Accessibility in Zoho CRM: Not just a feature—a way to empower

Accessibility in Zoho CRM: Not just a feature—a way to empower

For instructions on setting up these controls, please check this help document: Configuring accessibility controls.
Hello everyone,

Today (December 3, 2024), on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we begin our journey towards a CRM that empowers everyone. This first step makes it possible for more users of all abilities to do their best work in Zoho CRM.

But this is only the start.

We need your support and feedback as we work towards a future of inclusive tools, businesses, and communities where no one's excluded. We invite you to watch the video below for a quick overview of our first update:


What is accessibility, and why does it matter in Zoho CRM?

CRM and other business software tools are deeply woven into our work lives, and the experience of using them often drifts out of focus as we navigate through the interfaces, analyze data, and take action. But for users with disabilities, the experience is quite different.

Just as people who use wheelchairs face unique challenges in navigating through physical spaces, users with disabilities often experience business software tools as spaces filled with obstacles. User interfaces are often crowded with visual elements that make navigation difficult. Every click and every form demands attention and effort, and information is often presented in ways that not everyone can easily perceive. And the list of challenges goes on.

When accessibility is not built into business software like Zoho CRM, it unintentionally amplifies barriers instead of empowering users to work without limits.

Accessibility is the removal of these barriers. It helps everyone use products, services, devices, or environments and benefit from them. Even seemingly small changes can make a big difference for many users. For example:
  • Reading tiny text is challenging, especially for those with visual impairments and older individuals. Adjusting font sizes can greatly enhance readability for all.
  • Color is commonly used to indicate important information. For instance, green for enabled switches or red for mandatory fields. Having this information available by other means (text, symbols, and so on) helps users with color vision impairments.
  • Users who can't use a mouse often use keyboards instead. Providing full keyboard access to the CRM and the option to skip sections expands navigation for all users.

Accessibility in Zoho CRM

For the millions of users who rely on Zoho CRM daily—especially those with disabilities—accessibility controls give them the tools they deserve to achieve what they're capable of.

Just as businesses can customize our CRM to meet their specific requirements, individual users can leverage 18 accessibility controls to accommodate their unique needs. They no longer have to deal with a "standard" CRM that only works for users without disabilities. Instead, they can perform all their tasks with ease in a CRM that can be configured to match their unique needs.

Accessibility controls

Our accessibility controls are designed to support users with vision impairments, motor disabilities, and those who could benefit from enhanced interaction options. You can access these via Setup > General > Personal Settings > Accessibility. You can access certain controls using the Accessibility shortcut, located in the toolbar at the bottom. Let's look at each set of controls.

Vision

  • Screen reader support: Users who are blind or have visual impairments rely on screen readers to complete tasks. Zoho CRM now supports popular screen readers by default, allowing for better understanding and navigation. Users can also enhance their experience by enabling standard navigation order and ARIA landmarks.
    A user goes through a list of contacts in the CRM using a screen reader.
  • Zoom support: Users with vision impairment often need to zoom into parts of the interface to perceive details. Zoho CRM now supports browsers' zoom features by default. Users can zoom up to 150% without disrupting the interface's cohesion.
    A user zooms into a record detail page. The CRM's UI does not lose its structure at any point.
  • Adjustable font size and spacing: Text is crucial in CRM interfaces and affects user experience. Preferences for text size vary, with those with low vision preferring larger text and those with higher visual acuity preferring smaller text. Users can easily adjust font size for better readability, eliminating the need to zoom in.
    A user uses the live preview option to increase the font size.

