Zoho Creator : Paint your records using Canvas Builder!
Dear Creators,
We're thrilled to bring you an incredible new feature - the Canvas Builder, the solution that directly addresses the "user experience factor"! This cutting-edge tool is live now, and we are delighted to share how this feature will revolutionize the way you design detailed views for your records within Zoho Creator.
There is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach for every organization, and Canvas provides the precise flexibility we require, with its wide range of customization options. It offers a a simple drag-and-drop editor and pre-designed templates for every industry and department.
Great design drives usage and offers an immersive experience!
Designing made easy
You can now create stunning templates effortlessly. Canvas builder offers you three flexible options that makes re-ordering and visualizing your data easy, thereby drawing attention to essential information quickly and efficiently.
Gallery Templates
We have curated a collection of ten professionally designed templates for you to choose from and design your requirements. Simply select the one that fits best your needs , and with our live data preview, you can visualize how your template will appear in real-time and customize it exactly the way you have envisioned.
Create from Scratch
Unleash your creativity! Similar to working on a real canvas, you can intuitively drag and drop elements anywhere on the builder to start crafting your design. The builder is divided into three sections - Data, Elements, and Style - allowing you to customize every aspect of your template with ease and creativity.
Import Templates:
Canvas also allows you to download the custom template you've created in JSON format from the Canvas Builder. Importing these templates directly into your detail view saves you time and effort, making it a breeze to have your layout ready in no time.
A Plethora of Features
The Canvas Builder is packed with a plethora of features to ensure a seamless design experience. By organizing your data components the way you want and applying attractive designs, you are not only making your layouts presentable, but also extremely functional by offering your users exactly what they are looking for, the moment they land on record's detail view.
Drag and Drop Fields: Effortlessly add form fields, system fields, custom actions, blueprints and other add-ons to your canvas by simply dragging and dropping them, thereby streamlining the process of designing your dream layout.
Primitive Elements: Explore an extensive set of primitive elements available in the Elements section. You can easily incorporate these elements into your design by dragging and dropping them wherever you desire.
Style Customization: The Style section empowers you to format all elements and fields according to your preferences and brand identity, ensuring a consistent and appealing visual appearance.
Use-case
Let's explore the Canvas feature with a real-time use case to provide a clearer understanding of its practical applications.
Assume that Sam, a real estate entrepreneur wants to use the Canvas Builder in Zoho Creator to create personalized and visually appealing layouts for his property listings.
Accessing the Canvas Builder
- Sam logs in to his Zoho Creator account.
- He navigates to the "Reports" section from the main dashboard.
Initiating Canvas Layout Creation
- Within the "Reports" section, Sam identifies the "Detail View" option.
- Sam finds the "Create Custom Layout" button under the "Detail View" section.
- When he clicks the button, the Canvas Builder opens up.
Selecting Design Preferences
In the Canvas Builder, Sam is presented with two options: pre-designed gallery templates and designing from scratch. He decides to select a template from gallery templates to create a unique layout for his property listings.
Previewing with Live Data
In the "Gallery Templates" section, each template will load with Zoho Creator's live data. This enables Sam to preview each template and visualize how his property listings will appear in the live view using actual property information.
Customizing the Layout
Sam can intuitively drag and drop essential fields, including property details, location, and pricing, from the "Data" section onto the Canvas builder.
He explores and incorporates various primitive elements such as Tabs, Lines, Sections, Buttons, and Icons, aligning them as needed to create an appealing layout.
Styling to Match Brand Identity
Within the "Style" section of the Canvas Builder, Sam customizes fonts, colors, alignments, and spacing to ensure brand consistency and professional presentation. He can also apply his application's theme color or variations of the same inside the builder.
Width Adjustment
Sam sets the width of elements in the layout as "fluid" for some elements/components, allowing them to expand automatically and fill available space.
For other elements/components, he chooses "fixed" so that they will retain their default width.
Organizing Data with Tabs
To enhance the user experience, Sam effectively organizes property data by dragging related blocks into tabs within the layout.
Related blocks are nothing but Lookup and Subform data which are associated in the parent form.
This logical arrangement ensures that potential property buyers can easily access relevant information.
