What’s New in Zoho Backstage – November 2025 Updates
A new month, a new set of updates. With a mix of new features and thoughtful improvements, you get smoother workflows and better control across registrations, exhibitors, and communications.
Let's take a look at what's new and enhanced in Zoho Backstage for November 2025.
Ticket Waitlist
You asked, you waited, and yes…the waiting finally paid off.
The Waitlist feature helps organizers manage sold-out ticket classes by automatically handling excess demand. When tickets become available due to cancellations or increased quantities, waitlist tickets are automatically confirmed, subject to event and ticket limits. The feature is enabled per ticket class from Registrations > Ticket Class > Edit > Advanced Settings > Waitlist, where organizers can set a specific waitlist quantity. Once tickets sell out, the website displays the Join Waitlist option.
All waitlisted entries appear in a dedicated Waitlist tab under Registrations, where organizers can view, edit, or cancel entries individually or in bulk (up to 20 at a time). Once confirmed or canceled, entries are removed from this tab. Waitlist orders remain visible in the Orders tab with a clear indicator, and waitlisted tickets are tagged within order details. Associated attendees display a Waitlist status in the Attendees tab.
If a waitlist ticket is canceled, a full refund is always issued, regardless of the event’s cancellation policy. Online payments are refunded to the original payment method, offline payments are marked as refunded offline, and unpaid orders are simply canceled. In mixed orders, cancellation fees apply only to confirmed tickets.
For approval-based tickets, requests go through approval before joining the queue. Waitlist confirmations stop once the event enters the Running state. Unconfirmed waitlist tickets are automatically canceled and refunded three days after the event starts. Automated emails notify purchasers about waitlist orders and confirmations.
Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans. Exhibitor Pro
A smarter, more flexible way to manage exhibitors and booths.
Zoho Backstage introduces a major upgrade to exhibitor management with the Exhibitor Pro add-on, bringing a clear separation between exhibitor visibility (directory listing) and interactive booth management. This structure gives organizers better flexibility, clearer pricing, and the ability to scale across events of any size.
Organizers can create exhibitor categories with benefits, manage exhibitor profiles, handle requests and proposals, display exhibitors on the website and app, assign booths, manage floor plans, and track booth-level analytics such as revenue, leads, meetings, members, and exhibitors. Exhibitors don't log in at this level. It's designed purely for organizer-managed visibility.
Exhibitor Pro is a paid, booth-level upgrade that unlocks full booth functionality. Organizers can assign one Exhibitor Pro add-on per booth, manage booth members and admins, enable collateral, videos, banners, lead scanning, meetings, and complimentary tickets, as well as track detailed booth analytics. Exhibitors gain access to their Exhibitor Space to manage content, leads, meetings, inquiries, members, and rehearsal tools.
Organizers can explore a fully functional booth with sample content, media, leads, meetings, inquiries, members, and Exhibitor Space navigation before purchasing.
Included across Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans, this layer supports unlimited exhibitor listings per event. Exhibitor Pro remains $49 per booth. Existing customers are auto-migrated. Premium plans includes 5 Pro add-ons, Ultimate includes 15, and they now support unlimited exhibitor listings by default.
Exhibitor Import
Exhibitor Import makes it easy to onboard exhibitors in bulk for large expos and recurring events. Instead of creating exhibitors one by one, organizers can now upload exhibitor data using CSV, XLS, or XLSX files and manage everything in one go—saving time and reducing manual errors.
The import option is available within the Exhibitors module and follows a simple three-step flow, supporting up to 500 records per upload. During import, organizers can choose whether to send the Exhibitor Request Approved email to imported exhibitors. This option is enabled by default and can be turned off when communication isn't required.
Smart field mapping and validations ensure data accuracy. Mandatory fields include Exhibitor Category, Company Name, First Name, Email, and Booth Number. The system checks for duplicate emails, category mismatches, duplicate booths, and missing mandatory data. For blank price fields, organizers can apply default pricing, mark exhibitors as free, or skip those records.
After import, organizers receive detailed success and error summaries, with row-specific failure reasons and email reports.
A Merge Existing Requests option prevents duplicates by automatically merging matching records while retaining full history.
Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans.
Other enhancements
Quick access to the embeddable widget
We’ve made it easier for event organizers to access the Embeddable Widget for attendee registrations with a new quick-access entry point. The Embeddable Widget is now available directly under Registrations > Setup > Embeddable Widget, allowing organizers to find and configure it right from the Registration module.
This shortcut is in addition to the existing access under Manage > Promote, so your current workflow remains unchanged. With this enhancement, setting up and managing your registration embed is now faster and more intuitive.
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans.
WhatsApp message preference for attendee imports
Organizers can now choose whether WhatsApp messages should be sent during attendee imports. This helps prevent unnecessary WhatsApp credit usage, especially when importing attendees for post-event reporting, internal tracking, or data updates.
During the import process, you can enable or disable WhatsApp messaging from Registrations > Attendees > Import. Based on your selection, WhatsApp messages will either be sent or skipped for the imported attendees.
