FAQ: General & Account | Automation | Permissions | Troubleshooting | Zoho People 5.0

FAQ: General & Account | Automation | Permissions | Troubleshooting

How do I change my email address in Zoho People?

These are the steps to change a user's email address in Zoho People:

If Zoho Directory is not configured:
Please follow the below steps to change the email address for a user:
  1. Log in as Super Admin > navigate to Settings (Gear Icon) > Marketplace > Zoho > Zoho Directory > Configure
  2. Create your Zoho Directory organization.
  3. Once logged in, go to the Applications tab and choose Zoho People.
  4. Once Zoho People is chosen, you will have an option to associate the users from your existing organization.
  5. Once associated, all the users will be listed out in the Users tab.
  6. Select the specific user > Manage email address
Notes
NOTE:
Zoho Directory is free only for Zoho Applications. Applications other than Zoho's, if integrated, are chargeable. Steps 1 to 5 are a one-time process.

If Zoho Directory is configured already:
  1. Log in as Super Admin > navigate to Settings > Marketplace > Zoho > click on View details under Zoho Directory
  2. Click on View next to Sign-in Activity
  3. Users > select the User > Manage email address > add the new email address as secondary > after adding the secondary email, mark the same as primary > once marked as primary, you may delete the incorrect email ID.

How do i change the portal name in Zoho People?

These are the steps to change portal name in Zoho People:

Click on the profile icon on the top right corner > Manage Organization > Hover on the respective organization > Edit > Change the portal name > Save & Continue.

Why am I unable to edit my designation, department, location, or reporting manager in Zoho People? There’s a lock icon next to these fields - how can I update them?

These are the steps to follow when you are unable to edit designation department, locations, or reporting manager:

 If you see a lock icon next to these fields, it means an HR process has been configured to control changes to them, so direct editing is disabled.

To verify, go to Settings (gear icon) > Employee Information > HR Process and check if any process is set up for these fields. Changes to these details must be made through the configured HR process. Learn more about HR Process.

How do I fix it if a user’s Zoho account is in a different region than my organization's account?

Steps to handle Zoho account in a different region than organization account issue:

This usually happens when the organization and the user have accounts registered in different Zoho data centers. To resolve this, the user must close their existing Zoho account associated with the other region before joining your organization.

Steps for the user to close their account:

  1. Log in to the Zoho account where they are registered.
  2. From the dashboard, go to Settings.
  3. Select Close Account.
  4. Enter the account password, provide a comment, and choose a reason for closing.
  5. Confirm by clicking Account.

Notes
NOTE
Closing the account will permanently delete all data across all Zoho products linked to that account.

After the user closes their account, you can try to invite them again to join your organization.

How do I re-assign reportees while changing employee status?

Follow these steps to re-assign reportees of a user:

Before marking a user as inactive, please ensure the following:

  • Check if any users have the employee set as their Reporting To.

  • Check if any users have the employee set as their Secondary Reporting To (If Dual Reporting is enabled).

  • Check if the employee is mapped as a Reporting To or Secondary Reporting To for any inactive users.

You can create a view to identify these users by following these steps:

  1. Navigate to Operations > Employee Information > Employees > Click on the Employee View dropdown and select Create View.

    Creating a custom employee information view

  2. Add the relevant fields and set the criteria to filter for the user you want to mark as resigned.

    creating employee information custom view and adding fields

  3. Once all the users are listed out, click on the respective employee record > Edit > Update their Reporting To/  Secondary Reporting To > Submit

    After updating all relevant records, you can proceed to change the employee’s status.


How do i transfer Super administrator rights to another employee?

Follow these steps to change the super administrator of your account:

From the Administrator account, go to Settings (gear icon) > Manage Accounts > User Access Control > Roles > General Role > Hover pointer over the existing Super Administrator > Click on the Edit option (pencil icon) and change the Super Administrator.




How do I change Analytics Ownership?

