What's New in Zoho Books - April 2024

What's New in Zoho Books - April 2024

Hello users,

We are back with a bunch of new features and enhancements to make your accounting experience seamless. Keep reading to learn more about them.

WhatsApp Integration in Zoho Books
 

You can now connect WhatsApp to your Zoho Books organization to send notifications of payments and sales transactions directly to your customers. You will be able to customize marketing and utility templates for each module to send notifications. You can also initiate conversations with your customers directly from the app.

Learn how to set up WhatsApp integration in Zoho Books in our help document.

To enable WhatsApp for your customers, navigate to Sales > Customers, select a customer, and edit their Primary Contact or Contact Person details on the overview page. Then, enable WhatsApp as their Communication Channel.



Record ACH Payments for your Retainer Invoices


We have supported ACH payments for your retainer invoices which means, you can record ACH payments for your retainer invoices directly from Zoho Books. Additionally, customers can make ACH payments through external links or in the customer portal. Once the payment clears within 3-5 business days, a payment receipt will be generated for the invoice in Zoho Books.

To record ACH payments, go to Sales > Retainer Invoices. Select your preferred ACH payment gateway when creating or editing an invoice.



Add your MSME details in Zoho Books [India]

As per Section 43B(h) of the Finance Act 2023, you should make payments for purchases from (Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) MSME registered businesses within 45 days from the date of purchase to ensure timely payments to avoid tax implications.

If your organization is MSME registered, you can add your MSME details in Zoho Books. Simply enter your MSME/Udyam registration number in your organization's address. Additionally, you can add the MSME details of your vendors in Zoho Books, to track and manage unpaid bills from MSME vendors directly from your dashboard and make timely payments within the 45 days.




Apply Late Fees to Your Invoices [US Edition]

Now, you have the option to apply a late payment fee if your customer misses the due date for an invoice. You can specify how many days past the due date the fee will be applied and choose the calculation method based on the invoice amount. Additionally, you can track all late fees applied in your organization under a default account.


To enable this feature, go to Settings > Preferences > Invoices and toggle the Late Fee Preference option.

Note: This feature is available only in the Premium, Elite and Ultimate plans of Zoho Books. Visit our pricing page for a comprehensive list of features in each plan.



Enhanced Comments & History Section
 

We've upgraded the Comments & History section of your transactions with new features. Now, you can tag and notify other users about a transaction within your comments. Additionally, you can emphasise your words with style using bold, italic, and underline options.


Zoho Inventory Add-On Updates

Void Option for Transfer Orders

Now, you can easily void transfer orders that have been partially or fully processed, making them inactive. This automatically updates stock levels in both the source and destination branches. You also have the option to convert void transfer orders into drafts for any needed adjustments before resending.

To void a transfer order, go to Items > Transfer Orders, and choose Void from the More dropdown menu on the transfer order's overview page.

Cumulative Stock for Item Groups

You can now efficiently track the total stock in hand of all items within an item group to manage and reorder them easily. View the cumulative stock in hand of each item group in the Item Groups module.

Other Feature Enhancements
 

UPI ID Option for Invoice QR Codes

We have introduced the UPI ID option for your invoice QR codes. 
You can include your UPI ID as a QR code on the PDF of your invoices. This allows your customers to scan the QR code with their device and make payments directly to your UPI ID.

To use this feature, go to Settings > Sales > Invoices > General and select UPI ID as the QR code type in the Invoice QR Code section.



TDS Surcharge and Cess [India Edition]

We have introduced the options to include TDS surcharge and cess within a TDS group tax. Now, when you apply the TDS group tax to a bill, the surcharge and cess amounts will be deducted along with the TDS tax amount.

To add new TDS surcharge and cess rates, navigate to the TDS Rates page in Taxes under Settings
.





 
The Zoho Finance Workshop 2024 

Join us for a two-day workshop and get hands-on experience with our Zoho Finance suite. Registrations are currently open for cities across India, the GCC, and Canada. Visit this page to register and for more details.




That's it from us for this month's product updates! We hope the latest enhancements are helpful for your business. You can also visit the 
What's New timeline for byte-sized information about our previous feature updates and enhancements.

