New in Zoho CRM Plus - October 2019

New in Zoho CRM Plus - October 2019

Hello everyone! 


This post is a summary of the recent updates made to Zoho CRM Plus, aimed to help keep you up-to-date on all new and forthcoming changes.  

You can read through to learn about the latest updates added to different parts of our platform, such as CRM, Desk, and Social. Find out all the new ways you can utilize Zoho CRM Plus as a customer experience platform for your business. 
 
CRM 

1) Fine-tune your configurations in Assignment Rules
 
a. Selecting users based on set criteria  
 
Apart from sorting users into categories such as Users, Roles, and Groups, you can also define certain conditions for these categories based on which records will be assigned to them. 
 
For example, let's say you set an assignment rule in your CRM stating that all records from India and the US should be assigned only to users in the U.S. In the previous version, you would need to choose the U.S. users individually from the Users category.

With this new update, you can now define specific conditions, such as setting all your records from India and the U.S. to be assigned to users in the U.S.



b. Check user's availability before assigning a record  
 
In addition to easier and more specific lead assignment, we've also added an optional enhancement allowing you to check the availability of a user based on their shift timing and online status (whether they're logged into CRM or not) before assigning records to that particular user. 



Now that you can check for a user's availability before assigning records, there are times when you choose not to assign a record to the user, such as when they are unavailable or logged out, or have deactivated or deleted their CRM account.
 
To avoid such situations, you can also select a default user, who will be assigned the records in absence of the first selected user. For this default user, you can choose either a logged-in user (who has initiated the record action) or any other CRM user. More on Assignment rules here.
 
2) Updates to the data importing process: replacing empty values

In our previous version, if any field you marked as mandatory in your import file was empty or did not have a value, the record will not be imported. To address this, our new update allows you to define a value for the empty field while you are importing the records. More on imports here.



3) Find out how Zia answers your questions
 
"Explore" in Zia is a new feature that helps you trace the search route taken by Zia to find answers to your questions. 


  
For example, let's say you want to know your upcoming tasks and you tell Zia, "Show my upcoming tasks." Click on the "Explore" icon in the results and Zia will show you the criteria applied and the module the answer came from. In this example, it would be the "Tasks" module and the search criterion would be the duration.
 
This helps improve the accuracy of your search results, and also find out if Zia is fetching you the right information by looking at the criteria she set for fetching the results. 

To access this feature, hover over Zia's response and click the Explore icon. More on Zia here.
 
4) New views for CRM Dashboards
 
Along with the existing categories for dashboard views, Favorites, Created by me and Shared with me, CRM has added three more views: All, Public, and Other users' dashboards. 
 
All: Display a consolidated view of all the dashboards in your CRM
Public: View dashboards accessible to all users inside CRM
Other users' dashboards: Admins and Super Admins can view dashboards created by other users inside CRM.

 
5) Reduced refresh time for Sandbox

The refresh time for your Sandbox account (a test environment to check your CRM settings before deploying them to production) has been reduced from every 30 days to every three days. 
 
In addition to the shorter refresh time period, you also get to retain your Deployment Logs for up to six months. More on Sandbox here.
  
Desk 
 
1) The new, improved Social module inside Desk
 
An active social media presence, combined with real-time responsiveness from your customer support teams, can work wonders for your business. Desk, your dedicated service for support operations, helps utilize your organization's social media accounts as direct support channels.
 

 
With our new take on Social module under Desk, you can now organize your Social media channels—Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, and Twitter handles—into a single unit, called a brand. 
 
*A brand is the fundamental unit under which you can manage the Facebook page and Twitter handle of a brand/organization.

After you connect your social media accounts to a brand in the Social module, all posts, tags, and private messages posted or received by the accounts are automatically populated from their respective feeds. You can perform all basic actions from there, such as commenting on a post, liking a post, replying to a tweet, and retweeting or liking a tweet. You can also manually or automatically convert posts into tickets in your help desk portal.
 
2) Convert business reviews into tickets with new Marketplace extensions

We have now introduced two new marketplace extensions for Desk: App Store Reviews and Google Play Reviews for Desk. With these extensions, you can now convert your reviews on Google Play and App Store into tickets within your help desk. Links to both review channels will be redirected to the respective app channels. Your agents can now reply to reviews from Desk, and their responses will be automatically posted on Google Play Store. 