    Similarly, users can adjust spacing to make text easier to read.
    A user uses the live preview option to increase spacing. The text is much more legible now.
  • Magnify text on hover: At times, we may have no trouble with most text elements but face challenges with certain ones. In such cases, users can use this option to zoom-on-demand. Simply press the alt (Windows) or option (Mac) key to enlarge difficult-to-read text elements.
    A user hovers over certain elements to get an enlarged view. This is done in a deal module kanban view.
  • Motion control: Although animations can enhance an interface's appeal, they can also be distracting and uncomfortable for users, especially after extended use. In fact, excessive animations may even induce dizziness and nausea in individuals with vestibular impairments. Accordingly, users now have the option to reduce animations for a distraction-free experience that's easy on the eyes.
    A popup smoothly opens from the bottom toolbar. With the motion control enabled, it appears immediately without the smooth motion.
  • Switch labels: Toggle switches generally use color to indicate their state, such as green to indicate a toggle is enabled. This can be a barrier for users with color vision impairments. With this option enabled, users can quickly determine the state of a switch in Zoho CRM, as shown below:

  • Strikethrough disabled buttons: Disabled buttons are grayed out like toggle switches, but this can be difficult to distinguish for users with color vision impairment. Enabling a strikethrough cue makes it easier for users to identify these buttons, as shown in the example below:
    Disabled buttons have multiple lines running through them from the top-right to the bottom left.
  • Form display mode: Filling out forms can be difficult for users with disabilities, as it can require zooming in, scrolling, and tabbing through fields. To make it easier, users can enable the form display mode, which users can use to shrink a form down to its mandatory fields, fill them out, and then move on to the next task.

  • Mandatory field appearance: To save records, users often have to deal with mandatory fields, which are typically marked with red accent lines. However, this can be problematic for those with color vision challenges. Thankfully, users can now personalize the presentation of mandatory fields, such as by denoting them with an asterisk or a "Required" label.

  • Custom error message display: Forms can pose a challenge for users with color vision impairment, particularly when it comes to error messages. These messages are typically displayed in red, but this may not be visible for those with color blindness. To address this, users can now select a more accessible color and even include an error icon for easier identification.
    Error messages for two fields are displayed with an icon and an accessible color.
  • Flashing screens for notifications: It's easy to miss notifications in Zoho CRM in certain cases. For example, a user with low vision may be working with a zoomed-in view, which may keep the notification signal out of sight. To address this, users can enable this option, which causes the screen to flash twice when they receive a notification.
    The screen flashes in a yellow shade when the user previews the flash screen option.
  • ARIA landmarks: Users without low vision can perceive an interface's structure at a glance and navigate directly to the section they want. This isn't always the case for users accessing Zoho CRM with assistive technology like screen readers. To help them perceive and navigate the interface easily, they can enable ARIA landmarks, which help them understand the page quickly and skip to the sections they need to get their work done.
    User skips to a section in the home page usig ARIA landmarks. The different sections on the home page are clearly marked in boxes with accessible colors and labels.

Motor

  • Keyboard shortcuts: Many users with and without disabilities prefer using their keyboards to navigate around the CRM and take actions. They can create and use keyboard shortcuts for frequently performed actions. This option has already been released and will now be moved under the Accessibility tab.

  • Zia voice assistant: Some users may not be able to use a mouse or a keyboard. An example would be users with severe motor impairments. We now offer our built-in Zia Voice Assistant to assist such users in navigating Zoho CRM and completing their tasks. After you've enabled this option, press Control + Z + V or click the microphone icon in the bottom bar and start telling Zia what to do. Please note that only English language voice commands are supported for now; it isn't yet available in CN, SA, or JP DCs.
    A user speaks to Zia Voice Assistant to open a lead record and click the Edit button within it.

Interaction

  • Reading focus: The CRM interface is often packed with information so as to present an all-in-one view, but this can be overwhelming for users who are easily distracted. Reading focus enables them to block out distractions and focus solely on the area around their cursor.
    A user has enabled reading focus. Most the of screen is masked except a small rectangular box around the cursor. This box moves as the user moves the cursor.
  • Underline links: Links are important for navigating Zoho CRM, but it's crucial to distinguish them from regular text. This is usually done through color, which can be problematic for users with color vision impairment. In such cases, they can have links underlined for easy identification.
    In a list of tasks, the Task name and the contact name are underlined to show that they are links to records. Other elements like status and priority are not underlined to indicate that they are not links.
  • Standard navigation order: For users navigating the CRM with a screen reader and a keyboard, this option ensures that navigation starts from the first DOM element and proceeds in a consistent pattern (from top to bottom, left to right, and without skipping any elements).