After the import is completed, the summary screen clearly indicates:
- If WhatsApp messages were skipped based on your selection.
- If messaging couldn't be sent because WhatsApp isn't enabled at the event level.
This ensures full visibility into message delivery during imports.
Smarter country code detection during registration
Phone number country codes are now auto-detected during registration based on the attendee’s location, improving WhatsApp messaging accuracy and credit usage. The system follows this priority:
- IP address
- Browser locale
- Event location (for in-person events)
This works across in-person, virtual, and hybrid events.
Zone module support in workflow automation
You can now automate zone-based access control using Workflow Rules in Zoho Backstage. The Zone module is now available as a workflow trigger under Portal Settings > Automation > Workflow Rules.
With the new Before Check-In, Check-In, and Check-Out triggers, you can control how many times a participant is allowed to access a zone. This enables use cases like limiting food counter visits or restricting multiple goodie collections. Once the defined limit is reached, further check-ins are blocked and organizers are notified in real time.
All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
We’re excited for you to experience them in your next event. If you have any question or need access to early access features, please contact support@zohobackstage.com.
Topic Participants
Jithan Raghuraj
Recent Topics
Building Toppings #8 - Using widgets to extend the Bigin UI
Hello Biginners, In our previous forum post, we explored schedules and workflow functions and learned how to automate real-time and time-based actions inside a topping. In this post we'll look at how to embed custom UI components inside Bigin using widgets.Tip #81 – Turn every session into a story with Session Highlights – 'Insider Insights'
Hello Zoho Assist Community! Picture this: your team wraps up dozens of remote support sessions every week. Each one involved troubleshooting, tools, fixes, and back-and-forth with customers. But when it's time to review what actually happened acrossZoho CRM APIs
Hello, I think as a developer, it is very important to have the ability to manage, develop, and execute functions directly from my local development environment (for example, VS Code). Zoho CRM should have a way to create, deploy, and manage functions🎙️ Ask The Experts: Get Your Bigin Questions Answered Live
We've seen so many thoughtful questions from our #BiginnersClub community over the years. While we're always happy to help here, we're excited to introduce a new way for you to connect with us directly. Join us for Ask The Experts, a one-hour live firesidePostcode problems
So we were very pleased to see we could limit shipping with postcodes. Brilliant. Unfortunately we have discovered It does not seem fit for purpose. In the UK we write postcodes in various ways Examples BH217NL BH21 7NL Bh217nl bh217NL and many more waysCertain items certain shipping
Me again it would be helpful to have different shipping for different categories. Our example are salt. Delivery is free but have a minimum delivery. Pickup is cheaper so it has its own category- pickup.Cookies Consent Management in Webforms
Hello Everyone! We are excited to introduce Cookie Consent Management for webforms. Read on to learn more. Webforms are online forms embedded on websites that allow users to submit data and create records in Zoho CRM. These forms utilize cookies to trackPayment links in Bigin just got supercharged
Greetings, We're happy to announce major enhancements to the Payments feature in Bigin. As you may already know, Bigin supports Payments integration, which enables you to create and send payment links directly from Bigin to your customers. It also allowsDisable Spam filter
Hi Support Team, Please disable spam filter for https://desk.zoho.in/support/keboli. Some spam ticket ids: #102, #103, #104I just signed up
Hi, I have just signed up for the domain griffithcgenterprises.com. I would like to make two adjustments: If possible, I would prefer a 5 GB hosting/email plan instead of the current 10 GB option, as I believe that should be sufficient for my needs atHistory tab stuck loading indefinitely on Android (v2.22.0)
History tab stuck loading indefinitely on Android (v2.22.0) — server returns 500 on visitorhistoryviews Hi all, I'm running into an issue where the History tab in the SalesIQ Android app (v2.22.0) never loads — it just spins indefinitely. ScreenshotsNão consigo enviar e receber e-mail
Estou tendo problema de envio e recebimento de e-mail (meu e-mail é ands....lisi.com.br) Esta mensagem foi criada automaticamente pelo software de entrega de e-mails. Uma mensagem que você enviou não pôde ser entregue a um ou mais destinatários. Esteإلغاء الإشتراك
أريد إلغاء الإشتراك نهائياً.Opening two notes at once in the Mac app
Just like the title says - I want two notes open the same time on my Mac Air. AI search seems to think I have the option to open one window, then click on a second one. But of course if one window is open I can't see the others. It also recommended usingIntroducing the Employee Portal for internal job posting
Employee referrals and internal applications are one of the most trusted hiring channels. But in many organizations, employees only hear about openings through messages, word of mouth, or after the role has already been open for a while. When employeesDepartment Customization Copy/Paste
Hello! I love the new customization of the layouts, rules and templates! However, we have several "departments" that operate similar and as I'm updating either ticket layout or workflow rules, I'm finding that I have to do it in each department. I wouldHow do you import mail from Thunderbird into ZOHO mail
Hi, We have Thunderbird on our Apple Macs and want to transfer the emails from this to our shiny new Zoho mail account. I know using Outlook on a PC you can zip the .eml files up and upload them into specific folders on your ZOHO mail account using this form: mail.zoho.com/mail/jsp/importFolder.jsp However as Thunderbird use mbox files I'm not sure how to do it. Can anyone let me know if they have migrated mail from Thunderbird to Zoho mail and how they did it. I have many folders and emails to transferHow to Open .mbox file in Gmail with Attachments?
