Add and Import Lite Users in Zoho One

Add & Import Lite Users

Before you can add Lite users, ensure the following:

Permission requirements:

  1. Organization Owner
  2. Organization Admin

License requirements:

  1. At least one Lite-user add-on must be purchased and available in your organization
  2. You must have unused (unassigned) licenses for that add-on, or be prepared to purchase additional licenses
Application requirements:
  1. At least one application supported by the Lite-user add-on must already be added to your Zoho One organization
    Example: To use Lite-Accountant, Zoho Books must already be added to your org

Add a Lite User

Follow these steps to add an individual Lite user:
  1. Sign in to Zoho One, then click  in the top-right corner.
  2. Click Users, then click Add User.
  3. Enter user details (see How to add user info for guidance).
  4. Click Continue after adding user info.
  5. Select the Lite User license. 
    Note: If you select Zoho One and there are no available licenses, click Add License to redirect to the subscription page for adding more licenses.
  6. From the list of the Lite-user add-ons displayed, select at least one Lite-user add-on.
  7. For each selected add-on, select one or more supported apps for each selected add-on. (This list only contains the apps that are supported by the add-on and also already added to your org) You must select at least one app to proceed.
  8. Complete any app-specific setup (role, profikes, email, etc., ), then click Assign.
    Notes
    To assign an incompatible app, you must do one of the following:  
    > Change the license type to Zoho One (at step 5), then return and select the app. 
    > Purchase and assign an appropriate Lite-user add-on that supports the app.
  9. Repeat steps 6-8 if you want to select more add-ons. 
    Notes
    Add-ons or licenses that have reached their maximum limit will be disabled and cannot be selected.
  10. Once you're done, click Add. Only the apps that were successfully selected (compatible apps) will be assigned to the user. The user will be created with the Lite User license and the selected add-ons.
  11. The sign-in credentials will be sent to the user. You can also choose to send it to yourself.
  12. Click Done. You will be able to view the applications you have assigned to the user.

Zoho Mail Assignment Requirements

When assigning Zoho Mail to a Lite user via a Lite-user add-on:
  1. You'll be prompted to enter an email address from that hosted domain. This is because Lite-user add-ons for Mail require a hosted domain to ensure proper email routing, security, and organizational control. Personal email addresses (like gmail.com or yahoo.com) cannot be used.
  2. This address will become the user's primary email in Zoho One by replacing any different email address you may have entered earlier in the user info step.
Example: If your hosted domain is zylker.com, you must assign an email like phil@zylker.com
If your organization does not have a hosted mail domain, you must first add a hosted domain to your organization before assigning Mail to Lite users. Learn how to add a domain

App selection flow diagram:

Admin selects "Lite User" license
↓
Admin selects Add-on A
↓
Apps supported by Add-on A are displayed
↓
Admin selects an app
↓
Is the app already taken through another selected Lite-user add-on?
↓
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
YES                                                                                                               NO
↓                                                                                                                     ↓
App removed from                                                                                     App assigned under
previous add-on                                                                                            current add-on
↓                                                                                                                       
Latest add-on takes precedence                                                                                                              
↓                                                                                                                       
License remains Lite                                                                                                                    

Bulk Import Lite Users

Follow these steps to import multiple Lite users at once:
  1. Sign in to Zoho One, then click  in the top-right corner.
  2. Click Users, then click the ⋮ (more options) icon.
  3. Click Import.
  4. Choose the user data file and its Character Encoding, then click Next.
  5. Character Encoding: The format used to represent text characters in a file. Common options include UTF-8 (recommended for most cases), ASCII, and ISO-8859-1. Select the encoding that matches your CSV file format.
  6. Under License Information, select the Lite User license. 
    Notes
    Both licenses cannot be selected while importing. you must choose either Zoho One or Lite user for all users in the import.

  7. Select the required Lite-user add-ons and supported apps. For each app selected under an add-on, you'll be prompted to complete any app-specific setup, such as selecting a role or profile (or the "hosted domain" requirement for Zoho Mail). Once selected, click Done.
  8. Click Assign. Repeat Step 6 if you want to select more add-ons. 
    NotesIf multiple add-ons selected during bulk import support the same app, overlapping app assignments are automatically fixed. Add-ons or licenses that have reached their maximum limit will be disabled and cannot be selected.

  9. Map the fields between the user data file and Zoho. If the file doesn't have a Password field, you can set a common one-time password for all imported users. The users will be prompted to set a password at their first sign-in. Once they're mapped, click Next.
    1. If any problems arise during the import and result in failure either fully or partially, there will be a list of the users who weren't imported, along with the reason and solution. You can choose to resolve the problems to continue importing, or skip the problematic users and import the rest.
    2. If you are trying to import users more than the available licenses, users won't be imported. You must buy additional Zoho One or Lite User licenses before continuing with the import. Under WHAT YOU CAN DO, click Add Licenses to redirect to the subscription page for adding more licenses.
  10. Once you're done, click Continue Import.
The import process will begin immediately. You'll see a progress screen showing:
  1. Total users being processed
  2. Successfully imported users (with green checkmarks)
  3. Users being skipped (with warnings and reasons)
  4. Real-time status updates as each user is processed
When the import completes, you'll see a detailed summary:
  1. Successfully imported users - Users added to your organization
  2. Skipped users - Users who were not imported. Reasons (e.g., "Email already exists," "Invalid data," "License limit exceeded")
  3. Existing users whose licenses were retained - Users who already existed in your organization; their licenses remain unchanged in order to prevent app removal

Existing User License Retention (Import Only)

This rule applies to CSV file imports only. For app migrations of standalone Zoho app instances to Zoho One, see Application Migration with Lite Users for different license handling behavior.

If your import file contains users who already exist in your organization, their current licenses will be retained and not changed to the newly selected license during import. This prevents unintended app removal or access restrictions.

Because different users may have access to different sets of apps based on their current license, automatically changing their license during import could remove critical app access without your knowledge. File-imports are user-centric operations where you're adding or updating specific users, so preserving their existing licenses is the safe default.

To change an existing user's license, use the Update License option from the user's profile page instead. See Update & Review Lite User Licenses.