What's New - July 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - July 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Start smart, end strong.

From knowing who’s coming to celebrating who showed up, July’s updates help you run events that feel organized from the first invite to the final thank you.

Planning an event used to be like writing a choose-your-own-adventure book where half the pages were missing. You'd start with the eternal question mark of RSVPs, stumble through the middle hoping everything holds together, and end wondering if anyone would remember your event existed.

Not anymore. This month, we’re rolling out features that bookend your entire event experience, starting from the very first “maybe” to the final moment of recognition. Because every great event deserves a beginning that makes sense and an ending that lasts.

RSVP for events

No more guessing who’s coming.

Event planning has a dirty little secret that no one talks about. You send out invites, hold your breath, and hope you’re not overcatering for ghosts or scrambling at the last minute because twice as many people arrived. It’s like planning a dinner for 50 and ending up with a buffet for 12, or walking into a packed room with no chairs.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone.

Welcome to the end of that chaos. With the new RSVP feature in Zoho Backstage, you can stop planning on hunches and start organizing with clarity.

Why RSVP changes everything

Unlike traditional event management where attendance is a coin flip, RSVP gives you crystal-clear visibility into three simple categories, ensuring that preparation and resourcing decisions are based on real data, not guesswork:
  • Attending — Your confirmed guests (the heroes of your story)
  • Not Attending — Honest folks who save you money
  • Maybe — For those who want to say yes, but life’s a little full right now
This means you can finally plan seating, food, swag kits, and logistics based on actual responses instead of relying on educated guesses.

How it works:
  • Navigate to Registrations > RSVP. To activate this feature, the organizer must create at least one ticket class—either free or paid.


For paid events, the flow gets even smoother. When guests click Attending, they’re redirected to your event website with all their details pre-filled. There’s no friction or abandoned carts. Just smooth transactions that convert intentions into actual ticket sales. Fewer clicks, fewer drop-offs, more show-ups.

Once RSVP is enabled:
  • Invite-only, automatically: Once RSVP is enabled, your event becomes exclusive. Only invited guests can respond, keeping crashers and confusion at bay.
  • Plus-one, not plus-chaos: Let guests bring their plus-ones without losing track of headcount. Set limits, track companions, and maintain control over your guest list.
  • Response deadlines: Set a cutoff date for responses. Because someone needs to make the final catering call, and it might as well be you.
  • Automated everything: From invitation emails to response tracking, the system handles the heavy lifting while you focus on making your event amazing
Response management



The RSVP dashboard organizes your guests by response status so you always know where things stand. From sending reminders to bulk editing responses, everything is built to save you time and sanity.

And when someone finally clicks Attending, they receive a ticket immediately—just like a regular registrant. Companion info is tracked in the Orders tab, so your count stays accurate.

Most importantly, you can plan your space with confidence. Goodbye awkward standing corners. Goodbye over-ordered food. Hello intentional, data-backed design.

RSVP is now live in Zoho Backstage. Because the only surprise at your event should be how perfectly everything runs when you actually know who's coming.

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


The Certificate Builder

Turn recognition into a moment that lasts

As your event wraps up, recognition takes center stage. Whether it’s a workshop, training session, competition, or conference, handing out a certificate transforms an experience into something lasting. It becomes something people are proud to showcase. But designing and managing certificates has always been tedious. Until now.

Say hello to the Certificate Builder, your all-in-one solution to create and deliver beautiful, professional certificates at scale. No design skills, no complicated workflows.

Drag. Drop. Done. 

Design certificates that match your event’s identity, whether you prefer a classic look or a bold, modern feel. The drag-and-drop editor lets you add everything from participant names and event details to logos, images, and signature fields.



You can customize fonts, positioning, background styles (solid, gradient, or image-based), and even insert QR codes that link to secure verification URLs. You can choose between A4 and US Letter formats and set the layout to portrait or landscape. Everything you create can be previewed before it’s sent, so you know exactly what your participants will receive.

