Introducing Record Category in CRM: Group options to see record status at a glance.

Introducing Record Category in CRM: Group options to see record status at a glance.

Info
Release update: Currently available for CN, JP, AU, CA, SA, UAE, EU, and US DCs (all editions); IN DC (Standard and Professional editions).

Hello everyone,

We are pleased to introduce Record Category in Zoho CRM - a new capability where the user can get an overview of the current state of the records, view their progress at a glance, and focus on what matters the most. Record Category allows the user to group picklist values to multiple or broader categories which gives a quick and high-level view of where the record stands, without you having to worry about the exact detailed stage.

  

Let us consider an example to understand Record Category. In the Leads module, the Lead Status field captures detailed stages like New, Contacted, Lost, Unqualified, Qualified, Junk, etc. While these values provide depth, understanding a lead's overall state often requires scanning individual records, or reviewing status columns in list views. However, viewing lead progress at a high level or understanding a record’s overall state at a glance remains a challenge.

What does Record Category help you achieve?


Record category makes this easier by allowing you to group related Lead Status values into broader categories. This gives you a consolidated view of similar records, helps you instantly understand where the lead stands, and enables quicker navigation and action without you losing access to the detailed status information.


In the above scenario, for the Lead Status options, we have a common grouping: we saw that the user configured Record Category for the Lead status picklist field. Each existing value was then mapped to one of these categories based on its outcome. Users can see this and infer the status of the records. Besides, users can also view, filter, and act on records based on these categories by using Record Category which you will see in detail below.

To achieve this, the user needs to enable Define Record Category. On doing so, the user can now define the categories Open, Success, Failed.


Record Indicators and Transitions
Once the records are categorized, additionally, if the user wants to give a visual cue to indicate the nature of the category, they can make use of the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down icons.

Additionally, if the user wants to get a bird's eye view of the record progress, instantly navigate from status to status, or quickly shift to a status in the Success or Failed categories, they can enable Display Transition for options.
This will provide a transition path in the record's details page for the user.



Criteria and Filters
Once the options are categorized, the record’s overall progress is clearly visible on the details page. To go a step further, users can also view, filter, and act on records based on these categories by using Record Category as a criterion in filters and views.



Key Benefits


  • High-level status categorization: Group multiple picklist stages under broader record categories, making it easier to understand a record's overall state at a glance.
  • Visualize transitions along with visual indicators: Use intuitive icons and an optional status strip to clearly display record categories and make transitions easy to understand at a glance.
  • Criteria and filter: Record Categories can be used as a common criterion across CRM, allowing you to filter and group records by their overall state without accounting for every individual stage.

Let's look at some other examples as well:


  1. In the Payments module, multiple deal or payment related stages such as Payment Declined, Transaction Failed, or Refund Initiated, can all be classified under a single category such as 'Failed'.



  2. In the Contacts module, each contact represents the primary user being onboarded, and their progress is captured using a picklist field such as Onboarding Status.



Notes

Notes.

  1. Limits: A maximum of 5 categories can be assigned to the options. This can be enabled only for a single picklist per module.
  2. Module supported: All modules, except a few (Users, Quotes, Invoices, Sales Orders, and Purchase Orders) will be supported. 
  3. Record categories can be configured for picklists with up to 200 options.
  4. Editions supported: The feature will be supported in all paid editions.

We hope you find this update helpful. 

To learn more, check out our help page.

    • Recent Topics

    • Delug script

      I have been looking at auto-update a amount (home currency) field from another module. Zoho native multicurrency was used in the other module (we have 4 here). Custom script was input with no error, but the field was not updated on trigger. Script as

    • Zoho Desk API modifiedTimeRange returns HTTP 500 around 2026-03-08T02:00:00.000Z

      Hello Zoho Support Team, We are experiencing a reproducible HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when querying the Zoho Desk API search endpoint with a specific modifiedTimeRange boundary. ### API Endpoint GET /api/v1/tickets/search ### Reproduction Steps &

    • Allow Email Attachments to Be Opened Directly in Zoho CRM

      Hi all, It would be very helpful if attachments linked to an email in Zoho CRM could be clicked and opened directly from the email preview. Currently, the attachment names are displayed, but the experience of viewing them is unnecessarily limited. Users

    • GEO and Zoho Desk

      Has anyone done anything with GEO (generative engine optimization) and zoho desk KB? Are there any plans from Zoho on adding the ability in inject GEO scripts in KB Articles?

