Zoho Backstage January 2026 Updates: Lead Controls, Ticket Group Links & QR Enhancements

Zoho Backstage January 2026 Updates: Lead Controls, Ticket Group Links & QR Enhancements

Welcome to 2026! If you thought last year was big, buckle up. We’re stepping into this year with a singular focus: unimaginable growth, elite scalability, and performance benchmarks that leave the old ways of event management in the rearview mirror.
 
As we entered 2026, we found ourselves asking familiar questions. Should we...
  1. Focus on building brand-new features?
  2. Refine what already exists?
  3. Double down on performance and scalability?
  4. Or quietly fix the things that slow you down?
The truth is, it isn’t a single choice.
 
Running events today demands all of it—powerful features, thoughtful enhancements, rock-solid performance, and the kind of reliability you only notice when everything just works. So instead of choosing one direction, we chose to move forward on all of them.
 
At Zoho Backstage, we refuse to let "good enough" be the status quo. We know you need a platform that evolves as fast as your vision does. January’s updates reflect that balance. And this is only the beginning of what 2026 has in store.

Lead Profile Settings  

Expos generate valuable conversations—now you have more control over the data that supports them.
 
With Lead Profile Settings, event organizers can decide exactly what information exhibitor teams see when they scan attendee badges. This means exhibitors get only the details that matter while you stay in control of data visibility and privacy.
 
You can configure Lead Profile Settings from Exhibitors > Exhibitor Settings > Lead Profile.


 
Organizers can choose:
  1. Relevant basic fields such as phone number, company, or designation.
  2. Selected custom registration fields.
Default fields like first name, last name, and email are always included and can't be removed.
 
Once configured, these settings apply across all exhibitors for the event. When exhibitors scan a badge, they’ll see only the fields you’ve enabled—directly in the mobile app under Lead Scan > Lead Profile.
 
To ensure consistency and privacy:
  1. Hidden registration fields can’t be added to lead profiles.
  2. Any field removed from the registration form is automatically removed from the lead profile as well.
This is especially useful for events like education fairs, job expos, and industry exhibitions, where custom registration data plays a key role.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans.

Ticket group links and IDs

Sharing the right tickets just got easier.

You can now copy the Ticket Group ID or Ticket Group URL directly from the ticket group options.
  1. The Ticket Group URL takes registrants straight to a specific ticket group on the Select Tickets page—perfect for targeted sharing.
  2. The Ticket Group ID can be used with the embeddable widget to display tickets from a specific group. Support for this ID will also be extended to APIs once Ticket Group APIs are available.


Whether you’re embedding tickets on an external website or guiding attendees to a focused set of options, ticket group sharing is now simpler and more precise.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans.

QR code support extended to more email types   

Check-ins and access should feel effortless—for everyone involved.
 
We’ve expanded QR code support across more automated and scheduled emails, making event entry and session access smoother for every role.
 
In addition to the existing QR code widget in Send Registration Details, Welcome Assignee, and scheduled attendee emails, QR codes can now be added to emails sent to speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and RSVP guests.
 
QR codes can also be added to emails sent to speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and RSVP guests.
 
Newly supported automated emails include:  
  1. Welcome Speaker and Session Updated emails for speakers



  2. Inform an early sponsor that the website is live and Welcome and thank a sponsor who contributes after the website is live emails for sponsors
  3. Exhibitor Request Approved and Invite Booth Member emails for exhibitors
QR code support has also been extended to scheduled emails sent to speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and RSVP guests attending the event.
InfoPlan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans for automated emails. Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans for scheduled emails.

The road ahead: 2026 & beyond  

This January release is just the first spark. This year, Backstage is undergoing a massive transformation in capabilities and performance. We're engineering the platform to handle more data, more users, and more complexity than ever before without breaking a sweat.

We aren't just a tool; we’re your partner in scaling your impact. Let’s make 2026 the year your events become legendary.
Info
All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
If you have any questions or need access to early access features, please contact support@zohobackstage.com. 

      • Recent Topics

      • Powering Customer Support with our women

        In Zoho Desk support, women make up 50% of our team. We see this as one of our strengths, reflecting the spirit of this year’s theme, "Give to Gain". Our women find their balance Women carry many responsibilities — they represent frontline support, lead

      • How to use OR when filtering using two fields

        I want to create return a list of Account Names by filtering on Field1 = "yes" OR Field 2 = "no" I can't see how to use the OR in the filter.

