Creator roadmap for the rest of 2022

Creator roadmap for the rest of 2022

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all good!

Thanks for continuing to make this community engaging and informative.

Today we'd like to share with you our plans for the near future of Creator.  We always strive to strike a good balance of features and enhancements to cater to the different segments of the Creator audience. While we've got some exciting features lined-up that you've been expecting from us, we're also thrilled to announce that there are a few surprises and some key market differentiators as well!

The following roadmap gives you the gist of what's coming up, and more details about each feature will be posted here as we close on the various release dates.

Read on to know about the features planned to be rolled out during
Quarter 3, 2022.

AR library
We're delighted to announce that we'll soon be bringing augmented reality (AR) in Zoho Creator! The AR library enables you to set up an immersive augmented reality experience for your users. An application can have 3D objects in its AR library, which can be accessed via AR fields and annotated in the real world using compatible iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. This real-time digital interaction provides better data visualization and enhances end-user experiences, providing you with exciting new business opportunities.

Released on: Sep-2022

Company logo
Your apps will soon be able to better reflect your company image with customized branding details. With this feature, a
company logo and favicon can be uploaded and will be displayed when you access your application in live.

Released on: Oct-2022

Theme colors
The color scheme of an application not only makes it more attractive but also keeps it distinct from your portfolio of other apps. With this update, you'll be able to select a color of your own choice for your application theme, to make them visually more appealing and maintain branding guidelines across apps.

Released on: Oct-2022

Application fonts
Font choice plays an important role in the readability and aesthetics of an application and determines the brand perception. With this update, you'll be able to choose fonts from a predefined list, as a part of theme customization.  You can also choose different fonts for different form factors, like web, mobile, and tablet.

Released on: Oct-2022
Reference: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/creator/developer-guide/applications/articles/set-theme-for-your-application#Choose_Font

Push notifications
Notifications are the modern-day solution to keep your users informed and engaged. Push notifications are a powerful means to reach your app users anytime, whether or not they are in your app, to capture their attention and reengage them. Creator notifications are undergoing a major makeover to support real-time notifications for approval workflows, blueprint workflows, and record comments across web, mobile, and tablet devices.


Form titles
Interaction with forms can become more meaningful when we have contextual information. We're going to introduce form titles that'll enable you to set different display titles for the two primary actions in a form — adding a record and editing a record.  

Released on: Aug-2022


Dark mode for Android
Yes, you heard it right! We're going to extend dark mode support to Android apps. Dark mode, which is great for low-light situations and is easier on your eyes, will be automatically enabled based on your default system settings.  

Released on: Sep-2022

Blueprint analytics
Understanding the performance of a
blueprint workflow and gaining insights to optimize its efficiency is a key aspect of every business management process. We'll soon be introducing blueprint analytics to provide vital information like average time taken per blueprint, average time taken per stage/transition, total number of transition occurrences, etc., to give complete insights into your apps' blueprints.




Custom connectors
Prebuilt services available in Connections help you seamlessly integrate your Creator application with various other cloud services. In certain scenarios, organizations might have unique requirements that would require usage of other third-party connectors, not supported by Creator. Such integrations can be achieved by adding them via custom connectors.


To know about the features planned to be rolled out during
Quarter 4, 2022, scroll further!

Custom AI models
AI fields in Creator make your applications smarter by utilizing advanced machine learning techniques. Custom AI models can help your applications become more intelligent using custom-trained OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and object detection algorithms, based on the images you upload.  Custom-trained OCR makes predictions and processes written text from digital images into machine-readable text.

Released on: Feb-2023
Reference: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/creator/developer-guide/microservices/ai-modeler/articles/understand-ai-modeler#Model_Types


Pop-up subforms
Vertical scrolling is conventional and intuitive when working with subforms that contain numerous fields. This feature will open a subform in a pop-up while adding and editing a row, which ensures better user experience and space management.    

List-type subforms
We're introducing a table-like subform without inline inputs, which looks similar to our list report. This is suitable for subforms, that you expect to experience less-frequent modifications and have a large number of line items.

Subform custom sorting
Using this feature, users can manually reorder the row sequence of a subform, while adding and editing records. This feature is great for use cases beyond field-based ordering, when the fields in the subform need to be sorted in a specific order.

