Zoho CRM Community Digest - May 2024

Zoho CRM Community Digest - May 2024



This May, we shipped several features and enhancements requested by the Community. Dive in to learn more about them and explore the engaging conversations awaiting you in the Zoho CRM Community. 

Product Updates:


Buttons in Zoho CRM got an upgrade! You can now tailor buttons to specific layouts, adding more context and reducing clutter. Even better, buttons are now available for Zoho CRM portals. This extended functionality allows your customers to launch a pre-configured Kiosk from within the portal with a single click, taking customisation to a whole new level. Check out the announcement post for more details, complete with use cases to help you understand this update better. 
Zoho CRM's timeline has received a major makeover with some exciting new capabilities. We've extended the timeline view to three years, replacing the previous six-month limit, allowing you to see more of the record's history at a glance. This highly requested enhancement from our community doesn't stop there. You can now add notes directly to timeline entries for quick updates, filter events to zoom in on specific information, and even see email statuses — all within the timeline view. Check out this post to learn all about these enhancements.

Introducing Custom Email Field Support in Zoho CRM:

Zoho CRM now lets you send emails and sync conversations with email addresses added to custom email fields in Zoho CRM. This feature, in addition to the existing support for primary and secondary email fields, provides a more comprehensive email history across multiple email addresses within the CRM record. Supported for Leads, Contacts, Vendors, and custom modules, this feature is optional. Follow the steps in this announcement post to enable it for your CRM account. 

Introducing Lead History for Converted Leads: 

The timeline view stores the historical changes made to records, helping with the audit trail. Previously, lead history became unavailable once leads were converted to contact records, a major pain-point expressed by many of our community members. With the revamped timeline view, we have addressed this gap by making the lead history of converted leads accessible within the timeline view of the corresponding Contact, Account, or Deal record. This update is tied to the revamped timeline feature, which is being rolled out in a phased manner. For more details and updates on the availability of this feature, follow this announcement post. 

You can now customize the columns displayed in the Contact Roles section inside the Deals module of Zoho CRM. This update allows you to rearrange the information and choose which details are most important for your team to see quickly. Check the latest comment by @Anonymous User in this post for the specifics.

We've enhanced the integration capabilities of Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects. A new Client Configuration section has been added in the setup to ensure you're aware of how your project clients are mapped to CRM Contacts and Accounts. Alongside the previously supported modules (Contacts, Accounts, and Deals), we've now included support for additional Zoho CRM modules like Products, Cases, Quotes, Invoices and Campaigns. This enables seamless access to all project-related information across related CRM modules. Automatic field mapping ensures that relevant details from the source module are populated when you create a project, eliminating the need for manual data entry. Additionally, the permission management of this integration is now simpler. Check out the post for more details!

Enhanced Validation Rules: 

The recent enhancements to validation rules introduce much-needed flexibility, allowing for quick validation of data at the individual field level. You can choose to prevent saving or allow it with a prompt when a validation fails, and decide where error messages appear —either at the field level or at the top of the page. Additionally, validation rules now extended to lookup fields. Dive into the post to learn more in detail. 

Useful discussions:

Moving Mail Merge Templates Between Modules:
@Caroline wanted to change the module associated with existing Mail Merge templates in Zoho CRM. Check out @838536863@zohoclosedAccount.com's suggested workaround in this post: download the original template, import it to the required module and re-map the merged fields. 

Mailchimp Extension for Zoho CRM:
Use this extension to seamlessly sync your campaigns and subscribers in Mailchimp with Zoho CRM. Send personalised emails based on your customers' interests and trigger email Campaigns with automated workflows based on CRM actions. To learn more about this extension, check out this post!

Enabling Clients to Update Data and Track Progress in Zoho CRM: 
@Salmaswco wants their clients to fill out a form in Zoho CRM, fetch previously filled data, review and update details, and track their progress over time. Depending on the depth of the requirement, this can be done natively in CRM using customer portals or by integrating with Zoho Forms or Survey. Check out this post for suggestions from @Anonymous User and @Amy on how to make this work. 

Auto-Send Emails to Deal Contacts on a Monthly Basis: 
@Pam wants to send recurring emails every month to Deal contacts based on specific criteria. They figured out that Workflow rules are the way to go for this but needed some reassurances on whether they are doing it the right way. @Anonymous User and @Anonymous User provided some pointers to reassure them and added more details to it in this post.

Automating VAT Calculations for Quotes:
@Coen | Heative was struggling with manually setting the VAT on quotes each time. which lead to sending incorrect quotes to their customers when missed. Check out @Ishwarya SG's suggested solution in this post to add an aggregate field that automatically rolls up the VAT values from individual products to the quote. 