      • Mobile phone version not working well

        I am working on the Zoho Site Builder. In the preview the desktop version looks okay, but in the mobile phone preview many words are cut off in the weirdest (wrong) way. How can I fix that?

      • Zoho - Please explain difference between Thread view and Conversation view on Ticket

        I have reviewed the help document here but am still not clear on the difference between the two views. As an example, I just had a back and forth on a ticket: - Customer emails support email. - I email back from Desk. - Customer responds back. - I email back from Desk. On the upper left drop down box on the ticket Zoho Desk now says this is "4 Threads" and "4 Conversations" . How is that 4 threads?? By my count it is 1 thread and 4 conversations (assuming by "conversation" Zoho means number of total

      • Can't rename groups on Mac desktop app

        I'm working on an up-to-date Mac with a freshly downloaded Notebook app. I'm trying to rename a group within a notebook. Here I have, left to right, a note, a group, and a note. I select the group. On the top left, I select Action. On the dropdown, "Rename"

      • Zoho Forms - Feature Request - Year Field

        Hi Zoho Forms Team, You currently have the following date and time fields: Date Time Date and Time Year and Month It would be useful if you could include a "Year" field For example a recent application I completed said "What year was your house built?"

      • I need help to take Reports for tickets moved between departments.

        Hi, I need help to take Reports for tickets moved between different departments. Pls guide Shyam

      • Export to excel stored amounts as text instead of numbers or accounting

        Good Afternoon, We have a quarterly billing report that we generate from our Requests. It exports to excel. However if we need to add a formula (something as simple as a sum of the column), it doesn't read the dollar amounts because the export stores

      • Increase Round Robin Scheduler Frequency in Zoho Desk

        Dear Zoho Desk Team, We hope this message finds you well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Round Robin Scheduler in Zoho Desk to better address ticket assignment efficiency. Current Behavior At present, the Round Robin Scheduler operates

      • Automation #6 - Prevent Re-opening of Closed Tickets

        This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Typically when a customer submits

      • Zoho Desk EU slow/unresponsive

        Has anyone else got issues with ZohoDesk today in the EU? It takes an age to come back and if you do start typing something and try and send or save it looks like it times out. We are also getting this pic. ot I can't see anything on https://status.zoho.eu/

      • EU DC Partial Outage Resolved: A Detailed RCA

        Incident Summary Due to an overload on one of the nodes in the EU DC for Zoho Desk, the system was unable to handle the heavy load, causing a slowdown in requests and resulting in a partial outage for customers with data residing in that node. On May

      • Use Zoho Creator as a source for merge templates in Zoho Writer

        Hello all! We're excited to share that we've enhanced Zoho Creator's integration with Zoho Writer to make this combination even more powerful. You can now use Zoho Creator as a data source for mail merge templates in Zoho Writer. Making more data from

      • Perfomance Management - Zoho People

        Hi team, I am looking for performance management data such as KRA, goals, feedback, appraisals, etc., in Zoho Analytics. However, I am unable to find these metrics while editing the setup. Could you please confirm whether these fields are available in

      • Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

        Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector

      • Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

        Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities

      • Zoho Mail iOS app update: Display recipient's nickname on contact suggestion

        Hello everyone! In the most recent version(v3.3.1) of the Zoho Mail iOS app update we have brought in support to display recipient's nickname in contacts suggestion. Please update the app to the latest version directly from the App Store or using the

      • Digest Février - Un résumé de ce qui s'est passé le mois dernier sur Community

        Bonjour chers utilisateurs, Le 26 février, nous avons organisé notre première session Ask the Expert de 2026. Nous sommes heureux de partager que ce fut une session très interactive, avec de nombreuses questions intéressantes posées par nos clients. Si

      • Zoho CRM Case Notes - Share to Customer

        Hi team does anyone know the Api to set a note, against a case, to shared with customer? i cant seem to find it  cheers 

      • Zoho Forms - Feature Request - Past Into Scanning/OCR Field

        Hi Zoho Forms Team, You recently introduced the OCR/Scanning field which I have found great use for with one client who receives work orders as a screenshot from one customer. I want to raise a feature request here which would make that field even more

