Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates — March 2024

Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates — March 2024

Hello all!

Zoho Creator remains committed to enhancing your productivity and efficiency, and this month's update reflects that dedication. Here are the improvements coming your way this month!
  • Voluminous data processing using batch workflows
  • Importing Figma designs as widgets
  • Device type Deluge variable
  • Screen Record by Quartz on mobile
  • Image rendering enhancements
- - - - - - - - - -

Voluminous data processing using batch workflows

We're excited to announce the launch of Batch Workflows, a powerful feature to help process large sets of data by splitting them into batches and processing them at off-peak hours, ensuring that the performance of other workflows remains unaffected.
 
Use case
Consider an organization that issues credit cards. They can use batch workflows to generate and send statements on the 1st of every month. Further, they can utilize variables for dynamic calculations, like total bill amounts. Upon successful execution, the monthly statements can then be sent via email.
 
How will it work?
Once the feature has been rolled out, you'll see a Batch Workflows option under the Workflows section.
  1. When creating a new batch workflow, you can choose the form which it should be based on and the event when it should be triggered. It can either be on a specific date and time or upon successful import.
  2. Next, under the Execution Configuration section, you write a Deluge script that is executed for each batch block. You can also choose to split the bulk records into smaller batches of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 (default).
  3. Then, you'll be shown the Before and After section, where you can specify the actions to be triggered before and after the execution of the above Deluge script.


The batch workflow processes tasks in batches during off-peak hours, such as at the end of the day or overnight, optimizing computing resource utilization. The progress of the workflow can be tracked in the Logs section under Application Settings.
 
Business value
Batch workflows streamline repetitive jobs, automate tasks, and enhance operational efficiency, resulting in increased productivity for your organization.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 15-Apr-24
Reference: Understand Batch Workflows
 
- - - - - - - - - -

Importing Figma designs as widgets

We'll be taking our widgets to the next level by bringing significant enhancements, allowing you to harness the power of Figma to create more visually appealing widgets. As of now, you can only create widgets by providing a .zip file containing HTML. However, in an upcoming update, you'll have the option to import directly from Figma by providing the Figma frame link and Figma access token.
 
Additionally, in order to make the widgets interactive, we've also introduced a range of syntaxes, like text elements, rating fields, range sliders, tabs, and more. These can used while designing your widgets in Figma. For example, the syntax "zc_input?linkname=<fieldlinkname>" can be used to render the text element as an input box.
 
For more information, visit our Zoho Creator - Widgets Kit help doc.
 
How does it work?
  1. While creating a widget you'll see a new option: Import from Figma.

  2. Then just provide the required information about your Figma design. 

 
Business value
This empowers you to unleash your creativity by leveraging Figma to build attractive and engaging designs and then seamlessly import them as widgets.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Reference: Create a widget from Figma
 
- - - - - - - - - -

Screen Record by Quartz on mobile

Screen Record powered by Quartz is a feature that facilitates screen recording of issues and communication with our support team. With help from the detailed diagnostics it provides, our support team has been able to effectively reduce overall ticket turnaround time. We're delighted to announce that we'll also be rolling out the Screen Record feature to our iOS and Android apps too!
 
How will it work?
We plan on introducing a new section called Support under the Settings pane of the mobile apps, with two options: Support & Feedback and Screen Record.

 
From there, the process is nearly the same as for the web version. You can record the issue, add annotations, mask sensitive information, and much more.
 
Business value
Building on the success of Screen Record in enhancing the support experience on the web, we aim to achieve the same with our mobile apps too.
 
Applicable for: iOS and Android
Availability: All DCs
 
- - - - - - - - - -

Device type Deluge variable

We'll be introducing a new device type Deluge variable, capable of detecting device types—be it mobile, tablet, or website. Based on the value returned by this variable, you can customize Creator for different devices and open up numerous opportunities, specifically ZML page design and report criteria adjustments. For example, you'll be able to hide specific fields on mobile or tablet devices, to prevent UI breakage from lengthy fields.
 
Syntax
info zoho.device.type; //returns  'web' or 'phone' or 'tablet'

Use case
Consider a customer support application built on Creator. Leveraging the device type variable, the system can identify the user's access device—be it a web browser, mobile phone, or tablet. For example, for users accessing the app via a web browser, notifications can be directed through email, while those using mobile or tablet devices can receive notifications via SMS.
 
Business value
This Deluge function offers you the flexibility to further customize Creator for different device types, tailoring its functionality to cater to each specific device.
 
