What's New - April 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - April 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Hello there,

Phew! It’s been a busy month—and it’s all for you.

You know that feeling when your to-do list is long, your coffee’s gone cold, but your team is absolutely crushing it behind the scenes? That’s been us this month. Between brainstorming, building, tweaking, and testing—we've had our heads down, sleeves rolled up, and minds focused on one thing: helping you run smoother, smarter, and more engaging events. 

Every little update we pushed live this month was sparked by a real need from organizers like you. And honestly? That’s our favorite way to build. You throw us the challenges, and we’ll keep showing up with better, faster, and (hopefully) cooler ways to handle them.

So as the calendar flips, we hope you’ll take a moment to explore what’s new, give it a spin, and tell us what you think. 

Automated refunds with cancellation fee deductions

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



Event organizers often face the challenge of handling last-minute cancellations and issuing partial refunds. With our new custom cancellation policy, you can now automatically deduct a cancellation fee from the refund amount when an attendee cancels their booking.

How it works:
  • Set a cancellation fee as a percentage of the ticket price.
  • The system automatically handles fee deduction and tax adjustments.
Setting up:
  1. Navigate to Registrations > Cancellation Policy.
  2. Select Custom Cancellation Policy.
  3. Define up to 10 cancellation rules. (maximum window: 60 days before event)
Attendees will see the applicable policy:
  • During registration
  • On their Your Orders page
  • While canceling their order
The deducted fee is automatically logged in the cancellation and refund history, viewable by both attendees and organizers.


Notes
Fee changes apply only to new orders. For partially refunded orders, any remaining amount can still be refunded later.

Order and attendee activity logs  

Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium and Ultimate plans

Get complete visibility into every update made to attendee and order data with our new activity log. Whether changes were made by an organizer, purchaser, or attendee, you can now view a detailed activity trail.

This audit log captures a record of updates and changes related to attendee and order management. Whether an organizer updates an attendee’s name, a purchaser reassigns a ticket, or a ticket class is changed, the system now logs each of these actions automatically for full traceability.

The log currently captures the following types of activities:
  • Updates to attendee details, such as name, email, or custom fields.
  • Changes made to order details, including purchaser info and billing data.
  • Ticket reassignment, when a ticket is transferred to another attendee.
  • An order being marked as paid or unpaid, reflecting changes in payment status.
  • Ticket class changes, such as upgrading or downgrading an attendee's ticket.
These logs are grouped into three categories for easy review:
  1. Portal Activities – actions performed via the organizer portal.
  2. Order Activities – all modifications related to individual orders.
  3. Attendee Activities – updates and changes linked directly to attendees.
This enhancement is especially helpful for teams managing large events, providing an added layer of accountability and operational clarity. With audit trails now available, you can confidently trace back who made what change and when, minimizing confusion and improving team collaboration.

Export attendee data with deleted fields 

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



Managing attendee information often requires flexibility, especially when event organizers make changes to registration forms mid-way through the event setup or after registrations have already started. To support this, Zoho Backstage now offers a new enhancement that allows organizers to include deleted fields when exporting attendee data.

This enhancement ensures that you won’t lose access to that data, even if the field no longer appears on the live form. This gives full control over whether historical data from removed fields should be preserved and reviewed offline.

How to use:
  1. Navigate to Registrations > Attendees.
  2. Click Export.
  3. There, you'll find a new option: Include deleted fields. When selected, any data submitted for removed fields will be included in the export.
In the exported file, these deleted fields will be clearly marked using the following format: {fieldName}_Deleted. This helps distinguish them from currently active fields while still making the historical data available for review or reporting purposes.

Add attachments to scheduled emails 

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

Attachments are a common and essential part of email communication, especially in event planning. Organizers often need to send event brochures, images, venue maps, or other materials to attendees ahead of time. With this update, they can now do so simply within their scheduled emails.



How to use:
  1. To add an attachment, simply go to Communicate > Emails > Scheduled Emails > Create an Email > Options > Add Attachment. You can upload relevant files from your event or space library during the email creation process.
  2. You can upload relevant files from your event or space library during the email creation process.
When you preview the email, the attachments will be visible so you can verify everything is in place before sending. If any attached file is later removed from the event or space library, it will be shown as “deleted” in the email preview—helping you avoid broken links or missing files.

