What's New - June 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - June 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Plans change. People cancel. Tickets get handed off. It happens, and we understand. As an organizer, you need tools that offer flexibility for attendees while protecting your event’s integrity. That’s why we’ve built features to help you manage these situations with clarity and control.

This month’s updates may not be the flashiest, but they have a clear purpose. They are designed to give you quiet confidence, helping you say "yes" when it matters and "not this time" when it doesn’t. With that balance, your events become more than just efficient. They become intentional and genuinely human.

Let's take a look at what's new and enhanced. 

Cancellation Approval 

Make cancellations work for you and your attendees.

Managing cancellations is now more flexible and organizer-friendly with the new cancellation approval workflow in Zoho Backstage. Instead of canceling tickets immediately, organizers can now receive formal requests from ticket holders, review them, and choose to approve or deny them. This extra layer of control helps you stick to your event policies, handle refunds more accurately, and keep communication clear, especially for complex or high-value requests.

To turn this on: 


  • Navigate to Registrations > Registration Settings from the Dock, and switch on the Cancellation Approval toggle. 
  • Once active, any attempt by an attendee to cancel a main ticket, companion ticket, or session will create a request instead of an instant cancellation. The request will show up as Pending in the attendee’s event portal, so they can see what’s happening at any time.
On your side, these requests appear under a new Cancellation Approval tab in the Registrations module. You can check each request in detail. If it includes multiple items, such as a ticket and sessions, you can approve or deny each item separately. For example, you might approve a ticket cancellation but keep the session registrations active.



When you approve a request:
  • You’ll see the attendee’s reason, the items involved, the cancellation fee (which you can still edit), the refund amount, and an optional comment box. 
  • Once you confirm, the request status changes to Approved on the attendee’s side.
When you deny a request:
  • You’ll see the same details and can add a reason for the denial. 
  • The status will then update to Denied for the attendee. 
  • If only some items are approved, the status will show Partially Approved, and any denied items will be removed from further processing.
To help you stay on top of things, the Cancellation Approval tab has filters to see all requests or only those that are pending, approved, denied, or partially approved. This makes sorting and managing large volumes of requests easy.
Notes
  • If the primary ticket is selected for cancellation, any linked sessions or companion tickets will be automatically included. 
  • Also, once a request has been denied, it can't be submitted again.
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

Restriction of ticket transfers

Stronger control over how tickets change hands.

A new enhancement has been introduced to give event organizers greater control over how ticket transfers are handled. You can now decide whether to allow or restrict transfers, depending on your event’s needs. This helps prevent unauthorized resale, reduce misuse, and maintain operational clarity, which is especially important for tightly managed or high-value events.

In the past, many organizers offered attendees the flexibility to transfer tickets to others after registration, which worked well for most events. However, as some events grew more complex, organizers began to see new challenges where tighter control became necessary. For example, some reported cases where tickets purchased at the standard price were resold at higher rates, creating potential policy conflicts. In other cases, especially when attendee badges are preprinted, last-minute transfers can lead to mismatches and confusion at the venue.

To address these concerns, organizers can now enable or disable ticket transfers at any point, based on their event’s operational requirements. 



To turn off ticket transfers: 
  • Navigate to Registrations > Registration Settings from the Dock, and switch of the Allow Ticket Transfers toggle. 
  • Here, the ticket transfer policy can be defined for all ticket classes or tailored to specific ticket classes. This ensures that organizers can enforce different transfer rules for different tiers or categories of tickets.
By default, when the Allow Ticket Transfers option is enabled, transfers are permitted. However, organizers also have the option to define a time window during which transfers are allowed. They can choose to allow transfers until the event start date, the event end date, or set a custom date and time. Once this defined period has passed, ticket transfers will be automatically restricted for attendees.
Notes
While attendees are subject to these restrictions, event organizers themselves will retain the ability to transfer tickets on behalf of attendees at any time, regardless of the transfer settings in place.
This is designed to help organizers prevent unauthorized resale, maintain data consistency, and ensure smooth operations on event day.  

