New capabilities for custom buttons: Elevate UX and CX with just a click!

New capabilities for custom buttons: Elevate UX and CX with just a click!

-------------------------------------------------Post moderated on 24th May--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all, The feature is now available for all users in all DCs. 



Dear Customers,

We hope you're well!

We're happy to announce enhancements we've made to buttons.

Buttons in Zoho CRM are a simple yet versatile customization tool. It offers great usability for CRM users, enabling them execute important actions as required. It was originally designated for use within modules. Realizing its importance in users' productivity, we opened the ability to configure buttons inside records, Wizards, Canvas, and related lists as well. Also, you can bridge your CRM to a third party software.

Now, to provide context and convenience, we are expanding the scope of buttons even more.
  • Layout-specification: We've added the ability to choose layouts while configuring buttons, which helps provide more context to your data organization efforts.
  • Portal accessibility: We enabled buttons for portals to offer exclusivity for customers and also to extend these UX capabilities to CX.
  • Kiosk accessibility: We also have a value-adding use case with regard to Kiosk.


Let's go in detail!

Buttons are now layout-specific

Layouts in Zoho CRM are customizable data templates that help you collect, store, process, interpret, and manage data to manifest your business processes. You can also run automations based on layouts. These layout-specific capabilities help align your CRM to your business processes.
However, until now, any button placed in record detail, create, or clone pages was invariably displayed for all layouts. This generic prevalence of a button irrespective of the layout or the process lacked context.

The screenshots below feature two buttons on the record details page. The button Send to events for leads from trade shows and the other, push to WFS for leads coming in via online store. Both the buttons help push data to different applications.

You can see, how two buttons irrespective of their relevance, are displayed in the record details page invariably.

Now, to provide clearer context and, more importantly, to make buttons more process-specific, we've introduced the ability to select which layout(s) a button should appear in before selecting its position. In fact, you can select one or more layouts, or choose all layouts (but this time it's your choice!).

In the screenshots below, you can see leads with different layouts—each with buttons specific for its layout.


Note: Layout choices will be available only where they're applicable. If you choose to place buttons in the list view (module view), then you won't be able to select the layouts.

UI update: Separate links and buttons tab

In line with this layout selection update, we've also split the former Links and Buttons tab into two distinct tabs: Links and Buttons. With this split, you'll not only have a dedicated list of links and buttons, but also get the benefit of managing each of them individually.


Empower portal users with more accessibility

Portals are a self-service channel Zoho CRM offers. By extending access to certain modules to portal users, you can enable them to create, view, and update records all by themselves. Click here to learn more about portals in Zoho CRM.

Now, to give Portal users, accessibility and a great experience that CRM users have had thus far, we've also developed the ability to create/extend buttons to records shared via portals.

Moving forward, admins create buttons exclusively for portal users or extend existing buttons to them. 

What does this mean for your business?

Building or extending custom buttons in portals opens up a lot of possibilities. In addition to the standard record buttons, by providing access to custom buttons in Portals, your Portal users will be able to do what CRM users can do, such as send SMS notifications, save records as offline files, push information to on-premise tools, and more. The possibilities with custom buttons are endless, and they offer the following benefits: 
  • Curb their dependence on CRM users
  • Add convenience
  • Elevate the user experience
  • Minimize effort required for manual tasks
But wait—this update to custom buttons does lead to another interesting use case. Let's talk about Kiosk Studio!

Kiosk Studio is one of our latest and most anticipated releases. It's a no-code customization tool that CRM users can use to get quick service at the click of a button. You can quickly display a screen, retrieve information from your database, or save information to it. Click here to learn more about Kiosk.

Summoning a Kiosk is one of many custom actions you can configure for custom buttons. If you've already configured Kiosk for your organization, you can associate it with a custom button as an action and initiate designated tasks.

Let's look at an example of how a Portal user can schedule a car service all by themselves:

KM is a premium car care center that deals with its correspondence online. All the customer has to do is to schedule a service on their portal, and they will be contacted. This is a classic example of a Kiosk inside a Portal.

This way, custom buttons can serve a larger purpose for your business. We hope these enhancements provide a lot more flexibility and convenience as you work with Zoho CRM. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to drop a comment.
That's all, folks!


Availability: These updates are available for all users in US DC as of now. It will be opened in the rest of the DCs in a couple of days.


Thanks and have a good one!

Kind regards,
Saranya Balasubramanian
Zoho CRM - Marketing

Rephrase with Ginger (Cmd+⌥+E)
      • Recent Topics

      • Tip of the Week #68– Share and access files faster with Zoho WorkDrive extension.