Functions: 

Automatic Field Updates Between Contacts and Deals Module:
@Tyler Christie sought a way to automatically update select fields in deal records whenever related fields are updated in the Contact module. In the discussion thread, @Hugh Marshall provided a Deluge script function to achieve this. Tyler even shared an enhanced version of the code that allows mirroring multiple fields at once. Check out the post to learn more!

Chain Workflows in Zoho CRM: 
@Oscar brought up an interesting use-case that involves two workflows working in tandem. The first workflow triggers a field update in the Contacts module whenever a Deal is marked as "Closed Won". This in turn triggers the second workflow from the Contacts module to send an email to Deal Contact. They got it all right except for a parameter that needs to be added in the Function code to make the output of the first workflow trigger for the next one. Check out the solution, shared by @Vigneshwaran K and @Ishwarya SG in this post.

@Reynald needed help integrating their website with Zoho CRM. They were unsure of specific API details such as the URL, API Key, client ID, etc., as well as how to integrate them. @Ishwarya SG suggested using Zoho APIs to push website information to the CRM and shared the API documentation. Meanwhile, @Bhoomi Joshi explained the steps to generate the required credentials. Join the discussion to learn the process. 

Automatically Count Emails Open for Lead Engagement Tracking:
@Antonio wanted to track lead engagement with emails sent through mass emails. He needed a way to increment a numeric field each time an email is opened. Check out @Vigneshwaran K's response in this post, which provides an API-based solution to achieve this. 

Prevent Editing In Lookup Fields: 
@kparikh44444 wants to make a lookup field in a subform with the Deals module as read-only once the deal reached specific stage. They had successfully made other fields read-only using client scripts but were stuck with the lookup field. Check out this post for the script provided by @Hugh Marshall to achieve this requirement.

Auto-fill Time Zones Based on Postal Codes:
@K-CRM wants to populate the Time Zone field for Contacts automatically and Leads. Their goal is to send bulk emails to these Contacts/Leads at the beginning of their local day, and wanted to know if this can be done using their client's Postal Code. Check the solutions shared by @Vigneshawaran K and @Haiku Technical Support in this post.

Hiding Custom Based on Lead Stage: 
Revisiting an old discussion on hiding/disabling the convert button unless the lead reached a specific stage, @Dan had a similar requirement with a custom button but wanted it to work without reloading the page. @Hugh stepped in with a solution, prompting @Dan to post a glowing tribute for Hugh, quoted below! 
Check out this post for an interesting discussion.

Kaizen: 

Kaizen#136 - Zoho CRM Widgets using ReactJS:
Learn how to create custom widgets for Zoho CRM using frameworks like ReactJS. check this post for step-by-step instructions on setting up the project, including installing, creating, building and packaging the widget for Zoho CRM. 

Kaizen #137 - Lead Conversion using Zoho CRM APIs: 
Learn how to leverage Zoho CRM APIs to convert Leads into Contacts, Accounts, and Deals while avoiding duplicate records in this post

Kaizen #138 - How are Widgets used in Zoho CRM Settings?Interested in learning more about Widgets in Zoho CRM? Check out this Kaizen post for an interesting use-case on how to leverage Widgets to make your Knowledge Base resources accessible right within CRM. Don't forget to explore the recommended reads section at the end of this post to learn more about Zoho CRM Widgets. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this month's round-up. Keep tabs on the digest every month for the latest ideas and discussions. Stay tuned and engage in the forums to be included in the next month's digest. Have a wonderful month ahead!

    • Sticky Posts

    • How to reach the official Zoho Support channels and avoid fake ones.

      Dear Customers, Thanks a lot for choosing Zoho! Our applications are built to help achieve your day-to-day business goals. We are committed to engaging with you, to understand and develop solutions that enhance your productivity.  We are happy and ready to help you use our services effectively. Understanding and avoiding fake support Just like using popular bank names and financial applications for phishing purposes, using Zoho and claiming to be providing Zoho Support or services with false numbers
    • Function #35: Close all tasks associated with a lead and create a new task.

      Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to close all tasks of a deal depending upon the deal stage. This week, let's look at a custom function that lets you close all of the tasks associated with a lead while simultaneously creating a new task, like when you need to halt all progress towards a lead while the lead is not available at the moment but create a reminder task. Business scenario: The success of a company, in one way or another, is determined by the leads it gets. Each lead is just
    • Zoho CRM Webinar - Redesigning Daily User Experiences with Canvas

      <br> Your users across roles use the CRM for day-to-day tasks that are necessary. Whether they perform their tasks on time, the right way, or at all depends on a lot of factors, including User Experience. Many businesses struggle with rigid layouts,
    • Join us at the Canada ZUG Meetup: What’s New in Zoho CRM

      Hello Zoho Community! Start your year with fresh insights into Zoho CRM’s latest updates and tools. Whether you're a CRM beginner or a experienced user, this meetup is crafted to help you optimise your processes and leverage new features. Explore practical
    • CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.

