Second Insight - Let's talk Layouts
The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories
Let's talk Layouts
What are layouts?
Layouts refer to the arrangement or design of elements in a space, whether on a physical surface, like a room or a piece of furniture, or in digital contexts, such as web pages or graphic designs.
User interface layout: In software design, various interface elements, such as buttons, forms, and menus, are arranged to create an efficient and user-friendly experience. Layouts control how fields and related sections are organized on a department's module page. Each department can have its own design, which includes a combination of default and custom fields. These layouts dictate which fields are visible, read-only, and required.
Customer support agents need specific information to handle tickets for different products or processes effectively. As a result, help desks frequently incorporate multiple custom fields into the ticket forms that customers complete. This may lead to customers facing irrelevant fields that don't apply to their specific issues. The most effective solution to this confusion is to create and use an appropriate layout.
How can you benefit from using layouts?
Layouts are used in a wide range of software applications and platforms to enhance communication and user experience.
In Zoho Desk, you can use layouts to tailor the fields on module pages like Tickets and Tasks. The drag-and-drop feature enables you to add new fields easily, remove unnecessary ones, and rearrange fields to match your preferences.
Key functions of a layout:
- Visual hierarchy: Clarifies the significance of various elements and directs the viewer's attention to the essential information.
- Readability: Enhances the clarity and legibility of text and images, making it easier for the audience to digest the content.
- Aesthetic appeal: Creates an attractive design that engages users and encourages them to interact with the content.
- Consistency: This ensures a uniform look and feel across different pages or sections, which helps with branding and recognition.
- Navigation: Facilitates user navigation by organizing content logically and allowing users to find information quickly and intuitively.
- Functionality: Supports the intended function of the design, whether to inform, persuade, entertain, or provide a service.
A well-designed layout is crucial for effective communication and user engagement in any visual medium.
A story for better interpretation of layouts
The Perfect Layout - A Tech Story
At Heaven Solutions, a bustling tech company, they proudly call their help desk software 'Heaven Desk'. It was the go-to place for agents facing tech troubles, but the overall situation was chaotic. The desks were cluttered, information was scattered, and the agent teams were overwhelmed with requests.
Ross, a bright and passionate senior tech support, was part of the help desk team. He loved helping others but often found himself frustrated when navigating through heaps of information to assist his team. One day, while dealing with a particularly perplexing issue, he had a revelation: the team needed structure to tame the chaos!
Inspired, Ross gathered his team for a brainstorming session. “What if we redesigned our help desk layout?” he suggested. The team was intrigued but skeptical. “How can a layout make a difference?” one seasoned tech support asked.
Ross smiled and began to explain: “Let’s think of it this way: a well-organized layout can guide users to find solutions quickly. It can reduce confusion, streamline processes, and enhance productivity.”
The team's curiosity was piqued, and they experimented with Ross's idea. They mapped out ideas on a whiteboard and discussed different elements of a successful help desk layout.
- Categorization: They categorized issues into clear sections—hardware, software, network, and general inquiries. This way, users could quickly find the category relevant to their problem.
- Search functionality: Ross proposed implementing a robust search feature on their help desk platform. Users could type in keywords or phrases, making finding solutions more manageable.
- Visible layout: The team agreed that a cleaner, visually appealing design would help declutter the experience. They envisioned a layout with ample white space, easy navigation buttons, and tabs representing different categories.
- FAQ guides: Recognizing that many questions were often repeated, they created an easily accessible FAQ section and a library of troubleshooting guides. This would empower agents to solve minor issues independently.
- Quick feedback: They incorporated a feedback mechanism where users could rate their experience after each interaction, allowing continuous improvement based on user input.
Excited about their ideas, the team presented the new layout to their manager. To their delight, he loved the vision and approved the redesign. With everyone's input, they built the new Heaven help desk. When they launched the redesigned help desk, it was like transforming a maze into a designated path.
On the first day after the launch, Ross was buzzing with anticipation. As employees began using the new layout, he watched their faces light up. Help desk requests decreased as many users could now find what they needed through the FAQs and guides. The search functionality quickly became a hit, with colleagues excited about how quickly they could resolve issues.
Because of their collaborative effort, the help desk now serves as a support system and empowers employees to help themselves. The structured layout improved efficiency and user satisfaction, proving that a thoughtful design could transform chaos into clarity.
In the end, the purpose of layouts became clear: they weren't merely about aesthetics; they were powerful tools that guided users, reduced frustration, and ensured a seamless experience. Through Ross's idea and the team's collaboration, Heaven Desk became a model help desk, demonstrating that a little structure could lead to immense success.
Takeaway
A well-designed layout organizes information and resources in a coherent way and makes the system intuitive and easy to use, which reduces frustration and improves user satisfaction. It ensures that users can find what they need quickly and efficiently, whether it involves accessing a knowledge base, submitting a ticket, or tracking the status of their request.
Please stay tuned for more Desk Module stories.