Note: Due to authentication constraints, agents can view but not reply to App store reviews from Desk
 
Social 

1) Easily accessible emoji menu 
 
You can now access the emoji menu anywhere you type on Social. 
Previously, the emoji menu was available only under the Compose window but with this new update, the emoji menu is easily accessible whenever you start typing on the platform. This includes your notifications tab, your livestream updates, and under the monitor tab. More on emoji menus in Social here.
 
2) Tag your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts in your posts
 
In our previous version, you could tag Twitter and Instagram profiles in Social posts. Our new update in Social now allows you to also tag your Facebook and LinkedIn pages in your posts.
​ 
To tag Facebook and Linkedin Pages on Social, type the "@" symbol, followed by the name of the Facebook or LinkedIn page. The New Post box will display matching profile suggestions for you to choose from. Select the correct username from the drop down, then click Done and your tag will appear on the post. More on tagging users in social media posts here
 
That's it with our product updates for this month, but stay tuned for next month's news! In the meantime, check out these new updates and share your experience with us in the comments below. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 







    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho CRM Plus in 2023: Let's rewind

      Hey everyone, There's something about December that makes us want to sit back and remember all the wonderful moments, as we get ready for the New Year, 2024! (Psst! We are also turning 10—yay!) This year, CRM Plus had a lot of wonderful updates, taking

    • The CX Workshops are back in 2023!

      Hello, can you see my screen? Can you hear me? This is a phrase we've all been saying more often than "good morning" over the last couple of years. Well, now it's time to re-connect in person. We're excited to invite you all to the CX Workshops we've

    • Refer Zoho CRM Plus to your friends and earn rewards!

      Hey everyone,   We'd like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for continuing to be our esteemed customers. Now you have the opportunity to refer Zoho CRM Plus to your friends or family members who are looking for a suitable solution to enhance

    • Social in CRM Plus now supports TikTok, Instagram Stories and Reels, and YouTube Shorts

      Hey everyone,   We are excited to inform you that Social in CRM Plus now allows you to publish on TikTok! We've also updated it to let you create Instagram Stories and Reels, as well as YouTube Shorts. Here's a brief about the updates.  Publishing on

    • Unified telephony in Zoho CRM Plus

      In any business, managing calls with the prospects or customers is an integral part of a salesperson or a support agent's daily life. They have access to information about the customers within Zoho CRM, and they also use a suitable PBX service to communicate

      • Recent Topics

      • Zoho Desk Limit for Comma Separated Queries

        Hi, I have just discovered a limit that I believed is not mentioned in any of Zoho's documentations. My search query looks like so: "query: {"accountId":"786050000091629966,786050000163589273,786050000163589427,786050000162753705,786050000162112971,786050000161987643,786050000160752868,786050000167089504,786050000167089378,786050000167089024,786050000167070005,786050000166295256,786050000128153693,786050000110560021,786050000046594575,786050000039106461,786050000002225356,786050000076889093,786050000047895103,786050000043365354,786050000044765191,786050000041790249,786050000040359116,786050000037945198,786050000024605077,786050000000525015,786050000155333895,786050000157741437,786050000000718125,786050000011574353,","departmentId":"786050000042648070","status":"Finished","sortBy":"createdTime","customField2":"cf_completion_date:2025-01-28T03:00:00.000Z,2025-10-28T03:00:00.000Z","customField3":"cf_billed:false"}"

      • Module Name doesn't exist

        I am trying to create a module named Activity, with plural Activities, but I have an error that module name already exists. This module is doesn't exist, and I don't have a single field called Activity or Activities.

      • Zoho Desk iOS and Android app update: AI powered: Reply Assistance and Refine Messages on IM module.

        Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce new AI powered features on the IM module of the Zoho Desk app. Reply Assistance: Reply Assistance generates suggested responses for incoming chat messages, which you can directly insert into the conversation

      • Unify All Zoho Video Meeting Experiences into One Standardized Platform

        Hi Zoho Team, We would like to share an important user experience concern regarding the current state of video meeting functionality across the Zoho ecosystem. The Problem Within Zoho, there are multiple ways to initiate or schedule a video meeting: Zoho

      • Is it possible to embed Youtube shorts?

