After over 17 years of community requests, I'm hoping the Zoho team can finally address the lack of native multi-page form support in Zoho Creator. This has been one of the longest-standing feature requests in the community, with threads spanning nearly two decades:
The Issue
Zoho Creator currently has no native support for multi-page forms (also known as wizard forms, step forms, or tabbed forms). When building applications with complex data entry requirements—employee onboarding, loan applications, patient intake, vendor registration—developers have no built-in way to break a single form into logical, digestible steps.
Meanwhile, Zoho Forms has had robust multi-page form support for years, including page breaks, progress indicators, conditional page navigation, and page rules. This creates an inconsistency within Zoho's own product ecosystem.
The Product Asymmetry
The disparity between Zoho Forms and Zoho Creator is striking:
| Capability |
Zoho Forms |
Zoho Creator |
| Page Break field type |
✓ Native support Drag-and-drop page breaks |
✗ Not available |
| Progress indicator / Step bar |
✓ Built-in Shows respondent progress |
✗ Not available |
| Page navigation (Next/Previous) |
✓ Automatic Customizable button labels |
✗ Not available |
| Conditional page skipping |
✓ Page Rules Skip pages based on answers |
✗ Not available |
| Page-level validation |
✓ Validates before advancing |
✗ Not available |
| Single form, single record |
✓ Yes |
✗ Requires multiple forms |
The irony: Zoho Forms—a standalone form builder—has more sophisticated form UX capabilities than Zoho Creator—a full application development platform. Developers building enterprise applications in Creator are stuck with inferior form experiences compared to a simple survey tool.
Example Use Case
Consider an Employee Onboarding Form with 40+ fields across these logical sections:
- Step 1: Personal Information (name, contact, emergency contacts)
- Step 2: Employment Details (position, department, start date, manager)
- Step 3: Payroll & Banking (bank account, tax forms, direct deposit)
- Step 4: Benefits Selection (health insurance, retirement plans)
- Step 5: IT & Equipment (laptop preference, software access, badge photo)
- Step 6: Policies & Acknowledgments (handbook, NDA, consent forms)
Desired behavior: User completes each step, sees their progress, and can navigate back to review previous sections—all within a single form that creates a single record.
Current reality: User is presented with a massive scrolling form with 40+ fields, or developers must implement complex workarounds using multiple forms, lookups, and Deluge scripts.
The Current Workarounds (All Suboptimal)
To achieve multi-page form behavior, developers are forced into one of these suboptimal approaches:
Workaround 1: Multiple Related Forms ("Form Chain")
Create separate forms for each "step" and link them via lookups. Use Deluge scripts to pass record IDs between forms and auto-populate fields.
// Step 1 form On Success:
step2_url = "#Form:Step_2_Employment?Employee_Lookup=" + input.ID;
openUrl(step2_url, "same window");
// Step 2 form On Load:
if(input.Employee_Lookup != null)
{
emp = Employee[ID == input.Employee_Lookup];
input.Name = emp.Name;
input.Email = emp.Email;
// ... populate all fields from Step 1
}
- Problem: Data is scattered across multiple tables
- Problem: Complex lookup relationships and Deluge scripting required
- Problem: No "go back" functionality—user must start over if they need to edit Step 1
- Problem: Reporting requires joining multiple forms
- Problem: Breaks the single-record-per-entity principle
Workaround 2: Stateless Form Daisy Chain
To avoid creating "junk" records when users abandon the form mid-process, advanced developers use Stateless Forms for intermediate steps, passing all field values via URL parameters, and only writing to the database on final submit.
// Step 1 Stateless Form - "Next" button:
step2_url = "#Form:Step_2_Stateless?"
+ "Name=" + encodeUrl(input.Name)
+ "&Email=" + encodeUrl(input.Email)
+ "&Phone=" + encodeUrl(input.Phone)
+ "&Address=" + encodeUrl(input.Address)
+ "&City=" + encodeUrl(input.City)
+ "&State=" + encodeUrl(input.State)
+ "&Zip=" + encodeUrl(input.Zip);
// ... repeat for EVERY field
openUrl(step2_url, "same window");
// Step 2 Stateless Form - "Next" button:
step3_url = "#Form:Step_3_Stateless?"
// Pass ALL fields from Step 1 again...
