Zoho Books | Product Updates | February 2025

Zoho Books | Product Updates | February 2025

Hello users,

Now that January is over, here are some exciting updates to make this new year even better. We’re back with new features and enhancements in Zoho Books, including comparing fields as criteria in workflow rules and a custom SMTP integration. Explore these updates that are designed to elevate your accounting experience.

Import/Export E-Invoices in the ZUGFeRD and XRechnung Format [Germany Edition]

Customers can now download their e-Invoices in both XRechnung and ZUGFeRD formats directly from their customer portal. Additionally, vendors can upload invoices through their vendor portal and later convert them into bills from the Bills module.




Create Compound and Group Taxes [Germany Edition]

We’ve introduced the option to create compound and group taxes to manage local taxes and surcharges. In some cases, additional taxes, such as tourism or municipal taxes, may be charged alongside VAT. If the local tax is included in the total amount, VAT will be calculated on the entire amount (including the surcharge). However, if the local tax is applied separately, it will not be subject to VAT and will not appear in VAT-based reports. Additionally, when creating a tax rate, you can set tracking preferences for both sales and purchases.



Use Field Comparison as Criteria in Workflow Rules

When creating workflow rules, you can now use the comparison of two fields as criteria. For example, you can set a rule that triggers a workflow when the Discount Amount exceeds the Tax Amount.



To compare fields as criteria, navigate to Settings > Automation > Workflow Rules > + New Workflow Rule. Enter the Workflow Rule Name and select the Module. Choose an Action Type and click Next. Then, click + New Criteria, select a field from the first dropdown, choose a comparator from the second dropdown, click Select Placeholder below the third dropdown, and select the field to compare. Click Done.

Background Execution Custom Button

When creating a custom button, if the execution takes longer than 10 seconds, you can choose to either wait for it to finish or move it to the background. For tasks that run over five minutes, the system will automatically shift them to the background unless you opt to do so manually. After the process is completed, you'll receive an in-app notification.

Send Emails with Custom SMTP Servers

With Email Relay, you can use your own SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) servers to send emails and avoid spam filters. You can add multiple SMTP servers, assign them to specific emails or domains, and set a daily sending limit. Once the limit is reached, emails will be sent through our Transmail server.



To setup an email relay, go to Settings > Reminders and Notifications > Email Notifications > Email Relay > + New Server.

Leave Organization

We've introduced the option to leave an organization from the Manage Organizations page. However, if you're the admin who created the organization or the only admin, you'll need to delete the organization instead. Additionally, if you've enabled any integrations in the organization, you'll need to disable them before leaving.



Filter Lookup Custom Fields by Setting Criteria and Using Custom Views

You can now filter your lookup custom fields by using custom views and setting criteria. Records will be filtered based on both the Custom View and Criteria, ensuring all conditions are met.



Create Workflow Rules with Sub-Modules

You can now create workflow rules for sub-entities within the Invoice module. For example, within the Invoice module, you can execute workflows with Bill of Supply, Debit Note, and Late Fee as sub-modules.



To create workflow rules for sub-entities within the Invoice module, navigate to Settings > Automation > Workflow Rules > + New Workflow Rule. Enter the Workflow Rule Name, select the module as Invoice, choose an option under Execute Workflow For, and select the sub-entity from the Invoice Type dropdown.

Handle Duplicate Items Using SKU in Zoho Books - Zoho CRM Integration

You can now use product SKU as the field based on which duplicate items will be identified while integrating Zoho Books organization with Zoho CRM.



Zoho Inventory Add-On Updates

Print/Download Purchase Receives

Now, you can print or download your purchase receives. We have also supported a standard template with which you can view the PDF of your purchase receives.

To print or download a purchase receive, go to Purchases > Purchase Receives. Select the purchase receive and click PDF/Print.

To view the PDF of a purchase receive, go to Purchases > Purchase Receives. Select the purchase receive and enable the Show PDF View option on its details page.

Other Feature Enhancements

  • Access your Customer/Vendor Balance Summary reports with the same configuration and filters as before, and create custom reports.
  • We now support exporting the current view of your filtered Tasks that you and your users have to complete.
  • You can now mark the default filters of all modules as your favorites. This change will only be visible to you and will not affect other users in the organization.


    We hope you like the new features and enhancements in Zoho Books! Take some time to explore the latest updates. We’ll be back next month with even more updates, as we continually strive to elevate your accounting experience.

    You can also visit the What's New timeline for bite-sized information about our previous feature updates and enhancements. If you need any assistance, feel free to reach out at support@zohobooks.com.

   Best regards,
   The Zoho Books Team

      • Recent Topics

      • Merge Join PDFs Zoho Creator

        Hi all, I have a field where users upload PDF, is it possible to join those pdfs into one with a function or something? Regards.