Follow these steps to change the analytics owner of the organization: 

The Analytics Owner rights can only be transferred by the Super Admin of the Organization.
Navigate to Reports > Analytics > Click the ellipsis icon on the top right > Change Analytics Owner.

How do I automatically send a birthday greet to employees?

Follow these steps to send an automated birthday wish to employees
Purpose
To create a workflow to send a birthday wish to employees on their birthday automatically.

Workflow process
You can configure a workflow that will automatically trigger an email to employee(s) wishing them on their birthday.

To send automated birthday reminders to your employees

Step 1: Create a birthday email template.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Information > Automation > Templates > Email Templates.
  2. Create an email template for birthday reminders; refer to Email Alerts Automation - Zoho People.


Step 2: Set up the workflow to trigger birthday emails.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Information > Automation > Workflow.
  2. Click Add Workflow.

  3. Select the Employee form from the form dropdown.
  4. Enter the workflow name as Birthday Reminder.
  5. In the trigger events, select date-based events.
  6. Select the event date field; the date fields in the employee form are listed; select Date of Birth.


  7. Select the date of execution as on the event date.
  8. Select the time of workflow execution.
  9. Select occurrence as every year.
  10. [Optional] To ensure that the email does not go out during the weekend (non-working days), let's enable the "Skip event execution on selected days" option and skip Saturday and Sunday, and instead schedule the execution for the next day, so the employee will get the birthday wish on Monday instead, when they log in for work.
  11. Select the time zone.
  12. In the Actions > Email Alerts, select the email template created for the birthday reminder.


  13. Click Save.
Birthday emails will be automatically triggered to your employees

How do I automatically wish employees on their work anniversaries?

Follow these steps to automatically wish employees on their work anniversary:

Workflow process
You can configure a workflow that will automatically trigger email alerts to employees as and when they complete one or more years of service at work.

Step 1: Create Work Anniversary Email template.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Information > Automation > Templates > Email Templates.
  2. Create an email template for the work anniversary; refer to Email Alerts Automation - Zoho People.


Step 2: Set up the workflow to trigger the work anniversary email.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Employee Information > Automation > Workflow.
  2. Click Add Workflow.


  3. Select the Employee form from the form dropdown.
  4. Enter the workflow name as Work Anniversary.
  5. In the trigger events, select date-based events.
  6. Select the event date field; the date fields in the employee form are listed; select Date of Joining.


  7. Select the date of execution as on the event date.
  8. Select the time of workflow execution, based on our use case (9:00 A.M.)
  9. Select occurrence as every year.
  10. Select the time zone.
  11. In the Criteria section, set Current experience is greater than or equal to 1.


  12. In the Actions > Email Alerts, select the email template created for the work anniversary.
  13. Click Save.
Work anniversary emails will be automatically triggered to your employees.

Error: Editable primary lookup field is needed to set Add permission. What should I do?

When a form is created, the system automatically assigns the "Added by" field as the primary lookup. However, you cannot assign Add permissions to this field.

To solve this case, please go to Settings (gear icon) > Click on the respective Service > Extend Service > Click on the Form > Drag and drop a lookup field > Enable Primary lookup option > Save and then try configuring the permission.



How do I check if a workflow has been triggered successfully?

Follow the steps to verify workflow execution in Zoho People:
Navigate to Settings (gear icon) > Select the respective Service > Automation > Workflow Logs, check for the record on the corresponding workflow.

Although permissions are granted for Tabular section for the role,  employees still can’t view it. Why?

To ensure permissions are configured correctly, verify the following steps:

From the Admin account, navigate to Settings (gear icon) > Select the respective service > Access Control/Permissions > Tabular section permissions > Select the Form and the Tabular section and check if permissions are provided for the respective role



Then, click on Record permissions under the respective service > Select the form > check if permissions are provided for the respective role and check the same under Field permissions as well



What is the difference between Users and Employee Profile licenses?