        Hi Zoho desk support, This is Ryan from Accuver America. While I'm trying to create a knowledge base article with embed video, I ran into this issue. "www.youtube.com refuse to connect" A little bit background is that because this video is recorded on

      • Split functionality - Admins need ability to do this

        Admins should be able to split an expense at any point of the process prior to approval. The split is very helpful for our account coding, but to have to go back to a user and ask them to split an invoice that they simply want paid is a bit of an in

      • Delegates - Access to approved reports

        We realized that delegates do not have access to reports after they are approved. Many users ask questions of their delegates about past expense reports and the delegates can't see this information. Please allow delegates see all expense report activity,

      • How to include total km for multiple trips in expense report.

        Whenever I create a mileage report it only shows the total dollar amount to be reimbursed. The mileage for each individual trip is included but I also need to see the total distance for all trips in a report? How do I do this?

      • Get logged in user ID in Deluge script

        Hello all, How do I get the id of the logged-in user in a deluge script? the "zoho.loginuserid" function actually returns the users email address or whatever the user id they use to login to zoho with and not the id of the user record, and given that

      • Item Details Field - New Barcode / Document option?

        Is this a new feature??? its in both books and inventory.

      • Shared Mailbox - Mark as read for all users

        Hi all, Maybe someone can help me out. At the moment we have a shared mailbox without streams. When a users reads an mail or marks it as read other users will not see this. How can we resolve this? We now archive the mails when read and followed up. However

      • How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

        It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly

      • Can I export to PDF in Zoho Learn

        I have seen help pages where export to pdf options are available but I do not see that option available from the application. I see that exprt is available in my free trial version but that is only to html pages. I need to be able to export my manuals

      • Zoho Sites "pages" management page

        I have 80 plus pages on zoho sites. When I go to the "pages" link to view and edit pages, They are not in any kind of order, so I spend lots of time searching for pages when I need to edit or create new. How can I change the view order of all my pages

      • Staff rules

        Hi! Do you people know what are the default staff rules when a new booking is created? We have two staff members in my team (me as the admin, and my employee). As we share the same services, I'm wondering how Zoho will pick the staff for new apointments.

      • Add Image Upload Field to Zoho Bookings Registration Form

        Hi, We would like to request the addition of an image upload field to the Zoho Bookings registration form. Currently, Zoho Bookings only supports text-based fields (e.g., Single Line, Multi-Line, Email, Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio Button, and Date), but

      • Merge Tags Output Incorrect Placeholder Text After CRM Sync

        Hi everyone, I’m experiencing an issue with merge tags in Zoho Campaigns after last sync of contacts and leads from Zoho CRM (days before everything worked perfectly). Here’s the situation (seems like a default configuration in Campaigns) : My leads have

      • UI Improvement - Ability to Collapse Flow

        The UI for Flow is generally pretty good. However, when multiple decision trees are used, the layout can get pretty convoluted and hard-to-follow (see one of my Flows below): In these cases, even the auto-arrange fails to make this something that a normal

      • Windows agent 2025_M02 release notes

        Agent Version: 111.0.3.300 Release date: 24 February, 2025 Various Major enhancements to improve overall performance and optimize the user experience. Squashed a few bugs to improve overall product quality.

      • Windows agent 2025_M01 release notes

        Agent Version: 111.0.3.299 Release date: 05 February, 2025 Major Enhancement: Live Monitor feature compatibility released. Major Enhancement: Updated Scaling for multi technician cases with Android and Web based viewers. Various other bug fixes and performance

      • how to record deferred revenue?

        Dear Zoho Team, We issue invoices relating to 12-month web hosting service. When we issue the invoice, we should record the entire amount of the invoice as DEFERRED REVENUE (ie. $10 x 12 mths = $120, balance sheet item). After the particular month of the hosting service, $10 of revenue has been earned and deferred revenue amount will be $110. We must keep adjusting the balance sheet and income statement over the course of the service until the company has fulfilled its obligation of services and

      • Narrative 13: Importing your data

        Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 13: Importing your data When importing data into an application, it is crucial to prevent data loss or duplication. These types of errors can hinder the development of a clean and

      • Blueprint Not Triggering When Lead Status Is Updated by Workflow (IndiaMART Integration)

        I have set up a blueprint that triggers when a lead’s status is “New Lead.” Our CRM is integrated with IndiaMART, and when leads are created from IndiaMART, their Lead Status is initially set to None. To handle this, I created a workflow that automatically

      • Update Subform in specific field(Status) without affecting other fields in Zoho CRM using Deluge?

