A Custom Module in Zoho Projects is a user-defined component that extends the product’s default capabilities. It allows users to capture specific data and tailor it to unique business processes. Users can create custom reports and dashboards to visualize, analyze, and track the data within your custom modules.
Benefits
- Customize the solution to any industry-specific use case.
- Capture accurate data.
- Offers scalability.
- Reduce dependency on external tools.
- Better visibility of data.
Create a Custom Module
- Click
in the upper- right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Customization > Modules and Tabs.
- Click Create.
- Click New under Create Module.
- Enter the Module Name and the Plural name to be displayed.
- Select Organization or Project module based on your preference.
- Organization Module: The data added to this module will be stored commonly across all the projects.
- Project Module: The data added to this module will be stored for specific projects individually.
- Enable the toggle if you want to display the project module in the Global Overview section.
- Select the projects where you want to associate this module.
- Click Next to configure the module layout.
- Drag and drop the +Add Section component from the left tray to the layout editor.
- Hover over the section name and rename it based on your preference.
- Drag and drop a field type from the New Fields tray into the layout editor (main panel).
- Set a Default Value if necessary.
- Select Mandatory checkbox if you want the field to be filled compulsorily.
- Select Insert Tooltip checkbox if you want to set tooltip information for the field.
- Click the Permissions tab to configure the module and field-level permissions, if required.

To create Organization Module, click

beside the overview and add necessary details.
To create Project Module, navigate to Organize Tabs within a project and click +Add Module/ Web Tab.
- Layout will be saved automatically. You can find the module in the left navigation panel if it is an Organization Module or within the project if it is a Project module.
- Client users and Lite users will not be able to access the Organization Modules.
Edit Custom Module
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Customization > Modules and Tabs.
- Hover over a module and click
to view options.
- Click Edit.
- Modify module information.
- Click Save.
In the Module and Tabs list view, toggle the ON/OFF switch to enable/disable the module.
Edit Custom Module Layout
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Customization > Modules and Tabs.
- Click any module name or Click
to view the context menu and select Layouts and Fields.
- Make the required changes by dragging and dropping a section or a field from the left tray to the layout editor.
- To create additional layouts for the module, click
in the upper-left corner of the page.
- Click Create Layout.
- Navigate to the Fields tab to update existing module fields.
- Click the Permissions tab to configure the module and field-level permissions, if required.

Trash Custom Module
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Customization > Modules and Tabs.
- Hover over a module and click
to view the context menu.
- Click Trash.
- Confirm your action.
Restore Custom Module
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Data Administration > Recycle Bin.
- Hover over the trashed module and click
to view options.
- Click Restore.
Create a Record
Create multiple records or entities within a custom module to capture and manage relevant information.
To create a new record,
- Navigate to a custom module in the left navigation panel.
- Click the Create button.
- Enter the name and other necessary details.
- Click Add.

