Zoho CRM Community Digest - Aug 2025 | Part 1

Hey everyone! 
The first half of August went by, and we have a few announcements and some good noteworthy discussions. So, let's take a look at them! 

Product Updates:

Introducing Connected Records feature:

Zoho CRM’s Next-Gen UI now includes Connected Records, a powerful feature that streamlines cross-team collaboration by linking related records such as deals, demo requests, onboarding tasks or contracts across modules. Unlike traditional lookup fields, Connected Records are more dynamic and can be created manually, directly from the source module, or triggered via workflows, all without admin setup. This ensures teams get the right context at the right time, reducing dependency on emails and making hand offs seamless. For a full walkthrough and visuals, check out the post.

The Zoho CRM iOS app latest updates:
 

Streamline data collection on the go with Kiosk, now accessible from Blueprints, Record Detail view, Custom Buttons, and Canvas.  Make calls using Zoho Voice and RingCentral directly from the app for a more integrated calling experience. Voice notes and voice-to-text inputs are now extended to 5 minutes, facilitating easy addition of longer notes. WhatsApp Business messaging is now deep-linked from Business Card section and Record Detail view, enabling you to start chats with a quick tap. Want to see how it all looks? The full post includes handy screenshots and walkthroughs.

Introducing Connected Workflows:

Zoho CRM introduces Connected Workflows, a powerful new feature designed to automate the entire customer journey by connecting multiple teams and the CRM modules each team works with. Unlike traditional Workflows that operate within a single module, Connected Workflows let you set up trigger criteria and actions across multiple CRM modules, enabling seamless, collaborative automation tailored to how different teams work. Want to see how to build these step-by-step? Check out the post for a full walkthrough!

Control Timeline & Interaction Visibility in Zoho CRM with Profile-Based Permissions

Admins now have the power to manage who sees the Timeline and Interactions across modules in Zoho CRM. With this update, profile-based permissions let you enable or disable access to a record's history for each module, ensuring users only see information relevant to their roles. The feature is currently available in most data centers, with a broader rollout on the way. Check out this post to learn more.

Zoho CRM UI Update: Streamlined Activities Module:

Zoho CRM is rolling out a UI update focused on the Activities module, covering Calls, Meetings, and Tasks. Key interface elements have been reorganized to create a more consistent experience across the CRM. The Timeline tab now appears next to the Overview, and details like call reminders, RSVPs, and task follow-up messages are easier to access. The rollout is happening gradually across all data centers and editions. Check out the full announcement for more updates and a complete overview of all these changes.

CommandCenter 2.0:

Managing a lead's journey, service delivery, vendor coordination, or the entire customer lifecycle involves complex orchestration of processes, touchpoints, and customers. With CommandCenter 2.0, we've made that orchestration smoother, smarter, and more scalable. You can now group records from multiple modules into unified stages, trigger actions from custom events, and track customer progress using dynamic identifiers, no pre-built relationships required. It’s all about clearer orchestration, smarter logic, and more control over your customer touchpoints. Check the post for full details.

Quick Wins:

Tips for effective usage of Lookup fields:

@gbjork has a Technicians module and Submissions module that tracks job assignments with a lookup to the related technician. As the lookup field displays only the primary field, an auto-generated Tech ID, they wanted to include the technician name in the Submissions module. @Hugh Marshall clarified how the lookup association works and suggested clicking the lookup icon to open a detailed view showing additional technician details to help select the right technician. He also pointed out that hovering over the info icon quickly reveals the technician's name. Check out this post for full details.

Developer's Corner:

Create Custom SalesSignals via Developer Console:

SalesSignals is currently supported out of the box only for the Leads and Contacts modules. When @Rakesh Kumar needed to configure SalesSignals for a custom module, @Ishwarya pointed out that this can be achieved using APIs or Functions. @Hugh Marshall stepped in with a brief explanation and the required code to make it work. Check out this post for more details.