Users
Users are employees who have an email address and password and can log in to their Zoho People account. They can access self-service features and perform actions such as applying for leave, submitting timesheets, and completing self-appraisals.

The following fields are mandatory when adding a user:
  1. First Name
  2. Last Name
  3. Employee ID
  4. Email Address
Idea
It is highly recommended to also add the Date of Joining for all records.
Employee Profiles
Employee Profiles are employees who do not have login access to their Zoho People account. Their employee information is maintained by the organization. Security staff and contract workers are examples of employees who may be added as Employee Profiles.

Based on the permissions configured by the organization, managers or admins can perform actions on behalf of these employees, such as applying for leave or submitting timesheets.

The following fields are mandatory when adding an Employee Profile (Non-User):
  1. First Name
  2. Employee ID

Can I create custom access roles beyond the default “Admin,” “Director,”

“Manager,” “Team Incharge,” and “Team Member”?

Yes. Navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > User Access Control > Roles > General Role > Add
General role. You can clone an existing role or create a new one from scratch, checking or unchecking
specific module permissions (View, Add, Edit, Delete) to perfectly match an employee’s job requirements.

What happens to an employee’s data when they leave the company?

When an employee is marked as “Resigned” or “Terminated” in their profile, their access to the portal is
revoked. However, their historical data (attendance, leave records, performance reviews) remains
securely stored in the system for compliance and audit purposes. You can filter the employee view to see
“Inactive” users

For Japan DC accounts, data retention is configured differently by default -> click here to learn more.

How to add a new Custom Service?

Administrators can navigate to Settings and scroll down to the Custom Services section and click on the Add Service option. Give a service name &
description and save. Once the service is created, you can access the Extend Service tab and create a new form
within the service.

How do I rehire an employee with the same email address and the employee ID? Can I enable the disabled login and update the new date of joining in the employee profile?

If you are looking to rehire an employee or reuse an existing email address, it is not recommended to
enable the disabled login, update the new joining date, or delete the old user account and add a new user
with the same email address.
It is suggested that you make some changes to the email address of the disabled employee so that the old
data remains stored in Zoho People with that email address and employee ID. Then use the original email
address to add the user as a new employee.

We have Zoho Directory, an identity and access management application that is free for Zoho
applications. It allows you to manage user email addresses, reset passwords, and handle MFA. However,
for applications other than Zoho’s, integration with Zoho Directory is chargeable. 

What is the difference between Organization Structure and Multi-Organization?

A Multi-Organization Account is used when you need to manage completely independent organizations from a single Zoho People login. Each organization has its own employee data, policies, settings, hierarchy, and unique Zoho People URL. Data and employees remain isolated between organizations, and there are no cross-organization reporting or dependencies.

For example, a holding company that owns multiple independent businesses can create a separate Zoho People organization for each business while allowing its administrators to switch between them using the same login.

An Organization Structure is used when you need to manage multiple interconnected entities within a single Zoho People organization account. These entities can include legal entities, business units, and divisions. Employees can be associated with different entities, and cross-entity reporting and dependencies can be maintained.

For example, if a parent company has multiple subsidiaries that share employees or reporting structures, you can use Organization Structure to manage them from a single account. Employees in one entity can report to managers in another entity, and data can be filtered and reported based on the organizational structure.

How do i switch between different organization accounts?

From your Zoho People Home page, click on your profile image on the right
Use the drop down available under the Manage Account section to switch between different accounts.
If you wish to change the default account, use the 'Manage Organizations' option to set a new default.

When I access my Zoho People account, it does not direct me to my organization’s Zoho People account. Instead, it redirects me to a different Zoho People account,

where I am the only user. What could be the reason?

or

One of our organization’s members claims that he is marking attendance and applying for leave from their Zoho People account, but it is not reflecting in our organization account. What could be the reason?

