Introducing the locking option for CRM records

Introducing the locking option for CRM records

Last modified on 06/04/2023: Record locking option in CRM is now available for all Zoho CRM users in all DCs. Note that it was an early access feature available only upon request. 

Hello All,

Hope you're doing well!

We're thrilled to introduce our latest enhancement to CRM—record locking. 

Certain business scenarios demand that records in your organization's modules be safe from editing or deletion once they reach a certain stage in your sales process or satisfy specific conditions.

For example, if a deal has reached the final stage—"closed won" or "closed lost"—then perhaps it shouldn't be further edited or deleted.

Alternatively, let's say a record is in its proposal or review stage. During such a stage, the details of the record need to be verified, and even though a sales rep may be the record's owner, you can't allow them to update the record while the review is ongoing.

There might also be situations where the record doesn't match certain criteria, but the user dealing with the record might want to lock the record to avoid changes. For example, when a sales rep is in touch with a prospect, they may want to temporarily lock the record while prospecting is in progress to prevent other reps from adding incorrect information to the record.

Zoho CRM's record-locking feature enables you to lock records manually or automatically when certain conditions are met.

NOTE (added on 02/03/23): The locking configuration must be set up separately for each module. You can navigate to the specific module in Modules and Fields under Customization in your setup page, and you will find the Record Locking Configuration tab.

Record locking configurations
Now that we've established why locking records can be useful or necessary, let's take a quick look at the different configuration options available:

  • Users can lock records manually from the record details page if they have lock permissions.


  • You can set up automatic locking by setting some default criteria. Create conditions, name them, and decide whether to apply the conditions and lock existing records, or to restrict the conditions only for newly created records.

  • There might be scenarios where, say, you want members of the accounts team to be able to edit quotes, but not other profiles. You can simply lock the records for all profiles except those belonging to members of the accounts team, any other set of exceptions using the multi-select menu. Additionally, you can also choose to lock records for all profiles.

  • You can lock the records that are accessible to your portal users.
  • For locked records, the edit action is disabled by default, but you can restrict other types of native actions, as well as custom buttons.

  • Even when a record is locked, you can configure certain fields which don't affect your business process to remain editable. For example, you might want the Description or comment fields to remain editable. You can leave a maximum of 15 fields unlocked. 

What happens when a record is locked?

Once a record is locked, you will see the lock icon on the record image and in the UI of the record detail page itself. Only fields you've enabled will be available to edit.



The details of the locking, such as the reason (i.e., the locking condition), locking date, and the fields available for edit will be shown on the details button available on the record detail page.

In the record's timeline, you can also see timestamped details like when the record was locked and the condition that was followed.

On the record list view, locked records are indicated by a lock icon.

Additionally, you can filter records in the list view based on the pre-defined filter option, as well as based on the system-defined custom view.

Who can unlock records and how is it done?

If a user locks a record manually, they can unlock it themselves. Admins can unlock records, too. On the other hand, automatically locked records will be unlocked only when they're no longer subject to the lock conditions or criteria.

However, deleting a rule or locking configuration will automatically unlock all records the rule or condition had previously locked.

Additional notes
  • Set up to five rules per module. Each rule will have a name that is displayed on the record detail page when a record is locked.
  • System actions like automation and integration syncs will still be performed on locked records, even when a user who is excluded from locking triggers those processes.
  • Locked records are still displayed in list views. However, bulk actions done from list views are not allowed if the respective action is restricted under the record locking configuration.
  • Record locking configuration is available for enterprise and ultimate editions of Zoho CRM. If an user downgrades from enterprise edition, locking configurations will be ineffective and all records will be unlocked.
Locked status can not be regained upon upgrading back.

That's all for this exciting new enhancement. Read more about the record locking configurations and its usage in our help doc.

Thanks and have a good one!


Note: 
  • Manual locking/unlocking of records is not available for the mobile app as yet. 
  • Auto-locking of records will get reflected on the mobile app, and locked records cannot be updated from mobile app also.
  • The locking configuration must be set up separately for each module.