We'll catch you in next month's product updates. Until then, if you require any assistance or need clarifications, feel free to write to us at support@zohobooks.com, we'd be happy to help!

Best regards,
The Zoho Books Team




        • Recent Topics

        • Zoho Desk API - Send Reply to CUSTOMERPORTAL

          Hello! I'll try to send a reply to Customer Portal, But the response is 500 (INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR in service response). {"Error":"{\"errorCode\":\"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR\",\"message\":\"An internal server error occurred while performing this operation.\"}"}
        • Python - code studio

          Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already
        • Issue with open-rate reporting in Zoho Campaigns

          Hello, Since yesterday I’ve been experiencing an issue with the open-rate reports in Zoho Campaigns. The campaigns I send appear in the reports as if none of the emails have been opened, even though I know they have. To verify this, I replicated the campaign
        • Best practices for managing Project Charters, Business Case and RAID logs within Zoho?

          Hello everyone, I’m currently refining our PMO setup within Zoho Projects and I’m curious how others are handling high-level governance documentation. We’ve been using the standardized Project Charter, Business Case and RAID frameworks from projectmanagertemplate.com
        • Zoho Books Payroll

          How am I supposed to do payroll and pay my employees with Zoho Books? I think it's pretty strange that an accounting software doesn't have the ability to perform one of the most common functions in business; paying your employees. Am I missing something,
        • Is It Possible to Convert a Custom Module to a Quote?

          I recently created a custom module in our CRM environment for RFQs so that our sales team can submit quote requests directly in Zoho rather than by email/phone. This allows for a cleaner overall process, minimizing potential errors and potentially encouraging
        • Proposal: Actionable API Error Messages to Reduce Support Ticket Volume

          I've encountered a long-standing frustration with how Zoho Creator's API communicates errors to developers, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. This issue has persisted for over 9 years based on community discussions, and
        • Allocating inventory to specific SO's

          Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could
        • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

          Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards
        • Closing the Loop: Why Lookup Asymmetry is Harming Data Integrity in Creator

          TL;DR: Lookup fields allow users to add new related records inline via the "+" icon, but there's no equivalent ability to edit an existing related record without navigating away and losing form context. Adding a native "Edit" icon—with automatic User
        • Add the ability to Hide Pages in Page Rules

          Hi, We have Field Rules to show and hide fields and we have page Rules, but we can't hide a page in Page Rules so it isn't completed before the previous page (And then have the Deny Rules to prevent submitting without both pages completed), we can only
        • using the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is Service

          using the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to field is Service if Purchae no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is Purchase
        • Changes to the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM

          Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously enhance our security measures to ensure a safer experience for all users. As part of our ongoing security enhancements, we're making an important update on using the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM. What's changing?
        • Work Order wont mark as Completed

          I have a couple of work orders that won't mark as completed even when I've marked the Service Appointments as completed fully.
        • Item name special charaters <>

          Im trying to input speical characters such as < and > into item name and item description but comes up with following error: Invalid value passed for Item Name and Invalid value passed for Item Description How do i allow speical characters?
        • Zoho Analytics Dashboard - How to hide the user filter

          I am using the same dashboard template across different external clients and applying a user filter to the data by site URL. How can I hide the user filter in View Mode so the external client won't see the list of other clients in the drop-down menu?
        • Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account

          Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, they
        • Kaizen #229: Email-Deal Associations in Zoho CRM

          Hi All, Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! Emails are a core channel for customer communication in any CRM system. In Zoho CRM, emails can be associated with records across multiple modules. In this post, we will focus on email associations with
        • Action Required: Update Microsoft SQL Server Security Settings Before February 2026

          Dear Users, We recently deployed security updates in Zoho Analytics that inadvertently caused connection failures for a few customers using Microsoft (MS) SQL Server hosted on older Windows versions (Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, and 2014). To restore
        • Contacts limit in basic vs standard - what counts? Are customers contacts?

