New capabilities for custom buttons: Elevate UX and CX with just a click!

New capabilities for custom buttons: Elevate UX and CX with just a click!

-------------------------------------------------Post moderated on 24th May--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all, The feature is now available for all users in all DCs. 


Dear Customers,

We hope you're well!

We're happy to announce enhancements we've made to buttons.

Buttons in Zoho CRM are a simple yet versatile customization tool. It offers great usability for CRM users, enabling them execute important actions as required. It was originally designated for use within modules. Realizing its importance in users' productivity, we opened the ability to configure buttons inside records, Wizards, Canvas, and related lists as well. Also, you can bridge your CRM to a third party software.

Now, to provide context and convenience, we are expanding the scope of buttons even more.
  • Layout-specification: We've added the ability to choose layouts while configuring buttons, which helps provide more context to your data organization efforts.
  • Portal accessibility: We enabled buttons for portals to offer exclusivity for customers and also to extend these UX capabilities to CX.
  • Kiosk accessibility: We also have a value-adding use case with regard to Kiosk.

Let's go in detail!

Buttons are now layout-specific

Layouts in Zoho CRM are customizable data templates that help you collect, store, process, interpret, and manage data to manifest your business processes. You can also run automations based on layouts. These layout-specific capabilities help align your CRM to your business processes.
However, until now, any button placed in record detail, create, or clone pages was invariably displayed for all layouts. This generic prevalence of a button irrespective of the layout or the process lacked context.

The screenshots below feature two buttons on the record details page. The button Send to events for leads from trade shows and the other, push to WFS for leads coming in via online store. Both the buttons help push data to different applications.

You can see, how two buttons irrespective of their relevance, are displayed in the record details page invariably.

Now, to provide clearer context and, more importantly, to make buttons more process-specific, we've introduced the ability to select which layout(s) a button should appear in before selecting its position. In fact, you can select one or more layouts, or choose all layouts (but this time it's your choice!).

In the screenshots below, you can see leads with different layouts—each with buttons specific for its layout.


Note: Layout choices will be available only where they're applicable. If you choose to place buttons in the list view (module view), then you won't be able to select the layouts.

UI update: Separate links and buttons tab

In line with this layout selection update, we've also split the former Links and Buttons tab into two distinct tabs: Links and Buttons. With this split, you'll not only have a dedicated list of links and buttons, but also get the benefit of managing each of them individually.


Empower portal users with more accessibility

Portals are a self-service channel Zoho CRM offers. By extending access to certain modules to portal users, you can enable them to create, view, and update records all by themselves. Click here to learn more about portals in Zoho CRM.

Now, to give Portal users, accessibility and a great experience that CRM users have had thus far, we've also developed the ability to create/extend buttons to records shared via portals.

Moving forward, admins create buttons exclusively for portal users or extend existing buttons to them. 

What does this mean for your business?

Building or extending custom buttons in portals opens up a lot of possibilities. In addition to the standard record buttons, by providing access to custom buttons in Portals, your Portal users will be able to do what CRM users can do, such as send SMS notifications, save records as offline files, push information to on-premise tools, and more. The possibilities with custom buttons are endless, and they offer the following benefits: 
  • Curb their dependence on CRM users
  • Add convenience
  • Elevate the user experience
  • Minimize effort required for manual tasks
But wait—this update to custom buttons does lead to another interesting use case. Let's talk about Kiosk Studio!

Kiosk Studio is one of our latest and most anticipated releases. It's a no-code customization tool that CRM users can use to get quick service at the click of a button. You can quickly display a screen, retrieve information from your database, or save information to it. Click here to learn more about Kiosk.

Summoning a Kiosk is one of many custom actions you can configure for custom buttons. If you've already configured Kiosk for your organization, you can associate it with a custom button as an action and initiate designated tasks.

Let's look at an example of how a Portal user can schedule a car service all by themselves:

KM is a premium car care center that deals with its correspondence online. All the customer has to do is to schedule a service on their portal, and they will be contacted. This is a classic example of a Kiosk inside a Portal.

This way, custom buttons can serve a larger purpose for your business. We hope these enhancements provide a lot more flexibility and convenience as you work with Zoho CRM. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to drop a comment.
That's all, folks!

Availability: These updates are available for all users in US DC as of now. It will be opened in the rest of the DCs in a couple of days.

Thanks and have a good one!