Applicable for: C5,C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 22-Apr-24
Reference: System Variables
 
- - - - - - - - - -

Image rendering enhancements

We'll soon be coming out with backend enhancements aimed at refining the rendering of uploaded images. Currently, image compression takes place synchronously during uploads. However, we're transitioning this process to an asynchronous method to bolster performance and efficiency.
 
Who does it benefit?
This enhancement will be highly useful for users who access different qualities of uploaded images via Deluge script.
 
Advantages
  • More supported formats: Deluge URLs will now offer three different quality options (low, medium, and download qualities) for additional image formats, such as tif, tiff, bmp, psd, webp, heic, gif, and svg, along with the currently supported jpeg and png formats. 
  • Improved image previews: Users can now access different quality levels for images uploaded via web, as well as via APIs and mobile apps. The image previews will also be noticeably better, and this reduces report loading time.
  • Faster uploads: The transition to asynchronous compression facilitates faster image uploads, ensuring swift execution of the Add Record action.
Note:
  • These compressed copies are different from the Image Compression property, in which the original file will be compressed. Learn more
  • Due to this switch to asynchronous workflows, the compressed quality images will be accessed only upon the completion of the process. Till then, images available from on-success scripts will return in original quality.
Business value
These enhancements bring you improved format support, enhanced image previews, and faster uploads, with the aim of providing you with a smoother experience while working with Creator.
 
Applicable for: C5, C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 28-Mar-24
Reference: Understand image field
 
- - - - - - - - - -
 
That wraps up this month's updates. Don't forget to subscribe to our Release Notes to receive email notifications when these features are rolled out—and feel free to share your thoughts on these updates in the comments section below.
 
Regards,
The Zoho Creator Team

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community





                                                  Use cases

                                                  Make the most of Zoho Desk with the use cases.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  eBooks

                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Videos

                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Webinar

                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho Desk basics, from customization to automation and more

                                                   
                                                    
                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Ask the Experts


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner




                                                            • Sticky Posts

                                                            • Zoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 1

                                                              Hello everyone! A very Happy New Year to you and your family. Hope you're all good and having a great time using Zoho Creator to make your lives easier and your businesses prosper. 2022 was an action-packed year for us at Creator, and we hope to continue
                                                            • Zoho Creator User Group meetups in a city near you! - Oct - Nov, 2023

                                                              Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! We're hosting a series of Zoho Creator meetups in various cities across the globe, and we'd love to meet you there! Our meetups are a great opportunity to network with industry peers, exchange ideas and best practices,
                                                            • Zoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 2

                                                              Hello everyone! Time truly flies when you're having an incredible journey, and today we mark the completion of an eventful and action-packed six months. It feels like just yesterday when we embarked on this adventure together with the launch of our new
                                                            • Upcoming Updates - August 2022

                                                              Hi all, Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! Today we've got news for you on some exciting updates. And rest assured— there’s more to come! In this post, we'll be going over the upcoming features and improvements for this month as mentioned below. A
                                                            • Introducing Zoho Creator's v2 APIs

                                                              Hello App Creators, Welcome to Zoho Creator's v2 APIs! This post will serve as the central point for migrating implementations of Creator's current APIs (v1) to v2. Improvements that v2 brings OAuth-based authentication, which is more secure than the


                                                            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 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

                                                                                                            • Ability to configure a schedule/shift for each user and/or crew in Zoho FSM

                                                                                                              Hello, In our team of Field Agents, we have different shifts. Some field agent always work from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM while others work the evening shift like 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Sometime shift are on weekdays only or on weekend. It would be great to be
                                                                                                            • Free webinar: Streamlining customer service paperwork with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Desk

                                                                                                              Hello Everyone! Have you been wondering about bridging the gap between digitised customer service and business paperwork? Join our free webinar to learn how you can do this by connecting Zoho Sign, our digital signature app, with Zoho Desk, our online
                                                                                                            • Zoho Books | Product updates | July 2025

                                                                                                              Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From plan-based trials to the option to mark PDF templates as inactive, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Plan Based Trials in Zoho
                                                                                                            • Mail Search should allow grouping by conversation like Gmail.