    • How to add custom lookup-type field to meeting module form in Zoho CRM

      We need to have a lookup field to a custom module's record in Zoho CRM. But it appears that look-up fields are not enabled in Meetings/Events module in Zoho CRM. How do I design/implement a custom look-up type field that will lookup records from custom

    • AI-Powered Automation for Repetitive Tasks

      Incorporating AI into Zoho People can streamline and automate repetitive administrative tasks, boosting productivity and efficiency. Automate Data Entry: Use AI to auto-capture and input data from emails and forms, reducing errors. Schedule Management:

    • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

      I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

    • [IDEA] Bring Layout - Conditional Rules and Client Scripts to Zoho Books

      The problem We run Zoho Books with two e-invoicing integrations: myData (Greek tax authority, AADE) and PEPPOL (EU e-invoicing). Between the two, our Invoice form carries a large number of custom fields — document type codes, VAT exemption categories,

    • Last four Digit field in Zoho Payment Received

      One of our client's payment received doc has Notes, Last four digit and Transaction ID fields set, I couldn't find api parameter for these fields in the documentation... when I checked the site, it's not custom fields as well. where do i find it, any

    • Automatically remove commas

      Team, Please be consistent in Zoho Books. In Payments, you have commas here: But when we copy and paste the amount in the Payments Made field, it does not accept it because the default setting is no commas. Please have Zoho Books remove commas autom

    • Show my cost or profit while creating estimate

      Hi, While creating estimate it becomes very important to know exact profit or purchased price of the products at one side just for our reference so we can decide whether we can offer better disc or not .

    • Cash Flow Forecast Dashboard in Zoho Reports

      I am exploring the capabilities of Zoho Reports and created a simplified Cash Flow Dashboard - http://db.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=97137000000016024 This is just a sample of the useful financial information for small businesses that can be created with this powerful business intelligence tool from Zoho.

    • Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Latest Update (27th April 2026): With the early

    • Zoho CRM Layout Rules: Nine New Actions, Profile-Based Execution, and Interactive Preview

      Hello everyone, Availability: This feature is now available for all users. We’re excited to announce powerful new enhancements to Layout Rules in Zoho CRM - a feature built to guide our teams through form-filling by showing the right information to the

    • Previewing attachments in email composer (Zoho CRM)

      When I am sending an email from a contact's record, when I am in the compose email screen, if I add an attachment to the email, I cannot then click on the attachment to view it to see if it is in fact the correct attachment before sending. In Outlook I can do this. Can you please look into incorporating this into future updates?   Thank you, Bianca.

    • Lookups and Custom Modules

      I created a Custom Module that I'm calling "Item Purchasing Group". This module will store information for groups of Items that must be purchased together (including minimum overall quantities and/or values, etc.). This will have a one-to-many relationship

    • can't access zoho account

      I can't log in to my zoho account, can you help me

    • Auto sync Photo storage

      Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks

    • Has anyone integrated Zoho with Go High Level (GHL)? Looking for guidance

      Hi everyone, I’m exploring the possibility of integrating Zoho applications with Go High Level (GHL) and wanted to check if anyone in the community has experience with this. Specifically, I’m interested in understanding: Whether a direct integration is

    • Updating Unit Code for New Item Creation, Quote and Invoicing is so inconvenient

      The Zoho Team has implemented many updates, but these updates should be optional. Before rolling out any new feature, they should already have a solution in place that allows users to remove or disable it if they choose not to use it. Just yesterday,

    • Item/service subtotal

      Just discovered & really pleased that we can drag to re-order the line items in Sales orders & Invoices, a very nice feature which doesn't seem to be documented? It would be nice to be able to insert a subtotal as a line item to complete this great feature

    • Set Custom Icon for Custom Modules in new Zoho CRM UI

    • The reason I switched away from Zoho Notebook

      My main reason for switching to Zoho was driven by three core principles: moving away from US-based products, keeping my data within India as much as possible, and supporting Indian companies. With that intent, I’ve been actively de-Googling my digital

    • I want to prefill CRM Account information using the GSTIN of the Customer

      Currently i need to add account details manually in zoho crm and when it syncs in zoho books manual working needs to be done. Whereas in zoho books i can prefill the customer details using the GSTIN which is great feature. Can the same be enabled for

    • #5 Is This Actually The Right Tool For Me?

