Introduction of Canvas for Zoho CRM
All industries function in a way that is very different in many aspects. There is no one size fits all approach. The companies should be able to modify the CRM design to suit their needs after a purchase has been made. This is where customers can control their experience completely. Zoho CRM is a giant that has created a new benchmark for customization.
With Canvas, Zoho plans to offer the best possible consumer experience that there is. The customers can create their own experience using Canvas. Zoho introduces Canvas as a design so that the customers can redesign the visual interface of Zoho CRM services to suit their requirements.
Using Canvas, users can remodel the look and feel of their CRM without writing even a single line of code since a simple drag and drop interface is used. Canvas creations can immensely improve the end user’s experience that helps in increasing productivity and morale. It sets the precedent for users to experience autonomy where the user can control the experience with the product.
In this blog, we will get to know all about Canvas and everything it can do for CRM.
What is Canvas?
Canvas is a design studio that is built into the Zoho CRM. The customers can redesign the user interface from an entirely blank canvas using Canvas. It offers a better CRM user interface and supports a wide range of formatting options that help companies to re-imagine the look and feel of any module down to small details. This is how the data meets design.
The use of Canvas is similar to photoshop for databases but it is much more nuanced. Canvas completely understands how the modules, fields, buttons, and related lists in the interface get created. Hence, it offers a much more thoughtful and contextual designing experience for the customers.
You can think of Canvas as a unique tool by Zoho CRM, something that no other CRM vendor has ever considered creating. Zoho has actually pioneered the design autonomy movement allowing the customers to curate the user experience that they are looking for. With the use of Canvas, Zoho CRM has become the most customizable CRM in the market.
Canvas as a no-code design platform is one of the most powerful things to change your Zoho CRM user experience from a visual and a functional perspective. It is a simple user interface management platform that is created into the native CRM system and is applicable in various ways of the CRM. The UI can be customized with the following CRM pages using Canvas.
A unified user experience can be created at various engagement points across platforms with internal CRM, partner portals, and self-service customers. Finally, regardless of the fact if they are your customers, partners or employees, all of the groups that work with a consistent UI when it comes to page design, look and feel, yet the data organized in all layouts can be customized based on various functions and requirements.
Working of Canvas
Canvas helps companies create a custom view that is readily available as an option along with the default views. The customers can click to create a new Canvas view from a listing page or the record page so that a blank canvas is opened as the powerful editor. Some of the things that are responsible for making Canvas stand out are:
1. Right Information in the Right Place
Customers can look for all the related lists, fields, and buttons available on the left side of the menu in editor mode. This actually means that no information is lost and all associations will remain intact just the way they are.
Canvas plays the role of helping users change the appearance of Zoho CRM with multiple design variants.
2. Drag-and-drop Interface
There is no need to become a programmer or even a designer for using Canvas. You just need to have good design taste. Canvas is the first CRM design studio that also comes with a drag and drop interface to offer a much-simplified design experience for everyone.
With the editor, users can easily choose some components from the left menu, drag them on the interface, drop them at the desired location, and then finally click to see available formatting options. It only takes a couple of clicks to create a new design.
3. Formatting Options
Canvas provides many formatting options for playing around with so that the companies can find the exact style that fits their team the best.
Right from changing the shape of the contact image or the color of a button to changing the padding, the shadow, and the width, Canvas enables the users to make sure that all details are suitable for a personal view.
4. Templates
Canvas also comes with a set of templates that the customers can choose in case they want a good start with their design or in case they are looking for inspiration.
The templates can be easily customized to a wide range of industries and they can also be changed to suit the customers in an improved way.
5. Uniform Design All Over Modules
Canvas is a no-code design platform that can be easily copied to other modules for maintaining a uniform design and color style.
Almost any detail that is not associated with the new module can be easily reconfigured at any time. This leads to a uniform design across all possible modules.
How Does Canvas Help Users?
Canvas plays an excellent role in helping companies experiment seamlessly with multiple designs taking input from the salespeople and other end users. These are the people who end up spending a large amount of time using the Zoho CRM.
The admins can easily remodel the list page and detail page of all modules so that everyone’s needs are solved on the basis of suggestions. Canvas can effectively solve important challenges that businesses face in the present day including lack of personalization, employee experience, and complex implementations.
Canvas is the first CRM design studio that helps the users in the following ways:
1. Creating Personalized Instances:
Canvas is responsible for helping companies design a version of CRM that suits the industry and the working culture. Administrators can easily design views with fields, buttons, lists, and labels that are relevant to business so that the end-users can get the maximum results out of Zoho CRM. The customers can also enjoy tailored experiences of a vertical CRM that comes with all possible capabilities of a general-purpose CRM.
