Zoho Desk: Q1 2025 | What's New

Zoho Desk: Q1 2025 | What's New

Hello everyone,

Our first release for the year 2025 is here! 
Info
Check out the Release Notes for more details
The diverse capability of AI and its avatars has been the center of attention lately, and we've made some significant strides in this area. We now have a spectrum of other features to meet business's evolving customer service landscape.

This post is categorized into the following topics to maintain brevity and clarity: 
  • Zia: Content generation and writing assistance services
  • Computational and analytical ability
  • Agent productivity and reply readiness
  • User inclusivity and help center security
  • Improved ticket assignment and workflow
  • Data administration: Audit logs and criteria-based exports
  • Instant messaging and guided conversations
  • Marketplace
  • Enhancements in ASAP
  • Mobile apps (Android, iOS, and Radar) 

Zia: Content generation and writing assistance services

Zia (powered by open source language model [Llama 3.1]), can perform a variety of actions from predicting behavior to automating crucial ticket handling actions to providing 24x7 self-service to customers. Zia can now help agents craft more empathetic, personalized responses in the customer's language of choice.

Highlighting the tone and underlying sentiment gives agents crucial cues about the conversation. Insights display a collection of key points or terms that are used in the conversation, and this gives agents an idea about the topic being discussed. Using this information, the agent can draft an appropriate, empathetic reply. They can prioritize tickets with negative sentiment to contain critical issues from escalating.


The ticket summary is repositioned within the reply interface to provide a better usability experience and provide more clarity. The thread summary will give you an overview of the conversation in a thread.Generate content: Aside from responding to ticket queries, agents sometimes need assistance drafting invitation emails, meeting reminders, follow-up mailers, and more. Zia's writing assistant abilities can help generate content based on the prompt; for example, "Generate invitation email for the upcoming sales." The content can be used as a reply or regenerated with a different prompt.

The tone of the entire response or a section of the content can be adjusted to meet the customer's conversational style. You can adjust the tone to formal, informal, diplomatic, assertive, or humorous.

Agents can check the quality of their response before sending it to their customers. Zia will highlight spelling and grammatical errors and offer suggestions. It will also provide the readability score and sentence length.


Agents need to engage with customers beyond just troubleshooting and resolving queries such as inviting them for events, follow-up meetings, onboarding follow-up etc. In these cases, Generate Content can assist agents by creating custom content on demand through prompts. Agents also have the flexibility to modify the prompt, use the generated content as a response, or regenerate it by adjusting the tone and length to fit the context better.

Computational and analytical ability

Support managers can actively monitor the ticket handling process and improve the existing strategies by defining better criteria and optimizing resource allocation for critical services. The lifecycle report will highlight the time spent at each stage; the number of tickets that are moved to another team, agent, or department; and how much time it took to resolve a ticket, which are all critical in identifying bottlenecks and improving assignment strategy.
For example, if L3 tickets are frequently reassigned and take longer to resolve as a result, it can indicate that the tickers are being classified incorrectly. By redefining the criteria and setting proper filters, these tickets can be correctly identified at the submission stage and assigned to the right department, team, or agent. 


Managers can track each agent's active working hours to calculate the billable hours. They can regulate agents' availability by closely monitoring their session timings. 
The report is drilled down into:
  • Summary view: An overview of an agent's daily attendance, including their first login time, last logout time, total hours worked, and the number of sessions they conducted.
  • Session view: A detailed breakdown of the login and logout times of each session. It provides insights into how often an agent logs in and out and the duration of each session.

Monitoring the performance of an individual, a team, or a process identifies areas needing improvement. KPIs can also track progress or decline, and make periodic corrections. Some common performance indicators—like the number of tickets closed, task completion rates, monthly outbound calls, and pending asset requests—can all indicate whether there are any delays or if the agent requires training in handling special cases. KPI components such as metric cards, comparison indexes, bullet and dial charts provide visual representation of important business metrics that help with:
  • Resource management: Monitoring agent productivity can help managers understand agents' bandwidth and allocate tickets and tasks accordingly.
  • Performance tracking: Measuring First Response Time (FRT) and Time to Resolution (TTR) can help identify underlying reasons for any delays and take necessary actions to improve resolution time.
  • Goal alignment: By measuring FRT or resolution time, businesses can align support activities to bigger goals, such as quicker ticket closure, improved customer satisfaction, and a decrease in tickets. 

