Introducing new options for more flexible validation rules in CRM

Introducing new options for more flexible validation rules in CRM

Notes
Editions:  Professional and above
DCs: All
Release plan: We've started rolling out this enhancement to customers. It is being released in a phased manner and will soon be available to all customers in all DCs.

[Update | 26 Sep 2024] This enhancement has been released to all users in all DCs.

Help doc: Working with validation rules

Hello everyone,

You can configure validation rules to alert users of mistakes and prevent incorrect data from being submitted. They are useful in situations like the following:
  • Preventing a form from being saved if the social security number doesn't contain nine characters.
  • Validating an IBAN number against the specified format.

We've added new configuration options to validation rules for increased flexibility. With these options, you can:
  • Quickly validate individual fields
  • Allow the record to be saved with an alert
  • Decide where the error messages will be displayed.
Let's look at them one by one.

Quickly validate individual fields


Fields were previously validated only upon clicking the save button. To validate fields as you filled out a form, you had to:
  • Ensure that the mandatory fields were filled
  • Click the save button to validate a field.
Each click of the save button triggers the execution of all validation rules, displaying error messages throughout the form.

Now, we've added a new option: "Field verify and save". Users may need to quickly validate an important field before they proceed to other fields. In such cases, they can pick Field verify and save for validating those important fields.



Validation will take place when you click the "Verify" button next to the field and when saving the record. This speeds up field verification by allowing you to click a button right next to the filled field and executing only that field's validation rule.

This is available for both validation rules based on criteria and those that use functions.

Notes
[Updated on 23 Jan 2025] The field verify and save option is not available in:

Allow the record to be saved with an alert

Let's say that you have a company policy that prohibits discounts exceeding 15%, and that your sales reps are encouraged to avoid offering discounts over 10%.

The challenge lies in not allowing values above 15% at all, while also permitting values above 10% but reminding sales reps that discounts above 10% are not ideal.

You can manage situations like this by setting the validation preference as:
  • Stop with error (prevents the saving of the record)
  • Allow by alert (allows the saving of the record after getting confirmation from the user)


When you choose to stop with an error, the record will not be saved with the entered value. This feature is beneficial for completely blocking the input of inaccurate data. Before this enhancement, this was the default behavior of all validation rules.



With this enhancement, we've added the allow by alert option to remind users to verify the data before saving it. This enables them to save a record after being reminded of the policy and confirming that they understand it, which is useful when the entered value isn't optimal and you want to ensure the user has not made an error.



You can set this preference independently for each condition in your validation rule.
Notes
This option is available for validation rules using criteria where the validation happens on Save only.

Decide where the error messages will be displayed

Additionally, you can select where error messages will appear for a specific condition in a validation rule.



If a field's value is not related to another field, it's best to display the error near the field itself. This enables users to quickly identify and correct any mistakes. Therefore, you should select the on primary field option for these scenarios. Previously, all error messages were displayed in this manner.



In complex and data-intensive forms, validation errors may occur due to inter-dependencies between the values entered in different fields. In these cases, consolidating these validation errors in one place can help users resolve these issues more efficiently. With this enhancement, you can choose the top of page option in such scenarios.



You can set the error location separately for each condition in your validation rule.
Notes
This option is available for validation rules using criteria where the validation happens on Save only. It will be available in all conditions where the validation preference is Stop with error.

In addition to the above changes, you can now create validation rules for lookup fields as well.

Do share your feedback in the comments section below!

    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.







                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts





                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    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

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner









                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Different form submission results for submitter and internal users

                                                                                                                  I'm looking for suggestions on how to show an external submitter a few results while sending internal users all the results from the answers provided by the external user. The final page of our form has a section with detailed results and a section with
                                                                                                                • Help Desk Services Solution

                                                                                                                  I am here looking for Help Desk services solution for organization. I also searched this on many different website and found many solutions. We are bit confused to which one to choose. One of my friend suggest me this platform, and i am hoping i will
                                                                                                                • Facing Issues with Sites Mobile font sizes

                                                                                                                  my page renediaz.com is facing issues mobile view, when i try to lower font sizes in home page, instead of changing the size, it changes the line space
                                                                                                                • Remove 'This is an automated mail from Zoho Sign' in footer

                                                                                                                  Hi there, Is it possible to remove or change the text under the e-mail templates? I can't figure out how to do that: Would love to hear from you. Kind regards, Tristan
                                                                                                                • Formatting and slow

                                                                                                                  Creating campaigns are difficult.  I'm fairly computer literate but some of the way Zoho Campaigns formatting works is painful.  Images fail to upload or are very slow. To top it off, syncing the contacts is a pain as well as temperamental links to create Segments. At this rate I'm afraid we might need to migrate back to Mailchimp.
                                                                                                                • Default Ticket View - Table?

