choose the appropriate VAT treatment and VAT rates from the options provided. You can also access Zoho Expense in Deutsch, if required. Additionally, if mileage is enabled in your organization, the government-suggested mileage rates for the car and motorcycle vehicle types will be automatically fetched to Zoho Expense.

Self-booking through GetThere

If you're an organization that lets your employees book tickets online, then this integration would be a great addition for you! With the GetThere integration, your employees can directly book tickets for their business trips from within Zoho Expense. If you don't want all your employees to self-book, simply select the users who can directly book tickets using GetThere. Additionally, you can easily set up the organization's travel policies in GetThere so employees can book tickets in compliance with the company's policies. Learn more.

Report automation for corporate card expenses

Enable report automation to automatically generate a report that will compile the expenses made using a corporate card. A report will be automatically created on the billing date you've configured and all expenses incurred using your corporate card will be attached to the report. You can set up automatic submission, if required.

To set up report automation for corporate cards: Go to Admin View > Settings > Report Automation. Hover over Corporate Card Expenses and click Configure Now. Set up your preferences and click Save.

Updates in delegate configuration

Now, you can set the start date and the end date by which a delegate should cease having access to your account. This feature will come in handy when you want to assign delegates for future dates. At the same time, you can modify the access given to your account, whenever required. Users can also view the list of previous delegates that were assigned for them in My View and the admins can view the list of all the delegates that have been assigned for a user in the Admin View. The list will have the details of each delegate's Access Type, Duration, and Added By date.

For Admins: Go to Admin View > Settings > Users. Select a user and scroll down to the Delegate Details section to configure the delegate access.

For Submitters and Approvers: Go to My View > My Settings. Scroll down to the My Delegate section to configure the delegate access.

Webhooks revamp

The following changes were made in webhooks:

• Query parameters are now supported.
• Three types of body types are now supported - Default Payload, x-www-form-urlencoded, and raw JSON.
• Secret key support has been added. It will be used to ensure that the API is triggered by Zoho Expense by comparing the hash value in the header (X-Zoho-Webhook-Signature). You need to have the same token on your server in order to compute a hash value.
• Placeholders can now be inserted in the URL field, query parameters, form URL encoded parameters, and raw JSON.

To create a webhook: Go to Admin View > Settings > Actions > Webhooks > + New Webhook.

Set up tax-inclusive expense limits

When you configure rules to set up limits for your expenses on the Policies page, you can now mark if the expense amount should be inclusive of tax. If you check the "Limit amount is inclusive of tax" checkbox in Policies, the rule will be executed only if the amount exceeds the sum of the expense amount and tax.

To set up tax inclusive expense limits: Go to Admin View > Settings > Policies. Select a policy and navigate to the Rules tab. Select a rule and check the "Limit is inclusive of tax" option. Click Save.

Force delete custom module

Earlier, if you had records under a custom module, you would not have been able to delete the custom module. However, based on popular customer requests, we're now providing an option to delete a custom module even if there are records in it.

To force delete a custom module: Go to Admin View > Settings > Modules. Click the module you want to delete. Click the Gear icon next to the module name and click Delete. In the pop-up that opens, click Delete. A force delete pop-up will open; click Force Delete.

Revert custom status

If you've created your own custom status for a module and have applied it on a record, you can now revert it back to its corresponding default status in Zoho Expense whenever required.

Help text for custom fields

Introducing help text for custom fields! Whenever you create a custom field, you can now add a note in the Help Text field to help users understand the purpose of the field. If you've added help text for a custom field, users will be able to view this text when they hover over the help icon next to the custom field.

To add a help text for custom fields: Go to Admin View > Settings > Modules. Select the module for which you want to add a custom field with help text. Navigate to the Fields tab. Click + New Field. Enter the Label Name and Data Type. The Help Text field will appear. Enter the help text and click Save.

Per diem preferences for expense types

When you create a new expense type, you can now select if you want to configure per diem for the expense type. Additionally, you can choose if you want to record the expense type as a component or a supplement and select the ways by which you can record per diem expenses for this expense type.