There is a chance that the user signed up for an individual Zoho People trial account instead of accessing
the organization’s Zoho People account. The user may be part of both Zoho People accounts and may
have set the trial account as the default.
Every time the user accesses Zoho People, the system will redirect them to the default account. You can
inform the user to switch to your organization’s account by following the steps below, and then make it the
default organization.
  1. Access Zoho People from a web browser, click on your profile picture at the top-right corner of the screen
  2. Under Manage Account, click on Manage organization
  3. Set the organization account as default
  4. Once set as default, sign out and sign in again to access the organization’s Zoho People account

How can a user update their timezone in Zoho People?

Users can follow the steps below to update their timezone from their respective Zoho People accounts.
  1. They can navigate to Home > My Space > Click on the ellipsis icon at the top right > Personal Preferences
  2. Within Locale Settings, they can review and update the Time Zone as required, then Save the changes.
Notes
The timezone mapped to a user can only be updated by that user. Admins are not able to update time zones on behalf of users.

How to view and manage my subscription details?

From the administrator account, navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Subscription to view your Subscription Dashboard. From here, click on Manage Subscription.

How to check the API and Files storage usage?

Admins can navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Subscription > API Usage or Files Usage to view the corresponding details

Someone from my organization has deleted or edited a specific record. How can I find who has done it?

Zoho People automatically tracks and captures all important operations and stores them in the 'Activity Log'. Navigate to Operations > Data Administration > Activity Logs and review the logs. Information is retained upto 6 months*. 
This feature also records the user responsible for each action, ensuring transparency and providing a reliable audit trail for accountability and compliance purposes.
Whenever a configuration is created or data is added or modified, the log records the change along with the name of the employee who made it.

How do I customize the widgets on my Zoho People Home dashboard?

You can easily personalize your Home page to show the information most relevant to you.
  1. Navigate to your Home page > My Space > Dashboard 
  2. Click on the customize button at the top right to open the widget library. From here, you can enable or disable the widgets and can also drag and drop existing widgets to rearrange their order.
Idea
If you are an administrator the Org Widgets option will be visible, from there you can mandate certain widgets across the organization.

Navigate to Home > My Space > Dashboard > Customize Widget button > My Widget and check if the Announcement or Quick Links widget is disabled. In Some Organizations, administrators may have disabled certain widgets across the organization too.

How do i post a message or announcement to the organization wall directly from the home page?

Follow these steps to post an announcement:
  1. Navigate to Home > Organization > Announcements 
  2. Click on the Add Announcement button. 
  3. Adjust applicability of the announcement as required.

Why am i not able to view the custom emojis or the message content in the posted announcements?

Announcements must contain only UTF-8 standard characters. Content with non-BMP (Basic Multilingual Plane) characters, such as emojis, certain rare Kanji characters, and other extended Unicode symbols, is not supported. Use the Insert Smiley (emoji icon) option available in the toolbar to insert officially supported emoji.

Is it possible to embed third-party apps or custom URLs as widgets on the Home page?

Yes, administrators can create Custom Widgets to embed external content.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Developer Space > Widgets, and create a new widget
  2. You can choose the widget type as Dashboard and choose either Internal or External hosting
  3. An iframe code or a direct URL can be used to embed external tools, such as a company intranet page, a Google Data Studio report, a live calendar, or a third-party helpdesk portal right into the Zoho People Home page.
  4. Configure the applicability as required.

Why are some employees who have their birthdays today not listed on the birthday widget?

Under the Organization Policy page, you have the option to give employees the choice to share or hide their birthdays.


If this is enabled, users can hide their birthday from Home > My Space > Overview > Clicking the ellipsis icon on the top right > Personal Preferences > Permission. If any user has enabled this option, their birthday will be hidden from other users, and so their name will also not be listed in the birthday widget.

How do I change the cover image of my Zoho People home page?

You can personalize the cover image of your Zoho People Home page by following the steps below.
  1. Navigate to Settings > My Space > Overview > Click on the ellipsis icon at the top-right corner of the screen
  2. Select Personal Preferences
  3. Use the change cover image option
Choose from the available options or upload a custom cover image from your system. 
Notes
Some organizations can restrict cover image customization and use one image across the organization.

