Zoho CRM Community Digest - September 2024

Zoho CRM Community Digest - September 2024



Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the September 2024 edition of the Zoho CRM Community Digest! This month, Zoho CRM has rolled out several exciting new features and enhancements to help you optimize your tasks and enhance productivity.

Let's dive in!

Product Updates:

Reports in Zoho CRM have been enhanced with a quick-view filter that allows you to apply up to five filter criteria, improving the flexibility of processed reports. Supported fields from the participating modules include Date, Date Time, Checkbox, User Lookup, Picklist, and MultiPicklist. Additionally, users can predefine filters at the preview stage to ensure the report is shared with the desired filter attributes applied, and designated color codes for picklist fields are now included. Check this announcement for a sneak peak of these changes.

Zoho CRM’s Zia Presentation now offers personalized insights and targeted distribution. This feature, accessible under Zia in Settings, allows admins to select underlying data for specific users easily, with options to carbon copy others and automate the delivery frequency, ensuring presentations are generated automatically as per set schedules. Read this post, give it a try, and see how Zia can provide valuable insights into your team’s performance!

Zoho CRM is simplifying its Feeds feature by removing functionalities with low usage. The updatedFeeds interface will no longer include viewing inactive records, viewing records you follow, and auto-follow rules (except for existing users who been using these features). However, workarounds for viewing inactive and monitoring followed records are available in this post.

Exciting news! Zoho WorkDrive now powers file storage for all new Zoho CRM signups across DCs. Connect your CRM to WorkDrive to automatically organize attachments into a dedicated folder for each record, structured as Module Name > Record Name > Attachments. Access your WorkDrive account easily through the Documents tab and manage permissions with Documents permission feature. Learn how to setup and collaborate with your team by reading this post.

The Zoho CRM integration with Zoho Creator, previously exclusive to the CRM Enterprise plan, is now available for Professional plan users! Seamlessly connect Zoho Creator with your CRM to create up to 5 custom tabs for your custom apps and 3 related lists per module to link data from custom apps with default CRM modules. For more details, check out our announcement post.

Zoho CRM has introduced organization-level controls that govern access to emails sent from within the platform. You can now manage who can access and edit emails, set organization-wide permissions to limit access to sensitive data, and control permissions for drafts and scheduled emails. Explore your organisations email settings by reading this post.

Zoho CRM Kiosk just got an upgrade! You can now add titles to your Kiosk screens, adjust their width for a better viewing experience and include three new fields—Percentage, URL, and Decimal. Use the #Merge Field function to merge data from your Kiosk screens or from your CRM data, and select values from existing data in picklist, multi-line, and checkbox fields in the create record action. Configure actions like lead conversion and scheduling directly within your Kiosk. Check out this post to discover more customization options!

Zoho CRM users in India who send notification SMS messages must comply with the new URL whitelisting mandate from TRAI (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India). This requirement aims to prevent misuse. Please review this post and follow the guidelines provided by your network provider to ensure compliance.

Zoho CRM has introduced a new feature for managing subforms directly on the record details page. You can add, edit, delete, filter, and sort rows without switching back and forth to the record details page. This feature is being rolled out in phases. Check out this post to learn more.

Useful Discussions:

@Ozden Uslu encountered difficulties while trying to create a new pipeline in Zoho CRM, specifically with editing fields and deleting stages. @Subhash Kumar provided assistance by explaining how to edit and delete stages in the Setup menu in this post.

Annie wanted to know how to view the enrollment properties set for a cadence in Zoho CRM. @Sunderjan shared a screenshot showing that the "Who is this for?" section displays the enrollment criteria you've set. Check out this post to find out where it's located.

@Drik needed a way to automatically remind users to review uploaded documents . @Haiku Technical Support suggested using a Deluge function or a report. This solution helps track attachments and send reminders for overdue reviews. Learn more in this post.

