Leverage layout rules to customize workflow
Layout rules in Zoho Sprints primarily aim to customize the field layout of your creation forms to meet complex requirements. But it doesn't stop there. Its customization can push the boundaries of how your fields behave, how data is gathered, how processes are branched out, and how workflow is channeled.Based on conditions, you can tailor field behavior, direct the life cycle of an item, mandate specific actions, restrict the field options, or auto-assign users. The possibilities are aplenty.
We've tried to provide a few sample scenarios that help you automate your data collection and progress tracking flow. If you have any specific requirements, please state them in the comments, and we'll find out if layout rules can help you.
Use case 1: Restricting item statuses based on work item types
With layout rules, each item type can have its own workflow. This means it can have its own unique set of statuses that align with its specific lifecycle.
Let's assume you have three item types: Bug, Story, and Task.
Each type follows its own lifecycle, represented by the following statuses.
- Bug goes through the To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done statuses.
- Story has To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
- And Task moves through a simple To Do, In Progress, and Done.
To align with these flows, certain statuses should not be available to specific item types. For instance, a story or a task should not be moved to the Bug Fixing status. Similarly, a bug or a task should not be moved to the Development status.
To enforce this, we can create layout rules that control which statuses are available based on the item type.
So, we'll create three conditions with each item type as the primary field.
- If the item type is Bug, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done.
- If the item type is Story, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
- If the item type is Task, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, and Done.
Together, these conditions control the status progression for each item type. So, when you create a bug, it will only progress into the statuses that belong to the Bug lifecycle.
Use Case 2: Restricting future statuses based on the item's current status
When your team requires a pre-defined strict workflow where an item can be moved from a specific status to only a few statuses, layout rules can help implement this. For example, an item in the Bug Fixing status should only move to Bug Testing, and no other status. This way, each status controls the next status in the workflow.
To ensure this, create layout rules specifying conditions for each of the item status:
- If the status is To do, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Rejected.
- If the status is In progress, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Development.
- If the status is Development, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Review Level 1.
- If the status is Review Level 1, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Reopen and Review Level 2.
- If the status is Reopen, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress.
Use case 3: Making a field mandatory based on item status or item type
Let's assume you want a field to be made mandatory only when the item is moved to one particular status. Which implies the field will remain non-mandatory during other statuses and will be mandatory only at that particular status. So, the progress to that status must be allowed only when the mandatory field is updated.
For instance, when an item is moved to the Done status, the Approver field must become mandatory to record completion approval. To ensure that this process is executed, you can create a layout rule where the primary field is the Status Name. If the status field is updated to Done, specify the condition with the trigger action to set the Approver field as mandatory.
Use case 4: Showing or hiding a section or field based on item types
Layout rules enable you to show or hide fields or sections based on item type conditions.
Let's say a section with fields related to a new feature should only be visible when the item type is New Feature.
Similarly, when the item type is Security Issue, the section with fields related to Security issue must be visible.
To achieve this, create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
- Create a condition for the New Feature item type with a trigger action to show the New Feature Details section.
- Create a condition for the Security Issue item type with a trigger action to show the Security Issue Details section.
Use case 5: Selecting specific assignees for item types and priorities
Layout rules can help you assign users based on the item type and priority. Let's say your team has a group of developers with varied levels of experience and expertise. You want to assign the high priority items to a more experienced member like John, while assigning low priority items to a novice like Peter.
If the item type is Bug and the priority level is Critical, you can assign the bug to John. If the priority level is High, it goes to Peter.
To meet this requirement, you can create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
- Create a condition for the item type Bug with a subcondition where the priority level is Critical and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as John.
- For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is High and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Peter.
Similarly, say you want the Task item type with a medium priority level to go to Helen, and a low priority level should go to James.
- Create a condition for the item type Task with a subcondition where the priority level is Medium and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Helen.
- For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is Low and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as James.
These are just a few examples of how layout rules can streamline your project management. Do you have any particular scenario that needs resolution? Please share it with us.
Thanks,
Zoho Sprints Team
Access your files securely from anywhere
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
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
Neethinila R
Sticky Posts
Tip #28 - Plan less and deliver more using WIP limit in Zoho Sprints
Hello, It's been a while since we met with a quick, interesting tip. As the saying goes, "Too much of anything is good for nothing", today the focus is on delivering your outcomes with the right amount of planning. Your plan should be practical, calculative, and achievable for driving a qualitative success. Laura's plan Laura has a habit of planning her project deliverables before assigning work to her team-mates. Once the plan is finalized, she schedules a general meeting with her team andTip # 3- Working on the Scrum board
Continuing from our Tip #2 on leading to a sprint, let's see how to manage the work items on the Scrum board. Once you start the sprint your work items are automatically displayed on the Scrum board where you will actually manage the work items. It is a snapshot of the backlog items identified for the current sprint. The layout of the Scrum board Simply put, the scrum board is just like a physical board with sticky notes on which the work items of the active sprint are displayed. The scrum boardTip#2- Leading you to a Sprint
Product Backlog After the user stories are written and finalized, they are sorted to create the Product Backlog for the project during the Backlog Grooming meeting. This is a master list of all the work items that have been identified for the project and sorted by priority. Requirements are not constant during this period.The Product Backlog is dynamic and is an ongoing process. Every user story in the Product Backlog is customer centric. The Product Backlog includes: User centric stories based onTip #1- Why swimlanes?
