Unveiling Zoho CRM's New User Interface - The NextGen UI

Unveiling Zoho CRM's New User Interface - The NextGen UI


Hello Everyone,

Last Wednesday, May 14th,2025, we announced the public release of Zoho CRM For Everyone, our most significant update yet. This release brings a modernized CRM experience with a redesigned user interface, new capabilities for cross-functional collaboration, and greater flexibility for users across your organization.
Read our PR announcement, our forum announcement, and the blog post to know more about this release. 

To help you get the most out of these updates, we’ll be publishing a series of announcements that walk you through the major enhancements now available to all Zoho CRM users.

We’re kicking off this series by spotlighting one of the most noticeable changes — the new and improved user interface, Zoho CRM's Nextgen UI.

What’s New in the NextGen UI? 

  1. A reorganized menu option
  2. The sidebar
  3. Teamspaces
  4. Additional Module Views
  5. Interactions Tab
  6. Enhanced Themes and
  7. Night Mode
Watch this video to get an idea of how your CRM could look!



Let's dive into each of these features in detail : 

Reorganization of menu options from the top band to the left-hand side vertical sidebar. 

Previously, Zoho CRM housed the menu bar on the top where most of the navigation took place, as shown below.


Now, We moved the top bar to the left with a vertical sidebar that is expandable as shown below. This not only declutters the top space but also makes it easier to access your modules and features with minimal clicks.

The Sidebar  

The new sidebar is now an extremely functional piece of the UI with contextual shortcuts for quick settings, neat folders for better organization of modules, and more. Learn more.

The top portion of the Sidebar houses icons to view and work with Modules, Reports, Dashboards, Requests, Marketplace, and Global Search.


The bottom portion of the sidebar now contains intuitive utility icons such as Quick create record, Mail magnet, Calendar, and more. (originally located on the top right corner of the UI).


Expanding the sidebar opens up quick-controls contextual to what you've chosen to work on. This is collapsible in order to allow you to maximize your right-hand side work area.


Contextual Shortcuts through the sidebar 

You have contextual shortcuts to Setup options from here, like creating new modules or folders. While the backend Setup is still intact, these options from the sidebar options offer a quick shortcut.

Create Modules 

You can create either org modules or team modules from the sidebar. This option makes it easy for users to quickly create their own modules and
configure processes instead of navigating to the setup menu every time.

Create folders 

You can create modules or folders right from this location without having to navigate to the backend Setup.  Folders are a great way to organize or group modules in different categories. Say you are part of the Sales teamspace and you have certain sales activities  that you need to perform to touch base with customers like creating tasks, scheduling calls or meetings. So you can group Tasks, Meetings, Calls into a "Sales Activities" folder for easy access and a clutter free side bar. Learn more.

You can also directly create layouts, webforms, wizards, canvas pages, etc from the sidebar.

Organized Teamspaces for Focused Work 

Tab Groups have been transformed into what we now call Teamspaces. If your CRM is used by multiple teams, organizing and managing their work and data can quickly become complex.

We offer a solution by giving each team a dedicated, folder-like space where all their related modules are grouped together. This setup ensures clear separation between teams, making collaboration more focused, and preventing the risk of teams crossing over or accessing modules that are not meant for them.

Hence, Teamspaces are dedicated workspaces for each department or function to organize their work. Whether you're in sales, support, or marketing, Teamspaces help reduce noise and keep your workspace relevant to your role. Learn more.

You have the option to create teamspaces from the bottom of the sidebar or from the Setup menu. The org admin would generally be the one who creates teamspaces, assigns users as teamspace admins and adds users to a teamspace.
Note : Users with the Manage teamspace permission enabled will be able to create and manage teamspaces in an org.
Teamspace Admin
​A teamspace admin is generally the head of a department or a team. For example, a Sales Director could be assigned as the Sales Teamspace's Admin. Once a user becomes a teamspace admin, they can add or remove users, allow reports and dashboards to be created for modules within a teamspace.

