What's New - April 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - April 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Hello there,

Phew! It’s been a busy month—and it’s all for you.

You know that feeling when your to-do list is long, your coffee’s gone cold, but your team is absolutely crushing it behind the scenes? That’s been us this month. Between brainstorming, building, tweaking, and testing—we've had our heads down, sleeves rolled up, and minds focused on one thing: helping you run smoother, smarter, and more engaging events. 

Every little update we pushed live this month was sparked by a real need from organizers like you. And honestly? That’s our favorite way to build. You throw us the challenges, and we’ll keep showing up with better, faster, and (hopefully) cooler ways to handle them.

So as the calendar flips, we hope you’ll take a moment to explore what’s new, give it a spin, and tell us what you think. 

Automated refunds with cancellation fee deductions

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



Event organizers often face the challenge of handling last-minute cancellations and issuing partial refunds. With our new custom cancellation policy, you can now automatically deduct a cancellation fee from the refund amount when an attendee cancels their booking.

How it works:
  • Set a cancellation fee as a percentage of the ticket price.
  • The system automatically handles fee deduction and tax adjustments.
Setting up:
  1. Navigate to Registrations > Cancellation Policy.
  2. Select Custom Cancellation Policy.
  3. Define up to 10 cancellation rules. (maximum window: 60 days before event)
Attendees will see the applicable policy:
  • During registration
  • On their Your Orders page
  • While canceling their order
The deducted fee is automatically logged in the cancellation and refund history, viewable by both attendees and organizers.


Notes
Fee changes apply only to new orders. For partially refunded orders, any remaining amount can still be refunded later.

Order and attendee activity logs  

Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium and Ultimate plans

Get complete visibility into every update made to attendee and order data with our new activity log. Whether changes were made by an organizer, purchaser, or attendee, you can now view a detailed activity trail.

This audit log captures a record of updates and changes related to attendee and order management. Whether an organizer updates an attendee’s name, a purchaser reassigns a ticket, or a ticket class is changed, the system now logs each of these actions automatically for full traceability.

The log currently captures the following types of activities:
  • Updates to attendee details, such as name, email, or custom fields.
  • Changes made to order details, including purchaser info and billing data.
  • Ticket reassignment, when a ticket is transferred to another attendee.
  • An order being marked as paid or unpaid, reflecting changes in payment status.
  • Ticket class changes, such as upgrading or downgrading an attendee's ticket.
These logs are grouped into three categories for easy review:
  1. Portal Activities – actions performed via the organizer portal.
  2. Order Activities – all modifications related to individual orders.
  3. Attendee Activities – updates and changes linked directly to attendees.
This enhancement is especially helpful for teams managing large events, providing an added layer of accountability and operational clarity. With audit trails now available, you can confidently trace back who made what change and when, minimizing confusion and improving team collaboration.

Export attendee data with deleted fields 

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



Managing attendee information often requires flexibility, especially when event organizers make changes to registration forms mid-way through the event setup or after registrations have already started. To support this, Zoho Backstage now offers a new enhancement that allows organizers to include deleted fields when exporting attendee data.

This enhancement ensures that you won’t lose access to that data, even if the field no longer appears on the live form. This gives full control over whether historical data from removed fields should be preserved and reviewed offline.

How to use:
  1. Navigate to Registrations > Attendees.
  2. Click Export.
  3. There, you'll find a new option: Include deleted fields. When selected, any data submitted for removed fields will be included in the export.
In the exported file, these deleted fields will be clearly marked using the following format: {fieldName}_Deleted. This helps distinguish them from currently active fields while still making the historical data available for review or reporting purposes.

Add attachments to scheduled emails 

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

Attachments are a common and essential part of email communication, especially in event planning. Organizers often need to send event brochures, images, venue maps, or other materials to attendees ahead of time. With this update, they can now do so simply within their scheduled emails.



How to use:
  1. To add an attachment, simply go to Communicate > Emails > Scheduled Emails > Create an Email > Options > Add Attachment. You can upload relevant files from your event or space library during the email creation process.
  2. You can upload relevant files from your event or space library during the email creation process.
When you preview the email, the attachments will be visible so you can verify everything is in place before sending. If any attached file is later removed from the event or space library, it will be shown as “deleted” in the email preview—helping you avoid broken links or missing files.

Try it out the next time you send a scheduled email!

Session details in speaker emails   

Plan availability: Available in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



We’ve enhanced speaker communication in Zoho Backstage by adding session details directly to speaker emails. This ensures speakers have all the information they need—without requiring additional follow-ups or manual updates.

