New in Canvas: Customizable tables in related lists, sub-tab grouping, and actions for better navigation

New in Canvas: Customizable tables in related lists, sub-tab grouping, and actions for better navigation

Dear All,

The Canvas team has made using Canvas easier and more enjoyable with a few additional customization features that can help you design more effective detail view pages.

So, Canvas, as you all may know, is a platform with which you can customize various parts of your CRM to

  • Organize your data better.

  • Customize them for different profiles;

  • And of course, bring a whole new fresh design that is consistent with your brand. 

Here are a couple of exciting updates that can help you design more effective detail view pages using Canvas.

1. Customizable tables in related lists - which allows you to style your RL tables by adding images and a pop of color to them.
2. Introducing expandable sub-tabs. You can now group your tabs into sub tabs based on a theme, thus making navigation easier. 

Customizable tables in related lists

To start off, let's look at how you can customize your related lists table. Previously, you could only choose between static or list table templates as seen in the image below. 


While this was functional, we realized that businesses might prefer to customize their own tables. With the latest update—the Customizable Table option in the navigation toolbar—you can customize your related lists table. Options include field selection and styling. With this feature, you can add colors to rows and columns, in addition to resizing (by extending column markers), besides, adding, or removing rows and columns from your table. 


These functions are important because they'll make it easier for you to differentiate your rows and columns, expand the columns that contain more data, and add images as well.

Tab enhancements
Sub-tabs

Another improvement we've added to Canvas is the option to create a sub-tab. So imagine your record's view page has a Tab with numerous elements, namely attachments, open and closed activities, notes, campaigns, social, and more, in addition to some custom tabs. Having these tabs laid out makes it easier for you to navigate through your related lists. However, your interface may become cluttered if there are too many tabs.

Now, imagine you have these components categorized into multiple groups of the same theme. Like for instance, you combine open activities, closed activities, invited meetings, and upcoming actions under a group called Activities. Similarly, you create other groups that can either all be expanded simultaneously or one at a time - based on your preference. This will not only help declutter your components, but also put things into perspective. 

These groups that you create are called Sub Tabs, and you can perform one of the two actions on them.

Multi expand: This is the default option. When you want to open multiple sub-tabs simultaneously, you can do so by selecting the multi expand action tool. In other words, the submenus of one sub-tab will not collapse when you click on another.

Single expand: When you select this option, only its associated sub menus will expand or collapse. In instances where you've expanded one sub-tab and then clicked on another, the previous sub-tab menus will collapse before the following one expands.



So how are these Sub Tabs created?

When you add a Tab from your elements onto your Canvas view editor, you have the option of adding Custom Tabs, Sub Tabs or Related Lists.

Select Sub Tab.


Next, under your Sub Tab, you have a blue plus sign. When you click on that, you can add the Related Lists that fall under your Sub Tab theme. Like in the example we mentioned earlier, you can combine open activities, closed activities, invited meetings, and upcoming actions under a Sub Tab called Activities. 

Let us look at some other examples of components that can be grouped together as sub tabs.

Sub Tab (Group) Name
Components
Marketing
Campaigns, Visits, Social, Sales Inbox
Inventory
Invoices, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Quotes, Vendors, Price Books, Products


Use Case - I 

Education Industry

Student Information 
Student Documents, Degree, Courses, Thesis Guides, Placements 


Use Case - II

Real Estate

Contact's Property Information 
Properties, Documents, Notes, Quotes, Invoices

That is all for this announcement. Let us know your feedback in the comments below. For more details on Canvas, check out our help document. 

    • Recent Topics

    • Deluge scripts

      Why is there not a search function to make it easier to find the script of interest when modifications are required.

    • Social media simplified with Zoho Social: Why should brands have a Threads profile?