      • CRM Quotes- Delete tasks when status is changed

        Hello. We have our quotes setup for approval process. We would like however to delete the tasks that are made when a different quote stage is selected. So when a quote stage is setup for "sent for review" we have the automation process to send out an

      • 請求書に添付されているファイルをAPI経由で取得する際の問題について

        Books APIリファレンス 現在、Books APIを利用して請求書内の添付ファイルを取得するメソッドを構築しています。以下のコードを参考にしているのですが、添付ファイルが複数アップロードされている場合、responseにおいて2つ目のファイルの情報しか取得できない現象が発生しています。 headers_data = Map(); headers_data.put("Authorization", "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.41d9xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc2d1.8fccxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx125f");

      • Power of Automation::Streamline Associated Teams during Blueprint transition.

        Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

      • Custom Sign-in and Sign-out

        I've had a number of users ask me "how do I sign-out" when the sign-out link is clearly on the upper right of the page. To make it more obvious, you can use this bit of code to make a sign-out button on the top of any HTML view. You can customize the serviceurl as needed. <a class="zc-formbutton" style="padding: 5px;font-size:12px;" href="https://accounts.zoho.com/logout?serviceurl=https://creator.zoho.com/<%=zoho.adminuser%>/<%=zoho.appname%>/">Sign-Out</a> And since we're on this topic, you can

      • web page becomes flickering after being made into WebTab

        I create a webtab in Zoho CRM like this it uses this URL below: https://blueraycargo.id/kalkulator-berat-volume/ as you can see, if you open the bare URL then it will have no problem, but after it becomes a WebTab then it is flickering constatly. what

      • 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

      • NOW Zoho Creator still cannot bulk download Image or File Upload Field

        The filedownloader has been deprecated for 5 years. Until now, we still cannot have a replacement tool. How can we bulk download the file that we uploaded to Zoho Creator. Previously, it was so simple to bulk download all those files. But now failed to

      • Transferring Attachments from Lead to Account

        Hi All, I'm trying to create a function that will transfer attachments in leads to the newly created account. I know there's an option to choose where the attachments go when you click the standard convert button but we have a high volume of conversions

      • Product/Quotes with a Setup AND a Recurring (monthly) Fee.

        Good day. We sell software in different modules. These modules have a Setup Fee AND a Monthly fee. It is possible to add a Custom Field to a product with the Monthly Fee (next to the Setup Fee or Unit Price), but it's not possible to make this visible in the Quotes Module. What we need, which is essential for SAAS business with a subscriptions and a setup model: - We want to add products to our quotes with two prices (setup AND month fee) - These should be visible and editable in the product details

      • how to have incline alert on subrow's column or subform or other workaround that at least can let the user know this subform currently has some validation checking.

        I have a subform and each row that are some columns that are compulsory to fill up. If user did not fill up, how to show incline alert on those columns or incline alert on the subform. Or any workaround that at least can bring the user to that fields

      • The ability to show fields from subforms when viewing from related list

        Hi there, Currently im only able to display default columns , however when im unable to add the columns/fields from the subform Ive created. below is a field called quantity from the subform. Im not able to search up this field from the manage column

      • Tip 26: How to hide the "Submit" button from a form

        Hi everyone, Hope you're staying safe and working from home. We are, too. By now, we at Zoho are all very much accustomed to the new normal—working remotely. Today, we're back with yet another simple but interesting tip--how to hide the Submit button from your forms. In certain scenarios, you may want to hide the submit button from a form until all the fields are filled in.  Use case In this tip, we'll show you how to hide the Submit button while the user is entering data into the form, and then

      • Tip 31: How to make a field in a Zoho Creator form mandatory based on criteria

        Hi folks,   I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Mandatory property available in our form builder. It enables you to ensure that your users enter an input in a required field. If they don't enter an input in that field, they'll be unable to submit

      • Create a new module with first name & last name, and join the two when viewing records

        I've created a new module, and I have first name / last name fields (I've renamed the record name field as last name). When I'm viewing a record, I'd like to see "Bob Smith" at the top of the page and in lists, not just "Smith" as I have today - basically the same experience you get when editing / viewing leads in the leads module.

      • Display name in Zoho Desk Ticketing system

        We are in the trial phase to implement a Ticketing system. As our company uses several generic emails, such as service@abc.com and service@xyz.com across different branches, the uniqueness of usernames (full names) becomes crucial for our business. Without

      • Desk Contact Name > split to First and Last name

        I am new to Zoho and while setting up the Desk and Help Center, I saw that new tickets created or submitted from the Help Center used the Contact Name field. This would create a new Contact but put the person's name in the Last Name field only. The First

      • Time Entry warning

        Is it possible to configure a warning/alert when a ticket exceeds a set amount of Time?