Dynamic fields and smart placeholders help you generate thousands of certificates in just a few clicks. Whether you’re awarding attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, organizers, or staff, the builder supports role-specific templates for each participant group. For attendees, you can create a common certificate for all or tailor it by ticket class to recognize different levels of participation.

You can clone templates across events and manage all certificates from a centralized panel. Easily create new designs or update existing ones.

Certificates are sent directly from your event workspace, either individually or in bulk. Use the Download Certificate link option within Scheduled Emails to deliver them automatically based on roles or attendance status, such as checked-in or no show.



You can send certificates in bulk or download them if you prefer handing them out in person. No exporting. No extra tools. Just click, send, and move on.

Every certificate can include a QR code that links to a custom URL of your choice. You can use this to direct recipients to a relevant page, such as your website, portfolio, or resource hub. This adds a professional touch and extends the value of each certificate.

More than just a gesture, certificates reinforce your event’s value and brand identity. They increase engagement, strengthen participant loyalty, and leave a lasting impression that lives beyond the event.

Recognition shouldn’t be hard. Now it isn’t.

Try the Certificate Builder today and deliver achievements that people remember.

Plan availability: Included in the Ultimate plans 



Canceled requests and action history in registration approvals

See the full picture. No request goes unnoticed.

Ever had an approval request vanish into thin air? We thought disappearing acts should stay in magic shows, not event management. The enhanced Registration Approval workflow in Zoho Backstage gives event organizers better visibility into canceled approval requests, along with a full history of who took action.

Previously, if an order pending approval was canceled, it would disappear from the approval tab. This made it difficult for organizers to track the request or know who canceled it. With this update, all canceled registration approval requests are now retained and shown within the Registration Approval section of your event dashboard.

This change helps maintain a clear audit trail of registration activity. Whether an order was approved, rejected, or canceled, the full record remains accessible, including the user who performed the action.



To view this information:
  1. Navigate to Registrations > Registration Approval
  2. You’ll now see five status types listed: Pending, Approved, Rejected, Canceled, and Completed.
Canceled requests appear alongside the others and can be filtered like any other status. For each request, you’ll also see who approved, rejected, or canceled it, giving you full transparency throughout the registration process.

This update improves accountability and helps organizers understand how many requests were withdrawn or canceled, which is especially helpful when analyzing attendee behavior or refining approval criteria.


Exhibitor enhancements 


Booth member listing preferences  

Speaking of visibility (because we're on a roll), let's talk about your exhibitors. You can now control who sees exhibitor booth member details on your event website. These profiles, which were previously visible only to logged-in users, can now be made public using a simple toggle. This is ideal for trade shows, public expos, or hybrid events.

To show/hide booth member profiles:
  • Navigate to Exhibitors > Exhibitor Settings and enable/disable the Public Visibility of Booth Member Details toggle. 
  • When enabled, anyone can view booth members without logging in. When disabled (default), visibility remains limited to signed-in users.
This update gives organizers more flexibility over exhibitor visibility, helping tailor the experience for both open and closed event formats.

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans 

Exhibitor tags 

Easily group and showcase your exhibitors with the new exhibitor tags in Zoho Backstage’s Exhibitor module. Tags help organizers manage exhibitors more effectively and make it easier for attendees to find relevant companies.

You can now assign multiple tags, such as FinTech, Startup, or Europe, to each exhibitor while creating or editing their profile. These tags appear across key touchpoints, including exhibitor listings and profile pages on both the website and the mobile app. 



Attendees can filter exhibitors by tags to discover booths that match their interests. Organizers can use the same filters in the editor for faster management. Only active tags (those assigned to at least one exhibitor) are shown to attendees, ensuring a focused browsing experience.

Organizers also have control over tag visibility. Exhibitors can choose to hide certain tags from public view. These hidden tags remain visible to organizers in the editor but won't appear to attendees.

Manage tags from the Exhibitor tab or directly within an exhibitor’s profile. Tag-based filtering is already available on the web and mobile app.

