Welcome to our Monthly Digest! As we kickoff the new year, let's recap the most important product updates and discussions from the Zoho CRM Community. 

 Product Updates:  

The final date extension for activities module depreciation

Attention: As a reminder, the Activities module in Zoho CRM, which has been forked into three separate modules - Calls, Meetings and Tasks, is scheduled for deprecation from February 28, 2024. To facilitate a smooth transition, we've extended the deadline and provided a way to migrate dashboard components and reports originally linked to the Activities module. For step-by-step instructions on this transition, refer to this announcement.

Introducing Email Support for Vendors in CRM

Email support for the Vendors module, a highly requested feature in our community, is now being rolled out in phases. This enhancement enables you to send emails and track conversations with your vendors directly from within the CRM's Vendors module. Check out this post to know more.

Instant Support Access 

Introducing Support Access for Zoho CRM! This new feature allows you to grant temporary access to our technical support team, enabling swift resolution of any issues you encounter. You have full control over the duration of this access and can revoke it at any time without impacting your user license. While some restrictions apply to the support team's actions in your account, you can monitor their activities through an audit log. Additionally, Support Access is available across all editions, including the free version. For more details, check out this post.

Enhancements to the Currency Feature

The enhanced currency management feature in Zoho CRM multi-currency support in trial editions, profile-based permissions for currency management, detailed currency logs to track changes, filtering options based on currency status, and more functionalities. For further details, refer to the linked post.

CPQ rules for custom sub-forms and custom modules

Zoho CRM's CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) now extends its capabilities beyond the default Quotes module to include all inventory modules and custom modules. Furthermore, CPQ rules can now be executed on custom sub-forms within records. This enhancement makes CPQ more versatile,facilitating streamlined sales operations across various modules, including custom ones. This post provides a detailed use-case to facilitate a deeper understanding of this enhancement.

Rich Text Options for Multi-Line Fields!

We are excited to announce the introduction of rich text options for multi-line fields in Zoho CRM.This highly requested feature is being implemented in phases to ensure a smooth rollout process. This update enhances text editing capabilities, providing a broader array of font styles, colors, highlights, and formatting features to make your content more visually appealing and versatile. Check our announcement post for all the details.

Early Access:

Introducing Cadences Studio

Introducing Cadences Studio – Currently in early access, this new feature helps automate and streamline sequential follow-up activities. With Cadences Studio, effortlessly coordinate a series of response-based communications tailored for your business objectives, including emails, calls, or tasks. For example, a single cadence can be configured to automate the entire sequence: sending a thank-you email, waiting for customer feedback, and following up with a reminder if needed. This eliminates the need for multiple workflows, saving time, and making the process less complex. 

Check out this post to learn more about Cadences Studio in detail and register to secure early access for your organization. 

Meetups:

We're thrilled to announce that our ZUG Meetups for 2024 have kicked off, and we eagerly anticipate your participation. This year's meetups will focus on tackling challenges you may face and assisting you in achieving your business objectives. We urge you to take advantage of this opportunity to engage with Zoho experts and fellow professionals, gaining valuable insights to kickstart your year. Check this post for the overall schedule of this quarter's meetups. 

Useful Discussions:

• Check out @Bhoomi Joshi's insights on importing data into a Multi-Select lookup field from CSV/Excel in this post.
  
• @David sought to configure user permissions for changing record ownership within roles hierarchy. @Ishwarya SG's provides a solution: adjust permissions at the module-level via Profile Setup. Dive into the details in this post.
• @Christopher Stockley commented on an old post, expressing the need to restrict account managers from viewing each other's records and prevent downloads. In response, @Sunderjan Siddharth shared insights on how this relates to Roles Setup and detailed the configuration for preventing downloads. Refer to Christopher's comments in this post for more information.
  
• @Michael provided a work-around to Luna's inquiry about 'Stage History' functionality in modules beyond the native Deals module. For further details please refer to this post.
• @tina sought a solution for accurate tracking of Medicare plans and their associated renewals, as discrepancies in deal counts were observed in reports over time. Explore the proposed solution by @Andres, which involved creating a new checkbox field. Additionally, @tina shared her discoveries with the community in this post for further discussion.
• Discover how @Natalie Petkovic encountered issues with triggering automations for records created in a Custom module through Zoho Forms, along with the challenge of associating records from the custom module with related case records. Explore the insightful responses from @Hugh Marshall, complete with screenshots and relevant insights, which helped bring this post to a closure.
  
  

 Functions: 

• The Deals module features an Auto-number field that solves various use cases. However, what if there's a need for a second Auto-number field with sequential numbering? @Sunderjan Siddharth stepped in to provide the necessary code for member facing this requirement. Refer to the comments in this post by @Zoho Admin and @Sunderjan Siddharth for detailed insights and the code snippet. 
• Discover how @Liam automated call logging and its association with Deal records using Workflows and Functions in this insightful post. In her effort to be helpful, she returned to this old post and updated it with the working code. Dive into this post for more details. 
• Explore how @kmylpenter automated the association between Deals and Contacts using the email captured in the Deal records. This was accomplished using Functions. Check out this post for the code snippet.
  
  

 Dev's Corner: 

•  Discover how @P. McGuire addresses the need to validate user input against existing serial numbers in the product module using Client Script in this post.
• Explore how @fabian.barrera got to extract data from the subform in Sales Order module to compare with a similar section in the Cases module. Dive into this post to access the code utilized for this purpose.
• @Ishwarya SG shared her insights on inserting a record with an external ID, presenting two options to fulfill this requirement. Dive into this post for detailed guidance.
• Learn how to restrict the currency of a Quote to match the same currency in the related Deal with the Client Script shared by @Hugh Marshall. Check out this post for the code snippet.

 Kaizen:

• (Kaizen # 117) - Discover how to create a custom button on a records' detail page that helps delete all related child records when you delete the parent record. To do this, we will take a look at APIs like COQL API, Records API, and Mass Delete API.
• (Kaizen # 118) - Adding to the previous post, learn how to automate the process of mass deleting child records directly from the parent record's details page. 
• (Kaizen #119) - This post discusses a question from our developer community about how a process makes a Deluge function update the status of a field in connected records when the main record is deleted. 
• (Kaizen #120) - This post covers how to create the sandbox environment in Zoho CRM and how to make API calls to the sandbox orgs, along with some FAQs. 
• (Kaizen #121) - In this post, we discuss how to customize List Views using Client Script along with other concerns raised in the process.
• (Kaizen #122) - Take a look at how one-way data synchronization will be achieved for the "Leads" module.

Thanks for taking the time to read this month's round-up. Keep tabs on the digest every month for the latest ideas and discussions. Stay tuned and engage in the Forums to be included in the upcoming month's digest. Have a wonderful year ahead!

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