Achieving WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance: A major step towards inclusive accessibility
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a globally recognized framework of recommendations designed to enhance web accessibility. With our accessibility controls in place, we're happy to announce that we're compliant with WCAG 2.2. Level AA.
Note: For the following features, full compatibility is currently limited to the home page, custom view, and standard record view for create, edit, clone, and details pages:
  • Screen reader
  • Zoom
  • Custom error message display
  • ARIA Landmark
  • Standard navigation order
For the following features, full compatibility is currently limited to the standard record view of create, edit, clone, and details pages:
  • Form display mode
  • Mandatory field display
We encourage you to do the following:
  • Explore: Familiarize yourself with the new accessibility controls and let us know what works and what doesn't.
  • Share: Inform your teams and peers about these enhancements.
  • Support: Assist others in customizing their settings for the best experience.
Availability
Release plan: Soon, we'll be rolling out accessibility controls in a phased manner for all customers.

[13 Jan 2025] Accessibility controls are now available to all users in all DCs.

Editions: All
DCs: All
To learn more about these controls, please refer this help document: Configuring Accessibility Controls.
Accessibility is a moving target, and we need your help to ensure that we're constantly moving towards it. Please spread the word and share your feedback.

    • Recent Topics

    • How Can I Collect Payments for Credit Sales Directly from Zoho POS Billing App?

      We are currently testing Zoho POS for a retail business and have encountered an issue with collecting payments on outstanding invoices from customers who purchase on credit. When we process a Credit Sale, Zoho POS correctly creates an Unpaid Invoice.

    • Zoho POS Mobile Sales Price Conflicts & Pricing Discrepancies

      We are seeing recurring Zoho POS Mobile conflicts tied to the Sales Price field, even though drivers are not manually changing item pricing. We have also noticed small price differences between POS transactions and Books, sometimes only a few cents. Devices

    • GrassHopper VOIP Integration

      Does Zoho Plan to integrate with Grasshopper to allow the Telephony hookup in Zoho Desk?  If not, Can this be passed along for consideration 

    • Creator -Dynamic addition of Customer Portal User Licenses

      Hi, We have a Creator App for B2C about to get released. We are experiencing the Portal User license challenge. Unable to predict the number of users who will download and Subscribe. When a User is about Subscribe and the portal licenses does not exists,

    • Reminder Settings - Time Tracker

      On the time tracker in Reminder Settings I created a reminder according to the Zoho manual. But a manager asked me to change the message that goes in the email. Is it possible to change the message? I didn't find that in the Zoho manual. Another question: I configured to receive the reminder everyone who logged in less than 40 hours. Does Zoho consider less than 40 hours of the current week or the whole month? Another situation, I put it so that I and another specific user would receive the notification,

    • New in Cadences: WhatsApp follow-ups, upgraded limits, and options for add-ons

      Hello everyone, We're rolling out two key updates to help you engage better and scale smarter with Cadences in Zoho CRM. Reach customers on WhatsApp, directly from Cadences Previously, Cadences have enabled you to automate follow-ups through emails, calls,

    • Specific ListView Canvas on Canvas Home Page Always Loads Most Recent ListView, Not the One Specified

      I had mentioned this to ZOHO, but I mainly wanted to see if others in the Community are also facing this problem. I created a Canvas ListView for a Custom Module, and then created a Canvas Home page (technically on a tab item, but I'm not sure if that

    • This user is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

      Hello, I am the Super Administrator of the Zoho Mail organization for carrytrail.com. The domain has already been verified, but when I try to create the user. I receive the following error: “This user is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com

    • Tip #92 – Organize your support operations with Departments – ‘Insider Insights’