To configure per diem preferences for expense types: Go to Admin View > Settings > Modules > Categories. Navigate to Expense Types. Click + New Expense Type. Enter the name and select a default category. Mark the "Configure per diem for this expense type" option and click Save.

​

Preferences for chatlets

You can now enable chatlets for reports and trips from the respective Preferences page. If chatlet is enabled, all the admins and approvers can create chatlets by default. However, if you'd like to provide access to all users to create chatlets, you can select that option. This feature is only available for the Premium and Enterprise plans of Zoho Expense.

To configure chatlet preferences: Go to Admin View > Settings > Modules > Reports or Trips. Mark the "Enable Chatlets" option and click Save.

Fetch Canadian tax rates automatically

Zoho Expense can now fetch the Canadian government's tax rates and agencies automatically! If you create a new organization with Canada as the Country and enable "Taxes," all the government-suggested tax rates and agencies will be auto-fetched to allow users to apply them to their expenses. Additionally, if you have custom tax rates, you can create them as well.

Select a delivery address for purchase requests

When you create a purchase request, you can now choose the delivery address. The organization's primary address will be prefilled by default. However, admins will be able to add a new address or edit the existing address.

iOS app updates

• Zoho Expense is now iOS17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma ready! Access shortcuts from Spotlight, view real-time updates on the distance covered using GPS, the time left for your flight on your lock screen, Dynamic Island with Live Activities, and view pending tasks by Zia with the interactive widgets.
• For VAT-enabled Germany edition organizations, Zoho Expense will automatically fetch the government tax rates so users can apply them to their expenses. Similarly, the government's mileage rates will also be readily available to apply to your mileage expenses.

Android app updates

• If you've enabled VAT for your Germany edition organizations, the government tax rates will be automatically available, and users can apply them to their expenses.
• Improved accuracy of mileage tracking using GPS.
  

Explore a more efficient way to manage expenses with these new features. Try them and drop your feedback in the comments. Need assistance? Contact us at support@zohoexpense.com.

Regards, 

The Zoho Expense Team

• Topic Participants

• Vidhya G S

• Synergy PSM

• Annapoorna

• Recent Topics

• SecurePass email English language issue -- please hire someone to correct the English language issues sprinkled throughout your interface

  I wrote previously about some incorrect English in your SecurePass offering. After about six months it was corrected. I have never revoked permission before today and just discovered another language mistake that was not corrected. When you revoke a SecurePass

• Published Components

  @zoho team, Checking if we can add a password for the public links as we have non-licensed users

• Zoho Creator customer portal users

  Hi, I'm in a Zoho One subscription with our company. I'm running a project now that involves creating a Zoho Creater application and using the Zoho Creator Customer Portal.  At most we need 25 customer portal users. In our Zoho One plan we only get 3

• Please Enable Snippets for Agents Adding Comments

  Snippets and templates are currently enabled for agents when they use the reply functionality. There is currently no way to add a template or snippets when an agent comments. This is really weird. Our agents don't use the reply functionality, only the

• Tip of the Week - Extracting Data from JSON Columns

  Let's say you are importing a CSV or Excel file into Zoho Analytics. What if the file contains a few columns in JSON format? This is where Zoho DataPrep, embedded right within Zoho Analytics, comes in handy. This week's tip explains how to extract data

• Deluge UI Updates

  Are there any updates planned for the Deluge UI in Zoho Desk? It feels quite dated and lack-lustre after you've spent some time in the CRM Deluge UI.

• Zia Agents - Follow Ups

  It would be nice to have Zia Agents do follow ups. A lot of times agents are trying to schedule things with users and they say "can we set your printer up tomorrow?" and the user never says anything. A way to have a personalized reminder to the user automatically

• Hide Agents name in Ticket Responses in "My Area"

  We were able to hide the agents name in the emails, however, the customer is able to see which agent has responded to a ticket in the thread of emails by going into their Help Center thread. Is there any way we can hide that information?