+ "Name=" + encodeUrl(input.Name)
+ "&Email=" + encodeUrl(input.Email)
// ... plus all Step 2 fields
+ "&Department=" + encodeUrl(input.Department)
+ "&Manager=" + encodeUrl(input.Manager);
openUrl(step3_url, "same window");
// Final Form - actually saves the record
- Problem: Stateless forms cannot use advanced field types including Subforms, File Upload, Signature, Image, and Audio—severely limiting data collection capabilities
- Problem: Every single field must be manually mapped in URL strings
- Problem: Adding one field to the schema requires updating scripts on every "Next" button
- Problem: URL length limits restrict how many fields can be passed
- Problem: No "go back" functionality—previous values are lost unless passed forward
- Problem: Extremely brittle—maintenance nightmare for forms with 30+ fields
Workaround 3: CSS Hacks ("Fake Tabs")
Use Notes fields with custom HTML/CSS to create tab-like visual navigation, combined with hide/show field rules triggered by a radio button "step selector." This can work with individual fields or Section fields (to hide/show groups at once).
// Radio field "Current_Step" with options: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3...
// On User Input of Current_Step:
if(input.Current_Step == "Step 1")
{
show Section_Personal_Info;
hide Section_Employment;
hide Section_Banking;
}
else if(input.Current_Step == "Step 2")
{
hide Section_Personal_Info;
show Section_Employment;
hide Section_Banking;
}
// ... repeat for each step
- Problem: Requires hiding/showing every field or section individually—maintenance overhead
- Problem: CSS styling is fragile and may break with Creator UI updates
- Problem: No native progress indicator—must build custom UI in Notes fields
- Problem: Validation doesn't prevent "next step" navigation if current step has errors
- Problem: All fields still load in DOM regardless of visibility, impacting performance
- Problem: Collapsible sections are all visible simultaneously—not a true wizard experience with enforced linear progression
Workaround 4: Zoho Forms Integration
Build the multi-step form in Zoho Forms (which has native support), then push data to Creator via webhooks or integrations.
- Problem: Requires additional Zoho Forms subscription
- Problem: For in-app forms, users must leave the Creator application entirely, complete the form in Zoho Forms, then return to Creator—a jarring, disconnected experience
- Problem: Data synchronization is not instantaneous—there can be delays before records appear in Creator
- Problem: Loses Creator-specific field types (lookups to existing data, formulas, subforms)
- Problem: Integration complexity and potential sync failures
- Problem: Cannot use Creator's built-in workflows on form submit—must rely on integrations
Workaround 5: Custom JavaScript Widget
Build a completely custom multi-step form interface using a JavaScript Widget that handles the UI, then submits data to Creator via API.
- Problem: Requires JavaScript development expertise—completely inaccessible to citizen developers and new users who chose Creator specifically for its low-code promise
- Problem: Must build and maintain custom form validation, navigation, progress indicators from scratch
- Problem: Loses all native Creator field types and behaviors—must recreate lookups, dropdowns, validations in JavaScript
- Problem: API authentication and connection management adds complexity
- Problem: Widget UI doesn't automatically match Creator's styling or theme changes
- Problem: Significant development time for what should be a basic platform feature
What Should Happen Instead
Proposed Solution 1: Page Break Field Type
Add a "Page Break" field type to the Form Builder (matching Zoho Forms functionality):
Form Builder → Field Types → Page Elements → Page Break
Drag the Page Break field between sections to create multi-page forms.
Each page displays with Next/Previous navigation buttons automatically.
Proposed Solution 2: Progress Indicator Configuration
Allow developers to configure a progress bar or step indicator:
Form Properties → Multi-Page Settings:
☑ Enable progress indicator
○ Progress bar style
○ Numbered steps style
○ Named steps style
Step Labels:
Page 1: "Personal Info"
Page 2: "Employment"
Page 3: "Payroll"
...