Try it out the next time you send a scheduled email!

Session details in speaker emails   

Plan availability: Available in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



We’ve enhanced speaker communication in Zoho Backstage by adding session details directly to speaker emails. This ensures speakers have all the information they need—without requiring additional follow-ups or manual updates.

Two key email updates have been introduced:
  • Welcome Speaker email now includes the speaker’s assigned session details, helping them understand exactly when and where they’re expected to present.
  • Session Updated email is a new automated email that gets triggered whenever sessions are assigned to a speaker or when existing session details, such as timing or location, are changed. The email will show either a New Sessions section, an Updated Sessions section, or both, depending on the changes made.


You can find and manage these templates under:
  • Communication > Emails > Automated Emails > Speakers

Enable/disable Workflows during event creation 

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans
 



This feature gives event organizers more control over workflow management during the event creation process in Zoho Backstage. Any workflows configured at the portal level are automatically listed when creating a new event. By default, these workflows are enabled, but organizers can choose to disable specific ones based on the needs of the event—directly during setup.

This flexibility helps prevent workflows from being overlooked or incorrectly applied, making the event setup more efficient and consistent. Organizers can also revisit and update these settings later, ensuring each event has the most relevant workflows in place.

SalesIQ chat in OnAir  

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans



We’re excited to share that SalesIQ Chat is now integrated with the OnAir platform, enabling real-time communication between participants and organizers during live events and rehearsals.

 Attendees can now initiate chats directly within OnAir, ensuring timely responses to their questions. Speakers and exhibitors can also use the chat feature during rehearsals for smooth coordination.

Organizers can configure chat visibility from:
  • Design > Edit Website > Integrations > Zoho Sales IQ
  • Settings > Integrations > Live Chat
You can choose to display the chat on the event website, within OnAir, or both. All conversations are managed through your existing SalesIQ portal.

This integration enhances engagement and simplifies event communication for a better overall experience.

Gamification Leaderboard now supports public display links  

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans

Leaderboard display allows event organizers to showcase real-time competition results across the venue, encouraging attendees to engage more actively through visible, friendly competition.

This encourages friendly competition and boosts attendee engagement.

You can generate secure, public links directly from the Manage Leaderboard page. These links display only ranking information—no sensitive attendee data—and are ideal for projection screens throughout your event space. Multiple links can be created, each with a unique session ID, screen name, browser, and IP, giving you full visibility and control.



Key features include:
  • Expiration controls: Links expire at the event’s end time, with the option to extend or set a custom expiry date.
  • Security: A password-protected interface ensures only authorized users can access the leaderboard. Use the Copy Password button to easily share credentials with your AV team or display partners.
  • Screen tracking: Each display session requires a screen name, which appears alongside session data in your dashboard, making it simple to identify and manage screens.
  • Session control: End individual sessions instantly or reset the password to terminate all active sessions for added security.


Info
Important: If you don’t copy the link at the time of creation, it can’t be retrieved again—make sure to save it immediately.

 To set it up, go to Manage > Engagement > Gamification.

 Bring your leaderboard to life—visibly, securely, and with complete control.

Time field in forms  

Plan availability: The availability of this feature depends on the type of form:

  • Registration form – Included in Premium and Ultimate plans
  • Custom forms – Included exclusively in the Ultimate plan
  • Exhibitor request form – Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans. Also available in the Essentials plan when used with the Exhibitor add-on.
  • Sponsor request form – Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans
  • Session feedback form – Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

You can now collect time-specific responses using the newly introduced Time field in the form builder. Ideal for gathering details like arrival times, session preferences, or any time-based input, this feature gives you greater precision and control during data collection.

Organizers can configure the field to accept inputs in 12-hour or 24-hour format, and optionally define a time range to limit selections. The default format shown to respondents will align with the event’s time format set under Manage > Event Info.

For example, if you're coordinating airport pickups or hotel transfers, you can easily request attendees’ expected arrival times during registration or through custom forms.

Registered session participants export  

Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



You can export the list of registered attendees for individual sessions, making it easier to manage participation and access attendee details at the session level.

To use this feature, navigate to Manage > Sessions, select the relevant session, and go to the Participants > Registered tab. From there, you’ll find the option to export the list of participants who have registered for that specific session.