Note :  If a user is a Teamspace admin but does not have the "Manage Teamspace" permission enabled, they can only manage the specific Teamspace they’ve been assigned to as an admin. They won't be able to create new Teamspaces or manage any others.
Notes

Features offered as part of this enhanced UI 

  • Additional Module Views have been added to provide you with more flexibility, better insights, and improve productivity when working with module data. Thee view added are :
     --> Chart View : Get a visual representation of your module data with this View
     --> Grid View : Convert your module data into a spreadsheet-like interface where you can edit and manage records directly without having to open each record individually.
    --> Timeline View : Look at how your module is created by viewing data plotted over a specific period of time.
    --> Split View : Split your module data based on picklist fields /users or criteria to segment them for further inferences.
  • Interaction tab : This feature displays a timeline of a customer's journey and their engagements across different channels within your CRM.
NotesWe will post individual announcements for each of the above features in the upcoming days.

Themes

The new UI introduces a refreshed theming experience with 13 vibrant colour options to personalize your workspace. These themes go beyond just cosmetic changes: the selected theme isn't limited to the sidebar; it flows throughout the product interface.

Once you choose a theme, the colour is consistently applied across key areas of the CRM, including buttons, tabs, menus, and other interactive elements. This cohesive design enhances visual clarity and gives your team a more engaging, unified experience tailored to their preferences.

If you want to match your brand colours or give your CRM tool a refreshed appearance, the new themes bring both customization and character to your work environment.

Dark-Mode 

With the new UI, we’re excited to bring Dark Mode to your CRM experience. This feature was designed with both comfort and usability in mind.
Dark Mode offers a visually soothing alternative to the standard light interface, reducing eye strain during long hours of work, especially in low-light environments. It's not just a cosmetic change; it’s about enhancing usability and making your workspace more comfortable.

Once enabled, Dark Mode is applied consistently across the entire product, including the new UI elements like the left sidebar, buttons, forms, and interaction panels. Whether you're viewing records, managing tasks, or collaborating within Teamspaces, the darker interface ensures clarity without compromising on aesthetics or function.

This addition is part of our effort to make Zoho CRM more adaptable to user preferences and modern work styles. You can switch to Dark Mode at any time from your profile settings and choose what works best for you. Learn more.

What can you choose in this implementation?

Day : Prefer a brighter interface? Day Mode offers a clean, crisp, and classic appearance of your CRM, making it not just functional but also visually pleasing. 

Night : Enjoy a sleek, modern look with reduced eye strain, especially in low-light environments. Darker UI minimizes glare and helps reduce fatigue, making it easier to work for longer periods.

Auto : Let the system decide! Auto Mode automatically switches between dark and light themes based on your device settings.


We invite you to explore these exciting updates and see how productivity increases in your CRM journey. Stay tuned for our upcoming announcements where we’ll dive deeper into each feature, helping you make the most of everything the NextGen UI has to offer. 

Regards,
Serena Woolridge







        • Recent Topics

        • 3/18 オンライン勉強会のお知らせ Zoho ワークアウト （無料）

          ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 3月開催のZoho ワークアウトの開催が決定しましたのでご案内します。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▶︎参加登録はこちら（無料） https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BoNTN7zYR8OvOPGShqBY0A ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目指すイベントです。

        • New 2026 Application Themes

          Love the new themes - shame you can't get a little more granular with the colours, ie 3 different colours so one for the dropdown menu background. Also, I did have our logo above the application name but it appears you can't change logo placement position

        • Placeholder format in Number field does not reflect Max Digits configuration

          When the Max Digits (Maximum digits of number) property is set to a smaller value (for example, 2 digits), the placeholder in the input field still displays a 7-digit format (#######). The same behavior can also be observed in Decimal and Currency field

        • How does SKU work when selling products in parts in Zoho Inventory

          Hello everyone, Zoho Inventory does not understand the physical cutting of the piece.. It only tracks quantities of the unit (like feet ). So when you sell part of an item, the system simply reduces quantity for that SKU. Assume that i have a 50 ft long

        • Ability to Attach Record-Specific Files Automatically in Workflow Email Templates

          Currently in Zoho CRM, email templates allow attachments to be added, but these attachments are static and remain the same for every recipient. There is no straightforward option to automatically attach a file that is stored within the specific CRM record

        • CRM Cadences - working timesThe Friday afternoon? The next Monday morning? Not at all?