The Tickets module facilitates automatic computation of the customer's age in years, insurance policy tenure, claim amounts, service costs, and more, which would otherwise require an agent to calculate manually.

Agent productivity and reply readiness

This functionality allows agents to perform actions, send information, track locations, and alert third-party vendors with the click of a button. Buttons can be accessed from the Ticket Detail view. It can invoke a URL or initiate a spectrum of actions through functions.
  • Agents can refer to the company's term insurances, plans, benefits, and payout details while addressing a customer issue from the ticket.
  • The customer's exact location can be found using the correct coordinates in the navigation service URL.
  • Agents can create a record or initiate a process in another tool, such as creating a project in Zoho Projects or filing a bug in JIRA.

Businesses that use custom or private extensions (that aren't available in Zoho Marketplace) to manage their processes can add those extensions to the custom module. This allows them to view data generated by location trackers, forecast budgets, or even load and view images right inside the module's subtab, improving accessibility and usability. 


The Community module UI has been redesigned to enhance its visual appeal and improve the user experience.
We've upgraded the filters, the community detail view, and the moderation settings page with a sleek new design, making navigation and accessibility simpler and more intuitive for users. With the new Approve All button, admins can now approve all posts that are pending approval at once.


Multiple contacts can be sent a WhatsApp message at once, saving time. Agents can also select multiple contacts and update a value or delete them.

Agents have the flexibility to respond to a ticket that was submitted through the IM channel via email. 

User inclusivity and help center security

These have been introduced to provide help center users with ease of navigation.

The happiness rating feedback form can be translated in multiple languages to improve outreach and allow customers to submit feedback for the support they received in their native language. 

These templates allow businesses to store multiple language versions under a single template ID, ensuring that messages are sent in the recipient’s preferred language. This eliminates the complexity of managing multiple templates and streamlines the WhatsApp approval process. These templates can also be triggered via our API, allowing businesses to automate multilingual messaging and enhance customer engagement at scale. 

These bots allow customers to interact with you in their preferred language with multilingual GC bots in WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Business Messaging. It detects the user’s language, translates, and provides responses accordingly, eliminating the need for separate language-specific bots. 

OTPs allow users to access the help center without their login credentials. Sometimes, when users are in a rush or have forgotten their login credentials, an alternative secure login system keeps them connected. OTP-based user authentication is currently available only for India-based customers. 

Users can verify their identity using either of the options while accessing the help center. 

Improved tickets assignment and workflow


Businesses that use custom modules can use workflow rules to update the field values in these records automatically. The "update record action" will update static and dynamic values in the custom module and its related modules. For example, if the employee name is updated in the Employee module, the name will be updated in the Payroll module as well. 

These logs offer a detailed record of both successful and failed custom function executions triggered by automation rules. It includes execution details, passed arguments, and print statements, helping you debug issues and identify the causes of any failures.

Data administration: Audit Log enhancements

  • The Audit Log is now available for both the Contacts and Accounts modules. Admins can track the changes and actions performed in these modules to gain more visibility.
  • The Detail view of the Audit Log is introduced to view and analyze all of the logs. Admins can track specific actions and events all in one place to gain more clarity instead of navigating back to each record individually.
  • Audit log data can be exported in CSV format file for future reference. Read more

Instant messaging and guided conversations

The AnswerBot can generate relevant answers from knowledge base articles to automate chat interactions and reduce response times. The agents can review the answers and choose whether to send them. Chat services on WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Business Messaging help manage high chat volumes, provide 24/7 support, and ensure quick resolution for common questions. When necessary, the AnswerBot will transfer conversations to human agents, ensuring a smooth customer experience while optimizing agent availability and efficiency across multiple messaging channels.

Triage chat conversations by systematically routing each new inquiry to the next available agent in a predefined sequence. This ensures an even workload distribution, eliminates manual assignment efforts, and enhances response efficiency, leading to better customer service and streamlined operations.

AI inside the CPaaS inbox offers real-time message suggestions, conversation summaries, sentiment analysis, and intelligent response recommendations. Available for WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Business Messaging, it facilitates faster resolution of customer queries while maintaining consistency in responses.

The AI-powered composer enhances the agent's productivity by offering real-time writing assistance, language translation, and tone adjustments. It ensures clear, refined, and contextually appropriate communication that resonates with the brand's messaging.

Generate AI-powered responses with context retention in Guided Conversations. The Generative AI Block understands complex queries and remembers the conversation history within a session to give personalized replies. It also provides a chat summary for agents, ensuring a smooth transition and better customer interactions. 