How to add a new domain in my Zoho People account | why should i add a domain in my Zoho People account?

By adding your domains and getting them verified in Zoho People, it is possible to access Zoho People using a customized domain in the URL, use official email addresses for notifications, add users directly, and more.

To add a new domain, please follow the steps below:
Navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Organization Setup > Domains and Rebranding
Click on Add Domain
Enter your domain name and save
Alert
Note: Any domain added should be verified by Zoho to check its validity and authenticity. Verification is an integral step to prevent any misuse of domain names.
Once the domain is added, click on the Verify button and follow the steps to verify your domain.

Error: This operation cannot be performed as you are not the Organization Admin, when trying to access the Domains and Rebranding page. | I am unable to access the Domains and Rebranding page or i am unable to add domains to my Zoho People account.

You may not be set as the "Organization Owner" despite being a super administrator. To set an administrator as the Organization Owner, request the current Zoho Directory administrator to access the application (directory.zoho.com), and set the user as the Organization Administrator from the Admin Panel tab.

How do we use our HR email address as the default 'from address' for the system emails sent from Zoho People?

You can add different From addresses and choose the default From address so that system default emails will be sent from that email address.
Steps to add and update the default 'From address':
  1. Navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Organization Setup > From Addresses > Add Email From Address
  2. Add the Email address that you want to use as the 'From Address'
  3. Save
  4. Click on the star icon before the From address name to make it the default From address

Why am i getting a message that my domain is about to expire when logging into Zoho People? | Domain expiry

When you add a domain to your Zoho account, we’ll keep track of that domain’s expiration date and remind you to renew your domain 30 days beforehand. Once you renew your domain, it will automatically reflect in your Zoho account; this has to be done through the domain registrar (the provider from whom the
domain was purchased).
If you fail to renew your domain before the expiration date, your domain will be marked as unverified. Unverified domains need to be renewed, then re-verified to validate ownership of the domain. Learn more about managing about to expire domains.

Why am I getting regular reminders from Zoho People to authenticate DKIM, even if my domain is verified?

To enhance email authenticity, improve deliverability, and protect against spoofing, DKIM authentication has been enforced. Without DKIM, your emails may:
  1. Be flagged as spam or rejected by recipients
  2. Harm your domain’s reputation
  3. Be vulnerable to spoofing attacks
To ensure secure and reliable communication, we strongly recommend setting up DKIM.
Steps to set up DKIM:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Organization Setup > Email Authentication > Check if the DKIM status of the added domain is authenticated, if not authenticated, click on DKIM Details next to your domain name
  2. If you’re using GoDaddy as your domain registrar, choose GoDaddy from the dropdown, or choose Other
  3. Copy the Host Name and Host Value provided, add them as a TXT record in your domain management portal (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.)
  4. Once the TXT record is added, DKIM authentication will typically be completed within 24–48 hours
We suggest you coordinate with your internal IT team to add the TXT record in your domain’s DNS settings.

Our rebranded URL was working fine, but suddenly it stopped working. What could be the reason?

This usually occurs when the rebranding CNAME record is deleted from the domain’s DNS management
page. The CNAME record has to be added again to the domain’s DNS management page.
Follow the steps below to get the DNS details.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Manage Accounts > Organization Setup > Domains and Rebranding
  2. Copy the DNS details (Host name and Points to)
  3. Add the CNAME record using the copied details in the domain’s DNS management page
  4. Once the CNAME record is added to the DNS page, delete the rebranding configuration (remove the rebranded URL) from Zoho People
  5. Refresh the page and add the URL again
  6. Once you have successfully added the rebranded URL, you will need to wait 24 to 48 hours for the SSL certificate to be installed and the rebranded URL to reflect. Once reflected, it will work as expected.
Learn more about Rebranding and check with your internal IT team to add the CNAME record to your DNS management page.