          I think I’m writing saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

        • CRM Cadences - working times

          I think I’m right in saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when

        • Push Notification for New Bookings in Zoho Bookings App

          when a someone schedules an appointment through the booking page, is there any option to receive a push notification in the mobile app?

        • Intergrating multi location Square account with Zoho Books

          Hi, I have one Square account but has multiple locations. I would like to integrate that account and show aggregated sales in zoho books. How can I do that? thanks.

        • Add the same FROM email to multiple department

          Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

        • Zoho Desk View Open Tickets and Open Shared Tickets

          Hi, I would like to create a custom view so that an agent can view all the open tickets he has access to, including the shared tickets created by a different department. Currently my team has to swich between two views (Open Tickets and Shared Open Tickets).

        • Clone Banking Transaction

          Why is there no option to CLONE a Transaction in the Banking module?? I often clone Expenses (for similar expense transactions each month) so I would also like to clone Income transactions. But there is no option in Banking to clone an existing Income

        • Zoho Expense - Bi-Weekly Report Automation

          Hi Zoho Expense Team, My feature request is to please include an option to automate creation of reports bi-weekly (every 2 weeks)

        • Application Architecture in Zoho Creator: Why You Should Think About It from the Start

          Many companies begin using Zoho Creator by building simple forms to automate internal processes. This is natural — the platform is extremely accessible and allows applications to be built very quickly. The challenge begins to appear when the application

        • Arquitetura de Aplicações no Zoho Creator: Por que pensar nisso desde o início

          Muitas empresas começam a utilizar o Zoho Creator criando formulários simples para automatizar processos internos. Isso é natural — a plataforma é extremamente acessível e permite construir aplicações rapidamente. O problema começa a aparecer quando a

        • Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

          When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

        • How to Customize & Reorder Spaces in Zoho One 25 (Spaces UI) — Admin Tips Not in the Docs

          Hey Zoho Community, After digging around in the new Spaces UI, I found a couple of admin features that aren't well documented yet but are really useful. Sharing here in case others are looking for the same things. 🔁 How to Change the Default Space Users

        • System Components menu not available for Tablet to select language

          I have attached a screenshot of my desktop, mobile, and tablet menu builder options. I am using 2 languages in my application. Language Selection is an option under the System Components part of the menu, but only for my desktop and phone(mobile). My

        • Approvals in Zoho Creator

          Hi, This is Surya, in one of  my creator application I have a form called job posting, and I created an approval process for that form. When a user submits that form the record directly adding to that form's report, even it is in the review for approval.

        • How Zoho Desk contributes to the art of savings

          Remember the first time your grandmother gave you cash for a birthday or New Year's gift, Christmas gift, or any special day? You probably tucked that money safely into a piggy bank, waiting for the day you could buy something precious or something you

        • Estimate PDF Templates - logo too large

          Hello, I cloned a standard estimate template, but my logo is showing up much larger than intended. This doesn’t happen with the standard invoice template, where the logo displays correctly. How can I adjust the logo size in the estimate template? Thank

        • Select CRM Custom Module in Zoho Creator

          I have a custom module added in Zoho CRM that I would like to link in Zoho creator.  When I add the Zoho CRM field it does not show the new module.  Is this possible?  Do i need to change something in CRM to make it accesible in Creator?

        • Invoice emails not sending but reminders are

          I am a new user. I have been creating some dummy invoices before I go live and have struck a block. Emails for the invoice are not being recieved by the recipient, however, when I send a reminder for the same invoice the email is sent. NOTE: I have checked

        • Deleted account recovery

          I ended up accidentally deleting our Zoho invoice account while trying to work something out. Emailed support for recovery and restoration of the deleted account, if possible, but they responded by saying they can't find an account associated with that

        • Devis et factures multipage coupées

          Bonjour, je suis sur Zoho invoice et je rencontre un problème sur mes devis et factures lorsqu'ils dépassent 1 page. je me retrouve souvent avec des lignes coupées ou le sous total page 1 et le total page 2. j'aimerai savoir s'il existe une possibilité