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

Simplified refunds with automatic cancellation fee application

Spend less time on fee calculations and more time running your event smoothly.

Managing cancellations is now faster and more consistent with our new automatic cancellation fee application. When you use the Cancel and Refund option, the cancellation fee you defined during ticket setup is automatically applied to the refund amount. This removes the need for manual adjustments and helps you maintain fairness and consistency across all refunds.

Full control when you need it:
  • You still have the flexibility to adjust the cancellation fee percentage before finalizing the refund. This means you can easily handle special cases, such as emergencies or loyal attendees, while protecting your revenue and saving valuable time.
If you issue a refund without canceling the ticket, such as for a goodwill gesture or a partial adjustment, no cancellation fee will be applied. In these cases, the ticket remains valid, and you can manually adjust the refund amount to suit the situation.
Notes
Automatic cancellation fees are only applied if you’ve set a cancellation fee for the ticket class during ticket setup.
This update makes your refund process quicker, clearer, and more reliable, allowing you to focus on delivering great event experiences instead of double-checking fee calculations.

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

Alt Text support for all website images

Make your event website more accessible and search-friendly.

Alt Text support has officially arrived in Zoho Backstage, helping you build more inclusive and discoverable event websites. Whether you are aiming for WCAG compliance or looking to improve your site's SEO performance, this feature ensures your visuals are both beautiful and meaningful.

Every time you upload an image in the website builder, you will now see an Alt Text field in the right-side panel. It comes with a default value of “image,” but you can and should replace this with a custom, descriptive phrase that accurately represents the image. This allows screen readers to convey the content to visually impaired users and gives search engines better context to index your site.



For bulk management:
  • Navigate to Settings > Customize Text > Alt Text (available on all paid plans). You’ll see a preview of each image, making it easy to update values at scale. Multilingual sites are fully supported—you can switch languages and refer to the source-language Alt Text while entering translations.
For a spreadsheet-based workflow:
  • The Event Website - Alt Text sheet is now part of the language export file. Update it in bulk and import it back into Backstage to instantly reflect the changes across your website.
Whether you're optimizing for discoverability or inclusivity, this update ensures your event content is both meaningful and compliant.

Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Prem​ium, and Ultimate plans

Register companion tickets anytime (Early access)

Give attendees more flexibility for their guests.

Attendees can now register companion tickets anytime after they purchase their main ticket, as long as their ticket includes the companion benefit. They simply log in to your event website and add companion tickets from either Your Orders or Your Tickets.

From Your Orders:
  • Navigate to Your Orders > Event Tickets > Register Companions. This takes them to the ticket selection page to complete the registration.
From Your Tickets:
  • Navigate to Your Tickets > Register Companions. This also directs them to select and confirm companion tickets.
Each companion ticket will appear as a separate order on the website, linked to the main ticket ID. On your end, the companion registration is also tracked as its own order, keeping everything clear and organized.

We’re just getting started.

The updates you see today are only part of our bigger vision to make Zoho Backstage more flexible, reliable, and rewarding for every organizer. In the second half of 2025, we’ll roll out more practical enhancements and thoughtful tools to help you handle change smoothly, deliver better experiences, and run every event with more confidence.

Thank you for being with us on this journey. Stay tuned, because there is more to come.

Note: All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.

If you have any questions or would like to try out our early access features, feel free to contact us at support@zohobackstage.com.

    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho CRM Kiosk Upload Files

      Hello all, We are trying out Kiosks at the moment to see where it can fit best in our business. We are still a bit off in the application but lets say we will sort this out. My question is the following - when I create a Kiosk I can add "File Upload"

    • Connecting zoho creator to zoho writer to send prefilled documents

      i will paste the worflow below // Get user's submitted data from the form userSalary = input.Current_Salary; userCIBIL = input.CIBIL_Score; userEmail = input.Email; userName = input.Name; // You need to get the Document ID from the URL of your Zoho Writer

    • Extracting Images from a Zoho Creator Report into a Pages

      If you’ve uploaded images in a form and can see them in your report, you might also want to display those same images inside a Page (custom HTML page). This is useful for dashboards, profile pages, or any place where images should be visible dynamically

    • How do I change a form's name? Why isn't this more intuitive?