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! As a support team grows, so does the complexity. Different customers, different products, technicians spread across regions, and each group needing its own way of working. When everyone operates from a single shared space,

    • Support Plan: Recuring Issue

      Hi Zoho Team, Could you please look into this recurring alert and provide clarification on why this restriction is still in place? This issue has become a bottleneck in our workflow, significantly limiting our automation capabilities. We are unable to

    • Introducing Zoho Office Desktop

      Hi users, We are excited to announce Zoho Office Desktop, a single app to install, update, and open Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show, and PDF Editor on Windows and macOS. It includes: One home for every app: Choose the apps you want, and a guided installation

    • How Can You Find Broken Internal Links Without Checking Every Page Manually?

      Broken internal links are a common technical SEO issue. They can send visitors to missing pages, interrupt navigation, and make website maintenance more difficult. On a large website, checking every link manually is simply not practical. So, how can you

    • Zoho Writer for Android: Q2 2026 updates

      Hi users, We are excited to announce the Q2 2026 updates for Zoho Writer for Android. This includes: Formatting parity with the web app: Choose from multiple ordered and unordered list styles, adjust line spacing, apply your custom paragraph styles, change

    • Zeptomail in the blacklists

      Hello, I noticed some hard bounces while sending emails, and upon checking the details, I see that we have been added to the blacklists of certain spam lists: Bounce category: Policy failure Reason: ip-issues Message: 5.7.1 Service unavailable; client

    • ZohoBooks - "Account transactions" report doesn't have any "Desciptions"

      Hi, I'd like to push for this to be included in ZohoBooks: In a "account transactions" report all the numbers are right, but I'd really like to see the "Description" as part of this report, i.e. the line-item-description as I would see it in the bank statement. Essentially all you see is a list of numbers adding up to the total. It is very difficult to see if things are right without being able to see what exactly each transaction refers to. Going into each transaction one-by-one is not a workable

    • Zoho Projects | Q3 Updates

      Hello everyone, Here's a roundup of everything we released from July to September. We have added some new features as well as improved some of the existing ones. Project Financials Finance Integration Integrate your Project with Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice,

    • Meet your customers on Arattai, from inside Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, Your customers reach you on the apps they already use. Zoho CRM now supports one more: our very own Arattai! When someone messages your Arattai Business number, the conversation arrives in the Messages module in CRM, right beside your

    • Running Balance

      Please add automatically Running balance in ledger view. Taking lot of time, every time to add manually

    • MAKING ENTRY TIME MORE USER FRIENDLY AND FASTER O PREVENT TAB TIME

      I AM CURIOUS TO KNOW IF WE CAN MAKE IT MORE USER FRIENDLY WHILE MAKING BILLS , I MAJORLY USE OVER DESKTOP SO I AM SUGGESTING TO REMOVE TAB TIME WHILE ENTERING BILL OR MAKING INVOICE DIRECT JUMP TO ONLY REGULAR PARTS OF THE BILL . YOURS RAKESH 782866

    • Unable to export reports despite enabled report export permissions

      Hi Zoho Community, We are unable to export reports in Zoho CRM. When attempting an export, we receive the following error: “Cannot Export Report — You do not have permission to export one or more modules used in this report. Please contact your administrator.”

    • Add Payment Information (like Bank details)

      I am using the Free plan of Zoho Books. I need to add the bank details/ UPI details on the invoice. How can I do that. I have added the details in the Bank Section.

    • Keep Sensitive Customer Data Private with Field Masking in Zoho CRM

      Hello CRM community, Customer records in your CRM are often accessible across multiple teams, but not every team needs visibility into every field. A non-sales team, for instance, has no real need to see a contact's mobile number, and a support agent

    • Generate a Zoho Sign link

      From time to time I get a response "I never received your you e-document for electronic signature" is there a way to generate a Zoho Sign link to share.