Two key email updates have been introduced:
  • Welcome Speaker email now includes the speaker’s assigned session details, helping them understand exactly when and where they’re expected to present.
  • Session Updated email is a new automated email that gets triggered whenever sessions are assigned to a speaker or when existing session details, such as timing or location, are changed. The email will show either a New Sessions section, an Updated Sessions section, or both, depending on the changes made.


You can find and manage these templates under:
  • Communication > Emails > Automated Emails > Speakers

Enable/disable Workflows during event creation 

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans
 



This feature gives event organizers more control over workflow management during the event creation process in Zoho Backstage. Any workflows configured at the portal level are automatically listed when creating a new event. By default, these workflows are enabled, but organizers can choose to disable specific ones based on the needs of the event—directly during setup.

This flexibility helps prevent workflows from being overlooked or incorrectly applied, making the event setup more efficient and consistent. Organizers can also revisit and update these settings later, ensuring each event has the most relevant workflows in place.

SalesIQ chat in OnAir  

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans



We’re excited to share that SalesIQ Chat is now integrated with the OnAir platform, enabling real-time communication between participants and organizers during live events and rehearsals.

 Attendees can now initiate chats directly within OnAir, ensuring timely responses to their questions. Speakers and exhibitors can also use the chat feature during rehearsals for smooth coordination.

Organizers can configure chat visibility from:
  • Design > Edit Website > Integrations > Zoho Sales IQ
  • Settings > Integrations > Live Chat
You can choose to display the chat on the event website, within OnAir, or both. All conversations are managed through your existing SalesIQ portal.

This integration enhances engagement and simplifies event communication for a better overall experience.

Gamification Leaderboard now supports public display links  

Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans

Leaderboard display allows event organizers to showcase real-time competition results across the venue, encouraging attendees to engage more actively through visible, friendly competition.

This encourages friendly competition and boosts attendee engagement.

You can generate secure, public links directly from the Manage Leaderboard page. These links display only ranking information—no sensitive attendee data—and are ideal for projection screens throughout your event space. Multiple links can be created, each with a unique session ID, screen name, browser, and IP, giving you full visibility and control.



Key features include:
  • Expiration controls: Links expire at the event’s end time, with the option to extend or set a custom expiry date.
  • Security: A password-protected interface ensures only authorized users can access the leaderboard. Use the Copy Password button to easily share credentials with your AV team or display partners.
  • Screen tracking: Each display session requires a screen name, which appears alongside session data in your dashboard, making it simple to identify and manage screens.
  • Session control: End individual sessions instantly or reset the password to terminate all active sessions for added security.


Info
Important: If you don’t copy the link at the time of creation, it can’t be retrieved again—make sure to save it immediately.

 To set it up, go to Manage > Engagement > Gamification.

 Bring your leaderboard to life—visibly, securely, and with complete control.

Time field in forms  

Plan availability: The availability of this feature depends on the type of form:

  • Registration form – Included in Premium and Ultimate plans
  • Custom forms – Included exclusively in the Ultimate plan
  • Exhibitor request form – Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans. Also available in the Essentials plan when used with the Exhibitor add-on.
  • Sponsor request form – Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans
  • Session feedback form – Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

You can now collect time-specific responses using the newly introduced Time field in the form builder. Ideal for gathering details like arrival times, session preferences, or any time-based input, this feature gives you greater precision and control during data collection.

Organizers can configure the field to accept inputs in 12-hour or 24-hour format, and optionally define a time range to limit selections. The default format shown to respondents will align with the event’s time format set under Manage > Event Info.

For example, if you're coordinating airport pickups or hotel transfers, you can easily request attendees’ expected arrival times during registration or through custom forms.

Registered session participants export  

Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans



You can export the list of registered attendees for individual sessions, making it easier to manage participation and access attendee details at the session level.

To use this feature, navigate to Manage > Sessions, select the relevant session, and go to the Participants > Registered tab. From there, you’ll find the option to export the list of participants who have registered for that specific session.



The export file will include the following columns:
    1. Name
    2. Email
    3. Ticket ID
    4. Ticket Class
    5. Session Title
This update provides quick access to session-specific attendee data, helping organizers better plan logistics, monitor participation, and coordinate follow-ups.


You keep the ideas coming—we’ll keep delivering.

Let’s make May 2025 even better.

Info
All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
If you have any questions, please contact support@zohobackstage.com. 

      • Recent Topics

      • Host not found?