Functions:

@Nick was attempting to create a workflow rule to automatically close tasks associated with new deals that meet specific criteria. @Subhash Kumar stepped in with a solution using a Deluge function. This function checks tasks for specific subjects and closes them automatically, reducing manual efforts. Check this post for the code!

"Every start is difficult; you're taking important steps. Keep going, buddy!" — @Andres had this to tell @Matt Warner, who encountered challenges while trying to update contact records in CRM with the number of meetings associated with each corresponding record. 

To help him achieve this, @Hugh provided guidance on using COQL queries to retrieve events within a specific date range and extract the necessary information. @Andres then shared the correct syntax that helped resolve the error in Matt's code.
Take a look at this interesting post for the working code!

It's @Matt Warner again, whose post received insightful responses from many community members. Matt's Deluge function to validate if a lead is over 18 years old wasn't working. @Subhash provided a corrected code snippet, and other members contributed as well. Matt acknowledged his learning curve as a non-developer and appreciated the explanations. Learn with Matt in this post!

Dev's Corner:

Raantjes wanted to open a pre-filled email template with the ability to edit the content before sending it by clicking a button in the Blueprint. @Hugh and @Maadhari shared their suggestions for using Client Scripting to achieve it in this post.

@WM Yeo was using a Client Script function in Zoho CRM and wanted to extract the return value from a standalone function but faced challenges doing so. By following these steps outlined in this post, you can achieve this requirement. Check out the code snipped in this post shared by @Jeganprabhu for more details.

@Jordan Barker wanted to show a warning for specific picklist selections in Zoho CRM. @Anamika suggested using the "value" parameter of the onBeforeUpdate() function. This captures the user's new selection, rather thanthe previously saved value, thereby facilitating the warning pop-up for Jordan! Check out this post to learn about the warning based on the intended selection!

WM Yeo wanted to use Client Scripts to update calculations based on changes to any of the 94 modifiable fields in their Zoho CRM module. However, there's a limit of 30 Client Scripts per page. Hugh Marshall suggested a simpler approach that accomplishes this more efficiently, allowing the script to identify the changed field and perform the necessary calculations. Curious to know more? Check out this post.

Kaizen:

Discover how to leverage the Schema Explorer in Postman to effectively understand and interact with the Zoho CRM GraphQL API.

This post addresses a common pain point for Zoho CRM users migrating from Pipedrive. Learn how to automatically update picklist values based on closing dates using Deluge functions within workflows.

This post compiles all the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the common functionalities, limitations, and best practices of Zoho CRM Subforms.

Discover how to build a custom button widget in Zoho CRM that simplifies mass communication. This widget allows users to send SMS notifications and pre-recorded calls to multiple leads or contacts simultaneously.

Explore Flyouts in Zoho CRM Client Script. This post explains how to use them to display widgets and highlights the key differences between Flyouts and Popups.

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 featured in 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

    • Let's Talk Recruit: Super-charge hiring with Zoho Recruit add-ons

      Welcome back to our Let’s Talk Recruit series! This time, we’re diving into something that might seem like a small upgrade but has a huge impact on recruiter productivity: Zoho Recruit add-ons. Think about how much of your day is spent in your inbox or
    • Vendor Signatures Needed for Purchase Orders

      Hello everyone, We have a unique requirement that necessitates that Vendors & Suppliers formally acknowledge our Purchase Orders upon receipt. I was hoping that there would be an option to do so in Zoho Books, but that does not appear to be the case.
    • Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk

      Hi, Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk to zoho projects?
    • تغيير عمله الدفع"Change payment currency"

      ما هى طريقه تغيير عمله الدفع "ما هي طريقة تغيير عملة الدفع؟"
    • Store "Sign in with Google/Microsoft/GitHub etc." details

      Quite often now, users are using a sign-in provider like Google or Microsoft to sign into various apps and services. It would be great if Vault could remember which providers you use for each website and sign you in with that provider instead of a username
    • Critical Issue: Tickets Opened for Zoho Support via the Zoho Help Portal Were Not Processed

      Hi everyone, We want to bring to your attention a serious issue we’ve experienced with the Zoho support Help Portal. For more than a week, tickets submitted directly via the Help Portal were not being handled at all. At the same time no alert was posted
    • Tip of the Week #72– Assign thread ownership to avoid confusion.