Creating Custom Actions:
In the Canvas Builder, Sam has the option to create custom actions that enhance the functionality of his property listings.
He creates a custom action to allow users to directly inquire about a property through the layout.
Fine-tuning Field Properties
Sam utilizes the "Properties" tab for each field to fine-tune specific properties according to his real estate business requirements.
He customizes the display format for the property pricing field to show currency symbols and decimal places.
For example, he can customize the prefix, suffix, first name & last name properties for the name field i.e., he can hide/show the sub fields as required.
Applying Conditional Formatting
Sam applies conditional formatting to highlight essential data within the layout, such as displaying urgent listings with eye-catching colors.
This feature ensures that potential buyers can easily identify critical information and make informed decisions.
Importing and Exporting Templates
The Canvas Builder offers Sam the option to download pre-built templates in JSON format using the "Export" button. He exports his custom layout as a template for future-use or to share it with his colleagues to re-create the exact layout in other apps.
Ensuring Responsive Web Support
Canvas templates are initially supported for web use only, to ensure a seamless user experience on desktop browsers.
Thus, Canvas is truly a game changer in that it's all set to catapult your Creator user experience to new horizons. And the icing on the cake — you don't need to write a single line of code — and that, in other words, is the pinnacle of customization.
🔗 Access the Canvas Builder now and embark on a journey of crafting beautifully designed layouts with ease!
Release plan:
The canvas builder has been rolled out on August 1, 2023.
Help documentation:
Thank you for being an integral part of the Zoho Creator community. Your feedback is invaluable as we continuously strive to improve and expand our offerings.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates!
Regards,
The Zoho Creator Team
The Zoho Creator Team
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Samuel Raj
Robert Arnold
Faruk Remane
Alex
Ryan
Sticky Posts
Introducing Zoho Creator's 2025 Release Projection 2
Hello Creators! I'm Prakash, from the Creator product management team, and today I'm delighted to unveil our next set of features as part of Release Projection 2 for 2025. With thoughtful analysis and planning, we've curated powerful new capabilitiesZoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 1
Hello everyone! A very Happy New Year to you and your family. Hope you're all good and having a great time using Zoho Creator to make your lives easier and your businesses prosper. 2022 was an action-packed year for us at Creator, and we hope to continueZoho Creator User Group meetups in a city near you! - Oct - Nov, 2023
Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! We're hosting a series of Zoho Creator meetups in various cities across the globe, and we'd love to meet you there! Our meetups are a great opportunity to network with industry peers, exchange ideas and best practices,Zoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 2
Hello everyone! Time truly flies when you're having an incredible journey, and today we mark the completion of an eventful and action-packed six months. It feels like just yesterday when we embarked on this adventure together with the launch of our newUpcoming Updates - August 2022
Hi all, Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! Today we've got news for you on some exciting updates. And rest assured— there’s more to come! In this post, we'll be going over the upcoming features and improvements for this month as mentioned below. A
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users
Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storagePrint / Export full Dashboard page
Hello Zoho team, It is currently only possible to print/export one component of a dashboard at a time. Requesting the option to print/export a full dashboard page with all components to a pdf or picture. Doing through the browser doesn't give good results.emails duplicated in my outlook client
Hello I am just new here and I have a litle problem that I do not find how to solve. I sumarise here after. Your help would be very appreciated. I have just recently contracted this zoho mail servicesservices as an initial evaluation yesterday night. I then: - opened a free account - created 1 initial email address ..........@domain.com - created a second email address ..........@domain.com - proceeded with the config instructions (checking the ownership of my domain, changing MX etc... ) asHow to check task starting time in zoho mobile app?