Kind regards,
Saranya Balasubramanian
Zoho CRM - Marketing

Rephrase with Ginger (Cmd+⌥+E)

    • Recent Topics

    • Accounting on the Go Series:58-Effortless Compliance: Download XML for Invoices & Credit Notes on Mobile

      Hi there! In Mexico, XML files are crucial for electronic invoicing and fulfilling SAT (Tax Administration Service) requirements. These files ensure your transactions are accurately recorded and tax-compliant. Now, you don’t need to rely on the web app

    • Auto Generated Invoice number YEAR

      Auto Generated Invoice number shows transaction year as 25 even though it's 24 still.

    • Books generiert keine valide XRechnung

      Hallo zusammen, ich möchte hier ein Problem ansprechen, das mir aktuell bei der Nutzung von Books erhebliche Schwierigkeiten bereitet, und hoffe auf Austausch oder Lösungsansätze von anderen Nutzern. Bei der Erstellung von XRechnungen mit Books treten

    • WHEN UPDATE ORGANIZATION INFO OLD INVOICES ALSO CHANGE INVOICING DATA

      Hi We have updated our tax information because we have become a company, up until now we were an individual. The problem is that when updating the data in the zoho books profile all the old invoices change their tax information as well. Is there a way

    • Invoice import error - duplicate customer name column - there are no duplicates

      It is not allowing the importing of any rows because of a duplicate customer name problem, but there are no duplicates in the custoemr name row. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

    • [WEBINAR][Feb 2025] Automate your entire financial operations from receipts to reconciliation with Zoho Books & Zoho Expense integration

      Hello there, We are hosting a free, live webinar on the importance of travel and expense management solutions for businesses, and how Zoho Expense automatically syncs with Zoho Books to simplify your accounting even further. The webinar is on February

    • Customize Layout

      I am using "Customize Layot" for customize Quotation template but I try to add logo into the header by "%ScaledLogoImage%" code but dont add logo into header. what is problem?

    • Problem - cant add Users (i.e. Zoho one / CRM Users) to BCC or CC in email, i.e. Sales orders or Retainers

      I can go to zoho books email templates, and select any email template, and automatically include any Zoho One user, i.e. member of staff. However in the context of sending an email, it will not let us add a member of staff from the user list, instead

    • UK MTD ITSA

      UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax I have had notice this is to apply from April 2026. What is Zoho doing about this? I will need to start planning to implement this in the next months so need an update as to what I will and will not be able to do in

    • Partial refunds

      I am trying to process refund for a one item invoice, however the refund is partial: i am getting this error while creating credit note, can anyone share some wisdom about this

    • Zoho Books Roadshows are back in the UAE!

      Hello there, Business owners and accounting professionals of the UAE, we’re coming to your cities! FTA accredited Zoho Books is now officially one of the Digital Tax Integrators in the UAE. With the newly launched direct VAT filing capabilities, we're

    • New user After moving over from QBO

      New user observations/suggestions. QBO took away a lot of features I was used to with the desktop version. Chaos ensued. Zoho Books has a lot of what I was used to and a bit more. Good deal Some things I have run into and suggest some upgrades. 1: The

    • Sole Trader - Financial Advisor (Appointed Representative) - Paid via Capital Account but no Invoicing...

      Hi. I'm about to venture into a new business after 12 months of intensive learning/exams. A little chuffed if I may say so especially at 52! I really like the look of ZoHo Books for my modest enterprise but I'm in need of some guidance, please. My services

    • Multi-Unit Inventory with Flexible Unit Selection (Purchase in One Unit, Sell in Another)

      We need multi-unit inventory management in Zoho Books with the flexibility to choose units (e.g., Box or Piece) at the time of purchase or sale. For example, if 1 Box = 10 Pieces, we should be able to record purchases in Boxes but sell either in Boxes

    • Disputed Purchase Invoices

      We have recently moved to Zoho Books from Sage. In Sage we were able to post a purchase/vendor invoice but mark it as on dispute. This would usually be a pricing query or if something was damaged. It would show in their ledger, so we could agree their

    • No TDS Deduction

      In some of our case, where we are reselling items at the same rate we purchased. In this scenario, Indian IT Law has a provision to request customer not to deduct TDS if the transaction value is same. TDS is paid by us (intermediary reseller) before we

    • CBSA - GST CHARGES on imports

      Hi there, We have a questions about landed cost categorization. We received a shipment from overseas. CBSA invoiced us for the GST on the items. Now we entered the CBSA-GST as a separate bill and attached it as landed cost to the main invoice based on

    • Zoho Books

      How do I manually insert opening balance?

    • Sales order & purchase order item links for item details

      This is fantastic for checking lots of things, I use it a lot. It would be great to see it extended to invoices & bills On another note, may as well throw in my favourite whinge ..... Wish you guys would get the PO receive differences sorted urgently,

    • Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account.