    • Recent Topics

    • How to Bulk-Update Sales Orders in CRM

      Hi - I need to bulk update existing sales orders with dates from our ERP of when the sales orders were created. I made a date field on the Sales Order module where I want to insert that data. I can't Mass Update because I am not updating the fields to

    • Zoho ToDo in Cliq

      Our organization utilizes Zoho ToDo in the Zoho Mail Desktop app. Is there a way for these to show up in Cliq Desktop app as well?

    • 【Zoho CRM】サンドボックス機能のアップデート：カスタムビューが利用可能になりました。

      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。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、サンドボックス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 1. カスタムビューとは 2. 今回の機能アップデートについて 1. カスタムビューとは カスタムビューは、ユーザーが設定した条件に基づいてデータをフィルタリング・整理し、 重要な情報へ効率的にアクセスできるようにする機能です。 「過去15日間の見込み客」や「受注間近の商談」、「特定の優先度レベルが設定された案件」など 条件を指定してわずか数クリックで設定できます。

    • Changing an agents email address

      How do you change an agent's email address? I keep getting a red circle even though I am an admin. And on one of my agents he has two email addresses? How is that possible?

    • Zoho CRM - Potentials Tab

      Hi! When I create a Deal (Potentials tab) the header looks like this: After a refresh on the page it looks like this: What should I do so that it is displayed like in the second pic without refresh? Also I have a user that as of recently, cannot see this

    • Is there a way to automatically add Secondary Contacts (CCs) when creating a new ticket for specific customers?

      Some of our customers want multiple contacts to receive all notifications from our support team. Is there a way to automatically add secondary contacts to a ticket when our support team opens a new ticket and associates it with an account? This would

    • Unable to create embed code for resource of workdrive using API

      Hello Team, I am trying to create embed code for a resource using workdrive api in powershell, however facing some issues with injecting data in body. Followed Doc: https://workdrive.zoho.com/apidocs/v1/filefoldersharing/shareeveryone Please help, below

    • Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

      I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create

    • not able to convert pdf to jpg and other forms and vice versa.

      i want to change my pdf to jpg, word, etc and some times jpg to pdf. i don't know how to do in this.

    • Enable / show scroll bar when Mega Menu is opened

      Hey there I am using the mega menu add-on and experience a "flicker" whenever the mega menu opens. The reason is, that the scrollbar, which has a width of a few pixels, stops showing when the mega menu opens. As the scrollbar disappears the whole page

    • Shared Mailboxes Disappeared

      Zoho Mail users in our company haven't been able to see their Shared Mailboxes for the past few hours. I've checked with App and Web Access, but they can't access them. When I send emails to their addresses, I get no error messages. They're still visible

    • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

      Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with

    • Zoho Inventory - Composite Items - Assembly - Single Line Item Quantity of One

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, Please consider relaxing the system rules which prevent an assembly items from consisting of a single line item and outputting a quantity of 1. A client I'm currently working with sells cosmetics and offers testers of their products

    • How can I transfer data from Production to Development environment?

      Hi, I am using Creator V6 and would like to bring all the data in production to the Development and Testing environments? Is there an easy way of doing that or I have to export and import each table?

    • Add "Reset MFA" Option for Zoho Creator Client Portal Users

      Hello Zoho Creator Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement related to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for client portal users in Zoho Creator. Currently, Creator allows us to enforce MFA for portal users,

    • New portal SAML authentication error: User not found

      Dears, Has anyone else been experiencing this lately? I am creating a new portal authenticated by SAML (Entra ID). I followed the same process as I did with other portals, but any new portal created after this always encounters this error. I’ve been reporting

    • Devis et facture multi page

      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

    • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

      I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

    • Help with Filtering Records, HTML Pages, and Automatic File Uploads in Zoho Creator

      Hi Zoho Creator Community, I’m building a Zoho Creator application and need guidance on a few features I’ve been struggling with. I want to implement them safely and efficiently, and I’d appreciate any examples, tips, or best practices. I want users to

    • How to Send Email from within a custom module (with or without an email template)

      It is possible to send an email from the Deals module. However, I can't find a way to send an email from any of our custom modules. I have tried adding an email field to the modules (even though we don't really want one or need it there). That doesn't

    • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

      How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details

    • Feature Suggestion for Zoho Websites – Inspired by Squarespace Systems

      Dear Zoho Team, I’m a Zoho user and also a Squarespace Platinum Circle member, and I recently noticed the launch of Zoho Websites in India. I wanted to share some ideas for features that could enhance the platform for professional users and agencies.