        Scenario: PRODUCT Module(change name Plot) in any product status change From Available to Booked then on PROJECT Custom Module have Subform So, Subform name is Property Details now in that Subform 1 field is STATUS that update according to  product status

      • YouTube Live #2: Agreement Intelligence with Zoho Sign's eSign AI assistant

        Hi there, We're back again with our YouTube live series and this time, we'll take you through our holistic agreement intelligence powered signature workflows. Struggling to draft an agreement? Need help double-checking clauses and going through complicated

      • Can I Build a POS using ZOHO creator and integrate it with ZOHO Books?

        Hello,  I have a Zoho Books account and I was wondering if I can have a POS system that integrates with it. Primarily with Inventory, Customers and Payment and ofcourse Create invoices and credit notes.   So, would Zoho creator provide me with this solution?  Thank you, 

      • An important update for Zoho Cliq desktop users

        The latest version of the Zoho Cliq desktop app (v1.8.0) will no longer be supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier versions. This is because the framework we use (Electron) no longer supports some older macOS versions. If you’re using macOS 10.15

      • Zoho Projects - Visual improvement to parent and sub-task relationship

        Hi Projects Team, My feature request is to improve sub-task visibility. Please see screenshot below. I really think parent child relationships could be visually improved. Even if the first letter of the parent task was inline with other same level tasks

      • Items Below Reorder Point Report?

        Is there a way to run a report of Items that are below the Reorder Point? I don't see this as a specific report, nor can I figure out how to customize any of the other stock reports to give me this information. Please tell me I'm missing something s

      • New Toolbar in Zoho Sheet

        We have revamped our toolbar design in this new version of Zoho Sheet. Below are some screenshots to help you get accustomed to this new interface. Click on the picture below to view the animated image in its original size. Scroll down this post to learn about the changes. Highlight of Changes: The previous format tab is now split into 2 tabs - Home and Format. The Home tab contains the commonly used functions and the Format tab holds formatting related options. Under the Home tab towards the far

      • Zoho inbuilt Telephony made a lot of issues!

        Hi there, I am a user that I am working with zoho inbuilt telephony around 1 month. Non of my colleagues are happy with this app! most of the time customer cannot hear my customer service team, customers say our voice is breaking. whenever Telephony support

      • Sending workflow notifications using popular chat services

        Hello everyone, We have introduced instant and scheduled notifications on some of the most popular chat platforms to facilitate easy collaboration, quick action, and wider reach. Workflow notifications can be sent to the following chat platforms: Zoho

      • Webhook not firing.

        I created a webhook using the Web UI, it looks very nice and the testing worked without an issue, but when i save/ update a ticket, the webhook is not firing. Here are the details of the web-hook i get from using the API "modifiedTime": "2019-10-22T09:23:37.380Z",

      • Adding Images to a Quote in Zoho CRM

        We are currently preparing to use Quotes in Zoho CRM and we are building out our Quote templates.  We came across an issue of not being to add Images of the products to the Quote - specifically in the body of the Quote templates.   This is a problem,

      • Applications built with Zoho Creator

        Hi, I’m really interested in seeing how others have built their application using Zoho Creator, especially those designed for external users (clients, vendors, or the public). If you’ve developed something along those lines and don’t mind sharing, I’d

      • Is it posssible to add Asap Widget on Wordpress?

        I have tried to add the ASAP widget so users could iniciate chats and see the KB information but nothings seems to work. I have tried to add the script using a php snippet that adds the to the footers and also tried one for the header in the functio

      • Require ticket resolution

        Hi Zoho team, Is there a way to require resolution even if an agent did not use a blueprint? for example, our blueprint has a "resolve" transition but what if agent revoked blueprint and manually set the status of ticket to closed? Is there a way where

      • Tables from ZohoSheets remove images when updated from source

        I have a few tables from a ZohoSheet in a ZohoWriter document that will remove the images in the cells when I refresh from the source. The source still has the images in the table when I go to refresh. After updating from the source, as you can see the

      • API Pagination Error: 'from' Parameter Limit

        Hello, I am encountering an error while paging through the Zoho Desk API results: Status code: 422 - {"errorCode":"UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY","message":"The value passed for field 'from' exceeds the range of '0-4999'."} Is 5000 the maximum number of records

      • How to go to the next open ticket in the queue when agents closes ticket

        Zoho Desk When agent closes a ticket - eg when they choose 'Send and Close" - where is the setting that automatically redirects them to the next open ticket in the queue?

      • Next Page