Second Insight - Let's talk Layouts

Second Insight - Let's talk Layouts

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

Let's talk Layouts


What are layouts?

Layouts refer to the arrangement or design of elements in a space, whether on a physical surface, like a room or a piece of furniture, or in digital contexts, such as web pages or graphic designs. 
InfoUser interface layout: In software design, various interface elements, such as buttons, forms, and menus, are arranged to create an efficient and user-friendly experience. 
Layouts control how fields and related sections are organized on a department's module page. Each department can have its own design, which includes a combination of default and custom fields. These layouts dictate which fields are visible, read-only, and required.
 
Customer support agents need specific information to handle tickets for different products or processes effectively. As a result, help desks frequently incorporate multiple custom fields into the ticket forms that customers complete. This may lead to customers facing irrelevant fields that don't apply to their specific issues. The most effective solution to this confusion is to create and use an appropriate layout.

How can you benefit from using layouts?

Layouts are used in a wide range of software applications and platforms to enhance communication and user experience.
 
In Zoho Desk, you can use layouts to tailor the fields on module pages like Tickets and Tasks. The drag-and-drop feature enables you to add new fields easily, remove unnecessary ones, and rearrange fields to match your preferences. 

Key functions of a layout: 

  • Visual hierarchy: Clarifies the significance of various elements and directs the viewer's attention to the essential information.
  • Readability: Enhances the clarity and legibility of text and images, making it easier for the audience to digest the content.
  • Aesthetic appeal: Creates an attractive design that engages users and encourages them to interact with the content.
  • Consistency: This ensures a uniform look and feel across different pages or sections, which helps with branding and recognition.
  • Navigation: Facilitates user navigation by organizing content logically and allowing users to find information quickly and intuitively.
  • Functionality: Supports the intended function of the design, whether to inform, persuade, entertain, or provide a service.
Quote
A well-designed layout is crucial for effective communication and user engagement in any visual medium. 

A story for better interpretation of layouts

The Perfect Layout - A Tech Story

At Heaven Solutions, a bustling tech company, they proudly call their help desk software 'Heaven Desk'. It was the go-to place for agents facing tech troubles, but the overall situation was chaotic. The desks were cluttered, information was scattered, and the agent teams were overwhelmed with requests.
 
Ross, a bright and passionate senior tech support, was part of the help desk team. He loved helping others but often found himself frustrated when navigating through heaps of information to assist his team. One day, while dealing with a particularly perplexing issue, he had a revelation: the team needed structure to tame the chaos!
 
Inspired, Ross gathered his team for a brainstorming session. “What if we redesigned our help desk layout?” he suggested. The team was intrigued but skeptical. “How can a layout make a difference?” one seasoned tech support asked. 
 
Ross smiled and began to explain: “Let’s think of it this way: a well-organized layout can guide users to find solutions quickly. It can reduce confusion, streamline processes, and enhance productivity.” 
 
The team's curiosity was piqued, and they experimented with Ross's idea. They mapped out ideas on a whiteboard and discussed different elements of a successful help desk layout. 
  • Categorization: They categorized issues into clear sections—hardware, software, network, and general inquiries. This way, users could quickly find the category relevant to their problem. 
  • Search functionality: Ross proposed implementing a robust search feature on their help desk platform. Users could type in keywords or phrases, making finding solutions more manageable.
  • Visible layout: The team agreed that a cleaner, visually appealing design would help declutter the experience. They envisioned a layout with ample white space, easy navigation buttons, and tabs representing different categories.


  • FAQ guides: Recognizing that many questions were often repeated, they created an easily accessible FAQ section and a library of troubleshooting guides. This would empower agents to solve minor issues independently.


  • Quick feedback: They incorporated a feedback mechanism where users could rate their experience after each interaction, allowing continuous improvement based on user input.

Excited about their ideas, the team presented the new layout to their manager. To their delight, he loved the vision and approved the redesign. With everyone's input, they built the new Heaven help desk. When they launched the redesigned help desk, it was like transforming a maze into a designated path.