2. Enhanced Employee Experience
Using Canvas as a no-code design platform, companies can easily build a CRM that is easy to work with. The users can create views with a minimal design and great colors that are soothing for the eye and the mind. The customers can also highlight, record, hide, and reposition fields, lists, and buttons for helping salespeople work much better.
3. Removes Complexity
Canvas makes it very simple for businesses to get started with the Zoho CRM. The implementation phases including extensive training, data prep, and onboarding experiences need less time and effort all thanks to a simple and customized design. Successful implementation is necessary for reducing any complexity of the system while ensuring that there is high usage and streamlined ROI.
Canvas Serves the Purpose of Everyone
Canvas is literally for everyone. It helps in the following things.
1. Collaborative Selling
The companies can effectively share their Canvas views with the vendors, consultants, and partners with the use of various portals. The sales process can also become increasingly collaborative where different parties need to get involved at various stages of a sale. Canvas helps in facilitating this collaboration.2. Superior Self-Service
It is a well known fact that millennial customers are highly protective of their data and the option of self-service is appreciated much more. The customers can fill in important information and review it directly in the company’s very own custom Canvas creation which improves the overall experience considerably.
3. Thriving Community
Canvas is a one of a kind first CRM design studio where the customers can create new Canvas views and share them with the community. In this way, other businesses can use them as well. With Canvas, Zoho CRM works to create a community of designers who can submit, edit, and implement templates very similar to the community WordPress created for websites.Canvas sets the precedence of UX Rich Autonomy
Zoho plans to introduce Canvas to the entire Zoho CX suite and finally to complete the product range. In this way, the companies can enjoy the Zoho environment with a design all across the board. When the companies have greater control over the user experience, the results are incredibly beneficial for the end-user, organization, and even the vendor.
Conclusion
Zoho CRM is on a mission to make sure that the specific needs of all industries, companies, and teams are met with the use of Canvas. As Zoho CRM continues its journey to pioneer the new era of personalized CRM, continuous work is being done on user experience enhancements focused on making it simple for end-users to keep using Zoho CRM. Canvas – the first CRM design studio is an example of that.
Zoho claims that this is a journey that never ends and it is in it for a long time. This is one of the major milestones of Zoho for creating a high standard of CRM experience and the company continues making changes.
I hope that you learned something new today :)
Stay Tuned for more!
Cheers!
Abhi
(Seasoned Zoho Authorized and Certified Partner)
Feel free to contact me if you have any queries
Email: abhishek(@)encaptechno(dot)com
Call: +1-416-405-8185
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
Abhishek - Zoho Partner
Sticky Posts
Presenting ABM for Zoho CRM: Expand and retain your customers with precision
Picture this scenario: You're a growing SaaS company ready to launch a powerful business suite, and are looking to gain traction and momentum. But as a business with a tight budget, you know acquiring new customers is slow, expensive, and often deliversGood news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift
Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activitiesCreate and populate a record in an instant: Introducing zero-shot field prompting to Zia's ICR
A couple of months ago, we upgraded our in-house AI image detection and validation tool, Zia Vision, with intelligent character recognition (ICR). By training Zia with sample images, you could create and enrich CRM records with data extracted from standardIn-person ZUG Meetups for Real Estate Professionals - US Q1 2026
The Real Estate Zoho User Group is going on a multi-city, in-person meetup tour across the US, and we’d love to see you there! These meetups are a great opportunity to: Connect with fellow real estate professionals using Zoho Share challenges and discoverNimble enhancements to WhatsApp for Business integration in Zoho CRM: Enjoy context and clarity in business messaging
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! WhatsApp for business is a renowned business messaging platform that takes your business closer to your customers; it gives your business the power of personalized outreach. Using the WhatsApp for Business integration
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
Duplicating and referencing datasets
I am moving from PowerBI to Zoho Analytics and while I find Zoho easier to use in many ways, there is one function that I use in PowerBI that I have not been able to find in Zoho. I have several data sets that I need to modify in different ways to getZoho Inventory Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalEnhancements to Zoho Map integration tasks
Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Map integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need toLet’s Talk Recruit: Meet Zia, your all-in-one AI assistant (Part-3)