I am using the Zoho mobile app on my iPhone, and I am not able to see the task's starting and finishing times. When opening the Task information / Details, I can only see the Task start date and due date, but not the time. Is there any way to check aCreating an extension in Sigma: Zoho CRM isn't selectable as a service
I have 2 Zoho accounts which are part of 2 different workplaces. One workplace is able to select 'Zoho CRM' as a service option when creating a new extension, the other one is not. I'm not sure what the exact differences are between them. What do I needList of packaged components and if they are upgradable
Hello, In reference to the article Components and Packaging in Zoho Vertical Studio, can you provide an overview of what these are. Can you also please provide a list of of components that are considered Packaged and also whether they are Upgradable?Cliq iOS can't see shared screen
Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? RegardsKnowledgebase SEO
We have a custom-domain mapped help center that is not restricted via login. I have some questions: a) will a robots.txt file still allow us to control indexing? b) do we have the ability to edit the sitemap? c) do category URLs get indexed by searchVLOOKUP FUNCTION PROBLEM
Hello, i have a problem with the VLOOKUP function in my sheet http://public.sheet.zoho.com/public/tonimoreno/indicemasacorporal2 in cell D2. This function doesn't work correctly and always returns the last content of the range. Can you help me?RouteIQ for Zoho FSM
Beste, Zou wel top zijn dat we een RouteIQ hebben voor FSM aangezien we constant moeten zien wat de beste route is voor onze monteurs. Nu moeten we een speciale aparte programma hebben om de beste route te berrekenen voor onze monteurs aangezien de planningExport Tickets from the Help Center
Hello everyone! We are now allowing end users to export tickets directly from the help center. The ticket export allows users to: Filter tickets by Department, Priority, and Account before exporting. Download files from Export History (Setup > Data administrationZoho Books Sandbox environment
Hello. Is there a free sandbox environment for the developers using Zoho Books API? I am working on the Zoho Books add-on and currently not ready to buy a premium service - maybe later when my add-on will start to bring money. Right now I just need aSuper Admin Logging in as another User
How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are workingIs it possible to remove filtering options?
My CRM has a lot of custom fields that should not be used in filters or views. Fields that are automated and exist only to store temporary values that get used in functions. These create a lot of noise in the list of fields to filter. Isn't there anyFunction #18: Associate invoice templates automatically based on customer language
For businesses dealing with a diverse linguistic clientele, it becomes crucial to send out invoices in the customer's preferred language to ensure effective communication. This requirement can be handled in Zoho Books by creating invoice templates inChanging field types
Question im a Zoho CRM user and curious, if I change a flied type from single or multi line text to a URL field type will i lose the data in the field or will it be converted to website link automatically. ThanksQuote PDF – Header image stopped rendering suddenly
Hello Zoho Support Team, We are facing an issue with Quote PDF templates in Zoho Books. Previously, images added inside the Quote header HTML were rendering correctly. However, recently the header image is no longer appearing, while header text stillChanging Default PDF Name
Is it possible to change the default name of a PDF? As of right now, all of my quotes are named 'QT_$QuoteNumber' (i,e: 'QT_19803471298374) - would it be possible to change this to: '$CompanyName - $AccountName - $QuoteNumber' for instance?Tip 2: Recursive functions in Deluge: How to dynamically run a function for a specified number of times.
Hi folks, As part of the Zoho Creator - Tips and Tricks series every fortnight, we are back today with a new tip on Recursive functions. Let us first quickly understand what Recursive functions are: A function that calls itself one or more times is known as a Recursive function. That is, you can execute a function to perform a particular action a specific number of times. And, at the end of each iteration, a new output is generated. Recursive functions are commonly used by programmers as it enablesRemoving "Products" as mandatory field from Sales Order creation page
Hello, friends According to our workflow, we should: 1) create Sales Order (Stage "New") 2) call and discuss the Products with a customer (Stage "Communication") 3) add the Products to the Sales Order during the call However, "Products" is mandatory toFunction #48: Manage fixed installment payments using Zoho Books
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! Businesses offer installment payment options to their customers, particularly for expensive purchases, to ease the financial burden on them. By breaking down the total cost into smaller, more manageableFunction #1: Convert an accepted Estimate to Sales Order automatically in Zoho Books
As you’re aware, Zoho Books provides a default option to have the estimates automatically converted to invoices once your customer accepts them. Many of you wanted a similar option for sales orders, so here’s a workflow that converts accepted estimatesSpotlight series #6: The Show app for Android TV has a new look!
Hello everyone! We are delighted to introduce our revamped and redesigned Show app for Android TV. Smart TVs are exploding in popularity. Android TV alone has over 110 million active monthly devices. Zoho Show, as part of a constant effort to improveEmployee Appraisal Applicability - Why is Date of Joining Hard-Coded?