• Option to Automatically Update Extensions

  Hello Zoho Desk Team, We recently received an email notifying us about an extension update that must be done manually. We’d like to request a feature that allows extensions to be updated automatically without requiring manual intervention. This would

• Copy / Duplicate Workflow

  I have workflows setup that are very similar to each other. We have a monitoring system watching servers, and all notifications - no matter what client it is about - will come from a  noreply@ address which is not very helpful in having it auto assigned to the right account. I have setup a workflow that will change the contact name of the ticket (currently it would say noreply@) to the correct customer which is based on the subject line, as that mentions which server the alert it is about. I need

• Embed Report with Auto Height

  Hello Developers, When we embed report within Page, we are getting one awesome feature to adjust the report height. "Auto" and "Custom' height. This "Auto" option works well when we have no records. But I want to embed report based on some conditions

• Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - August 2025

  This month’s updates to Zoho Payroll bring enhanced efficiency and smarter features, simplifying payroll management for users in India, UAE, KSA, and US. Read on to explore how these updates can streamline your workflow. Filter Pay Runs by Type (India,

• Numerical Rating for Interviewer Assessments

  Introducing Numerical Rating, a powerful new addition to interviewer assessments that brings precision and flexibility to candidate evaluations. ✅ What is Numerical Rating? Numerical Rating lets interviewers assign a score for each question in the assessment,

• Choosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?

  I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might best

• User Tips: Adding Multiple Products (Package) to a Quote v2.0 (with Client Script)

  This solution is an improvement on the original idea which used deluge. My solution was posted in the comments are: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/adding-multiple-products-package-to-a-quote The updated version uses client script instead

• Are downloadable product available in Zoho Commerce

  Hi all. We're considering switching to Zoho Commerce for our shop, but we sell software and remote services. Is there a features for downloadable products? I can't find any information about this. Thank you very much Alice

• Need Faster Help? Try Live Chat Support

  Hello there, We understand that sometimes, whether you’re facing an issue, exploring a feature, or need quick clarification, sending an email and waiting for a response just doesn’t cut it. You need answers, and you need them now. That’s exactly why we

• Custom image for each contact using merge tag

  Hi, I'm wondering if it's possible to set up an email campaign to display a different image for each contact using a custom field for the image url. I tried inserting custom html: <img src='$[UD:APP_IMAGE_URL||]$'/> but the editor seemed to reject this and did not actually add anything to the email template. Has anyone got any ideas? cheers, Jeremy

• Comment Reactions like a Thumbs Up

  Can we please have the ability to emoji react on comments or at the very least, thumbs a comment up? Literally every other project management system out there can support this and it is very much needed to just acknowledge a comment instead of completely

• Zoho Mail Search Engine Sucks

  Hello There! I really like all the features of Zoho Mail and I believe is way better than Gmail except for the Search Function. I believe Zoho Mail has a very poor search function, if you misspelled a word in the search box, Zoho Mail won't display any

• Allow Subtasks and Task Lists to have their own Layout

  I'd like to have the ability for subtasks and task lists to have their own layout.  A subtask for us doesn't require all the fields that a parent task has.  The subtask seems cluttered with all the extra fields. Within a project Task List had different purposes.  I'd like the task layout to be different for some task lists.

• How to update Customers in Zoho Books through Zoho Flow?

  Updating customers in Zoho Flow using a "update customer" action is deleting contact persons in Zoho Books.

• Conect chat of salesiq with zoho cliq

  Is there any way to answer from zoho cliq  the chat of salesiq initiated by customers?

• How to transfer credit between customers?

  Hi All, We have a slightly odd situation. It happens that we have two separate customers that are related to each other personally. One customer has an amount of credit, and would like to use that credit to pay the *other* customers invoice. How would

• Zoho Books Reports: Basic report with total items sold and Cost of goods sold

  How can books show a report with Item Name || Qty Sold || Total Revenue || Total Cost of Goods Sold || Margin I need to factor in also invoices that have been credited where customers returned good. This seems like such a basic report, I'm sure I'm missing

• The amount entered is more than the balance due for the selected bills."