      • Synching changes to Stripe when changes are made in Zoho Billing

        We have a situation where we have merged customers in Zoho BIlling and then found out later that the payment in Stripe was not updated and still associated with the old customer record. The card gets updated and billed, but that payment is still associated

      • Send out follow-up email in the same thread (threaded conversations in individual emails) from Zoho CRM

        Hi, I'm new to Zoho. I'm trying to send individual emails to my leads one by one. And I'll send out follow up email if I don't hear back from them later. However, instead of sending a new email, I want to reply in the same email thread so that the recipients

      • Depositing funds to account

        Hello, I have been using Quickbooks for many years but am considering moving to Zoho Books so I am currently running through various workflows and am working on the Invoicing aspect. In QB, the process is to create an invoice, receive payment and then

      • Is Zoho Sites still actively being developed?

        Hello, Is Zoho Sites still actively being developed as part of the Zoho ecosystem? I noticed that the What's New page (https://www.zoho.com/sites/whats-new.html) does not show any updates since Q1 2025. We were considering migrating our website from Squarespace

      • FSM integration with Books

        Hi, I have spent a few months working with FSM and have come across a critical gap in the functionality, which I find almost shocking....either that, or I am an idiot. The lack of bi-directional sync between Books and FSM on Sales Orders/ Work Orders

      • web to lead

        Can anyone help me how to create web to lead from zoho marketing automation

      • Introducing Workqueue: your all-in-one view to manage daily work

        Hello all, We’re excited to introduce a major productivity boost to your CRM experience: Workqueue, a dynamic, all-in-one workspace that brings every important sales activity, approval, and follow-up right to your fingertips. What is Workqueue? Sales

      • UI issue with Organize Tabs

        When looking at the organize Tabs window (bellow) you can see that some tabs are grayed out. there is also a "Add Module/Web Tab" button. When looking at this screen it's clear that the grayed out tabs can not be removed from the portal user's screen

      • I created a signup form in Zoho Marketing Automation with the correct field mapping, but the data is not being reflected under Leads in Zoho CRM.

        web to lead from zoho marketing automation

      • Pasted Images not being embedded in custom mail

        Hi, I'm making a custom report by email based on commentaries. I have the email ready, all working great except for images that are being pasted in the commentaries. Zoho deals with them as temp images and so it requires authentication to view them, something

      • Kaizen #232 - Building a Ticket Escalation Mechanism from Zoho CRM

        Howdy, Tech Wizards! Picking up the thread from last week, we will continue our Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk integration. In Kaizen #231 - Embedding Zoho Desk Tickets in Zoho CRM, we built a Related List widget that displays open Zoho Desk tickets within the

      • Inactive License for free account.

        I recently upgraded my Cliq subscription not my team (on the free version), are unable to login to their accounts. The error message received is Inactive License Looks like you have not been covered under the current free plan of users. Please contact

      • Deluge scripts

        Why is there not a search function to make it easier to find the script of interest when modifications are required.

      • Zoho Sheet for Desktop

        Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?

      • Zoho Books (and other Finance Suite Apps) - Clickable Item Name on Invoices and Reports

        Hi Zoho Books team, It would be really helpful if the Item Name on Reports were clicable to take me to the item. The same on Invoices, often I am looking at an invoice and I want to look at the deails of a product. A link here would be helpful to jump

      • Zoho Books - Payment Gateway - Revolut

        Hi Books Team, My feature request if to include the popular platform Revolut as a payment collection option on invoices in Zoho Books. Please upvote if you are also looking for this option.

      • Searching for an item from within an invoice should show any item containing the string, not just those that begin with the string.

        Hello, I've found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the limited line-item seach when adding new items to an invoice. The problem is that the characters being typed are only being matched from the beginning of the item name.  This might be usable

      • How to Rank Tables by Row Count in Descending Order

        I am trying to understand the consume of lines that grow up so fast in the last week. Is there any way to create a pivot table or query to get TABLE NAME LINES in descending order?

      • Dealing With One-Time Customers on Zoho Books

        Hello there! I am trying to figure out a way to handle One-Time customers without having to create multiple accounts for every single one on Zoho Books. I understand that I can create a placeholder account called "Walk-In Customer", for example, but I

      • Marking a meeting 'done'.

        I would like to somehow mark a meeting 'done' and placed under the contact's page rather than deleting it and having no record of it. Am I missing a button that does this?

      • Next Page