In the new (to me, at least) Performance Appraisal Cycle wizard, it's possible to set criteria to determine for whom the appraisal process should apply. This makes sense on its face. However, one MUST use the Date of Joining criterion as a filter. WhyWorkDrive for Excel Add on
Dear Sir/Madam Have installed Workdrive for Microsoft add on But unable to view the same added in ExcelZoho Books integration sync from Zoho CRM does not work
Hi Zoho Community & Zoho Support We just tried to get a sync some products into Zoho Books from CRM using the native sync and we're getting an error: "It looks like some mandatory fields you're trying to map are empty. Please provide valid field namesAppraisals - Order of Previous Reviews Should Be Newest to Oldest
The new Zoho People layout generally does a decent job at providing the necessary information for performing appraisals of employee performance. One example of this is the Previous Reviews section: This information is helpful when conducting a review.Referencing a cell from another sheet
My workbook has multiple sheets. Each sheet has some calcluated totals in certain cells. The front master sheet has a list of everything that is detailed on the other sheets, with the totals. These could change at any time, so the totals need to be references to the other cell's value, not a fixed number. So on the master sheet, I put in =, then go the other sheet and choose the cell and hit Enter. In regular Excel, this works. But in the Zoho sheet, it doesn't work. I have to edit the result byauto close automated alert tickets which are similar
Hello ZOHO Community, we are using ZOHO Desk to process automated monitoring alerts. Scenario: Our monitoring system creates a ticket when a threshold is exceeded, e.g. Subject: Computer 1 – CPU usage 100% – Error A few minutes later, once the issue resolvesPaging through API results. a major gap in your documentation.
There is no way for me. to get all of my data through a single API call. Typically REST APis have mechanisms for paging through API results. But the documentation for the API I am using: https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Introduction Has no mentionRecurring invoices were generated with old template...
I have recurring invoices setup. Ones generated on 10.20.2025 used the modified template I had used. But for some reason, on the ones created on 11/20/2025, it seems the invoices created reverted to the previous version of the invoice template. Notably,How do people handle using Outlook and Zoho Project calendar at the same time?
We have an ongoing problem in our organisation where we use Zoho Projects to plan all of our projects tasks and that also allows us to look forward using the workload report to see which of our consultants are overstretched etc and which are available.Please, make writer into a content creation tool
I'm tired of relying on Google Docs. I'm actually considering moving to ClickUp, but if Writer were a good content creation tool instead of just a word processor, I would finally be able to move all my development within the Zoho ecosystem, rather thanHow do I associate pricebooks to a customer?
I setup a few pricebooks, that worked fine. But now the only thing I can do with it, when I enter a quote or sales order, I can select which pricebook to use, but I have to do this product by product every time I add one. Is there a way to connect a pricebookWrite-Off multiple invoices and tax calculation
Good evening, I have many invoices which are long overdue and I do not expect them to be paid. I believe I should write them off. I did some tests and I have some questions: - I cannot find a way to write off several invoices together. How can I do that,Leave Report Emailed Weekly
I am wondering if someone knows how to have a report generated either weekly or monthly or both for department heads and ownership of upcoming employee leave. For instance, it would be nice to get an emailed report on Friday for the upcoming week of whoZoho desk desktop application
does zoho desk has a destop applicaion?Tip #54- Exploring the Files Icon in Zoho Assist- 'Insider Insights'
As we’re already in mid-December, it’s a good time to take a closer look at one of the most useful options in the Zoho Assist remote support dashboard—the Files icon. To get started, log in to Zoho Assist using your credentials. Once you’re in, navigateTip#47: Estimation planner
Sprint planning becomes easier, smoother, more collaborative and more accurate with the Estimation Planner extension. Most work items involve multiple users, and each user's role and effort vary. To provide an unbiased and fair estimation point to thePainfully Slow Zoho mail
Since yesterday Zoho Mail seems to have starting functioning very slowly and having a few bugs. It's slow to open mails, slow to send, slow to change between email accounts. Sometimes clicking on a particular folder (eg Sent folder) stops working andNext Page