Proposed Solution 3: Page-Level Validation
Validate required fields on the current page before allowing navigation to the next page:
// Deluge: On Page Change (new event)
if(input.Current_Page == 1 && input.Email == null)
{
alert "Please enter your email address before continuing.";
cancel page change;
}
Proposed Solution 4: Conditional Page Navigation (Page Rules)
Allow pages to be skipped based on field values (matching Zoho Forms' Page Rules):
Page Rules:
IF Employment_Type == "Contractor" THEN skip "Benefits Selection" page
IF Country != "USA" THEN skip "US Tax Forms" page
Real-World Impact
This limitation affects any application requiring:
- Employee onboarding — HR systems with 30-50+ fields across multiple categories
- Customer applications — Loan applications, insurance quotes, account opening
- Patient intake — Medical history, insurance, consent forms, symptoms
- Vendor registration — Company info, compliance documents, banking details
- Event registration — Attendee info, session selection, dietary requirements, payment
- Grant applications — Project details, budget, team info, supporting documents
- Any complex data collection — Where form abandonment due to length is a concern
User Experience Impact: Research consistently shows that multi-step forms have significantly higher completion rates than single long forms. This is due to the "Goal Gradient Effect"—users are psychologically more motivated to complete a task as they see progress toward the finish line. A progress bar creates momentum; an endless scroll creates cognitive overload and abandonment.
Database Architecture Impact:
The workarounds described above force developers to fragment a single logical entity (e.g., "Employee") into multiple physical tables (Personal_Info, Employment_Details, Banking_Info, IT_Equipment) just to achieve visual pagination.
- Reporting nightmare: Every report requires complex joins across multiple forms
- Integration complexity: External systems expect a single record, not fragments across tables
- Data integrity risk: Orphaned records when users abandon mid-process
- API overhead: Multiple API calls required to fetch what should be one record
The desired state is simple: one logical entity = one database table, with the UI handling pagination visually—not structurally.
The Business Case for Zoho
Why this benefits Zoho:
- Product consistency: Aligns Creator with Forms and other Zoho products that already support multi-step data entry
- Competitive positioning: Platforms like Salesforce, Microsoft Power Apps, and OutSystems offer native wizard/multi-step form capabilities
- Reduced support burden: Eliminates community posts and support requests for workarounds for this basic functionality
- Enterprise readiness: Complex enterprise applications require sophisticated form UX—this is table stakes for enterprise adoption
- Developer productivity: Native wizard capabilities remove the overhead of building UI workarounds from scratch, cutting development cycles by hours. Instead of troubleshooting custom flow-control scripts, developers can focus on optimizing user experience and accelerating time-to-market for core business features.
Request to Zoho Team
Can this finally be addressed?
After over 17 years of community requests, the need is clear and well-documented. The current implementation forces developers to choose between:
1. Poor User Experience
Present users with overwhelming, scroll-heavy single-page forms that increase abandonment rates
|
2. Excessive Complexity
Spend days implementing fragile workarounds using multiple forms, CSS hacks, or external integrations
|
We shouldn't have to make this choice—especially when Zoho Forms already has this capability built-in.
Community Input Requested: What workaround have you used in the absence of native support? Please add your voice to this long-standing request.
📚 Documentation References:
🔗 Related Community Discussions (17+ years of requests):
Recent Topics
Enhancements to Zoho Map integration tasks
Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Map integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to
Let’s Talk Recruit: Meet Zia, your all-in-one AI assistant (Part-3)
Welcome back to the Let’s Talk Recruit series. In the part 2 post, we explored how Zia has evolved with smarter summaries and seamless AI-assisted content creation. This time, we’re diving into the latest upgrades that take productivity even further —
Announcing Early Access to "Zoho CRM for Everyone" — A new and exciting update to Zoho CRM
Update : Zoho CRM For Everyone's Nextgen Interface gets an upgrade! Hello everyone, We’ve updated the Zoho CRM for Everyone Nextgen interface based on your feedback. The UI is now simpler with a unified sidebar, a more visible global search and features
Unable to verify domain for Zoho People