      • Use color coding for picklist field values to enhance visual representation

        It's easier and more efficient to manage a large volume of data in a ticket or other custom module records, such as ticket priorities and issue types, when you apply clear visual distinctions through color coding. Color-coded picklist fields allow users

      • Kaizen #126 - Circuits in Zoho CRM - Part 1

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! Today, we will discuss an exciting topic—Circuits in Zoho CRM. For starters, we will discuss what Circuits are, how beneficial they are for businesses, different views of a Circuit, and the different

      • How to Freeze Tasks

        Is there a way to freeze a task in the Gantt chart so it cannot move even when predecessors are moved?

      • Is it possible to have conditional pages?

        We have a Document, which consists of multiple different subdocuments. We want to have the subdocuments as pages inside a doc and only show them in specific cases. Is it possible to have conditional pages inside of a mail merge based on CRM data?

      • Campaigns workflow emails going to Spam

        Hi Everyone, Does anyone have a solution for workflow emails going to recipients SPAM folders? Our domain is not on any Blacklists, We have our domain authenticated with SPF, DKIM and DMARC all set up and we still have leads who tell us they are not getting

      • Re-send document that's in process

        I tried to send out a document for signature via Email & SMS. The email bounced and I didn't have any SMS credits, so that failed too. I now have SMS credits and want to re-send the same document to the same email address and phone number. How do I do

      • How to associate a document sent in Zoho Sign with an deal in the CRM?

        Hi, often documents are loaded in Zoho sign and sent for signature. These sometimes are linked to a deal in the Zoho CRM and would be nice to see the status of the document within the CRM. I am aware of the integration, but that assumes that the document

      • Zoho Mail Android app update - View emails shared via Permalink on the app.

        Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.8.2) of the Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support to access the emails shared via permalink within the app. Earlier, when you click the permalink of an email, you'll be redirected to a mobile

      • Partial payments for retainer invoices

        When a customer does not pay the entire retainer invoice there is no way to apply a partial payment. PLEASE add this function.

      • Continue after error for each loop on invoke url

        Hello. I'm trying to upload files to workdrive using invokeurl. It goes through a list of urls using for each. Sometimes the file is larger than 5mb. The whole workflow stops in that event. I'd love a work around to upload larger files, but I don't think

      • Expenses in multi organisatuon setup

        I appreciate that this question can be a mix of zoho expense and books. I have 2 books organisations, where one of them is only being used for financial management of a subsidiary in a separate country. Literally just for purpose of input accounting 

      • Help Center Help!

        Hello, I am fairly new to Zoho Desk and want to write articles and publish them on a Help Centre. However, I cannot wrap my head around how to get started. Can someone from Zoho do a one on one with me or are there helpful videos on this topic? Frustrated,

      • CRM

        I have a portal set up where a contact can see other contacts within an account automatically. When a contact in the portal enters a deal, how do I make sure that deal is assigned to the account so other contacts in the account can see the deal was generated?

      • Facing issue in getting data through api calls

        I have send data of users and want to get the data oof users but facing issue with one field for that I want help

      • Incorrect merging of two tickets: Delete Mail History

        Hello, I merged two different (incorrect) tickets in the Zoho Desk system. How can I remove the communication from the merged ticket?

      • Notebook stacks

        Hello, Are you planning to implement some kind of notebook grouping, similar to evernote stacks? I know that we can group notes inside of the particular notebook but for a lot of us it is not enough I belive. Sometimes that additional layer for organization

      • Setting Up Auto-charges using payoneer as a gateway

        I use payoneer as my gateway because of my location, however, I have a new client who wants to be auto-charged every mont. Is this possible with the gateway I use? Or does the client have to manually pay every month?

      • Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

        I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

      • Create CRM Notes from Creator using Deluge

        I sync our CRM with information from a Creator application using the zoho.crm.create and zoho.crm.updateRecord functions, passing in the appropriate Map variables. This is working fine. However, I'd like to be able to create Notes associated to CRM modules

      • Hourly Permission not getting Calculated

        That is our settings The total calculation should be from 9:37 AM to 3:37 PM, but the hourly permission isn't getting calculated The last entry is hourly permission, it's not

      • Custom widgets on Zoho one dashboard

        Is it possible to create custom widgets on the Zoho One dashboard? I see there is a widget name My Open Tickets to display open tickets in my view, but I would also like to have a widget to display unassigned tickets. A widget to display unfinished projects

      • When will Zoho MA have a feature to filter out bot clicks from actual human clicks?

        When will Zoho MA have a feature to filter out bot clicks from actual human clicks so that actual metrics aren't affected? How are we expected to differentiate it today?

      • Next Page