Edit a Record
- Navigate to a custom module in the left navigation panel.
- Hover over a module,
- Click on any field corresponding to the record to update the record or click on the record to open the details page to update records.
Trash a Record
- Navigate to a custom module in the left navigation panel.
- Hover over a record and click
to view the context menu.
- Click Trash.
- Confirm your action.
Restore a Record
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Data Administration > Recycle Bin.
- Hover over the trashed record and click
to view options.
- Click Restore.
Automate Custom Modules
Workflow Rules
Workflow rules help you automate processes in your custom modules by defining conditions and actions that match your business requirements. Each workflow rule comprises a trigger that initiates the rule and an action that is executed when the conditions are met.
Use-case:
In a Vendor Management custom module, a manager may want to automatically assign specific users as Facility Managers once a vendor is approved. They can create a workflow rule with Category and Qualification Status as the criteria, and configure the Update Fields action to assign the appropriate team members.
This ensures that team assignment happens automatically whenever a vendor meets the defined approval criteria.
Email Alert and Templates
Email Alerts allow you to send automated notifications via email.
Email templates are predefined email formats that can be used while configuring the email alerts.
Use-case:
If the manager wants to send an email notification to the vendor once they are approved, they can associate an email alert to a workflow rule. Once the Qualification Status is marked "Approved", an email will be triggered automatically.
Webhooks
Webhooks are HTTP notifications that are sent from Zoho Projects to any other third-party application.
Use-case:
If the manager wants to notify the Logistics vendor via SMS about the Qualification Status updates, they can create a webhook and associate it with a workflow rule. Every time the Qualification Status is updated, a SMS will be triggered automatically.
Custom Function
Custom Functions let you execute Deluge scripts to perform advanced actions that go beyond standard workflow capabilities.
Use-case:
If the manager wants to assign unique vendor codes internally for the approved vendors, they can associate a custom function with the workflow rule. When the Qualification Status changes to Approved, the custom function will be executed and the vendor record will be updated automatically.
Create Custom Views
- Navigate to a custom module in the left navigation panel.
- Click on the Predefined Views drop-down, scroll down and then click + Create Custom View.
- Select + Create Custom View.
- Select the criteria for your view.
- Click
to add a criteria and click
to add a group.
- Click
to delete the criteria.
- Click
to delete the group.
- Operators can be used individually or in combination in order to set multiple criteria. There are two types of operators:
- AND is used when it is mandatory to satisfy all the criteria.
- OR is used to satisfy an either-or condition.
- Enter the Custom View Name.
- Enter the Description and enable the custom view column if necessary.
- Select the Accessibility and click Save.

These custom views can be marked favorite by clicking the

icon.
Sandbox for Custom Module
Create Sandbox
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar. - Navigate to Sandbox and click Create New Sandbox.
- Enter a name for the sandbox and add a description for the sandbox if needed.
- Access URL will be automatically populated based on the sandbox name. You can modify it if needed.
- Select the users to be added to the Sandbox portal. Once added, an email invitation will be sent to the users, along with the sandbox URL for easy access.
- Click Create.
- Wait a few minutes for your Sandbox portal to be created. Once the portal is ready, click Go to Sandbox on the prompted screen.
You will be redirected to the
Sandbox portal, which resembles your production portal.

In your Sandbox portal,
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar.
- Navigate to Customization > Modules and Tabs.
- Click Create Module.
- Enter the Module Name and the Plural name to be displayed.
- Select Organization or Project module based on your preference.
- Organization Module: The data added to this module will be stored commonly across all the projects.
- Project Module: The data added to this module will be stored for a specific project individually.
- Click Next to configure the module layout.
- Drag and drop the +Add Section component from the left tray to the layout editor.
- Hover over the section name and rename it based on your preference.
- Drag and drop a field type from the New Fields tray into the layout editor (main panel).
- Set a Default Value if necessary.
- Select Mandatory checkbox if you want the field to be filled compulsorily.
- Select Insert Tooltip checkbox if you want to set tooltip information for the field.
- Configure the module Permissions at the top beside Layout Configuration, if required.
Portal Owners and Admins are added to the Sandbox portal by default.
Deploy Sandbox
Once changes in the Sandbox are validated, you can view and deploy them to the production portal.
From the Sandbox Portal:
- Navigate to the Sandbox portal.
- Click
in the upper-right corner of the top navigation bar.
- Navigate to Sandbox > Sandbox Changes.
- Click Deploy Changes.
- You will be redirected to the production portal.
- Click the Sandbox name to open its details page.
- Under the Changesets section, view the changes ready for deployment.
- Select the changes to deploy and click Deploy Changes to Production.
- In the deployment prompt:
- Check for conflicts, if any.
- If no conflicts are found, click Proceed.
- The changes will be deployed to production.
Once the changes are deployed, go to the Overview section(Global Module) or inside any project(Project Module) in the production portal to verify the changes.