I have added TXT records in my DNS (GoDaddy) [screenshot attached], but unable to verify even after 12 hours after adding. On checking the console, it shows some errors [screenshot attached]. It appears that the verification flow is broken - please provide
Zoho Invoice Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia Estatal
Zoho Billing Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia Estatal
Weekly Tips : Make your email content error free with Spell check in Zoho Mail
As someone who writes multiple emails a day, we are bound to make both grammatical and spelling errors. Most of them we may not even notice, and even if we do, we may not have the time to correct each one individually when we are in a hurry. So how do
Introducing Enhanced Storage Management
We’re excited to roll out two new enhancements in Zoho Recruit, Subscription Information and Storage Management — designed to give admins complete visibility into subscription details, feature limits, and storage consumption — all from one place inside
how to download all my files
We are in the middle of zoho docs to zoho workdrive migration. I can not access my zoho docs page. I get redirected immediately to a zoho workdrive page. I would like to download all my files so that I have a backup in case something goes wrong with the
Convert Zoho Books SalesOrder - Invoice
Converting a Zoho Books Sales Order into an Invoice Using the SalesOrder Convert API Hello Zoho Developers, Today, we are sharing a simple and effective solution to convert a Zoho Books Sales Order into a Zoho Books Invoice using the SalesOrder Convert
Zoho Expense - Report Templates
Hi Expense Team, I do a recurring trip once every week which has the same cost: Per diem Milage Toll Payment It would be great if there was a feature which allowed me to clone a previously submitted report or create a template reports. This would save
How to add tabular data when execute Add Record API
Hi everyone! I was send api updateRecord follow by this request url : https://people.zoho.com/people/api/forms/json/<formLinkName>/updateRecord with parameters "inputData", "tabularData", "recordId". Ex picture below And response success: But. When I
Tip #51- Centralized Contact Management for Better Remote Support- 'Insider Insights'
For our final topic of November, we’re diving into one of the most helpful features in Zoho Assist, the Contacts section on Zoho Assist;s dashboard. Whether you’re managing multiple clients, tracking past sessions, or simply looking to streamline your
Say Hello to Telephony in Zoho FSM
Zoho FSM now brings complete telephony support so your team can manage inbound and outbound calls without switching tabs. Faster responses, smarter routing, and total call visibility—all in one place. Choose the telephony setup that works for you Zoho’s
E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Inventory
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. Invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing Works
Employee ID is not correct in get records api V2 for leave
Hi Team, We are facing an issue when calling the Get Records API V2. The employee.id returned in the response is not the actual employee record ID in Zoho People. As a result, our integration is forced to make an additional Get Record API call for every
Formatting Mailing Labels
I want to use the "Print Mailing Labels" function on the drop down list, but I am not seeing a way to change the formatting on the mailing labels. At the moment, the information that appears on the mailing labels ARE NOT mailing addresses, but random
Zoho People. Updating TabularData
I am trying to update tabular data in the record. I always have the same response. I have checked many times. Section ID is correct. May be something wrong with request structure itself. Can someone help me. Body content type: form urlencoded query params
Canvas View - Print
What is the best way to accomplish a print to PDF of the canvas view? Latest update (27th November 2025): We are excited to announce that the Canvas Print View is now available! We encourage you all to try it out and share your feedback with us. Learn
Zia Conversation Summary: Context at a glance for every customer interaction
Hello everyone! Every customer conversation tells a story—but in CRM, that story is rarely in one place. A sales rep moving between multiple leads has to reopen long email threads, check call remarks, and revisit meeting notes just to remember what was
How to set a fixed width of column/cells
Is there a way to set a 'fixed' width for cells in zoho sheet? I know how to adjust the size of the colums.... but after I past a large block of text into a cell, it expands the cell size again. (yes, I have turned off word wrap) How can I set a fixed width so the cells don't change size each time I add data to a cell? Thanks.