    • Notes - Reaction Buttons

      Using the native notes option within CRM is fine, it works and the RTF features are great, however, would it be possible - if there isnt already something in place, where we can add a reactions button, similar to teams/whatsapp to show that its been read

    • Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

      Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

    • Need help with importing expenses

      I'm using the template downloaded from the application. When I try to import my expenses, I get the message: Duplicate entry in the Expense Date column. Ensure it contains unique values. None of the rows will import. There are duplicate dates, but they

    • #12 Bringing In A Second Pair Of Hands

      Meera's studio became a two-person business in month five. Adding the second person took ten minutes. Working out why Meera herself was showing up as Staff took considerably longer. The Usual Way To Do This Covered in our published General FAQ, with the

    • How can I add a Custom Field (or Customer_name) to a picklist?

      Our workflow is Shopify-->SO -->Picklist-->Package-->Shipment. We would like to have the Picklist template to include a custom field "Customer_Notes" (we have created this field already). This way we get alerted when a customer has notes on their account.

    • Header Line in Quote product rows

      I believe this is an essential feature that Zoho should provide us, when adding products we want the ability to add titles for our product, in quotes: The Solution/Category Title Product1 Product2..... and then it would show the sub-total of that title 

    • Widget Height were destroyed

      All widget heights in the Details Canvas view are broken. Moderation Update: This issue with widget heights in Client Script popups and flyouts has been resolved. Widgets should now display at their expected heights.

    • How to Fix the Corrupted Outlook 2019 .pst file on Windows safely?

      There are multiple reasons to get corrupted PST files (due to a power failure, system crash, or forced shutdown) and several other reasons. If You are using this ScanePST.EXE Microsoft inbuilt recovery tool, it only supports the minor corruption issue

    • 👍 Zoho CRM's Notes now gets Reactions and a new look

      Moderation update: Currently available in the following DC's CA, AU, CN, UAE, JP, SA - All Editions EU - Free, Standard and Professional Hello everyone, Notes help users capture important updates, collaborate with teammates, and maintain context for records.

    • Zoho Extensions 101: Building extensions for Zoho People

      Hello developers! Welcome to our new video series on building extensions for Zoho People! If you're new to extension development or looking for guidance on building extensions for Zoho People, you're in the right place. We've curated a series of videos

    • Add @Mention Notifications in Zoho Cliq for Zoho Project Mentions

      Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding "Projects Bot" Cliq bot notifications for @mentions inside Zoho Projects comments (Tasks and Issues). Current Behavior: At the moment, when someone

    • Can't connect to POP and SMTP over VPN

      I use Thunderbird to access Zoho Mail via POP and SMTP. I have configured an app-specific password for Thunderbird to use. Everything is properly configured and works correctly — until I enable my VPN. I'm using a paid commercial VPN service (Mullvad).

    • Outgoing Mail Blocked – Suspicious Login Activity (Need Clarification and Solution)

      Hello, I’m currently facing an issue where my Zoho Mail account has been blocked due to “suspicious login activity,” and outgoing emails are restricted. Here are the details shown: Block type: Outgoing mail blocked Reason: Suspicious login activity A

    • Online Payment Fees

      We don't take many online credit card payments so the merchant service provider (PayPal) charges us the 2.9% fee for processing the amount. I would like the ability for the fee to be automatically added to the total amount for "ease of payment". We'd

    • O SalesIQ aceita números do Whatsapp Business com coextistência?

      Tenho uma equipe com vários vendedores e cada um deles tem um celular corporativo usando o Whatsapp Business para se comunicar com os clientes. Estamos no plano Zoho One e esses mesmos vendedores também usam o SalesIQ para atender os leads que vem do

    • Merge Tickets Directly from Contact Page in Zoho Desk

      Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, We are writing to request a new feature that would allow users to easily merge tickets directly from the contact page in Zoho Desk. Currently, the only option to merge tickets is from the Tickets list view page, which can

    • Losing description after merging tickets

      Hello, We merge tickets when they are about the same topic from the same client. It happens sometimes. We recently noticed that after the merger only the description from the master ticket is left in a thread. And the slave-ticket description is erased.

    • Next Page