On the first day after the launch, Ross was buzzing with anticipation. As employees began using the new layout, he watched their faces light up. Help desk requests decreased as many users could now find what they needed through the FAQs and guides. The search functionality quickly became a hit, with colleagues excited about how quickly they could resolve issues.
 
Because of their collaborative effort, the help desk now serves as a support system and empowers employees to help themselves. The structured layout improved efficiency and user satisfaction, proving that a thoughtful design could transform chaos into clarity.
 
In the end, the purpose of layouts became clear: they weren't merely about aesthetics; they were powerful tools that guided users, reduced frustration, and ensured a seamless experience. Through Ross's idea and the team's collaboration, Heaven Desk became a model help desk, demonstrating that a little structure could lead to immense success.

Takeaway

A well-designed layout organizes information and resources in a coherent way and makes the system intuitive and easy to use, which reduces frustration and improves user satisfaction. It ensures that users can find what they need quickly and efficiently, whether it involves accessing a knowledge base, submitting a ticket, or tracking the status of their request. 

Please stay tuned for more Desk Module stories.

 

Cheers,


Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    • Recent Topics

    • Add Hebrew Support for Meeting Transcripts Provided by ZIA in Zoho Cliq

      Hi Zoho Cliq Team, Hope you're doing well. We would like to request the addition of Hebrew language support for the Meeting Transcript and Summary feature in Zoho Cliq. Currently the transcript and summary feature is available for recorded meetings and

    • Remote Control Functionality During Screen Sharing in Zoho Cliq

      Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We would like to request the addition of remote control functionality during screen sharing sessions in Zoho Cliq. Currently, while screen sharing in Cliq is very useful, it lacks the ability for another participant to take control

    • Centralized Organization Information Management in Zoho One

      Dear Zoho One Support, I'm writing to propose a feature that would significantly improve the user experience and streamline data management within Zoho One. Current Challenge: Currently, managing organization information across various Zoho One apps requires

    • Enhance Zoho One Conditional Assignment to Fully Reassign App Settings When Changing Departments

      Hi Zoho Team, We’d like to submit a feature request regarding the current behavior of Zoho One’s conditional assignment logic when moving a user between departments. 🔧 Current Limitation As it stands, Zoho One’s conditional assignment does not remove

    • Ability to Filter Alias Mailboxes in Zoho Recruit

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you are doing well. We would like to request a feature enhancement regarding the handling of alias mailboxes in Zoho Recruit. Currently, when we connect an alias mailbox (e.g., jobs@domain.com) from our Zoho One account

    • Automatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People

      Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.

    • Prefered Bin Missing in android APP

      Andoroid app dosent show preferred bin in the picklist. The workaround support reccomend is to use the computre to create the picklist. it shuld be information to be shown aas basic for the pciker.

    • Open Sans Font in Zoho Books is not Open Sans.

      Font choice in customising PDF Templates is very limited, we cannot upload custom fonts, and to make things worse, the font names are not accurate. I selected Open Sans, and thought the system was bugging, but no, Open Sans is not Open Sans. The real

    • Function #1: Convert an accepted Estimate to Sales Order automatically in Zoho Books

      As you’re aware, Zoho Books provides a default option to have the estimates automatically converted to invoices once your customer accepts them. Many of you wanted a similar option for sales orders, so here’s a workflow that converts accepted estimates

    • Reusable Jira Connection for Multiple Zoho Projects Imports

      Hello Zoho Projects Team, We would like to raise a concern and submit a feature request regarding the Jira → Zoho Projects migration process, specifically around how Jira connections are handled. Current Behavior: When setting up a Jira connection for

    • Zoho invoice doesn't support Arabic language

      I added a clause in the terms & conditions section in Arabic but it doesn't appear when I sent or print it.