        Hello everyone! What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel,
    • Recent Topics

    • 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
    • Drag 'n' Drop Fields to a Sub-Form and "Move Field To" Option

      Hi, I would like to be able to move fields from the Main Page to a Sub-Form or from a Sub-Form to either the Main Page or another Sub-Form. Today if you change the design you have to delete and recreate every field, not just move them. Would be nice to
    • Get Zoho Mail API working (including DRE Connector, Oauth Token, ZUID, ZOID & ACCOUNT_ID)

      Disclaimer: I’m not a professional coder! Do you need to use Zoho Mail API? Me too. It lets you do all sorts of things — like reading the complete header of an email, or forwarding an email with its attachments — which is what I wanted to do. But setting
    • Kaizen #129 : Client Script Support for Blueprints

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. Today, let us discuss about how you can use Client Script during a Blueprint transtion to meet your requirements. This Kaizen post will provide solution for the post - Need non-mandatory fields in blueprint
    • Deluge Tips & Tricks: Mastering dates and times

      Hello everyone! We're bringing back our Deluge Tips & Tricks series, where we show you how to make the most of Deluge for achieving a wide range of use cases. Working with dates and times is a fundamental part of almost any business application. Whether
    • Adding a Button in a Form in Zoho Creator App

      Hi I want to know how can I add a Button in Zoho Creator form. I have options that I select from a multiselect options and I want the button to add those selected options in a Subform. I do not want to add on a Page Builder I want it inside a specific
    • Feature Enhancement Request – Text Formatting Options in Item Description (Zoho Books/Quotes Module)

      Dear Zoho Development Team, Greetings from Radiant360 Integrated Technical Services LLC. We would like to bring to your attention a functional limitation we've encountered within the Item Table / Quote Description section of Zoho Books (and Zoho CRM Quotes).
    • Internal Exception for Creator function

      I have been running a script successfully for several days using the scheduler in my application. Now today it suddenly creates and Internal Exception error. Nothing has changed about the script. The data is still retrievable from the web service it is using. Why would this suddenly be happening for no apparent reason? Also noticed that my usage logs are not up to date. Is something changing behind the scenes?
    • How to Set Up a Custom Domain and Customize Homepage

      Hello, I am experimenting with Zoho Creator to build applications for my own use case and have encountered a couple of issues: 1. Custom Domain Access: Is it possible to access my Zoho Creator application through a domain that I own? If so, how does the
    • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.26.0)

      Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.26.0) is here with new updates to securely manage your passwords, locally save your emails, and protect against emails with suspicious URLs. Let's take a quick look at them. Manage passwords with Zoho Vault eWidget.
    • Cadence reports as front-end reports

      Hello everyone, We have built a cadence which is connected to the Leads module. There are 11 steps in total, 7 are automatic emails and 4 are tasks for the Lead owners. As admins, we have access to this (very nicely made) 'View Reports' tab where we can
    • Default Value on a Number

      Hi, I would be nice to also be able to set the Default Value for a Number Field, not just the Initial Value shown, so if not on the screen so not enetred it can have a value of 0 for example. Thanks Dan
    • Having trouble fetching contents of Zoho Connect Feeds using the API, requesting alternative API documentation.

      I'm trying to retrieve feed/post data from Zoho Connect using the API but facing challenges with the current documentation. What I've tried: OAuth authentication is working correctly (getting 200 OK responses) Tested multiple endpoints: /pulse/nativeapi/v2/feeds,
    • Tip#45: Custom Tags and Cluster Tags

      Tagging your work items helps categorize and label work items within your Zoho Sprints workspace. Now, this feature is expanded across multiple modules, along with the introduction of cluster tags that offer an advanced tagging mechanism. Manage Tags
    • Extensions 101 webinar series: Build, integrate, and monetize with extensions

      Attention developers! Are you ready to take your extension development skills to the next level? We're excited to bring back the Extensions 101 webinar series with an expanded lineup of Zoho products and an introduction to more platform features. Last
    • When using "locations" in zoho books, can you keep the two locations totally separate from each other?