                                                                                                              Having switched from gmail I have found the search function hard to use. Mostly because mail is not grouped by conversation in search. If I search for a word when looking for a conversation had with someone then sometimes 10 emails will come up from the
                                                                                                            • Improve Zoho Learn updated article notifications

                                                                                                              I noticed today while updating an article, that the notification users get says "[User Name] has published article [Article Name]..." My feedback to the product team is that it would be really helpful for an end user, if the system notification differentiated
                                                                                                            • Safari Support

                                                                                                              Safari, the world's second largest browser, zoho desk does not officially or fully support. That needs to change.
                                                                                                            • Can I get images from an "Image Upload" field in a webhook?

                                                                                                              I want to send images from 2 "image upload" fields via a webhook. Is this possible?
                                                                                                            • Ticket closure notification - all contacts cc'd on email thread

                                                                                                              Hello, If a client sends an email to our service desk and cc's in other people that work at the same company - so that they are in the loop of the service request. When the we close the ticket, only the ticket owner (person who emailed us - which created
                                                                                                            • Inactive account cleanup policy for Zoho Sign

                                                                                                              Zoho Sign reserves the right to delete accounts that are license free and inactive for more than 120 days. The account deletion will be initiated only after the user receives prior email notice about possible data deletion and how to backup the data.
                                                                                                            • Missde API documentation for Sales Receipt

                                                                                                              Hi! I noticed that the Sales Receipt endpoint is not currently listed in your API documentation (https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/introduction/). Could you please provide any available temporary documentation for this endpoint, along with a detailed
                                                                                                            • Multi-currency in Zoho CRM Forecast and Reports

                                                                                                              As a company we have branches in 4 different countries with as many different currencies. Our Sales Teams would like to work with their local currency as much as possible. The Forecast module using only 1 currency is practically usable only by the sales
                                                                                                            • How to select from pricebook when creating a salesorder or quote

                                                                                                              I am creating a sales order and when selecting the Products I do not see any where to select from pricebooks. How do i associate this to my orders?
                                                                                                            • Proposal for Creating a Unique "Address" Entity in Zoho FSM

                                                                                                              The "Address" entity is one of the most critical components for a service-oriented company. While homeowners may change and servicing companies may vary, the address itself remains constant. This constancy is essential for subsequent services, as it provides
                                                                                                            • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

                                                                                                              Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these
                                                                                                            • I cannot find my older documents from 2024 and 2023

                                                                                                              I cannot find my older documents from 2024 and 2023.
                                                                                                            • System default SLA descriptions can't be modified

                                                                                                              The system default SLAs have identical descriptions for all SLA levels, but their settings differ. However, I am facing an issue where I cannot modify these descriptions and save the changes. The content of the description box can be edited but the changes
                                                                                                            • Customising Help Center

                                                                                                              Hi I don't think it is possible to add custom pages to help center? We'd like to use this as a customer portal with support tickets, FAQ/Guides, Billing and contracts. Is there any plans to add a feature like this or an alternative way to do it other
                                                                                                            • Replies sometimes creating separate ticket

                                                                                                              Sometimes when a customer responds to an email coming from Zoho Desk, instead of adding a reply to the original ticket, a separate ticket is created. This happens even though the response subject line contained the ticket number, and the person responding
                                                                                                            • Ticket Approvals - External Users

                                                                                                              The ticket approval option - we need to be able to select external users (Contacts) for approvals. Sometimes we are working with an end user and their boss needs to approve a purchase. For example, working with a cashier on a broken cash register and
                                                                                                            • Force Users to Ask Answer Bot a question... First

                                                                                                              End users will always skip talking to a bot. It would be nice if Zoho adopted the standard and forced users to first ask a question to answer bot (or zia in some fashion) and then pass to the agent if it wasn't answered. Options to force the user to speak
                                                                                                            • View Answer Bot conversations?

                                                                                                              We are trialing Zia and are experimenting with Answer Bot on our knowledge base. So far so good! Management asks me if it is possible to view Answer Bot conversations, the purpose being to look over its shoulder and confirm that it is working as des
                                                                                                            • Mass Email an Account

                                                                                                              It would be nice to mass email an account stating there is an outage at their business or something specific to an account is needed to be mass communicated. Even if it makes a ticket for every Email Out to every contact in the Account. Think: the customer
                                                                                                            • Multiple Topics assigned to a single Campaign

                                                                                                              Hello, is it possible to assign multiple Topics to a single Campaign? We frequently write a content to our subscribers that spans multiple Topics and we would like to send it to all Contacts that are subscribed to at least one of the Topics. But it looks
                                                                                                            • Bigin Android app update: User management