      When teams handle a large volume of emails, managing threads becomes important to stay organized. Without a clear system, duplicate replies, missed follow-ups, or confusion over responsibilities can happen. Thread assignment solves this by designating
    • Unarchive tickets

      How can I manually unarchive tickets?
    • Optimize your Knowledge Base for enhanced accessibility by adding alt tags for images

      Let's learn why alt tags are crucial for your articles. You can add alternative tags (alt tags) and alternative text (alt text) to the images you share on your community forums or when embedding them in articles. Alt tags refer to the HTML attribute,
    • FSM trying again

      have not linked FSM yet to the rest of out Zoho suit. It certainly looks like the apointment and service part is more manageable for our staff. The question is that our engineers multi task examples 1. deliver products to customers not fitted 2. Service
    • Feature Request: Conditional Field Mandatoriness Based on Display Status

      Hello Zoho Creator Team, I would like to suggest an enhancement to improve the flexibility of form validations. Currently, when we need a field to be mandatory only if it's displayed on the form, the only option is to: Set the field as not mandatory in
    • Data Migration Strategies for Moving to a Cloud Solution

      Hi everyone, I’ve been working on moving some of our critical systems, including CRM and project data, to a Zoho cloud solution, and one of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered is data migration. Transferring large volumes of data while keeping it
    • Commerce Order as Invoice instead of Sales Order?

      I need a purchase made on my Commerce Site to result in an Invoice for services instead of a Sales Order that will be pushed to Books. My customers don't pay until I after I add some details to their transaction. Can I change the settings to make this
    • How to set different item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books

      Item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books are in sync. If we update the Item selling price in Books, the same will happen in commerce and vice versa. I need a separate commerce selling price for online users and a separate books selling price
    • Time Entry Notifications

      Hi All - I have support staff who place notes of their work in the time entry section of Zoho Desk. Is there a specific workflow or setting I need to enable to have the ticket holder updated via email when an entry is saved?
    • How to report 'Response violation' OR 'Resolution violation'

      Hi, I want to report on SLA Violation Type. I grouped my tickets on this column. It seems I only get 'Response and Resolution Violation' or 'Not Violated'. The former seems to be given to a ticket if only the Response Time was violated. I would expect
    • [Webinar] Automate sales and presales workflows with Writer

      Sales involves sharing a wide range of documents with customers across the presales, sales, and post-sales stages: NDAs, quotes, invoices, sales orders, and delivery paperwork. Generating and managing these documents manually slows down the overall sales
    • Power of Automation :: Quick way to associate your Projects with Zoho CRM

      A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and
    • Date triggering Workflow rule

      I have a function triggered by a workflow rule. The function takes a date and creates a task for that date and fills in a field with the name of the day for that date. It also updates the status field of the record. The workflow rule is set to run whenever
    • Restricting contact creation

      Hi all! I am looking to use Zoho Desk in a part of the business that takes end user enquiries. These are generally single interactions, and not linked to an account name. As Desk is Account centric, has anyone designed a way to manage these incoming emails
    • Import Holiday Calendars

      HI Zoho Is there anyway of importing an online calendar like https://www.calendarlabs.com into the business hours calendars, to speed up setup of holiday calendars. Also could we also request a feature where you can specify a Holiday as hours, i.e it could be that the company is on a 1/2 day due to a holiday or when it is Eid in the UAE and they are only allowed to work restricted hours so we need the calendar to be flexible to allow for this. Regards Jamie
    • Filtering Tickets based on Email headers

      We're starting to get a lot more junk coming into our Zoho Desk, which is then triggering unnecessary email alerts to agents. Once thing we could do to cut this junk in half, is to filter tickets based on email headers. Any email containing the `List-Unsubscribe`
    • Error 550 5.4.1

      I’ve tried sending an email to someone but keep receiving this back. Any help would be greatly appreciated 
    • Billing Management: #2 Fair way of Billing- Prorated Billing

      Hello, From speaking about the traditional ways of billing in the previous post, we are moving into the deep sea of billing. We are now in a zone to break out the most complex yet, I would call it the fairest way of billing, the Prorated Billing. Prorated
    • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

      Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,
    • How can I filter a field integration?