        Have you ever wasted time searching for the right file to attach to your emails—or worried whether the right people could access it? Without proper sharing settings, files might end up inaccessible to teammates or, worse, visible to people who shouldn’t
      • CV-Library: The Newest Source Booster in Zoho Recruit!

        We’ve expanded your sourcing toolkit — CV-Library, one of the UK’s largest and most trusted online job boards, is now available as a Source Booster in Zoho Recruit. This gives recruiters instant access to millions of UK-based candidate profiles, all without
      • Zoho AI Translate Task as Rest API

        I cant find any docs on how to use Zoho AI Translate Task from a rest api call https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/ai-tasks/translate.html I am working on a custom Widget and I dont think I can execute zoho deluge ai translate task from a custom widget.
      • Is there the possibility to book less than 250 customer portal users?

        If you use the Creator, which is included in Zoho ONe, you can create a customer portal and give access to a maximum of 3 external people / customers, right? On the Creator website I saw that you can add 250 users for 100€/month. However, we don't need
      • Display Parts custom fields in the Work Order

        Hello, I see that is it possible to add custom fields in the Parts module. Would it be possible to also add those custom fields in the Work Order Module under Parts? This would be very useful for customer who want to showcase more information about parts.
      • Unable to edit Saved Estimates

        We are facing issue with editing the price or discount for a saved estimate for nearly 1 week.
      • Translation Blueprint & Picklists with Custom Values

        Hello everyone, I downloaded the translation file and I'm not finding the blueprint transitions. Does this means that the transitions cannot be translated? Also, the picklist values to be translated in the document are not the same that are actually used the in module. For exemple, for my lead module, the picklist values for Lead Status are : Not-contacted, contacted, junk and lost lead. In the translation document (English to French), this is what I see: PicklistValues.Leads.Lead_Status.Contact
      • How to create a custom sales signal?

        I want to create a custom sales signal for a custom module. is it possible to create one? If anyone know please let me know
      • Multi-line address lines

        How can I enter and migrate the following 123 state street Suite 2 Into a contact address. For Salesforce imports, a CR between the information works. The ZOHO migration tool just ignores it. Plus, I can't seem to even enter it on the standard entry screen.
      • Only show products in offers based on lead source

        We work with several lead sources, each with their own products and different pricing. For example, one product might have two or three different prices. Sometimes, when creating a quote, the wrong product is accidentally selected. Is there a way to only
      • Narrative 7 - The importance of data sharing

        Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series Narrative 7 - The importance of data sharing Definition Data sharing requires a commitment to preserving the integrity and dependability of shared data throughout its entire lifecycle. This
      • TrueSync regularly filling up my local disk

        Seems that WorkDrive's TrueSync randomly starts filling up my local hard drive space. None of the folders have been set as "Make Offline" but still it seems to randomly start making file offline. The settings of the app is so minimal and is of no real
      • Check out in Meetings

        Why there is no check out in Meetings of Zoho CRM, very difficult to track
      • Issue with Zoho Projet

        Zoho Project on all the cellphones of my customer is crashing. He has mixed brands (Samsung and Pixel). Everything is fine on website and mobile website. Could not reproduce the issue in workshop using Samsung/Pixel/iPhone Uninstallation of Zoho Project
      • SecurePass email English language issue -- please hire someone to correct the English language issues sprinkled throughout your interface

        I wrote previously about some incorrect English in your SecurePass offering. After about six months it was corrected. I have never revoked permission before today and just discovered another language mistake that was not corrected. When you revoke a SecurePass
      • Published Components

        @zoho team, Checking if we can add a password for the public links as we have non-licensed users
      • Zoho Creator customer portal users

        Hi, I'm in a Zoho One subscription with our company. I'm running a project now that involves creating a Zoho Creater application and using the Zoho Creator Customer Portal.  At most we need 25 customer portal users. In our Zoho One plan we only get 3
      • Please Enable Snippets for Agents Adding Comments

        Snippets and templates are currently enabled for agents when they use the reply functionality. There is currently no way to add a template or snippets when an agent comments. This is really weird. Our agents don't use the reply functionality, only the
      • Tip of the Week - Extracting Data from JSON Columns

        Let's say you are importing a CSV or Excel file into Zoho Analytics. What if the file contains a few columns in JSON format? This is where Zoho DataPrep, embedded right within Zoho Analytics, comes in handy. This week's tip explains how to extract data
      • Deluge UI Updates

        Are there any updates planned for the Deluge UI in Zoho Desk? It feels quite dated and lack-lustre after you've spent some time in the CRM Deluge UI.
      • Zia Agents - Follow Ups