Cheers,
Kavya Rao
The Zoho Desk Team
Also read:
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
Kavya Rao Addepalli
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
Facturation électronique 2026 - obligation dès le 1er septembre 2026
Bonjour, Je me permets de réagir à divers posts publiés ici et là concernant le projet de E-Invoicing, dans le cadre de la facturation électronique prévue très prochainement. Dans le cadre du passage à la facturation électronique pour les entreprises,Users Lookup
It would be extremely convenient to have a lookup field whose type is Users. There are many instances where we need to relate certain actions to users. Furthermore, in our company the candidate sourcer might not be the one who's creating the profile (done by an admin). Please do consider adding this essential feature in the future. Thank youConnecting Multiple WooCommerce Stores to a Single Zoho Marketing Automation Account
Is it possible to connect multiple WooCommerce stores to a single Zoho Marketing Automation account?Service Title in Service Report Template Builder
I am currently working on the Service Report Template Builder in Zoho FSM. I have created three separate service report templates for different workflows: Preventive Maintenance Report Requested Service Report Installation Report My issue is that I cannotUpdate: New Security Admin Role
Hello Zoho Directory Admins! This post is to highlight the recent role and permission changes introduced as part of the security enhancements. Previously, Helpdesk Admins had the security permissions and were responsible for managing the security configurationsClient Script | Update #14 - Client Script Support for Quick Create
Hello Everyone! We are back with another exciting and highly awaited update in Client Script! Over the past months, many of you shared your insights and requests, asking for the power to extend Client Script functionality to Quick Create forms. This capabilityI'd like to suggest a feature enhancement for SalesIQ that would greatly improve the user experience across different channels.
Hello Zoho Team, Current Limitation: When I enable the pre-chat form under Brands > Flow Controls to collect the visitor’s name and email, it gets applied globally across all channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. This doesn't quite alignThe Social Playbook - February edition: Why moment marketing works (and how brands use it)
Imagine the final season of your favorite series is about to drop. Your entire feed is talking about it. Trailers everywhere. Fan theories. Hype at 100%. Now your go-to burger place launches a limited-edition meal box themed around that series—customPDF Attachment Option for Service Reports
Hello Team, I would like to check with you all if there is an option to attach PDF documents to the service reports. When I try to attach a file, the system only allows the following formats: JPEG, JPG, and PNG. Could you please confirm whether PDF attachmentsCliq Bots - Post message to a bot using the command line!
If you had read our post on how to post a message to a channel in a simple one-line command, then this sure is a piece of cake for you guys! For those of you, who are reading this for the first time, don't worry! Just read on. This post is all about howCopy paste settings
Hello all i have 2 organizations running in ZOHO books in one organization i have customised Tax rates, codes and customized templates instead of manually doing again in org 2 can i have some shortcut to copy paste or export and import??【Zoho CRM】営業日のロジックに関するアップデート
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、営業日のロジックに関するアップデートをご紹介します。 本アップデートにより、ワークフローにおける営業日の計算方法が改善されました。 週末などの非営業日にワークフローのトリガーが発生した場合でも、 「+0」「+1」「+2 営業日」といった設定が、意図どおりに正確に動作するようになりました。 営業日に基づくワークフローでは、日付項目を基準に「何営業日後に処理を実行するか」を指定します。Merged cells are unmerging automatically
Hello, I have been using Zoho sheets from last 1 year. But from last week facing a issue in merged cells. While editing all merged cells in a sheet became unmerged. I merged it again, but it again unmerged. In my half an hour work I have to do this 3-4Just want email and office for personal use
I am unclear as how to how I would have just a personal email (already do have it and love it) and get to use docs, notebook, workdrive etc. In other words mostly everything I had a google. I find gocs can be free with 5gb and so can mail with 5gb. AreUnable to change the "credentials of login user" option when creating a connection
I want to create a new Desk connection where the parameter to use 'credentials of login user' is set to YES. I'm able to create a new connection but am never given the option to change this parameter. Is this a restriction of my user profile, and if so,Show backordered items on packing slip
Is it possible to show a column on the Packing Slip that shows number of backordered items when a PO is only partially filled? I would also like to see the Backordered column appear on POs after you receive items if you didn't get ALL of the items or partial amounts of items. And lastly, it would be nice to have the option of turning on the Backordered column for invoices if you only invoice for a partial order. -TomZoho CRM Community Digest - January 2026 | Part 1
The new year is already in motion, and the Zoho CRM Community has been buzzing with steady updates and thoughtful conversations. In this edition, we’ve pulled together the key product enhancements, Kaizen learnings, and helpful discussions from the firstZoho CRM Feature Requests - SMS and Emails to Custom Modules & Time Zone Form Field