Flexible Placement for Custom Buttons:

@Nick wanted all custom buttons visible on the record detail page instead of being hidden in a drop-down, as they felt users might miss them. @Haiku Technical Support shared a smart workaround using a client script that dynamically lists all available custom buttons in a widget. When clicked, the widget triggers the corresponding button action on the underlying CRM page. @Hugh Marshall summed it up in one word: Awesome! Check out this post for more details!

And that’s a wrap for this fortnight’s Zoho CRM Community Digest.
Caught something cool we missed? Or have a favorite from this edition? 
Drop it in the comments! We’d love to hear from you. We’ll be back in two weeks with more updates and community gems. 

Until then, stay tuned!

• Topic Participants

• Swetha S

  

• Sticky Posts

• How to reach the official Zoho Support channels and avoid fake ones.

  Dear Customers, Thanks a lot for choosing Zoho! Our applications are built to help achieve your day-to-day business goals. We are committed to engaging with you, to understand and develop solutions that enhance your productivity.  We are happy and ready to help you use our services effectively. Understanding and avoiding fake support Just like using popular bank names and financial applications for phishing purposes, using Zoho and claiming to be providing Zoho Support or services with false numbers

• Function #35: Close all tasks associated with a lead and create a new task.

  Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to close all tasks of a deal depending upon the deal stage. This week, let's look at a custom function that lets you close all of the tasks associated with a lead while simultaneously creating a new task, like when you need to halt all progress towards a lead while the lead is not available at the moment but create a reminder task. Business scenario: The success of a company, in one way or another, is determined by the leads it gets. Each lead is just

• Zoho CRM Webinar - Redesigning Daily User Experiences with Canvas

  <br> Your users across roles use the CRM for day-to-day tasks that are necessary. Whether they perform their tasks on time, the right way, or at all depends on a lot of factors, including User Experience. Many businesses struggle with rigid layouts,

• Join us at the Canada ZUG Meetup: What’s New in Zoho CRM

  Hello Zoho Community! Start your year with fresh insights into Zoho CRM’s latest updates and tools. Whether you're a CRM beginner or a experienced user, this meetup is crafted to help you optimise your processes and leverage new features. Explore practical

• CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.

    Hello everyone! What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel,

• Recent Topics

• Sales without an invoice

  Sales without an invoice is not included on the “payments received” report. Also, sales without an invoice is not listed in the transactions under the customer’s profile, also making it easy to do a double entry. Is there a way for me to see my sales

• Zoho Sign API - Create a document from template.

  1. I would like to create a document from a template and send the document to the customer for signing. Is this possible using the Zoho Sign API? If so, please share the api reference link. 2. Is there sand box for Zoho Sign to test the APIs without using

• Zoho Sign embedded iframe

  Hello, we are looking for any of these options: a) some iframe that we can paste into our website for every signer, for onpage signing document. b) or get direct link for signers from Zoho sign API which we can redirect manually. Is any of these options

• Goods in transit

  When creating a purchase order in Zoho Books, how can I properly reflect the inventory as "Goods in Transit" until it reaches its final destination?

• how to coming soon, holding site, or "under construction"

  Hi! I was wandering if was possible to create a website with the simple sign of "Under construction or coming soon" while i work on the site. if possible, how? Cheers

• Announcing Agentic AI - Ask Zia!

  We are delighted to roll out the new agentic AI capabilities in Ask Zia, where every stage of the BI workflow is assisted by AI. With a human-in-the-loop approach, Ask Zia ensures that you’re in command of the decision, while AI handles the complexity.

• Zoho People LMS VS Zoho Connect Manuals VS Zoho Learn

  in the past I came accross Zoho WIKI but did not like the platform because it could use a lot of upgrade. Over the time I have noticed Zoho People come out with a LMS module which allows us to created a shared knowledge for our internal team I also came across Zoho Connect which as a knowledge-based for internal team referred to as Manual Now I am seeing Zoho Learn which is a new and fine-tuned version of Zoho Wiki. All of these platforms are very similar but I am wondering what are the differences

• Marketing Automation Activities in Zoho CRM

  Hello, I've connected Zoho CRM and Marketing Automation, sent a campaign, but no data are displayed in CRM, neither in "campaigns" section inside contact profile. It is possible to display Marketing Automation activities in CRM? Also in CRM Timelines?