                                                                                                              Hello everyone! In the most recent Bigin Android app update, we have brought in support for the 'Users and Controls' section. You can now manage the users in your organization within the mobile app. There are three tabs in the 'Users and Controls' section:
                                                                                                            • Zoho Projects Fonts and Accessibility missing

                                                                                                              I cannot find any more the tab where I can change the font in Zoho Project. I also checked the knowledgebase and there they have accessibility tab which I am completely missing. Is there some setup I am missing or is it a problem with our account?
                                                                                                            • Introducing Version-3 APIs - Explore New APIs & Enhancements

                                                                                                              Happy to announce the release of Version 3 (V3) APIs with an easy to use interface, new APIs, and more examples to help you understand and access the APIs better. V3 APIs can be accessed through our new link, where you can explore our complete documentation,
                                                                                                            • Zoho Books Custom Widgets Deprecation Error

                                                                                                              I created a simple sample widget with zet and published it using sigma Both in the Sandbox and Production the Widgets are showing this error
                                                                                                            • Problems with PDF files in notebook

                                                                                                              I'm evaluating Zoho Notebook as an alternative to Evernote and imported my Evernote account to Zoho Notebook. First issue is that notes in Evernote that comprise a PDF are turned into a 'group' with a single note page (that has the text from the Evernote
                                                                                                            • API (v3) Tasks sorting issue

                                                                                                              We are using the v3 API for Projects. When we gat all tasks, per page of 100 tasks, we get the task info alright. But when we try to sort based on DESC(last_modified_time) we don't get the correct sort order. It is roughly sorted by the last_modified_time,
                                                                                                            • Assemblies make my stock go negative

                                                                                                              I am sure this is just the way that we are using this feature, but we use assemblies, a lot. The issue for us is the way that the relive inventory and the fact that it makes our composite item stock go negative. I have added flows to auto assemble and
                                                                                                            • User Activity Reports

                                                                                                              I'd like to get data related to user activity.  For example, Login and logout times, emails sent/received, new records created , etc. Is that currently available. I just can't seem to find anything . Thanks, Dave
                                                                                                            • Help: Populate “Contact Owner” details into Customer custom fields (for email templates) in Zoho Books

                                                                                                              We want to send invoices on behalf of our sales agents, and include the agent’s name, email, and phone in the email body using placeholders. Plan is to copy the Customer Owner details into three Customer custom fields, so they can be used as placeholders
                                                                                                            • Undocumented Books API error message - 1000 - The requested action could not be completed. Please try again. | Unexpected error

                                                                                                              This code sometimes throws this error 1000 - The requested action could not be completed. Please try again. | Unexpected error What does it mean? result = zoho.books.updateRecord("salesorders",organization.get("organization_id"),salesorder_id,sales_
                                                                                                            • Partial payments for retainer invoices

                                                                                                              When a customer does not pay the entire retainer invoice there is no way to apply a partial payment. PLEASE add this function.
                                                                                                            • Making Tags Mandatory

                                                                                                              When creating an expense, is it possible to make the Tags field mandatory?  I see the option in settings to make other fields mandatory, like Merchant, Description, Customer, etc, but nothing about Tags. Thanks! Kevin
                                                                                                            • Mass Update not trigger workflows

                                                                                                              Hi, I have performed a mass update of all records in a custom module using a custom view. I have a dummy checkbox on my module that I turn on or off - hoping to trigger all the new workflows that have been created for that module. However, no workflows
                                                                                                            • Multi-Select lookup field has reached its maximum??

                                                                                                              Hi there, I want to create a multi-select lookup field in a module but I can't select the model I want the relationship to be with from the list. From the help page on this I see that you can only create a max of 2 relationships per module? Is that true?
                                                                                                            • Generating CRM reports based on date moved in staged history

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, I'm trying to generate CRM reports of jobs (I think these are called usually deals) based on when they were moved to a particular stage, ie all jobs that were moved to Proposal/Quote in the previous financial year. I can see from other similar
                                                                                                            • Modules for missed calls, emails, texts etc

                                                                                                              Hi there. Is there a way to create a module that would automatically show a list of all inbound calls that were missed by our users, as well as any inbound SMS's, emails & WhatsApp messages. That way, a user who is available, can work through that list
                                                                                                            • Subforms and automation

                                                                                                              If a user updates a field how do we create an automation etc. We have a field for returned parts and i want to get an email when that field is ticked. How please as Zoho tells me no automation on subforms. The Reason- Why having waited for ever for FSM
                                                                                                            • Next Page