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans 

TikTok links in exhibitor profiles

Exhibitors can now showcase their brand’s TikTok presence directly on their profile page. This new social link appears alongside existing options like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.


Other enhancements 

We also have a few more touches to make your backstage run even smoother.

Attachment support for demo emails

You can now attach files to your scheduled test emails, allowing you to preview the full email experience and ensure all documents are ready for your attendees.

Session restarting

We’ve simplified the session engagement flow by removing the Re-Present Session option. Instead, presenters can now Restart sessions, and each restart is tracked separately for engagement metrics like chat, poll responses, and Q&A.


Every great event tells a story

From that first tentative “maybe” response to the final certificate download, your event now has a story that actually makes sense. No more planning in the dark. No more anticlimactic endings. Just clear beginnings, smooth middles, and memorable conclusions.

Because the best events aren’t just well attended. They're well remembered. And now you have the tools to make both happen.


Onward and upward

We’ve been rolling out a steady stream of updates, each one bringing us closer to the platform we’re working hard to build for you. While some features are still evolving, they’re all meaningful steps forward. Each update is designed with care, built to meet real needs, and shaped by your feedback.

Now that we’re in the second half of the year, we’re picking up even more momentum. There’s plenty more on the way, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.

Thank you for growing with us and being part of the journey. We’re building something great, and we’re glad you’re here for it.


InfoAll the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact support@zohobackstage.com
    • Recent Topics

    • Boost your CRM communication with new font types, sizes, and default reply-to options while composing emails

      Hello Everyone, We’re excited to introduce a series of impactful enhancements to the email composer settings in Zoho CRM. These updates enable you to personalize and optimize your customer interactions with greater efficiency. So what's new? Add custom
    • Associate records via the Multi-select lookup RELATED LIST via API

      In the REST API, is there a way to associate records for a multi-select lookup related list other than via the linking module? There are two methods for the lookup: 1. via insert records API 2. via the linking module ...as described in https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/kaizen-125-manipulating-multi-select-lookup-fields-mxn-using-zoho-crm-apis
    • OAuth integration issues

      I'm experiencing persistent OAuth errors when trying to connect Make with Zoho API. I've tried multiple approaches but keep encountering the following issues: First error: 'Invalid Redirect Uri - Redirect URI passed does not match with the one configured'
    • Zoho Books Placeholder: Inventory Counts

      I was hoping to figure out how to find the placeholders for inventory counts by item. We use Location based inventory tracking, so I dont know if that affects things. I want my PDF and Printed PICK LISTS to show the Quantity Available to Pick. I have
    • Blueprint Not Triggering When Lead Status Is Updated by Workflow (IndiaMART Integration)

      I have set up a blueprint that triggers when a lead’s status is “New Lead.” Our CRM is integrated with IndiaMART, and when leads are created from IndiaMART, their Lead Status is initially set to None. To handle this, I created a workflow that automatically
    • Le cauchemar de PEPPOL avec Zoho Books

      Après de longues hésitations — car je défends toujours les produits Zoho malgré leurs imperfections —, je me suis décidé à poster cet avis sur ce forum. En effet, depuis plus de 5 mois, les nombreux soucis relatifs à la facturation par PEPPOL semblent
    • Overview on users IMAP settings

      We have about 30 users who all have the channels/email/email configuration/IMAP integration/O365 enabled and emails are synchronized. Here my problem: Passwords for the email accounts are expiring on individual bases and most of the users forget to update
    • Introducing Offline Signature in Zoho Contracts

      We are excited to announce a new feature that brings even more flexibility to your contract execution workflow — Offline Signature. What is Offline Signature? The Offline Signature feature enables organizations to manage contracts that are signed outside
    • URGENT ESCALATION — Unresolved Datacenter Conflict: Zoho Recruit .in vs Zoho Apps .com | Business-Critical Issue

      ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ISSUE SUMMARY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Our organisation has existing Zoho accounts registered under the US datacenter (.com). We have onboarded Zoho Recruit under the India datacenter (.in) at https://recruit.zoho.in/
    • Accepting Event from Outlook Client

      I've noticed this behavior for a few years now. If an Event is created from CRM and sent to participants and the participant accepts the invitation using Outlook client, Zoho event won't be updated as "Going" it only works if the recipient accepts it
    • Link webform to a job opening

      I have a webfrm embeded on my website and everytime a candidates fill the form, their candidate status is to new. Is it possible that it links to a specific job opening instead of me having to assing it manually ? Thanks
    • Zoho CRM Integration Form + Custom Fields

      Hi! I've created an Integration Form from Zoho CRM's Vendors Module, but I can choose a few standard fields and no custom fields I've created in Zoho CRM. There is a plan to add this feature soon? Thanks in advance.
    • Canvas Detail View Related List Sorting

      Hello, I am having an issue finding a way to sort a related list within a canvas detail view. I have sorted the related list on the page layout associated with the canvas view, but that does not transfer to the canvas view. What am I missing?
    • Cross Module Filtering – Use Fields from Lookup modules in Custom Views criteria and Advanced Filters

      Hello everyone, Zoho CRM now enables you to achieve deeper filtering of records in a module, using fields of a lookup, thereby enhancing your data management experience manifold. This filtering based on lookup module fields is now available in advanced
    • Custom Portal URL causing SAMEORIGIN error with embedded Page snippet

      In my app, I have a page that embeds another page. The URL that I have for the embedded page starts with https://creatorapp.zoho.com but the custom domain I have set up is https://kors.kerndell.com. Because the user logged into the app at https://kors.kerndell.com,
    • Recent enhancements made to workflow rules

      Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's workflows. We'll go over each one in detail, but for now these updates can be broadly categorized into two parts: Enhancements to workflow
    • How do I get my cell height to auto adjust?

      I'm evaluating Zoho Sheet as a replacement for Google Spreadsheet. Using latest version of Safari, and experiencing the same issues in Chrome. A few bugs/things I can't figure out: Auto adjusting cell height when importing from Google Docs or creating a new document Turning off the auto date formatting for X.Y.Z where they are all integers.. (This is extremely important, as our requirements are written as outlines.. "X.Y.Z" corresponds to a requirement ID.. which is then turning into a date) The
    • Zia Agent activation in Zoho Desk forces new Organization creation instead of deploying to existing one

      While attempting to complete the deployment and activation sequence of a new Zia Agent within our existing Zoho Desk environment, the activation process failed on the user interface, throwing a generic error (see print). However, despite the activation
    • Marketing Tip #36: Optimize your online store for AI search

      Search is changing fast. Along with traditional search engines, AI-powered search and recommendation experiences are becoming a bigger part of how customers discover products online. Stores that are well-organized, descriptive, and consistent are more
    • Create a "My saved custom themes" section in Zoho Forms

      Hi! I created lots of forms for my company that we embed on the website with a custon design. It is a pain not to be able to save a custom layout as a template and just not to have to do it again! So could you add a gallery like : "My saved themes" ?
    • Automating CRM backup storage?

      Hi there, We've recently set up automatic backups for our Zoho CRM account. We were hoping that the backup functionality would not require any manual work on our end, but it seems that we are always required to download the backups ourselves, store them,
    • Zoho CRM Kiosk question – Passing Screen Fields to a Function

      I am building a Kiosk in Zoho CRM to create new Supplier (Vendors) records. Current setup: Screen 1 contains user input fields: Supplier Name (Vendor_Name) First Name (First_Name) I created a Deluge function: createSupplier(vendor_name, first_name) The
    • Introducing Spotlight Forms

      Hey form builders! If someone opens your form, sees the wall of fields ahead, and quietly closes the tab. It may not be because the questions were hard. It could be because the experience felt like too much. Which is why we have now introduced a new form
    • Client Script Button in Related List become invalid