      Just over a year ago, Instagram launched Threads, the all new social media app primarily focusing on sharing text online. It was welcomed by people worldwide with more than 10 million users in just seven hours, and it currently has over 175 million active

    • Auto tracking URL generation based on Carrier

      Hi, While creating a shipment order for a package in Zoho Books, I have a requirement that for example, if the carrier is Delhivery and tracking number is 1234, then can automatically the tracking link/URL be generated as www.delhivery.com/1234. Similary,

    • New Beginnings with Zoho Desk mobile app best practices: Part 3

      In focus: Scaling consistency, intelligence, and customization In our third installment, we'd like to share tips to help you elevate your customer experience as you handle support operations seamlessly on mobile. Let's reconnect with Omniserve, the field

    • Highlights of 2025: Milestones and moments

      Hey everyone! As we step into 2026, it’s a great time to look back at everything 2025 brought to Zoho Social. This year was big, packed with powerful new features, smart enhancements, exciting events, and a major milestone: a whole decade of Zoho Social.

    • Introducing the sandbox environment in Zoho Sign

      Hey there! Customer and partners across the globe have been requesting a testing environment—also called a sandbox—for quite some time. Sandboxes help you try out document workflows before using them in your production setup. This new year, we are excited

    • Can I share the drive with another Windows user?

      We use the WorkDrive Sync application on a server with several remote desktop users. Our question is: Can the drive created by WorkDrive Sync be shared from one of these remote users with the other users so they can access the files, or do we need to

    • Syncing Bills in Zoho Books to Zoho CRM

      Is there any way to sync the Bills in Zoho Books in Zoho CRM

    • Auto CheckOut Based On Shift.

      This Deluge script runs on a scheduled basis to automatically set the 'Actual_Check_Out' time for employees who haven't manually checked out. If the current time is past their scheduled 'Shift_End_Time', the script updates the check-out time to match

    • ERROR: Product type cannot be changed for Items having transactions.

      I have mistakenly added a product type as goods for an item that was a digital service. Now when HSN/SAC became mandatory, this brought my attention to this error I did. So I tried changing the product type but it displayed this error message Product

    • Boost your CRM accuracy with smart Data Enrichment

      Hello all! In this post let's look at data enrichment from a holistic perspective to gain more clarity on how you can use it. So, here's a quick recap of what data enrichment is and how you set it up it to enhance your existing module data! What is data

    • Is it possible to set a region lookup table so that my deal country can lookup this lookup table

      Hi there, I would like to be able to add a data lookup table with the following fields: Country, Region. And then in my deal report, i can then lookup this table to fish out the region in my report. This will be important for my sales process to categorise

    • Test Emails Show Sent "via zcsend.net" in My Gmail Account

      I noticed the following info... However, a few email service providers such as Outlook and Gmail will display that the email was sent by zcsend.net (Zoho campaigns’ server) on your behalf instead of just your from email address.  In order to prevent this, you can go for either of these options: Do not select the check box meant for DomainKey Signature which is listed under Unverified sender domains. Include our mail servers by advanced authentication method such as SPF/ Sender ID and DomainKey/ DKIM.

    • 'UnAuthenticated Connection: zbooks_connection'

      I have a zoho connection in Zoho Books, the link name es zbooks_connection, but I like to validate if exist, by example if I use this line in my code: response=zoho.books.getTemplates("", "","zbooks_connection"); But I don't  have the connection I like

    • Calling the new 'Custom API' feature from within a Custom Widget

      From what I've learned it is not possible to call an endpoint from the new "Custom API" feature within a Creator Widget. The SDK's doesn't support it yet, when calling it natively you end up with CORS issues or at least I couldn't get it working even

    • Cannot post to Instagram. I get the error: Insufficient permission to publish on this page. Check with your page Admin to update permissions.

      We had another admin that left the company. Since he left, we get this error when posting to Instagram.

    • Zoho desk desktop application

      does zoho desk has a destop applicaion?

    • Ability to re-order Workflow Rules

      We really need the ability to re-order workflow rules within departments.  Either the ability to drag/drop them into a different order or something.