      Hi,  I have a field integration from CRM "Products" in a form, and I have three product Categories in CRM. I only need to see Products of a category. Thanks for you answers.
    • Adding image in HTML report page

      Hi, I want to know two things: 1. Can anyone advise how to add an image in HTML report. The tagged used is <img> but what path do I mention for the image to be added in the HTML report. 2. Also, I want to know if I am creating an application for the market
    • How to change view of HTML report based on device but always print in A4

      Hello everyone, I am aware that HTML report view can be configured to adjust according to the screen size like Laptop, Tablet and mobile using media queries. But my concern is no matter on which device the reports is opened when printed should always
    • Age Calculation

      I've attempted to calculate the age of someone based on their birthday input by using the formula field. It works but I don't want all those decimals on there. I then tried to use "set variable" after birthday input but I get a field type mismatch, long vs. floating. Any ideas would be wonderful.
    • Search on Custom Field

      We're working on an integration with the Zoho FSM API and are trying to retrieve companies based on a custom field we added to the Companies module. However, we can't find a way to filter or query records using custom fields through the API. We have a
    • Sendmail function / custom action?

      I've setup a function hoping to email various business departments the details of a record once all work in that record is complete so gone about setting up a custom action in such way that each record line on the report has a button to click. Question is how do I actually include data from that record in the email that is sent when the button is clicked? I had thought that since this were being sent per record the email would include the data which had been entered
    • API to post drafts for social media

      I we want to post draft posts to our zoho social account and then approve and schedule them within Zoho social. is this possible with for example: https://apis.zoho.com/social/v2/post TIA Jon
    • Canvas View in Zoho Recruit

      Is it possible or would it be possible to have the new 'Canvas View' in Zoho Recruit?
    • What impactful sales coaching techniques have you used to boost your team's performance?

      I'm curious about the real-world impact of sales coaching on team performance. What specific techniques or strategies have you found most effective in driving consistent improvement and growth in your sales team? Any success stories or lessons learned
    • Adding Taxes to paid consultations in Zoho Bookings

      I created a 'paid' consultation under Zoho Booking and integrated it with payment gateways for online/instant payment before a booking is done. How can I add 'taxes' to the price of consultation? I can add taxes to other Zoho apps (liks Books, Checkout,
    • Zoho Finance Suite - Customer Custom Tabs - Dynamic Link

      Hi Finance Suite team, When creating a Custom Tab for a Client Portal, there is no option to add dynamic parameters. This would be very helpful for adding Zoho Analytics dashboards which can be dynamically filtered through the URL to only show information
    • Possible to bold or indent text in the description field?

      As part of one item, I often have a detailed description that would be much easier to read if there was the ability to have a bulleted list or bold text and the like. Is this possible? My last invoicing software allowed markup in the field so, for example, an asterisk meant a bullet. I haven't been able to find any documentation related to this.  Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.
    • Formatting of Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Reports

      The default format of the Balance Sheet and P&L Reports are based on the Account Types and then the individual accounts within the Chart of Accounts. These are then ordered alphabetically under these sub-headings and one is unable to re-order these or
    • UK MTD reports concerning turnover and cerash accounting

      Hi I am a sole trader, and I have just started with Zoho Books in order to comply with the new HMRC requirements. I use 'cash basis' - which I understand to mean that income is when the cash comes in (not the invoice date) and expenses are when they are
    • Retainer Invoice.

      Why ZOHO not have facilities to deduct partially advance payment from an invoice.
    • Next Page