Use industry-specific templates from the gallery to build contextual chatbot ready-made flows that are optimized for multiple languages and channels. 

Connect Guided Conversations with Zoho CRM, Zoho Cliq, Zoho Connect, Zoho Projects, Zoho Mail, and Zoho Calendar. These integrations enable data exchange and automate workflows across platforms for smoother operations. 

Create and deploy chatbots with unified widgets and flows. Switch between editing and viewing modes, preview blocks on hover, and customize the block listing panel. Reposition the panel for flexibility and track real-time metrics to optimize chatbot performance.

Automate user actions and personalize chats across messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger by using the IM variable in the GC flow. IM variables enable session-specific actions, user identification, and ticket management for smoother interactions.

Personalize the logo, theme, launcher, and background. Set custom session end rules, idle timeouts, and enable multilingual support for a tailored chat experience.

The GC Mobile SDK (Android and iOS) supports multiple languages, adapting to the user’s device or preferred language. It ensures a consistent chatbot experience. App Clip and instant app Cliq support enables instant chatbot access without installing the full app.

Merge multiple variables and text into a single structured variable for better data integration. Use it to streamline workflows, improve ticket creation, and enhance AI responses. This reduces manual effort and ensures better context retention in conversations.

Marketplace

Zoho Desk can be integrated with Microsoft Azure DevOps, a suite of cloud-based tools and services developed to support the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Integration improves collaboration between support and development teams by enhancing communication and visibility of requirements, progress, and issues.
For example, a ticket raised for a feature request or feature enhancement by the customer is handled by the customer support team in Zoho Desk. The software development team handles their tasks, such as validating the request, coding, and testing in Azure DevOps. 

Enhancements in ASAP

  • Voice-to-Text Search: Android SDK customers can use voice-to-text search instead of typing.
  • Comprehensive callback functionality: We've introduced callback events for Knowledge Base and Community interactions. These callbacks allow developers to track user engagement and integrate support usage data with their preferred analytics tools. This provides valuable insights for optimizing support content and identifying areas for improvement.
  • Targeted content display: Support content can now be customized based on application screens and user contexts. For example, you can display a specific forum topic on a dedicated screen or show a particular ticket status on a ticket management page. This allows for a more tailored support experience.

Mobile apps: (Android, iOS, and Radar)

  • Schedule and record calls (Android and iOS): The details of inbound and outbound calls can be recorded for transparency and tracking the agent's progress.
  • Create stand-alone activities (Android and iOS): Individual tasks, events, and calls can be created without associating them with tickets, such as onboarding requests, service maintenance, and more. Activities can be sorted and viewed under system-defined list views or custom views.
  • Customizing the list view in a custom module (Android): The list view in a custom module can be personalized by adding or removing the columns as needed. For example, in a custom module called Tour Packages, the users can select fields like country of travel, duration, package type, and visa requirements in the list view for easy access. The fields and layouts within a module can be rearranged, and the appearance and alignment of each card in the module can also be customized.
  • Generate quick and accurate replies using Zia insights in IM chats (Android and iOS): Zia insights in IM chats will help agents understand complex queries by generating a summary of the chat session. Reply suggestions can also be generated to provide contextually accurate replies, reducing the time spent on drafting replies. The tone of the incoming message can be read using Zia insights, helping agents to align their conversation to that of the customer.
  • Use Radar permissions to control who can use what in the app: Radar permissions let admins customize app access based on a user's profile. This way, users can access only the tools and data needed to discharge their duties. By removing distractions and reiterating responsibilities, Radar permissions help users collaborate while staying within the confines of their roles, enhancing overall efficiency and productivity.
  • Make the Radar app follow your device's time zone: Empower agents to provide support from anywhere in the world using the Radar app. Its "Use Device Timezone" setting synchronizes the help desk application's clock with that of the agent's device. Consequently, agents can view all time-related data (e.g., created time, due time) in their local time, enabling punctual, well-timed responses.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

      Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

    • WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

      Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

    • Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

      Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

    • Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

      Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

    • Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

      Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

    • Recent Topics

    • Is there a list of Zoho Icons?

      Is there a list of Zoho Icons you can reference: i.e. business-gold is <image marginRight='7px' color='#2A70E7' bgColor='#FFFFFF' width='52px' height='52px' type='icon' value='business-gold' size='24px' cornerRadius='26px' iconType='solid' /> Thanks!

    • Item images

      Can we get an "On hover" expanded image for items please ?