Gmail offer users to backup INBOX folder in .mbox file format via Google Takeout Feature. Howver there is no such option to Restore Gmail MBOX. Thus I would like to suggest you to choose an alternate approach i.e. MBOX to Gmail Wizard. This utility will open .mbox file in Gmail with attachments. Steps to open MBOX file in Gmail are; Run MBOX to Gmail Wizard Click Add File and add .mbox file. Enter your Gmail login credentials. Click Convert button. Finished! This is how you can open MBOX file inPoor Zoho Support
Been trying to reach support via telephone and email. The support has always been slow to respond but now its been two weeks without a return call. I have even sent them screen shots of the problem I've having with no results. Is anyone had the same problem.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 FirstSalesIQ operators will not receive any messages if customers do not answer the Pre-Chat questions in Flow Controls.
Hi Zoho SalesIQ Team, I am reaching out to report a issue regarding the Brands > Flow Controls SalesIQ operators will not receive any messages if customers do not answer the Pre-Chat questions in Flow Controls and continue sending messages without completingSalesIQ's Summer '26 Release: For The Moments That Matter
Every customer journey is made up of moments. The moment someone discovers your business. The moment they need help. The moment you decide to reach out. The moment a simple chat turns into something more. And the moments that continue long after the conversationAdd Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer
Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 CurrentCopying a Document with its Citations
When I copy a document that contains citations using File>Make a Copy from the document's menu the text copies but the citations do not (according to Google they should). Is this the correct way to make a complete copy of a document with its citationsBing ads integration and tracking
Hi, Is there any way to track Bing ads in the same way that we are able to track google adwords? It is important for us to be able to determine the conversion rate of our Bing ads. If this is not possible now, will this feature be added in the future?#20 Your Business Shouldn't Stop Just Because You Do
Imagine you are on a well-deserved vacation. Your clients are expecting invoices at the beginning of the month, recurring customers are due for billing, and payments are still coming in. Do you carry your laptop everywhere, hoping you don't miss a billingMarketing Tip #26: Optimize product images for SEO
Product images can do more than make your store look good. They can also help customers discover your products through search. Since search engines can’t "see" images, they rely on text signals to understand what an image is about. Two small actions makeAutomation Series: Mandatory Time Logging Before Task Closure
In a project, when users work on multiple tasks simultaneously, they track time in different ways, either by starting a timer or by adding a time log. Sometimes users may forget to add time, which can lead to discrepancies in the timesheet. When timesheetsIs 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 detailZoho CRM gets a new email compose and lot more
Dear Customers, [UPDATE October 21, 2021: We have started opening these features to some of the customers already. And, it will be available to all the customers before November 2nd Week, 2021. Sorry for the delay caused] [UPDATE February 21, 2022:CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more
Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),Introducing document visibility in Zoho Sign
Hello! Complex document workflows often involve multiple stakeholders with different roles. Sending a separate envelope to every person is time consuming and can lead to administrative bottlenecks. With Zoho Sign's document visibility feature, you canSent email stuck on processing
My sent emails are stuck on processing, whats going on?[Webinar] What's new in Zoho Analytics: Q2 2026
Hey data lovers! Our What's New webinar series is bringing you another lineup of exciting features and product enhancements from the past quarter, all designed to help you get more out of your analytics. Get an inside look at new data connectors, ZohoAlterar número de telefone para receber o código OTP
Boa tarde! Como posso alterar o número de telefone da minha conta para aceder ao meu email corporativo? Estou tentando logar, mas não consigo, pois está sendo enviado o código OTP para o número antigo, preciso aceder urgente meu email, porque e de trabalho.CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users
Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storageRequest to Increase URL Field Character Limit
Hi Arthi, Hope you are doing well. I'm trying to save a URL in the Work Order (WO) module using the URL field, but I receive the following error message: "Please enter a valid Repair File. Maximum 450 characters are allowed." The issue is that the URLHow to change column headings in pivot table?
Hi, Is there a way to rename the column headers of a pivot table? Now some the columns are named with value labels: 'SUM of .....'. We would like to rename those headers. As of now we couldn't find any direct solution to adjust the headers, besides copying and reformat. We want to avoid these extra steps. Best, TiemenUndelivered Mail
I suspect that there are recipient's servers that blocks my emails. I receive the following email from mailer-daemon@mail.zoho.eu : A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. pantelis.sarantos@unipakhellas.gr,Email not loading on PC
Hello, my email opens on but it doesn’t load on PC. I don’t have other issues with the email, all the configurations are ok and I face with following issue in the photo. It says “ mail.zoho.com refused to connect” I will be very thankful if anyone canNext Page