      Hello, I'm trying to add bank charges to a customer payment, but I get the error message "Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account." I found this old thread, where it says that I need to "select a Bank account for the 'Deposit To' dropdown

    • How to add receipts

      How to add receipts

    • Support for auto-upgrade in TrueSync (for Windows)

      WorkDrive TrueSync app now supports auto-upgrading to the latest version for Windows OS. You must manually download and install the TrueSync app version 3.4.0 to avail this feature. Download the latest TrueSync app for Windows (version 3.4.0) Supported

    • WorkDrive API Documentation

      WorkDrive provides users and developers an extensive set of APIs to help integrate functionalities of Zoho WorkDrive with other Zoho applications and third-party tools. We have published the official WorkDrive API Documentation page for all external users.

    • March 15, 2023: Zoho Docs is discontinued

      As of today (March 15, 2023) Zoho Docs is discontinued for all users. We would like to thank our customers for trusting us for so many years! Going forward, we're confident you'll enjoy using Zoho WorkDrive for all your advanced file management and collaboration

    • Introducing WorkDrive 4.0: Enhanced productivity. Advanced data administration. (Phase 1)

      Hello All, We're excited to share the release of WorkDrive 4.0, which includes important new features and enhancements focused primarily on productivity, secure collaboration, data administration, integrations, and user experience. Read the official announcement

    • Ask the Experts: Five-hour live Q&A session with Zoho WorkDrive product experts

      Have questions about WorkDrive 5.0? Let’s talk! We recently launched Zoho WorkDrive 5.0, packed with powerful updates to help your team work smarter, stay secure, and get more value from your business content. From content-centric workflows and AI-powered

    • External download link limit

      Can You please help us to understand this For Zoho WorkDrive external users, the download limit is a maximum of 5 GB total download size and a maximum of 50 first-level files and folders What is the meaning of first level? We are using these files in

    • Dynamically catching new file creations

      I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".

    • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

      I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

    • Workflow workdrive rollout

      Hi! When will workflow be rolled out to all users? Thanks.

    • Creating and managing a Team Folder using WorkDrive TrueSync

      Hello everyone, Are you tired of constantly switching between your Desktop TrueSync app and the WorkDrive web app to create and manage Team Folders? We’ve made things easier for you. You can now create and manage Team Folders directly within the TrueSync

    • Edit images seamlessly with WorkDrive's built-in Image Editor

      Are you tired of switching between multiple tools just to make simple edits to your images? We understand the hassle, which is why Zoho WorkDrive now comes with a built-in image editing tool, powered by Zoho Annotator. This tool allows you to edit images

    • Supercharge your email workflow with WorkDrive's add-in for Microsoft Outlook

      Consider this: You’re handling a critical project, and your inbox is packed with important attachments, email threads, and client communications. The back-and-forth routine of downloading files to your computer, uploading them to WorkDrive, and manually

    • Secure and promote your content with Custom Watermarking

      Imagine this: You’re a professional photographer who regularly shares your work online with potential clients and collaborators. Recently, you notice that some of your images have been reposted without any credit or permission. This not only impacts your

    • Join us in Singapore for the Zoho WorkDrive User Group meetup!

      Hello, everyone! Exciting news! We'll be hosting an upcoming Zoho WorkDrive user group meetup in the beautiful city of Singapore this November. At this Zoho User Group meetup, we'll guide you through ways to use WorkDrive as a platform and build custom

    • WorkDrive TrueSync now supports ARM64-based Windows devices!

      We’re excited to announce that the Zoho WorkDrive TrueSync app now fully supports Windows devices with ARM64 architecture! Whether you're working on an ARM-based device or an x64 processor, you can now enjoy the same seamless file synchronization experience

    • Option to Disable Download for Documents Shared via Permalink

      Dear Zoho Writer Team, Currently, when sharing a Writer document using the regular permalink (Collaborators with external users), there is no option to restrict the ability to download the document. While the external share link allows such restrictions,

    • How to Download a File from Zoho WorkDrive Using a Public Link

      How to Download a File from Zoho WorkDrive Using a Public Link If you're working with Zoho WorkDrive and want to download a file using a public link, here's a simple method to do so using API or a basic script. This approach helps developers or teams

    • domain not verified error

      Hi when i try to upload a video from zoho creator widget to zoho work drive iam getting domain not verified error.I don't know what to do .In zoho api console this is my home page url https://creatorapp.zoho.com/ and this is my redirect url:www.google.com.Iam

    • Live Webinar: Getting Started with Zoho WorkDrive - A Complete Overview

      Hello everyone, We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming live webinar! Discover how to set up your team, bring in your data, and make the most of WorkDrive’s collaboration, organization, AI, and security capabilities. This session is perfect for anyone

    • Next Page