Workdrive Oauth2 Token Isn't Refreshing
I have set up oauth for a bunch of zoho apis and have never had a problem with oauth. With workdrive i am using the exact same template i usually use for the other zoho apps and it is not working. All requests will work for the first hour then stops so
Single Portal for Multiple Apps
Hello, I'm just getting started with Zoho and I'm very overwhelmed. I am currently using the free trial of Zoho One, but if I can figure it out, I intend to upgrade to the paid version. Zoho One, of course, gives me access to an entire suite of services/applications. One of the things I'd like to do is have a single place for clients (customers?) to log in and view current projects, invoices, contact information, etc. A single login for my clients. A single portal. I've come across documentation
【開催報告】 大阪 ユーザー交流会 2025/11/20(木)Zoho CRM Plus 活用のアイデアとデータの“見える化”
皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 11/20(木)に、大阪 ユーザー交流会を開催しました。本投稿では、その様子をお届けします。 当日の登壇資料などもこちらに共有しますので、参加できなかった皆さまもご参照ください。 (Zoho 社員セッションの登壇資料については、11/28(金)に開催予定の東京回の開催報告で共有いたします) 今年2回目の開催となる大阪 ユーザー交流会では、株式会社KDDIウェブコミュニケーションズ 山田さんによる Zoho CRM Plus の事例セッションのほか、「Zoho
Every rating counts: Shaping customer experience
We are back to that beautiful time of the year. It is the season to reflect, be thankful, and appreciate everything that has happened throughout the year. Thanksgiving is a time we connect with our family, friends, and relatives to strengthen relationships,
How to remove duplicate contacts
Custom Field for Subscription
Hi, I can't find a way to add a custom field (to contain a license key generated from our software) against a subscription? Is the only place to add this information in the Invoice module (as custom field for invoice)? When a customer views his subscription via the customer portal, there appears no way to display a license key for them? The invoice is not the natural place to store a license key for a particular subscription, so where else can this be stored and displayed?
Custom View and Custom Fields on Zoho Books
Hi, I have some custom fields on Estimates and Invoices. I also use Custom Views so I can have a lot of information at a glance. I want to include my custom fields as columns in my custom views of estimates / invoice, but it looks like is not possible.
Dropdown data depends on filters in another field.
In my quote form I have a lookup field called Reseller that pulls from Accounts. I would like it to pull from Accounts, but only those accounts with an account field 'Type' where that is 'Reseller'. Does anyone know a way to do this? Similarly, I'd like
Is it possible to adjust the web browser tab title (when a ZoHo Desk ticket is opened)
Hi All, When I open a ZoHo Desk ticket in a web browser, the tab title (text that appears at the top of the browser tab) uses the logic: *company icon picture* (xxxx) #ticket number - company name See below (highlighted in red) for reference. Company
Collections Management: #7 Common Mistakes during Payment Collection
Payment collection may appear straightforward in most cases. Still, as your customer base expands and transaction volume increases, it becomes clear that even small inefficiencies can lead to delayed payments, increased support load, or even revenue loss.
Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task
So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in this
Text/SMS With Zoho Desk
Hi Guys- Considering using SMS to get faster responses from customers that we are helping. Have a bunch of questions; 1) Which provider is better ClickaTell or Screen Magic. Screen Magic seems easier to setup, but appears to be 2x as expensive for United States. I cannot find the sender id for Clickatell to even complete the configuration. 2) Can customer's reply to text messages? If so are responses linked back to the zoho ticket? If not, how are you handling this, a simple "DO NOT REPLY" as
Custom Field in Zoho Projects pulling into Analytics
We have a client that we have built our their new business process using Zoho Projects, and we have build a lot of custom fields with their their Projects where they are capturing specific data points that we want to be able to track and pull data, as
Marketer's Space - Holiday season email marketing tips you should know
Hello Marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! 'Tis the season—that time of the year everyone eagerly anticipates. While most look forward to relaxing, marketers will be super-busy from late November to early January. Mistakes can
Zia Competitor Alerts made easy with Zia's suggestions
Hi everyone, In addition to the existing manually added competitors, Zia will now find your competitors for you - instantly. Earlier, you had to identify competitors through research manually, support tickets, or tradeshows—a time-consuming process that
Add Custom Field Inside Parts Section
How to Add Custom Field Inside Parts Section in Workorder like Category and Sub- Category
Zoho CRM Community Digest October 2025 | Part 2
Hello Everyone! From new mobile capabilities and smarter integrations to real-world workflow fixes and developer insights, all the highlights from the second half of October is covered right here. Let’s dive in. Product Updates: Zoho CRM Mobile Updates:
Understanding Zoho Contracts
Effective contract management relies on systems that are structured, organized, and reliable. Every feature, workflow, rule, and restriction in Zoho Contracts are designed the way they are to ensure consistency, compliance, and control across every stage
Tip of the Week #76– Automate your inbox during vacation in Zoho TeamInbox
When you're on vacation or away from your desk, the last thing you want is for important emails to be missed or left unanswered. The good news is, you can easily set up rules in Zoho TeamInbox to assign incoming messages automatically to a teammate who's
Next Page