TLDR: Add Date/Time/Timezone form field, and be able to turn off auto timezone feature. Allow for Zoho Voices CRM SMS Extension to be able to be added to custom modules, and cases. Create a feature that tracks emails by tracking the email chain, ratherBMO bank connection not working with either Yodlee or Plaid
Been experiencing this issue for almost a month now. Anyone else?Introducing Bigin's Add-in for Microsoft Outlook
Hello Everyone, Email is an important way to communicate with customers and prospects. If you use Outlook.com for emails and Bigin as your CRM, the Outlook Add-in helps you connect them easily so you can see your Bigin contact details right inside Outlook.com.Ask the Expert – Zoho One Admin Track : une session dédiée aux administrateurs Zoho One
Vous administrez Zoho One et vous vous posez des questions sur la configuration, la gestion des utilisateurs, la sécurité ou encore l’optimisation de votre back-office ? Bonne nouvelle : une session Ask the Expert – Zoho One Admin Track arrive bientôt,How to Associate Zoho Projects in Zoho CRM
Hi I need script for associating projects in zoho projects to particular Account in zoho CRM side. It can be done manually but I need the automation for this process. There are no api regarding associating a project in zoho crm account. Need assistanceAdd Claude in Zoho Cliq
Let’s add a real AI assistant powered by Claude to your workspace this week, that your team can chat with, ask questions, and act on conversations to run AI actions on. This guide walks you through exactly how to do it, step by step, with all the codeNeed to set workflow or journey wait time (time delay) in minutes, not hours
Minimum wait time for both Campaigns workflows and Marketing Automation journeys is one hour. I need one or the other to be set to several minutes (fraction of the hour). I tried to solve this by entering a fraction but the wait time data type is an integerEditing Item Group to add Image
I did not have the image of the product when the Item Group was created. Now I have the product image, and would like to associate/add to the Item Group. However the Item Group Edit functionality does not show/allow adding/changing image. Please helZoho Books - France
L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilitéNew in Office Integrator: Download documents as password-protected PDFs
Hi users, We're excited to introduce password-protected PDF as a download option in Zoho Office Integrator's document editor. This allows you to securely share confidential information from within your web app. Highlights of the password-protected PDFSales IQ - Zobot en multilangue
Bonjour, J'ai un Zobot installé sur mon site depuis longtemps. J'ai ajouté plusieurs langues, dans la configuration et dans le générateur de bot sans code Pourtant, le Chat continue à s'afficher en Francais. Comment enclencher le multilangue en frontStreamlining E-commerce Photography with AI Background Tools
Hey Zoho Community, I’ve been messing around with ways to make product images less of a headache for fashion brands on Zoho Commerce. You know how boring generic backdrops can get, and how much time traditional photoshoots eat up, right? I tried out thisUnable to Assign Multiple Categories to a Single Product in Zoho Commerce
Hello Zoho Commerce Support Team, I am facing an issue while assigning categories to products in Zoho Commerce. I want to assign multiple categories to a single product, but in the Item edit page, the Category field allows selecting only one categoryCollapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs
hello Would you ever implement Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs in zoho writer ? Best regardsSaving issue
First problem I opened a MS word file in writer. after the work is done, it does not save instantly, I waited for like 10min and it still did not save. second problem When I save a file, then file gets saved as another copy. I just did save, not saveSerious problem with file that contains non-ASCII characters
I imported many pdf files from Evernote whose names contain Hebrew characters, such as ח רבעוני - ביטוח חיים - סוף רבעון 3 - לשנת 2025.pdf I have two very serious problems: (1) Zoho Notebook cannot open the pdf file; (2) It cannot download the pdf file.Notifications Feeds unread count?
How do I reset the unread count on feeds notifications? I've opened every notification in the list. And the count never goes to zero.Zoho Finance Limitations 2.0 #3: Can't assign a Contact to a Finance Record (estimate, sales order or invoice)
If you use a business to business scenario with different contact people within the company you can't assign a finance record (estimate, invoice, etc...) to that person. Why this matters? No way to find out which person placed the order without manualZoho Community Digest — Febrero 2026
¡Hola, comunidad! Un mes más os traemos las novedades más interesantes de Zoho para febrero de 2026, incluyendo actualizaciones de producto publicadas oficialmente, cambios de políticas y noticias del ecosistema. Pero antes de lanzarnos a las actualizaciones,Disable Zoho Contacts
We don't want to use this app... How can we disable it?【Zoho CRM】商談タブへのデータインポート
Zoho使用前にエクセルで管理していた商談情報を、Zoho一括管理のため、商談タブにインポートしたいのですが、お客さまの氏名だけが紐づけられませんでした。 「Zoho CRMにインポートする項目を関連付ける」のところが画像のようになっています。 （弊社では、「姓」を「★個人データ名」という項目名に変更し、フルネームを入れて使用しています。） どのようにしたら氏名をインポートできるかご存じの方がいらっしゃいましたら、ご教示いただきたく、よろしくお願いいたします。 （投稿先が間違っていましたらご指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-reponseSalesIQ Chat Notifications
I am the admin of our salesIQ implementation. About two weeks ago, I started hearing/seeing notification for ALL chats messages from monitored agents/chat participants. I don't need to see these, we have a manager who deals with this. I can't stop theNext Page