                                                                                                                  Guys, We mostly use the table view to queue tickets. Maybe I am missing it - but how can I set that view as 'default" for all our agents? Thanks JV
                                                                                                                • Boost your Zoho Desk's performance by archiving tickets!

                                                                                                                  The longer your help desk operations are, the more likely it is to accumulate tickets that are no longer relevant. For example, ticket records from a year ago are typically less relevant than currently open tickets. Such old tickets may eventually lead
                                                                                                                • Paste emails to create segment

                                                                                                                  We are moving over from Mailchimp to ZOHO. However Mailchimp allows me to create a segment by pasting in emails from excel (or importing a .csv) can I do the same in Mailchimp?
                                                                                                                • COQL API in JS Widget only pulling 200 records

                                                                                                                  Hello! We've been building a custom homepage widget using the Zoho JS SDK, and it seems that this https://help.zwidgets.com/help/latest/ZOHO.CRM.API.html#.coql only allows 200 records. I thought the limit was 2000 for COQL queries, but am I mistaken?
                                                                                                                • Getting the Record ID of a form once it is submitted - so that form can be edited later

                                                                                                                  In Zoho Forms, where can I access the record ID of a form once the form is submitted? - Record ID is not available in webhook payloads - It is not available to form fields, including in formulas - It is not available as a parameter in a thankyou page
                                                                                                                • Auto-Generate Line Numbers in Item Table Using HTML & CSS Counters (Zoho Books & Zoho Inventory Custom Templates)

                                                                                                                  <div> <style> /* Start counter from 0 inside tbody */ tbody#lineitem { counter-reset: rowNumber; } /* Increment counter for each row */ tbody#lineitem tr { counter-increment: rowNumber; } /* Show counter value in first column */ tbody#lineitem tr td:first-child::before
                                                                                                                • Possible to define default font and size in Zoho Campaigns?

                                                                                                                  Is it possible to define a default font (font, size and colour) for the text, H1 and H2 in Zoho Campaigns? For example: In a campaign, I add a text block, and the text is automatically century gothic, size 11, grey (6f6f6e) by default? Thank you!
                                                                                                                • Zoho Sites - General Feedback

                                                                                                                  Hi Everyone-- Quick question for discussion: is it me or is working with Zoho Sites like entering the Twilight Zone? I've built many sites over the years, but this platform seems impossible. I've spent an entire day and a half trying to get a simple one-color
                                                                                                                • File Upload field not showing in workflow

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have added a field on Zoho CRM. I want to use it in a workflow where that particular field is updated based on another field, however it is not showing up in the field list to select it in the workflow. Why is this please?
                                                                                                                • You cannot send this email campaign as it doesn't have any eligible contacts in the selected mailing list. You can try adding contacts or choose other mailing lists.

                                                                                                                  please help
                                                                                                                • Strengthening the capabilities of CommandCenter in Zoho CRM Plus

                                                                                                                  When you look at the prospect-to-customer journey in most businesses 10 to 15 years ago, it was relatively straightforward. Many of us remember walking into a store, sharing our requirements with a sales associate, reviewing a few options, and making
                                                                                                                • World date & time format

                                                                                                                  Hello, Is there a timeline to get the worldwide used date and time format ? I mean not the american one... I mean day month year, and 24 hours clock. Regards
                                                                                                                • How can Data Enrichment be automatically triggered when a new Lead is created in Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have a pipeline where a Lead is created automatically through the Zoho API and I've been trying to look for a way to automatically apply Data Enrichment on this created lead. 1) I did not find any way to do this through the Zoho API; it seems like
                                                                                                                • Announcing Kiosk 1.1 - Customize screen titles, configure new fields & actions, use values from your Kiosk to update fields, and more.

                                                                                                                  Hello all We are back again with more enhancements to Kiosk. So what's new? Enhancements made to the Components Add titles for your Kiosk screens and adjust its width to suit your viewing preferences. Three new fields can be added to your screen: Percentage,
                                                                                                                • Any recommendations for Australian Telephony Integration providers?

                                                                                                                  HI,  I am looking for some advice on phone providers as we are looking to upgrade our phone system, does anybody have experience with any of the Australian providers that integrate with CRM Telephony? So far we are looking at RingCentral and Amazon Connect, and would love to hear feedback on any of the other providers you might have tried.  Thank you
                                                                                                                • CRM Cadences recognise auto-responses

                                                                                                                  I have leads in a Cadence. I get an auto-responder reply "I'm out of the office..." Normally Cadences seems to know that isn't a real reply and keeps the lead enrolled in the cadence. However, today, Cadences has UNENROLLED a Lead who sent an auto-reponse
                                                                                                                • Zoho Campaigns Workspaces

                                                                                                                  Hi, I’m currently working on a Zoho CRM + Zoho Campaigns setup for a franchisee-based organization, where each franchise must only see and use its own contacts. At the moment, franchisees cannot properly access their contact lists in Zoho Campaigns unless
                                                                                                                • Limited System because of Limited Number of Fields for Car Dealership