Welcome back to the Let’s Talk Recruit series. In the part 2 post, we explored how Zia has evolved with smarter summaries and seamless AI-assisted content creation. This time, we’re diving into the latest upgrades that take productivity even further —Announcing Early Access to "Zoho CRM for Everyone" — A new and exciting update to Zoho CRM
Update : Zoho CRM For Everyone's Nextgen Interface gets an upgrade! Hello everyone, We’ve updated the Zoho CRM for Everyone Nextgen interface based on your feedback. The UI is now simpler with a unified sidebar, a more visible global search and featuresUnable to verify domain for Zoho People
I have added TXT records in my DNS (GoDaddy) [screenshot attached], but unable to verify even after 12 hours after adding. On checking the console, it shows some errors [screenshot attached]. It appears that the verification flow is broken - please provideZoho Invoice Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalZoho Billing Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalWeekly Tips : Make your email content error free with Spell check in Zoho Mail
As someone who writes multiple emails a day, we are bound to make both grammatical and spelling errors. Most of them we may not even notice, and even if we do, we may not have the time to correct each one individually when we are in a hurry. So how doIntroducing Enhanced Storage Management
We’re excited to roll out two new enhancements in Zoho Recruit, Subscription Information and Storage Management — designed to give admins complete visibility into subscription details, feature limits, and storage consumption — all from one place insidehow to download all my files
We are in the middle of zoho docs to zoho workdrive migration. I can not access my zoho docs page. I get redirected immediately to a zoho workdrive page. I would like to download all my files so that I have a backup in case something goes wrong with theConvert Zoho Books SalesOrder - Invoice
Converting a Zoho Books Sales Order into an Invoice Using the SalesOrder Convert API Hello Zoho Developers, Today, we are sharing a simple and effective solution to convert a Zoho Books Sales Order into a Zoho Books Invoice using the SalesOrder ConvertZoho Expense - Report Templates
Hi Expense Team, I do a recurring trip once every week which has the same cost: Per diem Milage Toll Payment It would be great if there was a feature which allowed me to clone a previously submitted report or create a template reports. This would saveHow to add tabular data when execute Add Record API
Hi everyone! I was send api updateRecord follow by this request url : https://people.zoho.com/people/api/forms/json/<formLinkName>/updateRecord with parameters "inputData", "tabularData", "recordId". Ex picture below And response success: But. When ITip #51- Centralized Contact Management for Better Remote Support- 'Insider Insights'
For our final topic of November, we’re diving into one of the most helpful features in Zoho Assist, the Contacts section on Zoho Assist;s dashboard. Whether you’re managing multiple clients, tracking past sessions, or simply looking to streamline yourUsing gift vouchers
We would like to be able to offer a limited number of gift vouchers, of varying values, to our customers, and are looking for the best way to do this. We have looked at Coupons and Gift Certificates, but neither seem to fit the bill perfectly. Coupons:Say Hello to Telephony in Zoho FSM
Zoho FSM now brings complete telephony support so your team can manage inbound and outbound calls without switching tabs. Faster responses, smarter routing, and total call visibility—all in one place. Choose the telephony setup that works for you Zoho’sE-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Inventory
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. Invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing WorksEmployee ID is not correct in get records api V2 for leave
Hi Team, We are facing an issue when calling the Get Records API V2. The employee.id returned in the response is not the actual employee record ID in Zoho People. As a result, our integration is forced to make an additional Get Record API call for everyFormatting Mailing Labels
I want to use the "Print Mailing Labels" function on the drop down list, but I am not seeing a way to change the formatting on the mailing labels. At the moment, the information that appears on the mailing labels ARE NOT mailing addresses, but randomZoho People. Updating TabularData
I am trying to update tabular data in the record. I always have the same response. I have checked many times. Section ID is correct. May be something wrong with request structure itself. Can someone help me. Body content type: form urlencoded query paramsCanvas View - Print
What is the best way to accomplish a print to PDF of the canvas view? Latest update (27th November 2025): We are excited to announce that the Canvas Print View is now available! We encourage you all to try it out and share your feedback with us. LearnNew to automation - please help
Hi there! We are new to automations in Zoho. We built out one automation campaign and it seems to be firing off for some people but others not. Please advise what's the best practice or if anything we should tweak. Thank you so much!Zia Conversation Summary: Context at a glance for every customer interaction