      Hi, I am the admin of our organization. And I setup a client script button in related list to raise payment refund request While this button become non selectable recently. I believe there is something wrong from zoho as this button had run for a year.
    • BUG and HANGUP - Add Row with Fields DOUBLES the amount of rows instead of Adding Just 1 Row

      As it says in the title, there is a bug with forms generated with Zoho Writer where the Add Row With Fields ends up DOUBLING the amount of rows instead of Adding just 1 row.
    • Delivery Note without services

      Hi all, It there a possibility to create a delivery note from an invoice without the listed services "idem type: service"? Thank you in advance, Michel
    • Forms cannot be accessed.

      https://forms.zoho.com/ is not available, please help to fix
    • Digest Mai - Un résumé de ce qui s'est passé le mois dernier sur Community

      Chers utilisateurs, Un nouveau mois se termine au sein de la communauté Zoho France. Découvrons ensemble un résumé des activités du mois de mai. Quatre ans après son lancement, Zoho Marketing Plus continue d’évoluer avec une ambition claire : offrir aux
    • Ability to run report over 180 days

      Is there a reason Zoho limits the ability to run reports for records older than 180 days? In my view, the only reason I can think of is that it forces us to pay for Advanced Analytics (which I do).
    • Canvases Auto-Skewing/Adding Scroll Bars When They Were Not There Prior

      Is anyone else noticing rendering issues in their canvases today? It seems to be mainly icons which now have scroll bars added which makes them all look off, though some fields seemed to revert to squished length as well. Were the icons replaced with
    • [URGENT] Cannot access Functions tab in CRM

      Navigating to /settings/functions/myFunctions gives this error message: "Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again later." I raised this issue with Zoho Support on Monday (3 days ago) but have not heard back. I'm sure it's clear how important it is
    • Important changes to note for Zoho Sign users in Saudi Arabia

      Dear Zoho Sign users, If your Zoho Sign account is hosted in our Saudi Arabia data centre, here's an important update on digital signature certificates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. What's changing Going forward, the "Sign via Zoho Sign" option will
    • Cloning a View

      When I clone a View, it doesn't make a copy; it only creates a new copy with the same default fields as if I were creating a new view. What is the purpose of cloning if it doesn't bring in the same fields? Thanks Rudy
    • Zoho Desk MCP doesn't expose all functions

      Hello, I'd like to be able to draft (rather than send) ticket replies using Claude Cowork. However, the Zoho Desk MCP doesn't currently offer that, despite it being available in the API (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_DraftEmailReply).
    • Number of Reopn

      Hi Zoho, Is there any appropriate API call for This URL "http://support.zoho.com/api/v1/dashboards/reopenedTickets?...." what I thought is the resulting output of this call has data for number of reopen... "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/tickets/" + Ticket_ID
    • Can I use merge tags with a conditional clause?

      Similar to Mailchimp's "IF / ELSE / ENDIF" functionality, I want to be able to display a sentence with a personalised field only if that merge tag is not empty for the given record. Is this possible on Zoho Campaigns? See http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/how-do-conditional-smart-merge-tags-work for how it works on Mailchimp. Thanks Phil
    • Question - why no way to input a 'tool description' and 'tree of 'tools'

      Every business is different, with different business processes. To be truly useful Zoho MCP needs to have user editable tool descriptions (or ruleset) and a 'tool tree' so that the LLM is context aware when being used. For example, the tool description
    • Personalize your booking pages with Custom CSS

      Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We’re introducing Custom CSS for Zoho Bookings, designed to give you complete control over the look and feel of your booking pages. With this new feature, you can upload your own CSS file to customize colors, fonts,
    • CRM API v9?

      v8 has been around for a while. any plans / estimates for v9?
    • Calendar report with order options and more quick view templates

      I think many of us regularly work with calendar-style reports. It would be great to be able to customize the quick view with new templates and have options to sort the entries for each day of the calendar by different criteria. I think this is an interesting
    • Next Page