        It would be nice to have Zia Agents do follow ups. A lot of times agents are trying to schedule things with users and they say "can we set your printer up tomorrow?" and the user never says anything. A way to have a personalized reminder to the user automatically
      • Hide Agents name in Ticket Responses in "My Area"

        We were able to hide the agents name in the emails, however, the customer is able to see which agent has responded to a ticket in the thread of emails by going into their Help Center thread. Is there any way we can hide that information?
      • Option to Automatically Update Extensions

        Hello Zoho Desk Team, We recently received an email notifying us about an extension update that must be done manually. We’d like to request a feature that allows extensions to be updated automatically without requiring manual intervention. This would
      • Embed Report with Auto Height

        Hello Developers, When we embed report within Page, we are getting one awesome feature to adjust the report height. "Auto" and "Custom' height. This "Auto" option works well when we have no records. But I want to embed report based on some conditions
      • Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - August 2025

        This month’s updates to Zoho Payroll bring enhanced efficiency and smarter features, simplifying payroll management for users in India, UAE, KSA, and US. Read on to explore how these updates can streamline your workflow. Filter Pay Runs by Type (India,
      • Numerical Rating for Interviewer Assessments

        Introducing Numerical Rating, a powerful new addition to interviewer assessments that brings precision and flexibility to candidate evaluations. ✅ What is Numerical Rating? Numerical Rating lets interviewers assign a score for each question in the assessment,
      • Choosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?

        I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might best
      • User Tips: Adding Multiple Products (Package) to a Quote v2.0 (with Client Script)

        This solution is an improvement on the original idea which used deluge. My solution was posted in the comments are: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/adding-multiple-products-package-to-a-quote The updated version uses client script instead
      • Are downloadable product available in Zoho Commerce

        Hi all. We're considering switching to Zoho Commerce for our shop, but we sell software and remote services. Is there a features for downloadable products? I can't find any information about this. Thank you very much Alice
      • Need Faster Help? Try Live Chat Support

        Hello there, We understand that sometimes, whether you’re facing an issue, exploring a feature, or need quick clarification, sending an email and waiting for a response just doesn’t cut it. You need answers, and you need them now. That’s exactly why we
      • Custom image for each contact using merge tag

        Hi, I'm wondering if it's possible to set up an email campaign to display a different image for each contact using a custom field for the image url. I tried inserting custom html: <img src='$[UD:APP_IMAGE_URL||]$'/> but the editor seemed to reject this and did not actually add anything to the email template. Has anyone got any ideas? cheers, Jeremy
      • Comment Reactions like a Thumbs Up

        Can we please have the ability to emoji react on comments or at the very least, thumbs a comment up? Literally every other project management system out there can support this and it is very much needed to just acknowledge a comment instead of completely
      • Zoho Mail Search Engine Sucks

        Hello There! I really like all the features of Zoho Mail and I believe is way better than Gmail except for the Search Function. I believe Zoho Mail has a very poor search function, if you misspelled a word in the search box, Zoho Mail won't display any
      • Allow Subtasks and Task Lists to have their own Layout

        I'd like to have the ability for subtasks and task lists to have their own layout.  A subtask for us doesn't require all the fields that a parent task has.  The subtask seems cluttered with all the extra fields. Within a project Task List had different purposes.  I'd like the task layout to be different for some task lists.
      • How to update Customers in Zoho Books through Zoho Flow?

        Updating customers in Zoho Flow using a "update customer" action is deleting contact persons in Zoho Books.
      • Conect chat of salesiq with zoho cliq

        Is there any way to answer from zoho cliq  the chat of salesiq initiated by customers?
      • How to transfer credit between customers?

        Hi All, We have a slightly odd situation. It happens that we have two separate customers that are related to each other personally. One customer has an amount of credit, and would like to use that credit to pay the *other* customers invoice. How would
      • Zoho Books Reports: Basic report with total items sold and Cost of goods sold

        How can books show a report with Item Name || Qty Sold || Total Revenue || Total Cost of Goods Sold || Margin I need to factor in also invoices that have been credited where customers returned good. This seems like such a basic report, I'm sure I'm missing
      • The amount entered is more than the balance due for the selected bills."

        Hi Team i am trying to record payments for vendors using API and getting this error in response as { "code": 28011, "message": "The amount entered is more than the balance due for the selected bills." } JSON is prepared according to Documentation and
      • VBA handling named ranges

        In VBA I'm able to work with a single cell named range. E.g. Set Jr = Range ("Year").Value. Also other options are working fine, like Range("Year").Address shows $L$3. However a named range refering to multiple cells is not working for me. Eg. tbl_Test
      • Next Page