        Howdy! So i'm trying to add my custom domain for with the mail server. I have 100% control of my DNS and have tried every single option (TXT, CNAME, and even HTML) multiple times, ensuring i did it properly, to no luck. I get the same error message every

      • Emails are going to notification folder and not in inbox

        emails are going to notification folder and not into inbox

      • Auto End Chats After Customer Inactivity

        Hello Everyone, I may be missing something, but is there a way to auto-end chats when a customer has been inactive for an amount of time? I have several operators (we use a shared set of account with schedules for people... that's another story) but at

      • Report on opportunities showing only the last note added.

        Hi I need to create a report that shows the most recent note added to each opportunity. This is so management can see what the latest update is according to the assigned salesperson. One workaround is to use the status field but this implies added manual work and mistakes as the salesperson would have to copy the existing status to a note before adding the latest status... otherwise the activity history would be lost. My current workaround is a report on Notes with Opportunities as the related module.

      • Please add Zelle as an online payment option

        Hello, I would like to request Zelle be added to the online payment service providers for Zoho Invoice. Considering how ubiquitous Zelle has become as a way to pay people via the major banking institutions, I feel like many freelancers would benefit from

      • Getting Project Template List using the REST API

        I am trying to confirm that I can use the REST API to create a project using a project template. The API documentation indicates this is possible by providing the Template ID, but it is not clear at all how to get a list of available Project Templates

      • How to display the CONTACT ID in the Contact page

        Hi, I've seen this conversation below and it is exactly the same question I'm raising now, but unfortunately the last message is not solved https://help.zoho.com/portal/community/topic/show-contact-id-while-editing-contact-form I need to show the ContactId and I don't know how to do this. The last message included in the conversaton shows the way but not it is not completed. "I am sorry by default we do not have the option to show the record ID for the contacts in the field in a record. When you

      • How to change margins in templates

        Hi, I'm new to Zoho Campaigns, and am trying to figure out how to adjust the margins within an email template.  The default margins make the text go all the way to the edges of the page.  Please advise.

      • Create Canvas list view templates from images powered by Zia

        Currently available for all paid editions of Zoho CRM in the US, EU, IN, JP & CN DCs. Designing a personalized CRM interface just got even easier. In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, AI is transforming the way we work by automating complex tasks

      • Painfully Slow Zoho mail

        Since yesterday Zoho Mail seems to have starting functioning very slowly and having a few bugs. It's slow to open mails, slow to send, slow to change between email accounts. Sometimes clicking on a particular folder (eg Sent folder) stops working and

      • "Wrong password or login" Problem to configure Zoho on MAIL App on my Macbook

        Hi, I'm having problems to configure my e-mail on my MAIL App(Macbook pro). My e-mail is hari@trespontoum.net Actually was working perfectly, and still working on my Iphone. My MAIL App prompt me that my login or password is wrong. I tried to change 3

      • "User already exist in your org"

        Hello, I've just read a discussion about this issue, which didn't solve my problem. I'm trying to add the following emails: sales@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk returns@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk orders@kiss-my-boutique.co.uk I'm getting an error message each time I try and add them. None of them are primary or secondary emails and none of them have been created as users before. I know this as when I try and login and do 'forgot my password' all I get is an error message saying 'user invalid'. Please advise.

      • Operation Not Permitted

        Hi, I have problem in adding user after verifying the domain but it seems like error appeared which is "operation not permitted". For your information, I had delete other domain before did it.

      • Email forwarding setup fails

        I'm trying to set up email forwarding from my Zoho email to my gmail address. I followed the directions to set up email forwarding here: https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/email-forwarding.html. I did only steps 1-6. After doing this, rather than setting

      • Shopify store email issues- Not getting emails

        Hi We have migrated from Microsoft outlook to Zoho back in March, we have a shopify store, the domain is hosted on namesilo, not shopify, I have seen some people here complaining about not getting emails from customers who fill out the contact form on

      • How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

        How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      • Invoice Discount Account

        Is there a way to change the account used for Discounts applied to an invoice? The current Discount account (ZB native account) type is an "Income" type. I would like to change it to "Other Income", but that is not possible, I am assuming because it contains

      • Need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books

        I N=need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books to do recons of the accounts but when i see the same they are not visible in the Accountant - Account Transactions report

      • javax.mail.authenticationfailedexception 535 authentication failed

        Hi, I am facing 535 authentication failed error when trying to send email from zoho desktop as well as in webmail. Can you suggest to fix this issue,. Regards, Rekha

      • Phantom Opening Balance

        While experimenting w/ creating a composite item, Zoho added funds to Petty Cash and added Bank Account equal to previous day's balance. I'm unable to undo the adding of funds. Attaching screenshots of both bank account and petty cash transactions.