The export file will include the following columns:
    1. Name
    2. Email
    3. Ticket ID
    4. Ticket Class
    5. Session Title
This update provides quick access to session-specific attendee data, helping organizers better plan logistics, monitor participation, and coordinate follow-ups.


You keep the ideas coming—we’ll keep delivering.

Let’s make May 2025 even better.

Info
All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
If you have any questions, please contact support@zohobackstage.com. 

    • Recent Topics

    • Confirmation prompt before a custom button action is triggered

      Have you ever created a custom button and just hoped that you/your users are prompted first to confirm the action? Well, Zoho knows this concept. For example, in blueprint, whenever we want to advance to the next state by clicking the transition, it is

    • Attention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields

      Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label properties

    • Deluge - Can't get phone number SalesIQ

      Hey folks, I’m building a custom plug for SalesIQ that’s supposed to register leads into Zoho CRM. The SalesIQ chat is being implemented on WhatsApp, and in my plug I’m using this line: mobile_clean = session.get("phone").get("value"); From what I understand,

    • 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

    • Deals by Stages Funnel not showing in correct order

      Using the Stage-Probability Mapping for the Deals module we have created a steps our deals will pass through, RFQ, Closed/Lost, Declined/No-Go, Pricing, Submitted, Negotiations, Won. However when I view the Deal By Stages Funnel it does not show in the

    • Zoho CRM button to download images from image upload field

      Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could not

    • how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

      I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

    • Zoho Desk - Community

      As a regular user of Zoho Cares Community I would really love to see the publish date of articles. For example, when I look at Announcements, it would be very beneficial to see which ones were posted recently, over those which have just and a recent comment.

    • access to quartz for my customers

      Hi how can I have access to the application quartz you use for us to send you screen rocording, this feature would be immensely useful for our customers support https://quartz.zoho.com/

    • Issue with Inline Images in Email Reply via Zoho Desk API

      Hi, I am attempting to send inline images in an email reply using the Zoho Desk API, but the images are not being displayed inline for the recipient. I have followed this documentation: https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_SendEmailReply

    • Turning off the new UI

      Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

    • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

      I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

    • How to search a value stored in a subform?

      Hello, We store serial numbers in subforms but now we would like to be able to search the values to be able to easily find the record with the serial number. I saw that it's not possible to search such values through global search but is it possible to do it an other way? Thank you,

    • Field Dependency Not Working on Detail Page in Zoho Desk

      Hi Support Team, I’ve created field dependencies between two fields in Zoho Desk, and they are working correctly on the Create and Edit layouts. However, on the Detail page, the fields are not displaying according to the dependencies I’ve set — they appear

    • How do the keyword critera work?

      Hi, I'm working on automated assignment of tickets based on keywords. How does this feature work? Where does this criteria look for keywords - email address, subject, email body? Can you please clarify this as I want to avoid overlapping with criteria

    • Error: Unsupported content type: text/html;charset=UTF-8 after tryeing to get the token for n8n automation

      I am working on ZOHO Desk automation and need to get the ZOHO auth token for n8n I have created the app in ZOHO Desk API, got client id and client secret. Added all data required to get a token in n8n. After I sign in with my ZOHO credentials in ZOHO

    • Improving Collaboration Features in Zoho Portal

      Hello Zoho Community, I’ve recently started exploring Zoho services and I’m really impressed with the wide range of features. However, I feel there is still room for improvement in the collaboration area. For example, it would be really helpful if we

    • Clear Tag & Linking Between Quotes and Sales Orders

      Hi Zoho Team, In Zoho Books, when a quote is converted into a sales order, it would be extremely useful to have: A clear tag/indicator on the quote showing that it has been converted into a sales order. A direct link in the sales order back to the originating

    • New in Cadences: Option to Resume or Restart follow-ups when re-enrolling records into a Cadence, and specify custom un-enrollment criteria

      Managing follow-ups effectively involves understanding the appropriate timing for reaching out, as well as knowing when to take a break and resume later, or deciding if it's necessary to start the follow-up process anew. With two significant enhancements

    • Send a campaign to one recipient.