Lanes define a clear path to reach your destination. In Agile, swimlane is one such concept that sets a simple and clear process of the work that you do. The concept of swimlane can be related to the pool, where the swimmers gather in their respective lanes to start off. Similar to the pool, work items are grouped in different categories. Each category is referred as a lane and is displayed in horizontal format. Swimlanes are effective in categorizing the work items with respective to specific
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
Zoho Workdrive download was block by security software
Hi Team, Recently workdrive download was blocked by huorong security. Could you please advise how to put zoho workdrive as white list? every time we put "*.zohoexternal.com" or "workdrive.zohoexternal.com", the warning msg will still pop in next dowChoosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?
I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might bestGeneral feedback
I think Zoho is at the moment (potentially) the best, or perhaps the only, real online solution, for business, and not just business. Surely the only one that has all the features that I need (and I've probably tried everything, at least all that has a cost-free option). It has still got lots of bugs and imperfect features, so I do hope it keeps developing and becomes a really professional platform. Lots of people (including me) want to use such one platform for all scheduling/mail/note-taking...How to add SSL to Short URL custom domain?
Hi, I've added a custom domain the the URL Shortener Domains. It's creating the short URL fine, but when clicking through, firstly I get an SSL warning, then a 400 Bad Request warning.Single 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 documentationAntispam validation failed for your domain in Accounts
I tried adding a domain to zeptomail.zoho.com, but the “add domain” operation failed. The front‑end error reads: “Domain could not be added. Please contact support@zeptomail.com.” The back‑end API returned: ``` { "error": { "code": "TM_3601", "details":CodeX Scripts for Enforcing Custom Project Logic
Every organization has a defined way of executing projects. There are clear expectations around how tasks should move, when projects should progress, and which actions require validation. When these rules are consistently followed, projects remain structuredCancelled appointments still block out timeslot
I haven't had to test this before, but I've just found a problem. I had an appointment in a certain timeslot, and that appointment was cancelled. However, Bookings won't let another appointment be booked in that slot - it makes that time unavailable untilPreventing Group Emails From Being Sent to Group Member Personal Mail
We have a group setup for a public facing email address. We have streams turned on for this group. Right now when an email is sent to this group email it hits the group stream and also sends a copy of the email to all group members. We'd like to disableUnusual activity detected from this IP. Please try again after some time.
Hello Zoho admin and IT team We are a registered website in Eloctronic services and we been trying to add our users to the zoho system but this issue faced us ,, hope you unlocked us please.¿Puedo migrar mi sitio desde WordPress a Zoho? ¿Zoho admite herramientas con código personalizado?
¡Hola comunidad! Estoy evaluando la posibilidad de migrar mi sitio web https://calculadoradenotas.cl/ desde WordPress a una solución Zoho, y tengo algunas dudas técnicas que espero puedan aclararme. Mi sitio no es solo informativo: es una herramientaHow do I link my invoice to an estimate?
There has been instances where I have created estimates, however, invoices for the same estimate were created independently. The status of these estimates hasn't converted to 'invoiced'.Zoho Books (and other finance suite apps) - Retrospective Linking of Invoice and Sales Orders to Quotes.