      I am looking to add a location but I don't want to intermingle the banking or other accounts. I want that to be like two separate independent branches that use different banking accounts, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. The people who are in
    • Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals
    • [Free Webinar] User Management in Zoho Creator - Creator Tech Connect

      Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar that runs for around 45 minutes. It comprises technical sessions in which we delve deep into
    • A couple of minor enhancements to Workflows

      Last updated on September 17, 2024: These enhancements were initially available for early access, and we've now enabled them for all users. We are elated to announce a couple of enhancements to custom functions in our Workflows! Say hello to: "Source"
    • Business Continuity - Disaster Recovery

      I know about the Zoho CRM backup .zip files, however, this doesn't include any of the infrastructure with like custom fields or custom modules. I am curious on what everyone has in place for a true backup or what your plan is if your Zoho instance were
    • Free webinar alert on October 16 - Less Complexity, More Security: Workplace + Directory

      Hello Zoho Workplace Community! Security and productivity shouldn't be at odds—and with Zoho, they're not. Discover how Zoho Workplace + Directory delivers seamless collaboration with enterprise-grade security, all in one integrated ecosystem. Join our
    • Narrative 11: Are your customers happy?

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 11: Are your customers happy? Happiness isn't just something you experience; it's something you remember. Hear your customers' voices by enabling customer happiness ratings in Zoho
    • Don't understand INVALID_REQUEST_METHOD when I try to post up an attachment

      When I make the POST request (using python requests.post() for files): https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Calls/***************01/Attachments I get this response: r:{ "code": "INVALID_REQUEST_METHOD", "details": {}, "message": "The http request method type
    • Organization Emails in Email History

      How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?
    • Signature field is showing black

      Hello, When customer signed the service form, it is showing as below picture Phone model: iPhone 16 Pro We tried delete and install application, but it not solved. This has on phone of a few person. There is any advice to solve this?
    • Zoho CRM Android app updates: record sharing, user image upload, Zoho Survey integration, and more

      Hello everyone, We've made some important improvements to Zoho CRM's Android app, and we'd like to walk you through the latest updates. Here's what's new: Record sharing with org users User image upload Zoho Survey integration support Venue preference
    • How to Delete/hide Google adwords section from Layout?

      Hi people, maybe someone can tell me how to remove or hide the Google adwords section from my layout? Im not using it and it takes too much space.
    • WIDGET in related record list ZOHO CRM; how to get and put data to subform custom fields?

      he need: Read and write two custom subform line-item fields on Quotes: Segment_wyceny (picklist/text) and W_pakiecie (number). Write works; read does not return these fields via SDK. Environment Zoho CRM Widget Zoho Embedded App SDK v1.2 Module: Quotes
    • Introducing Assemblies and Kits in Zoho Inventory

      Hello customers, We’re excited to share a major revamp to Zoho Inventory that brings both clarity and flexibility to your inventory management experience! Presenting Assemblies and Kits We’re thrilled to introduce Assemblies and Kits, which replaces the
    • Way to update CRM records in quik view

      I have custom module in zoho crm and that module have 500 records. I want a quick way or UI so that user can easily update the record information in quick view without going to record detail view or edit view. I tried zoho sheet option but in zoho sheet
    • Writer sing up problom

      Zoho writer sing up prolom face
    • Where to integrate Price Book and Product List Price

      Hello, We sync zoho crm all modules with all data to zoho analytics. In zoho crm, we have "Price Books" and "Products" modules, where each product is assigned to a few price books with different list prices. From zoho crm, I am able to export a dataset
    • Form / CRM Integration Not entering into workflow

      I have a simple form setup with company name, first name, last name and lead source. Each of the fields are mapped to CRM Leads module. When the form is submitted, the lead is populated properly. I also have a workflow created that when the lead source
    • Automating CRM backup storage?

      Hi there, We've recently set up automatic backups for our Zoho CRM account. We were hoping that the backup functionality would not require any manual work on our end, but it seems that we are always required to download the backups ourselves, store them,
    • Zoho Slowness - Workarounds

      Hi all, We've been having intermittent slowness and Zoho just asks for same stuff each time but never fix it. It usually just goes away on it's own after a couple weeks. Given that speed is a very important thing for companies to be able to keep up with
    • First day of trying FSM in the field.

      What we found. 1. with out a network connection we were unable to start a service call? 2. if you go to an appointment and then want to add an asset it does not seem possible. 3. disappointed not to be able to actually take a payment from within the app
    • Don't understand why Forms Mobile Scan and Fill not working

      I have configure enabled mobile scan and fill, I have enabled QR and Bar code on two fields name and position, I have mapped seq 1 to Name and seq 2 to position, I have created a 2d QR code with the person names and position, seperated by a comma. When
    • Recurring Supervisor Rule Reminders for Open/In-Progress Tickets

      Hello Zoho Support Team, I would like to suggest a potential improvement regarding reminders for tickets and activities in Zoho Desk. Currently, it is possible to set reminders only once. In the Supervisor Rules section, it is possible to configure reminders
    • Next Page