Hello everyone! Every customer conversation tells a story—but in CRM, that story is rarely in one place. A sales rep moving between multiple leads has to reopen long email threads, check call remarks, and revisit meeting notes just to remember what wasHow to set a fixed width of column/cells
Is there a way to set a 'fixed' width for cells in zoho sheet? I know how to adjust the size of the colums.... but after I past a large block of text into a cell, it expands the cell size again. (yes, I have turned off word wrap) How can I set a fixed width so the cells don't change size each time I add data to a cell? Thanks.Workdrive Oauth2 Token Isn't Refreshing
I have set up oauth for a bunch of zoho apis and have never had a problem with oauth. With workdrive i am using the exact same template i usually use for the other zoho apps and it is not working. All requests will work for the first hour then stops soSingle Portal for Multiple Apps
Hello, I'm just getting started with Zoho and I'm very overwhelmed. I am currently using the free trial of Zoho One, but if I can figure it out, I intend to upgrade to the paid version. Zoho One, of course, gives me access to an entire suite of services/applications. One of the things I'd like to do is have a single place for clients (customers?) to log in and view current projects, invoices, contact information, etc. A single login for my clients. A single portal. I've come across documentation【開催報告】 大阪 ユーザー交流会 2025/11/20（木）Zoho CRM Plus 活用のアイデアとデータの“見える化”
皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 11/20（木）に、大阪 ユーザー交流会を開催しました。本投稿では、その様子をお届けします。 当日の登壇資料などもこちらに共有しますので、参加できなかった皆さまもご参照ください。 （Zoho 社員セッションの登壇資料については、11/28(金)に開催予定の東京回の開催報告で共有いたします） 今年2回目の開催となる大阪 ユーザー交流会では、株式会社KDDIウェブコミュニケーションズ 山田さんによる Zoho CRM Plus の事例セッションのほか、「ZohoEvery rating counts: Shaping customer experience
We are back to that beautiful time of the year. It is the season to reflect, be thankful, and appreciate everything that has happened throughout the year. Thanksgiving is a time we connect with our family, friends, and relatives to strengthen relationships,How to remove duplicate contacts
Custom Field for Subscription
Hi, I can't find a way to add a custom field (to contain a license key generated from our software) against a subscription? Is the only place to add this information in the Invoice module (as custom field for invoice)? When a customer views his subscription via the customer portal, there appears no way to display a license key for them? The invoice is not the natural place to store a license key for a particular subscription, so where else can this be stored and displayed?Custom View and Custom Fields on Zoho Books
Hi, I have some custom fields on Estimates and Invoices. I also use Custom Views so I can have a lot of information at a glance. I want to include my custom fields as columns in my custom views of estimates / invoice, but it looks like is not possible.Dropdown data depends on filters in another field.
In my quote form I have a lookup field called Reseller that pulls from Accounts. I would like it to pull from Accounts, but only those accounts with an account field 'Type' where that is 'Reseller'. Does anyone know a way to do this? Similarly, I'd likeIs it possible to adjust the web browser tab title (when a ZoHo Desk ticket is opened)
Hi All, When I open a ZoHo Desk ticket in a web browser, the tab title (text that appears at the top of the browser tab) uses the logic: *company icon picture* (xxxx) #ticket number - company name See below (highlighted in red) for reference. CompanyCollections Management: #7 Common Mistakes during Payment Collection
Payment collection may appear straightforward in most cases. Still, as your customer base expands and transaction volume increases, it becomes clear that even small inefficiencies can lead to delayed payments, increased support load, or even revenue loss.Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task
So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in thisRecruit API search
Hi all, Attempting to call the search api endpoint from Postman using the word element as mentioned in api docs Search Records - APIs | Online Help - Zoho Recruit When making the call to /v2/Candidates/search?word=Saudi receive response of { "code": "MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND",Text/SMS With Zoho Desk
Hi Guys- Considering using SMS to get faster responses from customers that we are helping. Have a bunch of questions; 1) Which provider is better ClickaTell or Screen Magic. Screen Magic seems easier to setup, but appears to be 2x as expensive for United States. I cannot find the sender id for Clickatell to even complete the configuration. 2) Can customer's reply to text messages? If so are responses linked back to the zoho ticket? If not, how are you handling this, a simple "DO NOT REPLY" asCustom Field in Zoho Projects pulling into Analytics
We have a client that we have built our their new business process using Zoho Projects, and we have build a lot of custom fields with their their Projects where they are capturing specific data points that we want to be able to track and pull data, asMarketer's Space - Holiday season email marketing tips you should know
Hello Marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! 'Tis the season—that time of the year everyone eagerly anticipates. While most look forward to relaxing, marketers will be super-busy from late November to early January. Mistakes canNext Page