Form cache
At times, a user might close the browser window or navigate to another component accidentally while filling in a form. To avoid data loss in these scenarios, we'll be storing the form data temporarily, so that users can continue from where they were when they accidentally left the form.

Blueprint Deluge tasks
Programmatic controls for blueprint workflows help automate business processes. We'll be introducing Deluge tasks to change the stages and transitions of a blueprint. Also, blueprints will be automatically initiated for records added through Deluge.

User connections
Workflows involving connections will soon prompt user authentication when accessing applications in live. This will help identify the exact user using the third-party services, and permissions will be applied based on that service.

Extensions
Zoho Marketplace is a unified platform that hosts low-code apps published by developers that can be utilized by clients on multiple platforms. In the Marketplace, you can now publish one or more app components, which can be installed into existing applications. For the first phase, widgets can be published and installed into an existing application.

Early 2023 releases

We are excited to announce a few of our features that are expected to be launched early next year!
    
Canvas builder
We'll be introducing a Canvas builder for creating flexible and visually appealing detail views of reports. In the initial phase, this builder will be supported only in the web interface.

Subforms in stateless forms
With this update, you'll be able to add subforms in stateless forms. Since stateless forms don't store any data, users can use subform insert row, clear row, and access field Deluge tasks to manage subform data.

Advanced email analytics
Gaining insights about emails sent from your apps can help complete the email notification life cycle. To achieve this,  we'll be introducing advanced email analytics that'll inform you about delivery status, enable recipient activity tracking, and provide you with a detailed log to improve email performance powered by Zoho ZeptoMail.

OTP login
Portal users who don't have email addresses will be able to use their phone number as an alternate method for signing up and signing in, with OTP-based authentication.

Login template
Creator offers a default and robust design for each of the customer portal pages, which you can further customize using the portal page designer. With this update, we'll be supporting prebuilt templates and additional customization controls for portal login, signup, and reset passwords pages.

Deluge editor
Similar to your application IDE, intuitive error messages will be shown in the Deluge editor while scripting itself i.e. before saving your script.  Apart from this,
customizing keyboard shortcuts, full screen mode and a few other enhancements are on the way.

App installation setup
Installing applications from the marketplace requires basic information to guide/setup the user configurations.  For example, this includes selecting the timezone, date format etc., Using predefined configurations before publishing apps to marketplace will help users during the installation process.



We appreciate that you have all been patient with us. It's your continued support and understanding that motivates us to keep pushing our boundaries and add exciting new features.  Also, we are aware that some of your requests were not fulfilled at this time, but please be assured that we are still working on them.

We hope this announcement post will help you in planning your upcoming projects and apps in advance. Finally, please note that there could be small changes to the scope of these features and release timelines, but we're committed and confident that we'll be able to deliver on all the exciting updates we've announced.

Wait! This isn't the complete list. We have even more surprises cooking in our labs, and can’t wait to share all of that with you! So stay tuned and keep watching this space for updates. Meanwhile, do keep using Creator and keep the feedback coming!
 
Prakash,
Product Management,
The Zoho Creator team.




    • Recent Topics

    • how to record deferred revenue?

      Dear Zoho Team, We issue invoices relating to 12-month web hosting service. When we issue the invoice, we should record the entire amount of the invoice as DEFERRED REVENUE (ie. $10 x 12 mths = $120, balance sheet item). After the particular month of the hosting service, $10 of revenue has been earned and deferred revenue amount will be $110. We must keep adjusting the balance sheet and income statement over the course of the service until the company has fulfilled its obligation of services and
    • Narrative 13: Importing your data

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 13: Importing your data When importing data into an application, it is crucial to prevent data loss or duplication. These types of errors can hinder the development of a clean and
    • Blueprint Not Triggering When Lead Status Is Updated by Workflow (IndiaMART Integration)

      I have set up a blueprint that triggers when a lead’s status is “New Lead.” Our CRM is integrated with IndiaMART, and when leads are created from IndiaMART, their Lead Status is initially set to None. To handle this, I created a workflow that automatically
    • Update Subform in specific field(Status) without affecting other fields in Zoho CRM using Deluge?