• How do we get a follow up to Experts 22: Scale up your customer support with integrations & extensibility

  Hi, How do we get a followup and answers to the questions we have asked during 'Experts 22: Scale up your customer support with integrations & extensibility'. I have repsonded to the answers but have no way of following up. Thanks Brett

• Frustrating Email Duplication and Timeline Issues Between Zoho Mail and CRM

  Hi Zoho team, Can someone please help clarify what’s going on here? Here’s what’s happening: I initiate an email to a lead using Zoho Mail. The lead is created in Zoho CRM via the integration, and the email is correctly associated with that lead. Sometimes,

• Best Strategy to import contacts and when to create leads

  Hi, I'm new to Bigin and looking for a "best" strategy. I had and have the following idea for an use case: 1. Search for websites which I want to contact 2. Create a contact in Bigin with all the required information based on this website (via API if

• Better implementation of Item Category on Invoices and Estimates

  1) I have added Item Category as a custom field. Honestly, this should be a native part of the item itself, and either required, optional, or not used.  2) When entering an item on an invoice, you have to enter the first character(s) of the item, otherwise

• Bulk Update (via the 'Accountant' menu)

  Why can't we bulk update Expenses to Owner's Drawings? It always ends in failure with the error "Involved account types are not applicable". If such conversion isn't possible, why make the option available? Better to allow it though.

• Set Reply_to parameter for "Email an Invoice" API Endpoint

  Is there a way to set "Reply To" email address when using the Email an invoice API endpoint? It doesn't seem to be in documentation, but sometimes there are undocumented parameters. If it doesn't exist, please consider adding it as parameter since all

• Zoho Books adaptado a la legislación española. ¿Sustitutos?

  Buenas a tod@s No tenemos información sobre la adaptación de Zoho Books a la nueva ley de facturación en España. Me preguntan usuarios de zoho que deberían hacer. Propongo una lista de alternativas, si al final se opta por no desarrollar la funcionalidad

• A Question about Email Handling (Sending and Receiving)

  Hello! I was looking into setting up Email Aliases for my domain that I purchased a while ago through Zoho Mail. I set up a singular alias already and have it linked with Gmail, and it seems to be working out well. However, I set up another alias today,

• Kaizen #201 - Answering Your Questions | Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series! We are incredibly grateful for all the feedback we received, and as promised, we will answer all the queries in this Kaizen series. Last week, in our 200th post, we addressed one of the

• Zoho Projects Strict Dates for Tasks

  Hi Zoho Projects team, I would love to see a feature to allow Strict Dates for Tasks. Sometimes in projects you have dates which must not move, even if predecessor Task dates change. For example, perhaps you need to book access to a facility to perform

• No Mark as filed buton in GSTR -3b

  We are filing our GST in GST portal -and want to mark GST in Zoho books as filed. It is possible to mark GSTR 1 as filed through Mark as filed button. But there is no such button in GSTR-3B.  How to mark corrosponding GSTR-3B as filed?

• ranking by drag the choices instead of rank by number

  is the option of draging the choice is available instead of selecting the ranking number for each choice?

• TASKS - Dashboard to show ALL Tasks from ALL apps.

  The Unified Tasks View is useless without the other main zoho apps (Desk, Books & even FSM now) We need to see all our tasks under on pane of glass. The Zoho developers are out of touch with real business workflows. So how it was designed they want us

• Function #13: Transaction level profitability

  In Zoho Books, the Profit & Loss report provides valuable insights into the overall profitability of your business, indicating whether you have made a profit or incurred a loss. However, there may be occasions when you wish to assess whether a specific

• Zoho CRM with Sap Business One

  I need information about integration CRM with Sap BO, thank.

• Allow bill to nest multiple projects

  A bill (purchase) is more often than not used across multiple projects and this functionality is missing and very urgently needed for accurate reporting of purchases across projects

• Amazon invoice in Zoho Books

  I have just made my first few sales on Amazon India. Amazon Seller account generates invoices for the sales made on Amazon. These invoices are sent to customers also. Now when I was only making offline sales, I used to create Invoices in Zoho Book. Now

• How can I change iOS display setting at night?