          I’ve been using books for a number years for my small business. I only ever work with 20 clients at any given time. I do purchase services from a number of vendors to run my business, so there are some comtacts there too. I used to use the basic package,
        • Saving issue

          First problem I opened a MS word file in writer. after the work is done, it does not save instantly, I waited for like 10min and it still did not save. second problem When I save a file, then file gets saved as another copy. I just did save, not save
        • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

          Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of
        • Create Tasklist with Tasklist Template using API v3

          In the old API, we could mention the parameter 'task_template_id' when creating a tasklist via API to apply a tasklist template: https://www.zoho.com/projects/help/rest-api/tasklists-api.html#create-tasklist In API v3 there does not seem to be a way to
        • Ability to Set a Unified Tab Order/View for All Users in Zoho Projects

          Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding tab/menu organization in Zoho Projects. Current Behavior: The tab (module) order in Zoho Projects is user-specific. Each user (internal or external)
        • Task Order

          Hello! I've recently switched to Zoho Projects and a long time user of MS Project, Asana and LiquidPlanner (which has recently been purchased) and I'm running into a frustration I'm hoping someone can assist with. It has to do with how tasks are ordered
        • Automating CRM backup storage?

          Hi there, We've recently set up automatic backups for our Zoho CRM account. We were hoping that the backup functionality would not require any manual work on our end, but it seems that we are always required to download the backups ourselves, store them,
        • 2026 Product Roadmap and Upcoming Features

          This is your guide to what is coming in Zoho Vertical Studio throughout 2026. We’ll update this post throughout the year as items move from development to release, and as and when new initiatives are added. Once a feature is released, it will be reflected
        • Vendor legal and DBA names for USA users

          I would like to hear how Zoho Books users are handling DBA names in the vendor profile. If the Company name in the vendor profile has to be the legal name (line 1 of the W-9), whare are you entering the DBA name (the name that checks are made out to)
        • Zoho Books API invoice email bouncing with 'relaying-issues' error

          I have waited over 30 days for zoho books uk to assist with the following and i have had no replies or tickets erronously closed. The service has been terrible - very unlike zoho! So i am raising this here hoping that a community member can assist: Hello,
        • Stop the Workarounds: We Need Native Multi-Step Forms

          After over 17 years of community requests, I'm hoping the Zoho team can finally address the lack of native multi-page form support in Zoho Creator. This has been one of the longest-standing feature requests in the community, with threads spanning nearly
        • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | January 2026

          Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications for the month of January. Zoho Mail Zoho People Notifications preview in Zoho Mail Notification emails from Zoho People
        • How do i setup default values for few fields

          We have few fields in CRM like rate of return, type etc - they can be picklist and standard inut fields. picklist we have choice to set default value. but how do we default some value in input type of fields?
        • We know the company but not the contact

          We are fairly new to Zoho, part of our marketing stack is we use products like lead feeder to identify which companies are visiting our site. We are able to match this data to salesiq but cannot find a way to add a company name to the salesiq visitor
        • Customize Calendar view in Teamspaces Settings

          Right now every customization that happens inside of the calendar view inside of CRM is only visible for the specific user. We want to be able to set up calendar views as an admin for specific roles. I would suggest to do that inside of the settings of
        • How to filter subform report based upon main form report in dashboard

          Hi Team, I am creating a dashboard in Zoho Analytics. I want to have a main form report and below I want to show subform report of main form. If I filter the main form with date then I want to show subform records based upon main form. how can I achieve
        • using the Client script I want to Hide Show the Fields

          if Related to service means some of the field like service no want to shoe and hide Amc no , purchase no how i achive this let issu = ZDK.Page.getField('Issue_Related_To').getValue(); if (issu == 'Service') { var field_obj = ZDK.Page.getField('Warranty_Cases');
        • Ask the Expert – Zoho One Admin Track : une session dédiée aux administrateurs Zoho One

          Vous administrez Zoho One et vous vous posez des questions sur la configuration, la gestion des utilisateurs, la sécurité ou encore l’optimisation de votre back-office ? Bonne nouvelle : une session Ask the Expert – Zoho One Admin Track arrive bientôt,
        • Write-Off multiple invoices and tax calculation

          Good evening, I have many invoices which are long overdue and I do not expect them to be paid. I believe I should write them off. I did some tests and I have some questions:  - I cannot find a way to write off several invoices together. How can I do that,
        • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

          Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the
        • vendors / customers with 2 different address and gst no

          Why can't we have option for more than one address and depending on the state option for more than 1 GST no. ? We have customers / vendors PAN india with different addresses and GST no. for different states.
        • Next Page