      Scenario: PRODUCT Module(change name Plot) in any product status change From Available to Booked then on PROJECT Custom Module have Subform So, Subform name is Property Details now in that Subform 1 field is STATUS that update according to  product status
    • How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

      It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly
    • YouTube Live #2: Agreement Intelligence with Zoho Sign's eSign AI assistant

      Hi there, We're back again with our YouTube live series and this time, we'll take you through our holistic agreement intelligence powered signature workflows. Struggling to draft an agreement? Need help double-checking clauses and going through complicated
    • Can I Build a POS using ZOHO creator and integrate it with ZOHO Books?

      Hello,  I have a Zoho Books account and I was wondering if I can have a POS system that integrates with it. Primarily with Inventory, Customers and Payment and ofcourse Create invoices and credit notes.   So, would Zoho creator provide me with this solution?  Thank you, 
    • Merge Tags Output Incorrect Placeholder Text After CRM Sync

      Hi everyone, I’m experiencing an issue with merge tags in Zoho Campaigns after last sync of contacts and leads from Zoho CRM (days before everything worked perfectly). Here’s the situation (seems like a default configuration in Campaigns) : My leads have
    • An important update for Zoho Cliq desktop users

      The latest version of the Zoho Cliq desktop app (v1.8.0) will no longer be supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier versions. This is because the framework we use (Electron) no longer supports some older macOS versions. If you’re using macOS 10.15
    • Zoho Projects - Visual improvement to parent and sub-task relationship

      Hi Projects Team, My feature request is to improve sub-task visibility. Please see screenshot below. I really think parent child relationships could be visually improved. Even if the first letter of the parent task was inline with other same level tasks
    • Exported Slide Image Lacks Portion of the Background Image

      This does not always happen, but when I export (or "download") the rendered image of a slide, it sometimes lacks a portion of the background image. I created a sample slide deck to demonstrate it and shared it with the admins. It is also publicly available
    • Disable Buttons for Users with Profiles without permission

      Hey, I've noticed that users without permission of setting up things in the marketplace, can still see the icon: On a click, you see this: It would be way better, if they couldn't see this menu icon at all. (Aside from the fact that it completely misplaced
    • Items Below Reorder Point Report?

      Is there a way to run a report of Items that are below the Reorder Point? I don't see this as a specific report, nor can I figure out how to customize any of the other stock reports to give me this information. Please tell me I'm missing something s
    • New Toolbar in Zoho Sheet

      We have revamped our toolbar design in this new version of Zoho Sheet. Below are some screenshots to help you get accustomed to this new interface. Click on the picture below to view the animated image in its original size. Scroll down this post to learn about the changes. Highlight of Changes: The previous format tab is now split into 2 tabs - Home and Format. The Home tab contains the commonly used functions and the Format tab holds formatting related options. Under the Home tab towards the far
    • Zoho Projects - Task Owner filter at Project level

      Hi Projects Team, The feature requests I would like to raise is the ability to create a custom view at the project level for projects with tasks owned by a user or users. For example "Ashley's Projects" custom view might contain a list of project in which
    • Zoho inbuilt Telephony made a lot of issues!

      Hi there, I am a user that I am working with zoho inbuilt telephony around 1 month. Non of my colleagues are happy with this app! most of the time customer cannot hear my customer service team, customers say our voice is breaking. whenever Telephony support
    • Sending workflow notifications using popular chat services

      Hello everyone, We have introduced instant and scheduled notifications on some of the most popular chat platforms to facilitate easy collaboration, quick action, and wider reach. Workflow notifications can be sent to the following chat platforms: Zoho
    • Webhook not firing.

      I created a webhook using the Web UI, it looks very nice and the testing worked without an issue, but when i save/ update a ticket, the webhook is not firing. Here are the details of the web-hook i get from using the API "modifiedTime": "2019-10-22T09:23:37.380Z",
    • Adding Images to a Quote in Zoho CRM

      We are currently preparing to use Quotes in Zoho CRM and we are building out our Quote templates.  We came across an issue of not being to add Images of the products to the Quote - specifically in the body of the Quote templates.   This is a problem,
    • Applications built with Zoho Creator

      Hi, I’m really interested in seeing how others have built their application using Zoho Creator, especially those designed for external users (clients, vendors, or the public). If you’ve developed something along those lines and don’t mind sharing, I’d
    • Super Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working
    • In arattai received message can't be deleted