  It seems like at night the two light daytime settings themes (white with blue on top or just white) are not available and I am forced to choose among a few other colours that I really don’t want, I.e., black, blue or orange. Is there a way for me to always

• Celebrate WWW day with Zoho Desk

  Let's recall the times when we learned 'WWW' stands for World Wide Web. Whether you like to call it wuh-wuh-wuh or double-u double-u double-u, or World Wide Web, we all owe a lot to this groundbreaking invention that reshaped how we connect, communicate,

• The power of camaraderie

  In the days before the internet boom, conversations happened face-to-face or over the phone. Phone calls were precious; every minute counted, and every word mattered. We looked forward to those moments of real connection. Even today, nothing quite matches

• Message Content is missing/invalid fault

  We cannot create a complete template over zoho. Some features - like button adding - is missing. The templates are created on Zoho and edited on Meta to solve the problem. But still then, some features cannot be used and the message returns this failure

• Können bereits gesendete Kampagnen im Nachhinein einer Mailing-Liste zugeordnet werden, ohne dass die Kampagne erneut versendet wird?

  Wir haben unsere älteren Kampagnen in Campaigns über Kontaktkategorien versendet. Dann haben wir umgestellt auf Mailing-Listen, damit alte Kampagnen auch in einem Archiv aufgerufen werden können. Jetzt ist die Frage, ob die Kampagnen, die über die Kategorieauswahl

• Newsletter Templates Are Not Mobile Responsive

  Hi, I've already submitted this request to ZOHO once this morning, but for some reason your system logged me out, wouldn't accept my username/password login, and isn't showing any evidence that I've submitted this issue. So here we go again... I am under the impression that your newsletter templates are supposed to be mobile optimised: https://www.zoho.com/campaigns/blog/responsive-email-marketing.html This is clearly not the case, as the last 2 newsletters I've created in Campaigns look perfect

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

  Bonjour à toutes et à tous, Zoom sur les nouveautés de juillet dernier au sein de Zoho Community France. Zoho Commerce vous propose une expérience améliorée grâce à sa nouvelle interface ergonomique et à ses fonctionnalités avancées, conçues pour faciliter

• 100 Rows in a Subform is too limited

  We have a custom Module in CRM called Price Sheets, when we get a PO from a client we add the items from the PO to it and then check with our vendors for pricing and add our margin etc And after it is complete we have setup custom scripts to create a

• Uninstall unattended agent

  Hello, I'm testing many use case before we purchase assist for our remote support. While we are testing what is the proper way to uninstall agent?  I did uninstall from systray, from windows control panel but still ZohoURservice is running. How can I uninstall client side?

• Zoho Commerce Down?

  Is anyone else's storefront down at the moment? Ours has been down for at lease an hour.

• Zoho Projects iOS app update: Dashboard widget on the home screen

  Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce the 'Dashboard' widget in the latest version(v3.10.8) of the Zoho Projects iOS app. Dashboard widgets allow you to view the project progress visually without having to open the app. The widget enables you to

• Idea: Workflow Rule Trigger Only When Subform Row Is Updated (Thanks to New Inline Row Feature)

  Hi Zoho team and community, With the recent update to Zoho CRM, we can now add or delete rows inside subforms without entering edit mode, using the inline Add row button. This is a fantastic improvement for user experience — seamless, fast, and efficient.

• Auto add new section based on document choices

  Hi team, I'm wondering if the below is a possilibity within Zoho sign. We have an application process to become a customer of ours, we currently use Zoho Sign to manage this application and this works quite well. However, if the customer indicates 'YES'

• Change rate after xxxx kilometers

  Is there a way to change the miileage rate after a certain mileage. After 5000 kilometers, we want the rate to automaticly change. Thank !

• Subform Entry Limit from a Subform Field (A different Subform on the same Form)

  Hi, I would like to be able to use a Subform 1 Field as the Dynamic Entry Limit for Subform 2. Even better would be able to use some code with the values, so for example using the Subform 1 Qty Field as the Max Entry limit for Subform 2, BUT only the

• Next Page