      Can someone please let me know how to change a form's name?

    • Zoho is blocking emails I subscribe to from one sender

      About 4 months ago I stopped receiving newsletters that I subscribe to from @thedispatch.com. They tell me that zoho's server is blocking them. I've added them to my contacts list, but they're not even reaching my inbox. I don't know how to troubleshoot

    • Introducing Formula Fields for performing dynamic calculations

      Greetings, With the Formula Field, you can generate numerical calculations using provided functions and available fields, enabling you to derive dynamic data. You can utilize mathematical formulas to populate results based on the provided inputs. This

    • Inactive Items - Make Less Prominent by Default

      Currently, when one marks an Item as "Inactive", it really doesn't do much of anything to hide it or get it out of the way. Search and reporting within Finance should, by default, hide inactive Items from standard reports, searches, etc. If one specifically

    • Items should display under specific warehouse

      I have configured the multi warehouse but it show all the items under all warehouse which is not correct according to our business logic, so i want that items should only display under that specific warehouse not under all the warehouses not even with zero quantity. Some items should be common but not all so is there any option for that purpose so i can specific the items to its warehouse. Regards

    • Zoho Analytics Bulk Api Import json Data

      HI, I’m trying to bulk-update rows in Zoho Analytics, and below are the request and response details. I’d like to understand the required parameters for constructing a bulk API request to import or update data in a table using Deluge. Any guidance on

    • E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Billing

      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

    • Convert HTML to PDF & Send as Email Attachments in Zoho Creator (Deluge)

      This approach is useful for sending welcome letters, instructions, or promotional offers after order creation. // 1. Define the variables using the submitted input customerName = input.Customer_Name1; orderID = input.ID; customerEmail = input.Email_Address; //

    • Auto-fill New Row with Previous Row Values

      rowsize = input.Order_Items.count(); for each row1 in input.Order_Items { rowsize = rowsize - 1; if(rowsize == 1) { row.Door_Model = row1.Door_Model; row.Door_Color = row1.Door_Color; row.Materials = row1.Materials;

    • I am facing a problem with an if-else condition

      If I use if, else if, and else conditions in Deluge with the same variable name, sometimes the variable causes an error because the same variable name is present in every block

    • When I click on PDF/PRINT it makes the invoice half size

      When I click PDF / Print for my invoice in Zoho Books, the generated PDF appears at half size — everything is scaled down, including the logo, text, and layout. The content does not fill the page as it should. Could someone advise what causes Zoho Books

    • Python - code studio

      Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

    • API question - adding a thread to an existing ticket

      Hi Is there an API function for the customer to add to an existing ticket thread? example, customer puts in new support ticket. support replies and ask for more details. customer replies with more details -what api function is used for this (will add record append to same ticket number?) Thanks

    • search and Smart Bar both missing in Mail

      One of the users on my account does not have the search bar at the top right or the Smart Bar at the bottom left of the desktop Mail app. Any ideas how to get those back?

    • Why is Zoho Meeting quality so poor?

      I've just moved from Office 365 to Zoho Workplace and have been generally really positive about the new platform -- nicely integrated, nice GUI, good and easy-to-understand control and customisation, and at a reasonable price. However, what is going on

    • Hide fields only for creation

      Hello, I'd like to hide some fields only during the creation of a contact in Zoho CRM. In fact I have some fields that are automatically calculated thanks to an automation, so when my users create a contact I don't want them to fill those fields. I know

    • Items Below Reorder Point Report?