    • Custom View - Sort by Custom Field

      I created a custom field for our Engineering team to know which tickets to work first by numbering them.  I created a custom view to general data which includes the Engineering Priority.  However, I cannot sort the Engineering Priority column ascending

    • Zoho Indeed Intergation not pulling candidate details

      We have recently integrated zoho with indeed. Prior to this our candidates came into the candidates tab via the zoho.resumes email address from indeed and it pulled through the candidates mobile number, and majority of the time a postcode. However since

    • Custom View of tickets created today

      How can I create a custom view that list all my ticked created in the current date? Currently, if I select the "Created Time" criteria, the "Current Time" option does not work as today. Actually, I don't know how it works this "Current Time".

    • Lifecycle Reports

      From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports A lifecycle report captures and visualises the sequential states that a ticket undergoes across its lifespan. For instance, when a customer submits a support ticket for a faulty product,

    • Zoho Forms - Print Button on Forms

      Hi Forms team, I'm replicating a form for a client which is currently based on JotForm. I noticed that at the end of the form there is a button to print the completed form. I thought this would be something worth sharing and a nice to have in Zoho Forms.

    • Putting Watermark on Zoho Sheet

      Can this be done?

    • Validation function not preventing candidates under 18 or over 30 from submitting the web form

      Hello everyone, I’m trying to create a validation rule for the Candidate Webform in Zoho Recruit. I added a custom field called “Date of Birth”, and I want to make sure that candidates cannot submit the form unless their age is between 18 and 30 years.

    • Report to know the history of certain Tickets on Desk

      Hi there guys, As the title implies we're wondering if there's any way to get some kind of Report that allows us to check the History of various Tickets at the same time since as of today if we want to know that we have to check them 1 by 1 which is not

    • Advanced Usage Billing: Prepaid with Drawdown

      Picture yourself at your favourite coffee shop, Bean & Brew. You come by every morning for your usual cappuccino, and occasionally you get an extra cold brew and a muffin or two in the afternoon. Interestingly, Bean & Brew has a new idea of offering a

    • Zoho Commerce in multiple languages

      When will you be able to offer Zoho Commerce in more languages? We sell in multiple markets and want to be able to offer a local version of our webshop. What does the roadmap look like?

    • Urgent Zoho Creator down!!!???

      Now my zoho creator faced this issue. Anyone has idea? Urgent!!!

    • The Social Wall: September 2025

      Hello everyone, As we step into the fall season, some major updates are on the horizon. Meanwhile, here are the exciting updates we rolled out this September. Approvals in iOS Managing approvals just got more seamless on mobile. With this update, the

    • Introducing Detailed View for Candidates in Vendor Portal

      We’ve added a new Details sub-tab inside the Vendor Portal to help vendors easily view complete candidate information after submission. With this update, vendors can now access all candidate details, from personal information to associated job openings,

    • Zoho One Down

      Zoho Team, Checking if when the services up - currently Zoho One is down

    • Weekly Tips : Customize your Zoho Mail Notifications

      In a professional context, email communication remains one of the most crucial channels for staying connected and managing workflows. Keeping track of your emails, task updates, or important announcements can be overwhelming—especially if you are juggling

    • How can I track which zoho users are actively using Zoho CRM

      I have several licenses of Zoho CRM. We now need to add a new user. I could purchase a new license, but before I do, I would like to see if any of our existing users are not actively using the license assigned to them. How can I determine the activity

    • Access to Detail View From HTML Snippet

      Zoho Creator displays a detail view that slides out from the right onClick of a record in a report. Am I able to access that detail view from an html snippet, e.g. click a record in a list and display the detail view? The zc_LoadIn dialog is a bit clunky,

    • Billing Management: #10 Solving Common Mistakes in Billing

      Over the past few weeks, we have explored different facets of billing, from the simplicity of traditional one-time billing to the evolving landscape of subscriptions, retainers, and usage-based models. We've unpacked how billing isn't just about sending

    • Next Page