      Very often I speak to a customer and they say they didn't see my email (maybe it went in Junk, maybe they deleted it). Anyway, I just want to go into the Campaign and send it to one person. You already have a feature very close to this - when sending a Test. While developing a campaign, I can send tests to anyone. Why can't we have this AFTER  the campaign has been sent? I know, there's a caveat, and that's in the use of merge tags. Most of the time I only use FNAME, but maybe you could check if

    • Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

      I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create

    • Try FSM again for our business

      We already have our customers individual equipment in CRM with serial numbers, install dates, warranty length and importantly next service which is generally 2 years. a month before the service date is due we get get a report and send out service reminders.

    • GST Slabs Redefined: Stay Compliant Using Zoho Books!

      Hello Everyone! The Government of India is rolling out new GST rates, a major reform aimed at simplifying the current tax structure starting 22 September 2025. GST will move from four slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) to two main slabs (5% and 18%), plus a special

    • Get Cliq Meetings in my O365 calendar

      Hi, we are currently evaluating to replace the Teams Messaging and Meetings with Cliq. We currently still have all our email and calendars in O365. What i want to achieve is, to create a (ZOHO) meeting from Cliq and have this meeting added to my Outlook/O365

    • Issue with Zoho Help Portal – Tickets Missing or Not Answered

      Hi, How are you? I think there may be an issue with the Zoho Help Portal. I opened a few tickets directly in the help portal a some time ago but never received any response I also opened ticket 148356451 by email. I did receive a reply to it, but the

    • Changing the Default Search Criteria for Finding Duplicates

      Hey everyone, is it possible to adjust the default search criteria for finding and merging duplicate records? Right now, CRM uses some (in my opinion nonsensical) fields as search criteria for duplicate records which do nothing except dilute the results.

    • Zoho Creator as LMS and Membership Solution

      My client is interested in using Zoho One apps to deploy their membership academy offer. Zoho Creator was an option that came up in my research: Here are the components of the program/offer: 1. Membership portal - individual login credentials for each

    • DUNS & Bradstreet and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books

      Small businesses not being paid by bigger clients and clients of all sizes is a huge problem. It will be nice if Zoho develops integration with DUNS & Bradstreet(D&B) and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books. That have small businesses can

    • 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`

    • Zoho Forms - Form Rules based on attachment fields

      Many businesses use forms to collect documents and images from customers. In many cases, you may want to trigger a notification or other automation based on whether or not an attachment was added. I've noticed that attachment fields do not appear in Rules

    • Add QUOTE OWNER profile image to a Quote Template

      I can add their email address.. phone number, DOB. I need to add a users profile picture so when they assign a template to a quote they own it adds their picture to the cover page. I've tried hacking a solution together but there has to be an easier way.

    • Elevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration

      Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using Workflow

    • No Response from Zoho Support in 8 Days - Typical?

      I have a couple of issues I'm trying to work through. Initially, I was getting support from support@zohofsm.com, but I have not received a response in 8 days (11 on another question). Is this typical? Can I pay for support? For context, I am not spamming

    • Office 365 and CRM mail integration: permission required

      Has anyone run into this weird problem? My email server is Office 365. When I try to configure Zoho CRM to use this server, a Microsoft popup window opens requesting user and password. After entering that, I get a message in the Microsoft window saying

    • 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.

    • Open filtered deals from campaign

      Do you think a feature like this would be feasible? Say you are seeing campaign "XYZ" in CRM. The campaign has a related list of deals. If you want to see the related deals in a deal view, you should navigate to the Deals module, open the campaign filter,

    • Change scheduling emails time

      When sending an individual email there is a great feature to schedule them to send later. I could only use the one time that is suggested. Is there a way to select another time? Regards, Glenn

    • Zoho CRM: how can I control which contacts to sync with Outlook?

      I was just playing around syncing contacts from Zoho to MS Outlook (MS365 account.) The problem is our firm has hundreds of thousands of contacts and I don't want to bury my contacts list in outlook. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

    • How to overcome limitations in meetings

      As a company, one of our deliverables is a meeting between two other companies, where we act as facilitators. So, if we recorded this meeting  in Zoho CRM, it should be connected to 2 accounts, 2 contacts, and 1 campaign (a campaign, in our use, is the

    • Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches

      We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now? 

    • Next Page