    • Create an article template

      I have a question concern the Knolwedge Database from Zoho Desk. There is any possibility to create an article template ? Exemple of what I research : TODAY : I want to create a lot af articles with the same baseline > I create one article > I copy/paste

    • Persisting email signals to contact timeline?

      Hello there. Regarding the email signals that are logged when a contact opens an email, am I correct that these signals are not logged to a contact's timeline? Ideally, I would like to have this context available for future follow-ups, if the contact

    • Change of Blog Author

      Hi, I am creating the blog post on behalf of my colleague. When I publish the post, it is showing my name as author of the post which is not intended and needs to be changed to my colleague's name. How can I change the name of the author in the blogs?? Thanks, Ramanan

    • Zoho FSM API Delete Record

      Hi FSM Team, It would be great if you could delete a record via API. Thank you,

    • Instant Messaging Update | Now migrate your WhatsApp Business phonenumber from another BSP to Zoho Desk | Dec'23

      Hi All, Everything seems to move at lightning speed these days, and time is certainly flying by for the IM team. But we are delighted at how much ground we covered this year. 🚀 For one, we enabled WhatsApp business phone number migration so that you

    • Upload ticket attachments via Drag-&-Drop

      Hello, if you want to upload a file to the ticket attachment you need to click the button and use the file browser to select and upload the desired file. In many cases, it would be much more efficient if you could simply drag the file to the browser window...

    • Can we disable add to cart in Zoho Commerce?

      Hello, Our sales happen on the phone. During the call the customer is directed to our website to inspect the products together with the sales rep. So we need a way to present our inventory. I figured Zoho Commerce is a good fit for this use case. However

    • Introducing WhatsApp integration in Bigin

      Greetings! In today's business landscape, messaging apps play a significant role in customer operations. Customers can engage with businesses, seek support, ask questions, receive personalized recommendations, read reviews, and even make purchases—all

    • Zoho One account closure vs deactivation

      I wonder what are the best practices and guidelines around deactivating vs deleting Zoho accounts in organisations? Any practical considerations?

    • Global Search placement in the new UI

      Having a hard time with the global search placement in the UI redesign. Surely I can't be the only one. Previously global search placement was perfect. A bar at the top/center of the page. Exactly where you would expect it to be. Since the new UI has

    • Schedule Zoho CRM reports only on Business Days

      Hello, Is it possible to schedule reports only on business days ? We currently get daily sales reports on weekend which has no value since the sales team doesn't work on weekends. Thanks

    • How to install Widget in inventory module

      Hi， I am trying to install a app into Sales Order Module related list, however there is no button allow me to do that. May I ask how to install widget to inventory module related list?

    • How to track a contact or customer's past product purchases in Bigin Premiere?

      Hello there. I am the sole user of Bigin for a small company (chess club), and would like to track current and past purchases made by a contact (player) or company (family which includes the player). Players may register for multiple tournaments, take

    • LENTITUD EN RECIBIR MAIL

      Buenas tardes, Estamos experimentando lentitud en la recepción de correos electrónicos.

    • 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

    • 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

    • Best practice importing items and matching assemblies

      Hi, I was wondering what would be the best practice to import items and composite items (assemblies) From my backup, what should I import first? The items or the composite items? I am on Zoho one, using inventory and books. Kind regards, Sabine

    • Bulk Fill In & Edit PO/Bill/SO/Invoice

      Hello, I am adding stock in bulk on a PO, the system is automatically populating the Rate (price) and Tax from the item data. Problem is that the bill rate is different from the rate on the item data, so I have to manually erase each and enter the price.

    • Separate Items & Services

      Hi, please separate items and services into different categories. Thank you

    • 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

    • Allocating inventory to specific SO's

      Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could

    • Cancelled Transfer order problem

      Hello, We've canceled a transfer order, and we can't add the related items to a new Transfer Order. The system tells us that the bin doesn't have the required quantity, but when we check the item, it indicates that there are 2 units in the bin. It also

    • Next Page