    • Recurring Invoice Placeholder Not Updating Billing Period

      Hi, I’m using Zoho Invoice Free and want the billing period to update automatically in recurring invoices. In Item Description I tried: Billing Period: %(m-6)% %(y)% to %(m-1)% %(y)% but even if the invoice date is in 2026, it still shows the period based

    • Related list Mobile Device

      Hello, We use an the Zoho creator application to make reports linked to Accounts. On the computer: it's easy to go the Account and see all the created reports in the related list below On iPad/Phone ZOHO CRM APP: we cannot see the reports on those accounts

    • Can't update the company address in zoho invoice

      Dear Sir/Madam, I want to update the company address in Zoho Invoice but failed. It popped out a sentence "Invalid value passed for Website". Please advice how to solve this problem. Thank you.

    • Is there a plan to allow for the hierarchical organization of Customers / Companies in Zoho Billing?

      We have a few customers who have organizational structures that we haven't quite found a way to deal with in Zoho Billing. In CRM, these sub-companies (or subsidiaries or whatever you want to call them) all have another CRM account as the parent account.

    • 【Zoho CRM】作業リスト機能リリースのお知らせ

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、作業リスト機能リリースのお知らせ情報をご紹介します。 目次 作業リスト機能　概要 機能①　自分の未完了の活動 機能②　処理待ち 機能③　自分の作業リスト 作業リスト機能　概要 営業チームでは、CRM内に業務やデータが分散しているため、管理が煩雑になりがちです。この断片化は、機会の見逃しや生産性の低下につながります。 作業リスト機能は、タブを横断する業務項目をひとつのカスタマイズ可能なダッシュボードに集約し、業務を効率的に管理できるようにします。

    • SalesIQとPageSenseの利用について

      初めての投稿で場違いだったらすいません。 弊社ではSalesIQを運用しているのですが、追加でPageSenseの導入もしたいと現場からの声があります。 両サービスともクッキー同意バナーが必要なサービスなのですが 弊社では同意無しに情報はとりませんという方針なので 2つ入れると2つバナーを出す必要がでてきます・・・ 両サービスを運用されてる方があれば運用状況とか教えてほしいです。 PageSenseについては詳細まで機能を理解してないなかでの質問です。

    • Parent-Child Tickets using API or Deluge

      Hi Everyone, We are looking at the parent-child ticketing features in Zoho Desk. We want to be able to create a parent ticket at customer level and nest child tickets underneath. The issue we are facing is to be able to automate this. I'm checking the

    • Closing connected ticket after closing WA conversation

      Hi, At the moment, once someone sends a message to our WA number, a corresponding ticket is automatically created. After the question is answered, our support department closes the chat/conversation. However, after that, the connected ticket is still

    • Note sync turn off

      Hi, Is it possible to turn off notes sync between task notes and the parent module? (Account/Deal)

    • Basic Plan Active but Survey Creation Still Limited to 3 Surveys

      I have an active Basic (Monthly) subscription (valid period: Dec 24, 2025 – Jan 24, 2026), but the system still limits survey creation to only 3 surveys, which matches Free plan behavior. The subscription appears active in Portal Information, however

    • 2025 in Review: Powering Field Services Forward—One Feature at a Time

      As 2025 draws to a close, it’s time to pause and reflect on a year of meaningful progress at Zoho FSM. This year was all about listening closely to our customers and partners, building with purpose, and continuously improving the way field service teams

    • API Support for Creating Invoices with Batch-Tracked Items

      Hi Zoho Community, I am working on an integration where we create invoices in ERPNext and push them to Zoho Books. I need to send batch-tracked items (batch numbers) when creating invoices. I could not find any reference in the Zoho Books API documentation.

    • New to automation - please help

      Hi there! We are new to automations in Zoho. We built out one automation campaign and it seems to be firing off for some people but others not. Please advise what's the best practice or if anything we should tweak. Thank you so much!

    • Unable to Create Zoho Booking via the Book Appointment API

      Its giving the below error {     "response": {         "errormessage": "Error setting value for the variable:customer_details\n null",         "status": "Error"     } } Request: POST Url: https://www.zohoapis.in/bookings/v1/json/appointment attached Zoho-oauthtoken

    • Task Details on task template

      When creating a task template in settings that task details seem to be missing. Is it not possible to set the details of a task, such as the priority, type, reminder settings, and custom field values?