                                                                                                                  Dear Zoho Support, we want to have all the information about a car inside of a car record. We want to have Zoho CRM as our single source of truth for our data, but the limited number of fields are not allowing that. The data consist of: technical data
                                                                                                                • Automatically Update Form Attachment Service with Newly added Fields

                                                                                                                  Hi, When I have a Form Setup and connected to a 3rd Party Service such as OneDrive for Form Attachments, when I later add a new Upload Field I have to remove and redo the entire 3rd Party Setup from scratch. This needs to be improved, such as when new
                                                                                                                • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

                                                                                                                  Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything
                                                                                                                • Newsletter in multiple languages

                                                                                                                  Hi We are planning on starting to use Zoho Campaigns for our newsletters. Since we send our newsletters in three languages, I would need the "unsubscribe page" and other pages related to the NL (Thank you page and so on) to be available in different languages
                                                                                                                • Fixed assets in Zoho One?

                                                                                                                  Hi, We use Zoho Books and have the fixed asset option in it. I started a trial for Zoho One and I do not see that as an option. Is the books that is part of zoho one equivalent to Zoho Books Elite subscription or is it a lesser version? Thanks, Matt
                                                                                                                • Set Default Status of Assembly to "Assembled" When Entered in UI

                                                                                                                  I've just discovered the new "confirmed" status of Assemblies within Inventory. While I understand the intent of this (allowing for manufacturing planning and raw material stock allocation), it was initially confusing to me when manually entering some
                                                                                                                • I need to Record Vatable amount and non vatable amount separately in zoho books in a single line

                                                                                                                  I need to Record Vatable amount and non vatable amount separately in zoho books in a single line give me the customisation option and in invoice copy to customer the total amount should be inclusive 5%vat and no need to show the vatable and non vatable
                                                                                                                • Sort Legend & stacked bar chart by value

                                                                                                                  I'd love to see an option added to sort the legend of graphs by the value that is being represented. This way the items with the largest value in the graph are displayed top down in the legend. For example, let's say I have a large sales team and I create
                                                                                                                • Scanned Doc - selecting Item overwrites Rate

                                                                                                                  I have a Vendor Invoice which was uploaded to Documents. I select Add To > New Bill. The OCR is actually quite good, but it is reading an Item Description instead of an Item Number. I remove the description and select the correct Item Number... and it
                                                                                                                • Timesheet invalid data error

                                                                                                                  Getting the "Invalid Date" error when trying to add a time sheet to an appointment in a work order. I initially though the work order was corrupt or something so I deleted the work order and recreated it. I added the first time sheet to the AP and saved
                                                                                                                • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

                                                                                                                  How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details
                                                                                                                • Any update on adding New Customer Payment Providers who support in store terminal devices?

                                                                                                                  Currently there is only one Customer payment provider listed for terminal devices in USA- Everyware. They charge a monthly fee of almost $149 minimum. Will you add other providers - like Zoho Payments or Stripe or Worldpay that would allow integrated
                                                                                                                • Dealing With One-Time Customers on Zoho Books

                                                                                                                  Hello there! I am trying to figure out a way to handle One-Time customers without having to create multiple accounts for every single one on Zoho Books. I understand that I can create a placeholder account called "Walk-In Customer", for example, but I
                                                                                                                • Customizing Helpcenter texts

                                                                                                                  I’m customizing the Zoho Desk Help Center and I’d like to change the wording of the standard widgets – for example, the text in the “Submit Ticket” banner that appears in the footer, or other built-in widget labels and messages. So far, I haven’t found
                                                                                                                • Passing the image/file uploaded in form to openai api

                                                                                                                  I'm trying to use the OpenAI's new vision feature where we can send image through Api. What I want is the user to upload an image in the form and send this image to OpenAI. But I can't access this image properly in deluge script. There are also some constraints
                                                                                                                • "Temporary" Field Value?

                                                                                                                  I have a custom action in Form A report Detail View that passes the Rec ID and updates a Temp Record ID lookup field in the Form B record via openURL (and opens the Form B report in popup) . The updated Temp Record ID field value in Form B is then used
                                                                                                                • File Upload field automatically replaces spaces with underscores – support experience

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I want to share my recent experience regarding the File Upload field behavior in Zoho Creator and my interaction with the Zoho support team. When a user uploads a file, the system automatically renames the document by replacing spaces in
                                                                                                                • We Asked, Zoho Delivered: The New Early Access Program is Here

                                                                                                                  For years, the Zoho Creator community has requested a more transparent and participatory approach to beta testing and feature previews. Today, I'm thrilled to highlight that Zoho has delivered exactly what we asked for with the launch of the Early Access
                                                                                                                • Next Page