Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates — May 2023

Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates — May 2023

Hello everyone!
 
We're back with more monthly updates after a short hiatus. During that time, we've been hard at work improving the user experience and adding new features to our platform. Today, we're pleased to announce a wide range of fascinating new features.
  • Portal session timeout
  • Advanced email analytics
  • Double-check before form submission
  • Import huge CSV files
  • Logged-in user connections 
  • Cancel button in the edit record
  • Composite fields—link names of subfields
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Portal session timeout
Idle session timeout is the amount of time a portal user can remain idle before the session is ended. Until now, there wasn't an option to manage session timeouts in your portals.
 
Now, with the aim to safeguard your portal users' accounts from potential misuse and security threats, we're giving you an option to set your own custom time out, which will determine when a session should be terminated after detecting users' portal inactivity.
 
Currently, portal users aren't signed off even if they stay inactive over time. Going forward, you can choose the portal timeout to be 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, or Never, which will be the default option.
 
What should I do?
For C6:
  1. Navigate to Portal > [Required portal] > Settings.
  2. Under the Idle session timeout dropdown, choose the time from the available options.
               
For C5:
  1. Navigate to Application Settings > Customer Portal > Settings.
  2. Under the Idle session timeout dropdown, choose the time from the available options.
How do I benefit?
The portal session timeout helps you augment the security of your portal users and your organization. As a portal administrator, you can take responsibility for enhancing your portals' security by preventing unauthorized access and reducing exposure to data breaches.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 30-May-2023
Reference: ​Manage Portal Settings

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Advanced email analytics
In Zoho Creator, emails are sent using workflows for different transactional purposes. These advanced email analytics, provided by Zoho's own email analytic platform, ZeptoMail, will allow you track the performance of the emails that were triggered from your Creator account. You'll gain valuable insights and key metrics, such as detailed email logs, recipient activity tracking, real-time notifications, and more.
 
You can also view detailed reports on engagement, behavior, and email performance over time. Real-time tracking will help you stay up to date on how well your emails are performing.
 
Further, you can quickly identify and resolve any issues with your emails. Using the insights gathered, you can improve your email practices, optimize overall email management strategy, and ensure superior email deliverability.
 
What should I do?
  1. Navigate to Operations > Email Management > Email Analytics.
  2. Connect your ZeptoMail account to view the email analytics.
How do I benefit?
Stay informed about emails sent from your Creator account with across-the-board information on valuable email metrics, and drive better results for your business.

Applicable for: C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 16-Aug-23
Reference: Manage Email Analytics

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Double check before form submission
One drawback with forms is that hitting the Enter key triggers the submission of the form. However, this behaviour isn't desirable in numerous scenarios, especially when there are a large number of fields in the form. The user may have intended to move to the next field, but when they click the Enter key, the partially filled form would be submitted.
 
Now, with the purpose of reducing errors, increasing accuracy, saving time, and providing you peace of mind, we've come up with a solution to this long-running problem. Going forward, we'll be displaying a pop-up asking for confirmation when the enter key is clicked.

What should I do?
Nothing! With this new update, Creator Forms will be smart enough to analyze your usage patterns and display the confirmation pop-up only when you use your keyboard to navigate within the form. Users who use a mouse or touch-pad to navigate will not be shown the pop-up. This ensures a win-win proposition for all.
 
How do I benefit?
This double check before submission is a simple, yet effective solution that not only prevents accidental submissions, it also adds an additional layer of security for your users, and ensures a smoother user experience.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 07-Jun-2023

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Import huge CSV files
Enhancing Zoho Creator's ability to handle large datasets, we'll soon be rolling out support to import huge CSV files (up to 2GB) while creating an application, creating a form, or importing data to reports. We believe this new capability will help improve productivity and, more importantly, save time because you won't have to split your data into smaller files.
 
It's important to note that importing such large CSV files can be resource-intensive, and because it may take a significant amount of time we recommend that you don't edit the application while the import process is underway. Consequently, we'll also be launching a new "Recent imports" section, from where you can track the import progress.

What should I do?
Simply upload your (huge) CSV file like you normally would, and Creator will take care of the rest. It's that easy!
 
How do I benefit?
Support for large CSV files can help users work more efficiently, accurately, and flexibly with data, providing you with the ability to process that data to extract relevant and valuable information for your business.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 23-Jun-2023

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Logged-in user connections
Connections in Creator help you build bridges with different applications or services. However, as of this time, the connections can only be authorized by those with administrative privileges (super admins, admins, and developers). Now, with aim of empowering users, compartmentalizing information, and enhancing governance, we'll be allowing both live users or logged-in users to authenticate connections with third-party services from within the live applications they're accessing. We believe this will offer improved potential and additional rights to users over Creator App modules.
 
Going forward, during the process of creating a connection, we'll introduce a new option called "Who can authorize?" with two choices: Administrators only and Logged-in users.

How do I benefit?
The new logged-in user connections will result in increased security, better privacy control, and an improved user experience while working with connections with various third-party services.
 
Applicable for: C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 17-Jul-2023

- - - - - - - - - - 

Cancel button behavior change
A known limitation while editing records in Creator forms was that the "Cancel" button becomes non-functional in some scenarios—such as when they were opened in a new or the same window and when they were opened using a i-frame. This limitation was a minor blemish on an otherwise seamless user experience while working with Creator forms.
 
Now, we've managed to overcome this restriction, and soon the cancel button will be fully functional in all circumstances. While editing a record from the same window, if you click cancel, you'll be taken to the calling page. While editing a record from a new window, clicking the cancel button will close the tab.
 
How do I benefit?
The new behavior will provide an improved user experience as they help your users avoid being stuck in a stale position or losing their progress.
 
Applicable for:  C5, C6
Availability:  All DCs

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Composite fields: Link names of subfields 
Currently, the link names of the subfields of composite fields, such as name and address, are appended with an incrementing number as we keep adding multiple fields of the same type in a form. For example, if you've added two address fields in the same form, then the link names for the subfields of the second field will be address_line_12, address_line_22, and so on.
 
We're fixing this now, so that the link names remain the same for all of the subfields, irrespective of the number of fields of the same type. In other words, if you have more than one address field in the same form, then the link names for the subfields of the remaining address fields will be address_line_1, address_line_2, and so on. This fix is aimed at improving the readability and subsequent usage of link names in these fields.
 
Notes
  • DC migration will be done from our end to update the subfields' link names, and we'll keep you updated about the progress (migration date and its status).
  • Common link names will be used for the subfields of any newly added composite field and also for new Creator signups.
We request that users who have used custom link names make note of the following changes:
  • After migration, API requests that contain custom link names for subfields will not work. Instead, you can use their common link names. If you're using Creator Meta APIs to get the subfield link names, then the link name will be automatically changed once the migration is completed.
  • If you've used custom link names for subfields anywhere in your app (manually), they won't work post-migration. In such cases, the custom link name should be replaced with the common link name. For example, consider the below cases:
    • Using a composite subfield as a query parameter in:
      • Form access URL
      • Redirect to (website URL)
      • OpenURL (Deluge)
    • Using a composite subfield in ZML snippets: The existing ZML snippet component will break, because we don't process a ZML snippet unless it's accessed live.
Applicable for:  C5, C6
Availability:  All DCs

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That's it from us for the month of May 2023. We'll notify you as these new features are rolled out. In the meantime, let us know what you think about these updates in the comments below!
 
And finally, thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to bringing you more updates soon.
 
Regards,
The Zoho Creator Team

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