    • Ability to Create and Manage YouTube Video Chapters in Zoho Social

      Hi Zoho Social Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Social that would allow users to create and manage YouTube video chapters directly within the platform. Currently, Zoho Social does not support manually adding chapters

    • What happens to my current site SEO if i opt for zoho creator?

      I have an existing website and I need to use Zoho creators for the rapid creation of my webpage creation. Currently, my IT team is creating the web pages, but I am concerned about the SEO of my current website if I shift to zoho will i loose it all?

    • Automatic Portal invite

      We have numerous customers we move through a blueprint in deals, when they get to a certain point we need to give them portal access, how can this be done through deluge or a workflow?

    • Preview Emails with Merge Fields before sending

      Hello, Are there plans to preview an email with merge fields before sending out? Currently, all you see in the preview are the merge field values, but before I send out the email I want to make sure the merge is working. Also, the saved emails only show

    • User Filter not selecting All Items

      We are encountering 2 issues when using the user filter. When users are trying to search using the filter option, the OK button is grayed out. Users have to unselect or make a change before it filters properly. 2. When filtering and the OK button works,

    • Support Nested JavaScript Variables in PageSense Pop-up Targeting

      Hello Zoho PageSense Team, I hope you're doing well. I’d like to request a feature enhancement for the PageSense pop-up targeting functionality. Current Limitation: Currently, PageSense pop-ups can be triggered using simple JavaScript variables. However,

    • Cannot Invert Axis for Rankings

      Hi there I want to be able to create a ranking graph in Analytics/BI, with 1 at the top of the Y axis, but I am unable to invert the axis. Super simple example in Excel below. Higher rankings need to be higher up on the graph to give the correct visual

    • How to copy value from a single line field into a picklist field within a module's subform?

      Hello there, I have a single line field in a module's subform. I would like the value in the field to automatically update a picklist field within the same subform (both have items with the same names). Is this possible via function? Unfortunately, workflows

    • Committed Stock and To Be Received Stock via API?

      Is it possible to retrieve Committed Stock and/or To Be Received Stock for an Item via the API? I want to use this information for calculating the amount of inventory needed to be purchased.

    • Creating Email template that attaches file uploaded in specific field.

      If there's a way to do this using Zoho CRM's built-in features, then this has eluded me! I'm looking to create a workflow that automatically sends an email upon execution, and that email includes an attachment uploaded in a specific field. Email templates

    • Marketer’s Space - Automate a Personalized Holiday Workflow with Zoho Campaigns

      Hello marketers, Welcome back to another post in Marketer’s Space! From Thanksgiving through Christmas, you have a flurry of opportunities to connect with your audience. In this post, we’ll see how you can plan an entire month-long automated workflow

    • Service Account Admin for API Calls and System Actions

      Hello, I would like to request the addition of a Service Account Admin option in Zoho product. This feature would allow API calls and system actions to be performed on behalf of the system, rather than an active user. Current Issue: At present, API calls

    • Zoho Inventory Custom Field Update

      Hello All, In this post I am describing how can we Update the Custom Field Value in Zoho Inventory. // Get Org ID orgid = organization.get("organization_id"); // Field Value resvp = ifnull(item.get("purchase_rate"),null); // Record ID iid = item.get("item_id");

    • Sorting columns in Zoho Projects

      Hi, In project management best practice, sorting columns (ascending, descending) is an important tool. Sorting dates to see the order of tasks starting, sorting on priority or even on planned hours is a must for an efficient project control. Currently,

    • Zoho CRM - Calendar Cards View - Let Users Decide What Is Displayed On Calendar Entries

      Imagine planning your week of face-to-face meetings across three counties. You’re trying to group appointments by location to make the best use of your time, but Zoho CRM’s calendar doesn’t show where each meeting is happening. You’re left trying to remember

    • Zoho Inventory - How to pay a supplier up front then receive multiple deliveries

      How do we manage situations where we pay a supplier up front, then the receive the products in increments? Example Workflow: Create Purchase Order > Receive Bill for full amount > Receive Items 2 or more deliveries. Currently, once a Bill is created against

    • How can I add or change the active customer in Zoho Projects?

      I'm trying to change the customer in an active Zoho project. Is it possible to add or change the customer?