      Day 5: Before Meera brought six months of business history into Zoho Invoice, she stopped and asked herself a very sensible question: Is this actually the right tool for me? It is much easier to ask that now than after moving all your data. The Usual

    • Timesheet entry and comment on the actual timesheet

      Dear madam/sir, It would be really helpful if we could add an option to comment on a specific timesheet entry, after the employee logs a time-log. Would that be possible in the future? Or can you suggest another way to do this?

    • OpenAI Is Moving to the Responses API: Here's What It Means for SalesIQ

      OpenAI has deprecated its Assistants API and is moving to the Responses API. If you're using OpenAI Assistants with SalesIQ, you may be wondering if you need to make any changes to your existing setup. You don't. SalesIQ has already taken care of the

    • Need Native Support for docx files in Zoho Writer

      Absolutely love Zoho Writer, but often need to share files by email with people who are in the Office ecosystem. Downloading a file as docx, then sending it by email, getting the comments back, converting it to Zoho format, editing it, then converting

    • CRM integration issues

      hi Just start testing Campaigns. Read up on up on these issues but can not find an answer. I am super admin. 1) its only showing 1002 contacts, I have a 2500 plan which is confirmed in dashboard. I says it sync'd 1400. I've looked at missing contacts,

    • What's New in Zoho Expense: Integrated Business Travel and AI-Powered Expense Management

      This release brings a wide range of updates across Zoho Expense, including new AI-powered capabilities, enhancements to corporate cards, expense management, audits, and more. Keep reading to know how the new updates can transform your travel and expense

    • ChatGPT Plugin / MCP Server auth error

      Hi all I'm trying to connect the ChatGPT plugin for Zoho CRM but after username stage of the auth process, I get this error from the URL https://mcp.zoho.eu/mcp-client/ {"error_description":"Invalid request url, Request is not as per defined in oauth

    • Project Management Platforms for AI Agents: What Matters Most?

      Zoho Projects is already going beyond basic AI assistance with MCP, AI Bridge, and integrations that let AI models access project data and perform actions. That raises an interesting question: what should a project management platform for AI agents actually

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • Sync workdrive feature inside ZohoCRM

      Hi, I'm exploring the new workdrive/ZohoCRM connector released by Zoho to replace the free extension workdriveforCRM which is decomissioned https://marketplace.zoho.com/app/crm/zoho-workdrive-for-zoho-crm I'm rather upset with this long awaited feature,

    • Adding Custom Status Options in Work Order Action Menu

      Hello FSM Team, We would like to inquire if it is possible to add more custom options in the Work Order action/status dropdown (e.g., Cancel, Terminate, Non-Billable, Void, etc.). Currently, the available options are limited, and we are unable to customize

    • Timesheet Task Icons

      In the image below which shows the task field drop down when creating a timesheet against a project and task. What do the icons mean the the right side column against each task? I can't find any documentation or guide that explains what the no entry sign,

    • Open Records in a New Browser Tab

      Hi FSM Team, Just a suggestion: It would be helpful to have a right-click → Open in New Tab option in FSM, similar to CRM. This should ideally work for any clickable record or module, allowing users to open multiple records in separate tabs without losing

    • Facturation électronique 2026 - obligation dès le 1er septembre 2026

      Bonjour, Je me permets de réagir à divers posts publiés ici et là concernant le projet de E-Invoicing, dans le cadre de la facturation électronique prévue très prochainement. Dans le cadre du passage à la facturation électronique pour les entreprises,

    • Marketing Tip #18: Make your online store mobile-friendly to improve traffic

      Most online shoppers browse on their phones first. If your store is hard to read, slow to load, or tricky to navigate on mobile, they’ll bounce fast. A mobile-friendly store doesn’t just look nice; it improves engagement, reduces drop-offs, and helps

    • Cannot add note to record on mobile

      In the latest version of the mobile app - if a record already has notes associated with it - you can add a note via the mobile app - if a record does not have previous notes there is no way to add a new one - it allows me only to send email

    • Next Page