Hello all!

2023 proved to be an action-packed year for us at Zoho Creator. Riding that momentum, we're geared up to conclude the year with a bang!

Here are this month's top highlights:

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Now let's dive in and explore each of these updates in more detail!

Staying at the forefront of the AI revolution, our very own intelligent assistant, Zia, is about to get even smarter with its new integration with OpenAI—enabling you to harness the potential of AI to simplify application and form creation.

Create applications using AI
Zia now empowers you to construct applications even more rapidly. Simply communicate your app's requirements to the AI and it will assist in assembling the appropriate components, seamlessly bringing together a fully functional application.

How does it work?
Going forward, while creating a new application, you'll be shown an option to Create using AI. Just describe your app in a few words—like "school management"—and Zia will come up with relevant use case suggestions for your input and can create an application schema with necessary forms and form fields to accelerate application development.

Create forms
Zia will now be able to assist you in effortlessly building professional looking forms.

How does it work?
When using AI to create a form, you can simply describe it briefly, and the AI will provide you with suitable field suggestions for it.

Next-field suggestions
Zia will intelligently propose the most probable next fields, streamlining the form building experience and making it more intuitive and efficient.

How does it work?
Once you drag and drop a field into the form builder, Zia will instantly come up with field suggestions that could be added next.

How does it benefit you?
Leveraging Zia, powered by OpenAI's capabilities, you can expect heightened productivity and a user-friendly experience, speeding up the application development process. 

Applicable for: C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 18-Apr-24
Reference: Understand Zia features in Creator

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Although Zoho Creator offers an extensive array of APIs, your business requirements might extend beyond the current supported features. Enter Custom APIs. These are designed to allow you to expand Creator's standard capabilities by crafting your logic and effortlessly invoking it elsewhere. 

All you'll need to do is write your code as a custom function and use the soon-to-be launched API builder to easily create custom APIs based on it.

Where will it be found?
Once launched, the Custom API will be located under the Microservices section. 

What will the API builder look like?
Here's a sample of our upcoming API builder:

The API builder will allow you to configure:

How does it benefit you?
Our Custom APIs offer an array of benefits, including heightened flexibility, improved functionalities, and tailored solutions designed to meet your unique business challenges.

Applicable for: C6
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 05-Jan-24
Reference: Understand Custom APIs

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A few months back, we introduced our AI-powered Zia Help Assistant, and now we're delighted to unveil enhancements to make it even better. The Support section within the Help Assistant has undergone a significant revamp, allowing eligible users to conveniently track the support tickets they've raised. 

Where will it be found?
Once released, you'll see a View and track your tickets option under the Support section.

When you click on it, you'll be presented with a list of tickets you've opened. Further, when you click on any of the tickets, you'll be shown detailed information regarding your ticket, as seen below:

How do I benefit from this?
The support ticket tracking feature will be accessible exclusively to users within paid support plans. Our goal is to achieve greater transparency, reduce uncertainty, and enhance overall satisfaction by providing this capability.

Applicable for: C6 users with Premium and Enterprise support plans
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 05-Dec-2023

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Our backup feature is a robust tool designed to help you protect your applications. It allows you to schedule regular backups, create versions, easily download backup files, and efficiently restore your applications when necessary. 

While the expiry date option for backups was previously exclusive to C6 users, we're excited to announce that this feature will now be extended to C5 users as well. 

Where will this option appear?
When this feature is released, upon creating a new backup, you'll notice the Delete Backup After option within the New Backup popup.

Note:  

Once the feature is released, then all existing backups that have already been created will automatically have a 6 month expiration date, set from the live date.

How do I benefit from this?
Apart from creating a level playing field for C5 users, this also helps them gain a higher level of data management control. The introduction of expiration date settings for backups offers increased flexibility and control.

Applicable for: C5
Availability: All DCs
Released on: 05-Dec-23
Reference: Backup and Restore apps

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December's updates conclude our 2023. With eager anticipation for what 2024 holds, we're thankful to be sharing this incredible journey with you. Wishing you a delightful holiday season and a prosperous New Year ahead!

Regards,
The Zoho Creator Team