    • Building Toppings #3 -Testing and publishing Bigin toppings

      Hey Biginners! In previous forum posts, we discussed what a Bigin topping is and explored the Bigin Developer Console's features. In this post, we're going to create a topping from scratch and discuss how to test and publish it. Our topping will automate

    • markdown files?

      How can I import a markdown file into a note?

    • Mail to Zoho Notebook

      In the Instuctiosn I faound as email add@notebook.app In my account I see add@eu.notebook.app What is correct please

    • Auto-Invite Users to Portals in Zoho CRM based on Conditions

      Hello Everyone, You can now automate portal invitations in Zoho CRM with the new Auto-Invite users feature in Portal management. No more manually enabling portal access one by one. With this enhancement, you can automatically send invites for users to

    • Growth You can Count On: Zoho Billing's 2025 Journey

      As we wrap up 2025, we’re reflecting on a year rooted in steady progress and meaningful growth for Zoho Billing. Every enhancement we have introduced was built to support scalable and reliable billing growth for your business. From launching the Enterprise

    • Need help with creating workflow with Bigin and Clickup

      Can you please help me with this? I am trying to create a workflow in Zoho Flow wherein a bigin Pipeline deal moves to Decision Closing, it will create a task and subtasks in Clickup, under the condition/filter that the Deal name contains the word Social

    • [Webinar] Automate generation of wills, trusts, POAs, and other estate planning documents with Zoho Writer

      Managing the lifecycle of the estate planning documents such as wills, trusts, and POAs, from client intake to final storage, can be complex and time-consuming. Join our live webinar to learn how Zoho Writer transforms this process by automating document

    • Create / Update Rule in TeamInbox when record is updated in ZohoCRM using flow?

      I'm currently evaluating options and trying to work out if the possible scenario is possible; If a record in ZohoCRM is updated, take 2 of the fields from that - lets call them 'OrderRef' and 'OrderTo'. Using flow, if a record is added or updated, add

    • Plans to allow more columns of monitoring, and monitoring not only your own channels?

      Are their any plans to allow more columns of monitoring, and monitoring not only your own channels? Here's why - I'm sure I'm not alone in that we sell other brands products, so not only am I interested in my own brand social channels, but also the social

    • Unwrapping the best practices for the Zoho Desk mobile app: Part 1

      In focus: Empowering the field and frontline customer support representatives Imagine having to carry your computer everywhere to respond to customers, handle escalations, and update your process. This series presents you with efficient tips to handle

    • dealing with post dated cheques

      Hi, can you help me please the best way to deal with this We sell an item of three months duration that is paid for with post dated cheques in monthly stages example - item is sold £3000 Cheque 1 is for £1000 due at time of sale (say Sept) cheque 2 is dated 25th of next month (Oct) cheque 3 is dated 25th of next month +1 (Nov) Now, with invoice number one it's simple - i send a standard invoice as usual But with the other two here's what i want zoho to do next month i want it to send an invoice on

    • Is there a way to sell in a practical method multiple subscriptions of the same product? i.e. domain names

      In evaluating Zoho Billing, a hurdle to adopting it is that Zoho Billing does not seem designed to support businesses that sell multiple subscriptions of the same product. In our case, we need to sell and manage several domain names per client. Am I right

    • Bug Report: "Name A-Z" sorting fails when Note titles start with an Emoji

      Hello, I recently migrated from Evernote (~2600 notes across 23 notebooks). I use emojis at the start of my note titles for visual organization. The Issue: When I set the view to Sort by: Name (A to Z), the sorting logic breaks for any note starting with

    • Copy & Paste not working

      I could create and save 10 new documents but when I go to copy and paste content (just text) into them, only 1 of 10 would save the content. It would appear to save the content but when I go back into the documents, they are empty.

    • Next Page