    • What happens when someone clicks 'unsubscribe' in a zoho CRM email

      Hello, As per, i am going round in circles trying to find an answer to these 2 question. I have an email template that has an unsubscribe link in the footer in zoho CRM. First, what happens when someone clicks it - where does the contact get unsubscribed

    • Zoho CRM - Scheduled Reports Which Contain Chart

      Hi Zoho CRM Team, I'm requesting that the Report Export and Scheduling feature be enhanced to include a chart, if one has been created on a report. At the moment I have a report which shows Sales This Week by Deal Owner and a pie chart at the top of the

    • Can I add Conditional merge tags on my Templates?

      Hi I was wondering if I can use Conditional Mail Merge tags inside my Email templates/Quotes etc within the CRM? In spanish and in our business we use gender and academic degree salutations , ie: Dr., Dra., Sr., Srta., so the beginning of an email / letter

    • Cadences

      I have just started using Cadences for follow-up up email pipeline. Is it just me or do you find the functionality very basic? For example, it will tell me (if I go looking for it) if someone has replied to a follow-up and been unenrolled; but it won't

    • Canvas View in Zoho Recruit

      Is it possible or would it be possible to have the new 'Canvas View' in Zoho Recruit?

    • Zoho Inventory - Move Orders

      Quick question about Move Orders... Why is there no status to say something like "Draft", "In Progress" and "Completed", similar to Transfer Orders? I'm assuming that when something needs to be moved it should be planned in Inventory, executed and then

    • Kaizen #215 - Workflow APIs - Part 3 - Create and Update Workflow Rules

      Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve joined Zylker Cloud Services as they review and improve their workflows. In Part 1, we discovered and audited their sprawling workflow landscape. In Part 2, we learned how to

    • DataPrep Bigquery Connection failed

      Hello everybody, I want to create a connnection beetwen Bigquery and Dataprep but when I try to connect my project I got this error Loading tables has failed. Table list fetched from the data source expired.

    • Utilisation de Zoho en conformité avec l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI)

      Cher(e) client(e), Conformément à l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI) impose aux entreprises assujetties à la TVA d’utiliser des systèmes de caisse ou de gestion commerciale certifiés lorsqu’elles enregistrent des ventes à des particuliers.

    • Issue in Zoho People Regularization – Incorrect Hour Calculation

      I have noticed that when applying attendance regularization in Zoho People for previous dates, the total working hours are not calculated correctly. For example, even if the check-in is 10:00 AM and check-out is 6:00 PM, the system shows an incorrect

    • Free Webinar : Unlock AI driven business insights with Zoho Inventory + Zoho Analytics

      Are you tired of switching between apps and exporting data to build customized reports? Say hello to smarter & streamlined insights! Join us for this exclusive webinar where we explore the power of the Zoho Inventory–Zoho Analytics integration. Learn

    • Allow Multiple usage units to items while adding them to sales/purchase transactions

      The usage unit of items added in zoho books are static right now and can not be changed. But certain items are received or sold in multiple usage units. One example is fabric. It can be bought in Meters, inches, kgs or other units. Another example would

    • PO receive quantities

      At last, Zoho has finally got around to allowing us to receive a larger qty than recorded in the PO :-) Saves us all from editing the PO's before receiving larger quantities ( usual for us ) ! It's still in "beta" but available upon request, I've tested

    • Analytics : How to share to an external client ?

      We have a use case where a client wants a portal so that several of his users can view dashboards that we have created for them in Zoho Analytics. They are not part of our company or Zoho One account. The clients want the ability to have user specific,

    • Reference Deal Categories in Deluge

      Hello, Is there a way to reference Deal Category in deluge functions? So for our Deals, we have several different WON stages in a pipeline.  Rather than type each stage into our functions, we'd like to be able to reference the Deal Category.  Similar

    • Users Name & Email in Reports

      Hi, I would like to show the Users Name from their Zoho Acount in All Entries/Reports as well as the current Account Email. Thanks Dan

    • Presenting ABM for Zoho CRM: Expand and retain your customers with precision

      Picture this scenario: You're a growing SaaS company ready to launch a powerful business suite, and are looking to gain traction and momentum. But as a business with a tight budget, you know acquiring new customers is slow, expensive, and often delivers

    • Whatsapp Limitation Questions

      Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

    • 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

    • Workflow Creation with Zia gets stuck

      It gets stuck here:

    • Unable to Add Asset to Work Order Due to Different Contact and Company

      Hello Zoho Team, I’m facing an issue in our environment related to asset linking in Work Orders. Here’s the situation: When our engineers go for field activities, they initially create the Work Order using the salesperson’s contact details. After completing

    • Next Page