  Hi Team i am trying to record payments for vendors using API and getting this error in response as { "code": 28011, "message": "The amount entered is more than the balance due for the selected bills." } JSON is prepared according to Documentation and

• VBA handling named ranges

  In VBA I'm able to work with a single cell named range. E.g. Set Jr = Range ("Year").Value. Also other options are working fine, like Range("Year").Address shows $L$3. However a named range refering to multiple cells is not working for me. Eg. tbl_Test

• Kaizen #176 - Optimizing the Use of Record ID Variables in Zoho CRM Queries

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen! Since the release of Queries, we have covered Handling Query Variables in Zoho CRM, Serialization and Schema Management, and Leveraging the 'crmAPIResponse' object in Queries in previous posts. Today,

• Unbilled Items Report?

  Hello! Is there any way to display a list of items that remain unbilled, without creating an invoice for each customer to see if the unbilled items box is displayed? ;-) Ben

• Consolidation of Multi currency

  Would like to discuss on the possibility of consolidating the ZOHO companies

• Landed Cost Allocation / Custom Duty manual data entry

  My client is an import business. They must manually enter the duty for each item with landed cost allocation in Bill. This is because customs duties cannot be allocated based on Quantity, Value, Weight, and Dimensions. Manual data entry is highly time-consuming

• Territories Just Don't Work

  I have been on chat and screenshare support for the past 3 days and am getting no resolution so hopefully, someone here can help me. I am the Super Admin of my organization. We publish books globally. I want to break down the books into territories so

• Negative Opening Balance

  How can I add Negative Opening balance - meaning a credit balance to a Customer or a debit balance to a vendor? If I go thru Sales-->Customers, and if the opening balance is Rs. 1000 (credit balance), it does not allow me to enter a "minus" sign or mention

• Single-Line Invoicing from Sales Order Despite Multiple SKUs Shipped

  We deal mostly with Government Tenders And Lets say we got a tender that needs 125 XYZ Laptops Then we found 95 Laptops with a different SKUs and 30 Laptops with different SKUs We talk with the IT department of the government company and they approve

• 📣📣 Zoho Bookings Schedulathon 2025 is here!

  Hey Zoho Bookings fam, We're excited to invite you to our first-ever hackathon: Yes, Zoho Bookings Schedulathon 2025 is live now. This is a virtual event and you can participate anywhere from the world. Businesses should be able to set up meetings from

• I want to send out a new newsletter each month

  Without rebuilding a whole journey is there a way to create a new newsletter that is sent to an existing journey monthly?

• Reinstalling Workdrive Truesync client

  Hi, I attempted to update to the beta version of TrueSync, but it was unstable and kept crashing, so I need to revert to the stable version. How do I properly reinstall TrueSync on a Windows PC? I couldn't install the 3.15.x version directly over the

• Evaluating Creator; yesterday fine; today connection times out

  Yesterday I spent hours creating a new app, and it worked fine. Today I cannot access creator.zoho.com. Is this common? I'm in the evaluation mode, but I'm thinking I'm going to keep looking. It worked from my home computer, and now I'm checking it from my work computer. My work computer always works just fine, so I shouldn't htink there would be special settings or anything. If there are, how to find out what they could be? Using Chrome on Windows XP The error I get is: The webpage at https://creator.zoho.com

• Pivot Chart seems to show "old" data - how do I make it update?

  I wonder how to make a Pivot Chart "update" its data contents. Here is the background: I need to report a subset of data that is so complicated that it is easier to make a calculation and put the result in a "reporting form", and then display the data from that form.  So, I get data from the "original form" GRANTS, make some calculations and put the result in the "reporting form" PERIOD.  Now I can watch the result in a list called LIST, which works fine. The list LIST shows that form PERIOD contains

• Upcoming Changes to LinkedIn Parsing in Resume Extractor

  Starting 31 July 2025, the Zoho Recruit Resume Extractor will no longer support direct parsing of candidate data from LinkedIn profiles. Why Is This Change Needed? In accordance with LinkedIn’s platform policies, extracting profile data through browser

• Next Page