      Is there a way to run a report of Items that are below the Reorder Point? I don't see this as a specific report, nor can I figure out how to customize any of the other stock reports to give me this information. Please tell me I'm missing something s

    • Qwen as the default open source Generative AI model for Zia

      Hello everyone, Zia Generative AI is transitioning from Llama (8B parameters) to Qwen (30B parameters) as the default model. This means that users who were using Llama as a GenAI service will now use Qwen. This upgrade was made with a vision to enhance

    • Calendar week view: Today + 6

      Is there anyway to have the calendar change dynamically based on the date? Due to the amount of events, we only display a week at a time, but towards the end of the week, we can no longer see ahead to next week (without changing it manually every time).

    • How to restrict user/portal user change canvas view

      Hi , I would like to restrict user / portal user change their canvas view because I hide some sensitive field for them. I dont want my user switch the canvas view that do not belong to them But seems Zoho do not provide this setting?

    • E-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Books

      Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. This means that invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing

    • 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

    • Enhancement Request for Multi-Asset Work Order Feature

      Hello Latha, Thank you for your continued support. The multi-asset Work Order feature is extremely helpful. I did some testing based on our requirements, and during the process, I noticed a few areas where we need your team’s support to improve the feature

    • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

      Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

    • Weekly Tips : Make collaboration effortless with Whiteboard in Zoho Mail

      Working with your team often means switching between emails, notes, and other applications just to explain an idea. Maybe you are trying to sketch a layout, plan a workflow, or quickly brainstorm ideas—with text alone, things can get confusing. So how

    • Add Option to Mass Dispatch by User

      Hello! We are using the dispatch console to dispatch service appointments to our service ressources. Right now, the process is our dispatcher verifies each ressource's route for the day and dispatches it after validation. Sadly, there doesn't seem to

    • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

      Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child

    • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

      Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.

    • How to add to Subforms via Zapier with Zoho Writer?

      I have the following layout for a Zoho Writer Document. As you can see there is a repeating subform taking in "Items". I am trying to make a Zapier integration with it, and I can see there is 1 field saying: "Items", but it does not specify how I'm supposed

    • Contrôles administratifs granulaires : un atout pour la sécurité des e-mails

      La moindre erreur dans votre système de messagerie peut coûter très cher à votre entreprise, tant en argent qu’en conformité et en image de marque. Pour beaucoup d’organisations, ce risque est bien réel. Les e-mails véhiculent quotidiennement des informations

    • Include the "Added Email ID" to the Filters of a Report

      Hi, With a Report and lots of entries, a normal thing is to filter entries by the submitter, but that is not included in the Auto Filter of Reports and you can't add a custom filter to a Report without specifying the actual value. I would like to be able

    • Marketer's Space: Why mobile optimization deserves a place in your email strategy

      Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketer's Space! Today, we'll talk about the importance of creating mobile-friendly email designs. While mobile phones were once used only to make phone calls, today they're used for almost everything, including texting,

    • Collections Management: #6 Realign Customers who gets back In-Term

      Arun stared at the subscription list on his dashboard. Another account had just been moved to Cancelled status after completing the whole dunning process. Nothing unusual, just that payment failures happen, retries fail, and cancellation is the expected

    • Zoho Mail IP Blacklist

      I need problems with send mails: Error: junk mail rejected - sender4-op-o10.zoho.com 136.143.188.10, is in RBL. Spamcop. Please remove FQDN for blacklist. Regards.

    • I can receive but not send emails

      Hello, I've been not able to send emails for almost a year now. I been using alternate email to do this. I want to know how to fix this so I can use my zoho account normally again.

    • Setting checkbox value on template in Sign from Creator

      Good day, Please help me understand how do I set a tick from a checkbox in Creator into a checkbox on a Sign template. Below is the only values on the Sign template and the code from Creator, "field_boolean_data": {}, "field_date_data": {}, "field_radio_data":

    • The challenge of 24/7 connectivity: Being present and meeting customer expectations

      Before television entered our homes, radio was our window to the world. We had to tune carefully to catch voices from distant places. When television arrived, the world began to grow smaller. We can watch rocket launches, see the goal that wins our favorite

    • Next Page