        • Custom Related List Inside Zoho Books

          Hello, We can create the Related list inside the zoho books by the deluge code, I am sharing the reference code Please have a look may be it will help you. //..........Get Org Details organizationID = organization.get("organization_id"); Recordid = cm_g_a_data.get("module_record_id");

        • Zoho Meeting - Feature Request - Introduce an option to use local date and time formating

          Hi Zoho Meeting Team, My feature request is to add an option for dates to be displayed in the users local format. This is common practice across Zoho applications and particularly relevant to an application like Zoho Meeting which revolves around date

        • Cannot give public access to Html Snippet in Zoho Creator Page

          Hi, I created a form in Zoho Creator and published it. The permalink works but I want to override the css of the form. (style based URL parameters is not good enough) So I created a page and added an Html snippet. I can now override the css, which is

        • How can Outlook 365 link back into Zoho Projects so meetings and events in Outlook calendar show in Zoho?

          We use Outlook 365 for our emails and diaries and have integrated Zoho Projects with Office 365. One challenge we face is getting Zoho Projects to recognise when we have meetings and events in Outlook and not allow project managers to assign tasks over that period. Is there a way to resolve this? Thanks

        • On Edit Validation Blueprint

          Hello, I have a notes field and a signature field. When the Approve button is clicked, the Signature field will appear and must be filled in. When the Reject button is clicked, the Notes field will appear and must be filled in. Question: Blueprint will

        • Zoho Invoice en Navarra (Spain)

          Hola, ¿Alguien usa Zoho Invoice en la Comunidad Foral de Navarra? En Navarra tenemos un sistema tributario diferente y no aplica Verifactu (la Hacienda Foral de Navarra ha anunciado su alternativa, NaTicket, pero no ha informado cuándo entrará en vigor).

        • Emails from Zoho are getting blocked due to Zoho IP address being blacklisted

          This is the info I got from my hosting provider – please address this issue immediately. I don’t expect this from such a big household name. Every single invoice I have sernt it not being received by my clients, all being blocked. All of a sudden. As

        • agentid : Where to find?

          I've been looking around for this agenId to check for the total ticket assigned on a specific agent url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/ticketsCountByFieldValues?departmentId=351081000000155331&agentId=35108xxxxxx132009&field=statusType,status" type :GET

        • Zoho DataPrep integration with OpenAI (beta)

          We are thrilled to announce Zoho DataPrep's integration with OpenAI. The public beta roll-out opens up three features. Users who configure their OpenAI Organizational ID and ChatGPT API key (Find out how) will be able access the features. The features

        • AI Bot and Advanced Automation for WhatsApp

          Most small businesses "live" on WhatsApp, and while Bigin’s current integration is helpful, users need more automation to keep up with volume. We are requesting features based on our customer Feedbacks AI Bot: For auto-replying to FAQs. Keyword Triggers:

        • Setting total budget hours for a specific project

          Hi there, I work on a lot of projects that have fixed budget hours. Is there a way to enter the total budgeted hours so i can track progress and identify when hours have been exceeded. I see in the projects dashboard there is a greyed out text saying

        • Clone entire dashboards

          If users want to customize a dashboard that is used by other team members, they can't clone it in order to customize the copy. Instead they have to create the same dashboard again manually from scratch. Suggestion: Let users copy the entire dashboard

        • Introducing Formula Fields for performing dynamic calculations

          Greetings, With the Formula Field, you can generate numerical calculations using provided functions and available fields, enabling you to derive dynamic data. You can utilize mathematical formulas to populate results based on the provided inputs. This

        • Getting started with Zoho PDF Editor

          Hello users, If you are new to Zoho PDF Editor or aren't sure of its full potential, then this article is for you. Zoho PDF Editor is a free online PDF editing tool, that allows you to upload and edit PDFs, insert text and images, add fillable and e-signature

        • Zoho Projects - Cloning a task does not trigger task workflow when created

          Hello! I have a Project where my team uses a set of tasks from a tasklist as templates, so we could simply clone it and drag it to another list in kanban view to avoid creating a new one from scratch. The process works well, but after cloning it the new

        • Next Page