      • Importing customer comments and multiple shipto addresses

        I am evaluating Zoho Books and have most of my data imported with two exceptions: (1) Import customer comments - in my current system I have several comments of different types, and I need to bring these into Zoho. Preferably Books customer records, but

      • Detailed Account Reports - Add Running Balance

        When one clicks into an account from a report (say P/L or Balance Sheet), the default reports have the Debit, Credit, and then the Amount. The Amount column (last one) is duplicate information. It would be far better and fit more peoples' use cases if

      • How to Billed from two different GST Numbers

        How to Billed from two different GST Numbers. Suppose ABC & Co had GST registration in Delhi and Haryana and Zoho account is created with Delhi GST Registration number. Now i also want to issue invoice from Haryana GST Registration number. How can i proceed ?

      • Zoho IP blocked by SpamHaus

        ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.0 Your server IP address is in the SpamHaus SBL-XBL database, bye

      • IMAP Communication Problems - IMAP Down Again

        We are experiencing the same problems over the last week or so that were supposedly 'solved' according to this thread. Zoho Imap Down Again This is affecting attempts to use IMAP on multiple ISPs and users so is definitely narrowed down to Zoho problems.

      • Can't login to Zoho mail

        I'm logged into Zoho but when I try to go in zoho mail I get: Invalid request! The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try again. I just set up my mx records and stuff with namecheap a few

      • Hotmail is STILL blocking the zoho mail IP

        Greetings, as I already mentioned in my last message, my Zoho IP has been blocked by Hotmail for more than 15 days. Although someone said that the issue was "solved," it still isn't, and this amount of time seems neither normal for a "serious" company,

      • Keyboard shortcut M key

        I'm trying to customize my keyboard shortcuts and assign the "m" key. But it says the key is already assigned. I've looked through all my shortcuts and can't see any assigned "m". When I select an email and press the M key, nothing happens. What is the

      • Manage customer access across multi-brand help centers

        Hello everyone! Managing customer's access across multiple brands has been streamlined with the ability to invite, reinvite, approve, reject, and deactivate contacts individually for each help center brand . This enhancement gives administrators precise

      • White Label certificate

        Hi all, About 72 hours ago, we fulfilled all steps for white labeling (CNAME to point to mail.cs.zohohost.eu), but since then the configuration page is now stuck at "generating certificate" since 3 days. When I execute an NSLOOKUP mail.webfoundry.be it

      • Unusual activity detected from this IP. Please try again after some time

        When i try to create new addresses on my account i am getting this error, it has been 24 hours now and i am still getting this error can anyone help

      • How to add a new domain in my account?

        Probably zoho has the worst UI in the market. Cannot add a new domain to manage a new email address.

      • Report sorting not working

        I make extensive use of Summary reports and Pivot Tables. Most of these reports are structured such that I have several columns of "information" data that I want displayed, followed by one or more "Data" summarizations. For example, I have the following

      • New Enhancements in Wizards

        Dear All, Wizards help you break a long form into a series of smaller forms on different screens, making it less overwhelming. We are thrilled to introduce a couple of enhancements to wizards in Zoho CRM: Enhancements for conditional rules in Wizards

      • Find and Merge Duplicates to trigger webhook

        My sales team uses the Find and Merge Duplicates feature often to cleanup records in the CRM. We use webhooks to signal to our internal tools database when new Contacts are created, updated, or deleted, in order to keep our DB in sync with Zoho CRM. However,

      • Charting the 2025 Voyage: Zoho Invoice's Year in Review

        2025 has been a year of progress, productivity, and purposeful growth for Zoho Invoice. From expanding into new regions to refining everyday workflows, each update was designed to help businesses stay compliant, get paid faster, and work with confidence.

      • How to Hide System-DefinedTemplates in Service Report

        Is there any option available to hide system-defined templates? these templates are causing confusion for field users.

      • WhatsApp Report in Bigin CRM

        Reporting feature for Bigin CRM’s integrated WhatsApp that provides insights such as: Number of WhatsApp conversations closed Number of messages sent and received Number of conversations replied to Response and closure metrics for WhatsApp chats More

      • Issue with Azure DevOps Integration in Zoho Flow

        Hello, All workflows between Zoho Flow and Azure DevOps have stopped working for several days now. Upon further investigation, it seems that the connection to Azure DevOps is no longer directly supported. Indeed, Microsoft has deprecated the Azure DevOps

      • Narrative 16: Simplify with workflows

        Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 16: Simplify with workflows What is a workflow? A workflow organizes business tasks in a defined sequence that makes each step clear to all participants. This ensures work is completed

      • Next Page