      The issue has been noticed in following: arattai app (Android) arattai app (Window) arattai web While the message posted by me may be deleted, the ones received from others can't be. The item <Delete> change to <Report> when the message is a received
    • Prevent new Record Association

      Hello all, We have a small sales organization therefore, it's helpful for everyone on the sales team to be able to view the full list of accounts to assist in preventing duplicate accounts from being created. However we want to prevent people from creating
    • Unified customer portal login

      As I'm a Zoho One subscriber I can provide my customers with portal access to many of the Zoho apps. However, the customer must have a separate login for each app, which may be difficult for them to manage and frustrating as all they understand is that
    • Is it posssible to add Asap Widget on Wordpress?

      I have tried to add the ASAP widget so users could iniciate chats and see the KB information but nothings seems to work. I have tried to add the script using a php snippet that adds the to the footers and also tried one for the header in the functio
    • Is it possible to embed Youtube shorts?

      Hi Zoho desk support, This is Ryan from Accuver America. While I'm trying to create a knowledge base article with embed video, I ran into this issue. "www.youtube.com refuse to connect" A little bit background is that because this video is recorded on
    • Require ticket resolution

      Hi Zoho team, Is there a way to require resolution even if an agent did not use a blueprint? for example, our blueprint has a "resolve" transition but what if agent revoked blueprint and manually set the status of ticket to closed? Is there a way where
    • Tables from ZohoSheets remove images when updated from source

      I have a few tables from a ZohoSheet in a ZohoWriter document that will remove the images in the cells when I refresh from the source. The source still has the images in the table when I go to refresh. After updating from the source, as you can see the
    • Unable to Receive Emails on Zoho Mail After Office 365 Coexistence Setup – Error: 553 Relaying Disallowed

      Hello, My domain name is bigniter.com, and I’ve been using Zoho Mail as my email service provider without any issues. Recently, I followed the steps outlined in the Zoho documentation to enable Coexistence with Office 365: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/coexistence-with-office365.html#multi-server
    • API Pagination Error: 'from' Parameter Limit

      Hello, I am encountering an error while paging through the Zoho Desk API results: Status code: 422 - {"errorCode":"UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY","message":"The value passed for field 'from' exceeds the range of '0-4999'."} Is 5000 the maximum number of records
    • How to go to the next open ticket in the queue when agents closes ticket

      Zoho Desk When agent closes a ticket - eg when they choose 'Send and Close" - where is the setting that automatically redirects them to the next open ticket in the queue?
    • External download link limit

      Can You please help us to understand this For Zoho WorkDrive external users, the download limit is a maximum of 5 GB total download size and a maximum of 50 first-level files and folders What is the meaning of first level? We are using these files in
    • CRM verify details pop-up

      Was there a UI change recently that involves the Verify Details pop-up when changing the Stage of a Deal to certain things? I can't for the life of me find a workflow or function, blueprint, validation rule, layout rule ect that would randomly make it
    • Automatically Add Recurring Zoho Meeting Events to Zoho Calendar / Zoho Meeting Calendar

      Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement regarding recurring meetings created inside Zoho Meeting. At the moment, when we schedule a recurring meeting in Zoho Meeting, it does not appear in Zoho Calendar
    • The difference between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns

      Greetings Marketers! This post aims to differentiate between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns. By the time you get to the end of the post, you will be able to choose a product that objectively suits you. What is Zoho Marketing Automation?
    • Custom templates for calendar report

      What about being able to design custom templates for the calendar report, as well as for other types of reports? I think more users are waiting for this.
    • Print a price list or price book

      Hi Community. Am I right in concluding that Zoho has no functionality to print a price list from either Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books? I won't get stuck on the fact that Zoho doesn't sync price books between Zoho CRM and Books/Inventory (more
    • Disable payment thank-you emails

      Hello, can someone please tell me how to disable sending of the "Payment Thank-You" emails? 
    • Maximum tags possible in Contacts Records

      I read in some documentation that Zoho allows a total of 200 tags across all records. Is this correct? So is it not possible to have one tag per record for 500 records?
    • Integrate your Outlook/ Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API

      Hello folks, In addition to the existing IMAP and POP options, you can now integrate your Outlook/Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API. Why did we add this option? Microsoft Graph API offers a single endpoint to access data from across Microsoft’s
    • Next Page