In some cases, Quotes and Invoies may be created sperately instead of using the convert feature. In this feature request I am asking for the Finance Suite team to consider adding a lookup field to reference the quote on Invoices and Sales Orders, or someImpossible to import Journal from Freshbooks
I have been trying to import journals from Freshbooks since August 30th. Every time I try to import, I get an error message. I have already made sure every row has a date. First it was saying the account and notes had unexpected input and that every debit/creditPeppol: Accept Bill (Belgium)
Hi, This topic might help you if you're facing the same in Belgium. We are facing an issue while accepting a supplier bill received by Peppol in Zoho Books. There is a popup with an error message: This bill acceptance could not be completed, so it wasConvert invoice from zoho to xml with all details
How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all detailsPrevent subform editing on a module's detail's page
Hi everyone, We would like to prevent any editing of the subform data in the : Create page Edit page Details page (as subform editing is now allowed by the recent UX update) We are able to prevent editing by making the subform fields read only in theExport Invoices to XML file
Namaste! ZOHO suite of Apps is awesome and we as Partner, would like to use and implement the app´s from the Financial suite like ZOHO Invoice, but, in Portugal, we can only use certified Invoice Software and for this reason, we need to develop/customize on top of ZOHO Invoice to create an XML file with specific information and after this, go to the government and certified the software. As soon as we have for example, ZOHO CRM integrated with ZOHO Invoice up and running, our business opportunitiesRefresh frequency
Dear Zoho Team, I really, truly appreciate that Zoho Books gets frequent updates. As a matter of fact this is how a good SaaS company should stay on top. However, I feel that I have to hit refresh almost every day. This was exciting at the beginning butZoho Books | Product updates | January 2026
Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From e-filing Form 1099 directly with the IRS to corporation tax support, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. E-File Form 1099 Directly With theWeekly Tips : Save Time with Saved Search
Let's assume your work requires you to regularly check emails from important clients that have attachments and were sent within a specific time period. Instead of entering the same conditions every time—like sender, date range, and attachments included—youBring real app analytics into Zoho Creator apps with Zoho Apptics
We’re kicking off the year with a release we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. After being in the works for a while, Zoho Creator and Zoho Apptics are now officially integrated, bringing in-depth product analytics directly into the Zoho CreatorDiscontinuing Zoho ShowTime service on May 30, 2026
Hello everyone, As a follow-up to our earlier announcement, we’d like to share an important update regarding Zoho ShowTime’s discontinuation timeline. Zoho ShowTime, our online training platform, reached its end of life on December 31, 2025, and its servicesAbility to CC on a mass email
Ability to CC someone on a mass email.Bookings duration - days
Hi team, Is there any way to setup services/bookings that span multiple days? I am using Zoho Bookings for meeting room bookings. Clients may wish to book a room for more than one day, for up to a month. If not, is there a plan to allow services to be setup with durations of Days as well as hours and minutes? Many thanks, Anna.Customer address in Zoho Bookings
Hello, Is it possible to add customer address information to the Zoho bookings appointment screen? Or have it pull that information automatically from the CRM? We are wanting to use this as a field management software but it is difficult to pull the address from multiple sources when it would be ideal to have a clickable address on the appointment screen that opens up the user's maps. It would also be advantageous for the "list view" to show appointment times instead of just duration and bookingFeature Request - Allow Customers To Pick Meeting Duration
Hi Bookings Team, It would be great if there was an option to allow customers to pick a duration based on a max and minimum amount of time defined by me and in increments defined by me. For example, I have some slots which are available for customersNew feature: Invite additional guests for your bookings
Hello everyone, Greetings from Zoho Bookings! We are happy to announce the much-awaited feature Guest Invite, which enhances your booking experience like never before. This feature allows additional participants to be invited for the bookings to makeChanging the owner of a call
Am I correct in my conclusion that I cannot change the owner of a call in Zoho? The field does not show up in the screen, nor can I make it show up as the systems does not give me that option. I cannot "mass update" it either. I tried it, but Zoho refuses to change the name of the owner. Please help out: how do I change the owner of a call.Unified Notes View For Seamless Collaboration
To facilitate better coordination among different departments and team members, the notes added to a record can now be accessed in all its associated records. With this, team members, from customer service representatives to field technicians, can easilyRemove Profiles from "Forecast" Module
How can I remove Profiles from My forecast Module? Image Below The only revenue generators are the VP's, and the Estimation Managers, and the Estimators subordinate to the Est. Managers. How can I remove the unused Profiles? Its frustrating to see themUplifted homepage experience
Editions: All editions. Availability update: 17th February 2026: All editions in the CA and SA DC | JP DC (Free, Standard and Professional editions) 23 February 2026: JP (All Editions) | AU, CN (Free, Standard, Professional editions) 27 February 2026:Restoring records from the recycle bin programatically
Background I'm working on a piece of software to automate conversion of Leads into Deals based on order status from my company's website. The process is mostly complete, right now I'm just working on handling a few edge cases to ensure data integrity.Does Zoho Learn integrate with Zoho Connect,People,Workdrive,Project,Desk?
Can we propose Zoho LEarn as a centralised Knowledge Portal tool that can get synched with the other Zoho products and serve as a central Knowledge repository?All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs
Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. LatestCreate static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values
Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next coupleSalesIQ Identity Update for Logged In Wordpress User
Hey folks, SalesIQ does not automatically detect when a visitor logs in to WordPress and update their identity to match. For example, if a client of ours visits the site and logs in, SalesIQ will not track them correctly by default. The Solution The solutionAdd zoho calendar to google calendar
Hi I keep seeing instructions on how to sync Zoho CRM calendar with google calendar but no instructions on how to view Zoho calendar in my google calendar.Paragraph spacings in Zoho Notebook are double-spaced only. Is there a way to keep the original spacing format?
Sorry I don't know the proper terminologies but the best way I can put it is all single-spaced paragraphs that I copy to Zoho Notebook become double-spaced paragraphs. It's very inconvenient and counterproductive when copying and pasting things from andChanging line space in Notebook
My lines are double spaced. How do i change to single space?Next Page