What's New - August 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - August 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Every month, Zoho Backstage grows with you. These updates aren't just features and fixes, they're about making your workday smoother, your events more impactful, and your attendees happier. We’ve listened, learned, and shaped this release to keep things simple where they can be, powerful where they should be, and thoughtful all the way through. Think of it as a mini renovation where the walls stay up, but the lights shine brighter, the doors swing easier, and your coffee somehow refills itself. Let’s take a look at what’s new and enhanced this August.

Session registration  

Turn your agenda into a choose-your-own adventure.

We’re excited to announce the arrival of session registration in Zoho Backstage. This feature gives event organizers more control over premium content, attendee scheduling, and capacity management while creating a more personalized experience for participants.

With session registration, organizers can monetize high-value content such as workshops, masterclasses, and sessions featuring high-profile speakers. Attendees can pre-select the sessions they want to attend, helping them build structured schedules that suit their interests. On the organizer’s side, this avoids overcrowding by enforcing capacity limits and provides valuable insights into which sessions generate the most demand for future planning.



How it works:
  • Session registration can be enabled from the Manage > Agenda screen. Once configured and republished, sessions will appear on the event website with registration options.
  • When attendees register for the event, they can now select tickets, choose sessions, provide attendee details, associate attendees with specific sessions, and complete their payments in a single flow.
  • After logging in, registered sessions appear under a new Your Sessions tab, while order-level details are available in Your Orders. If a session is canceled, attendees will see the update under Cancel and Refund History.
  • Even after ticket purchase, ticket holders can log into the event website, go to Agenda > Register, and sign up for sessions later. Please note that, in this release, purchasers can't register sessions on behalf of other ticket holders.
Event organizers will find new tools to manage and track session registrations:
  • Session Registration tab: Displays a list of all registered attendees, with options to filter by track, sort by details, and manage visible columns such as session name, track, date, time, and attendee count.
  • Register New Attendee: Organizers can register attendees directly from the Session Registration tab or from each session’s View Attendees section. Here, they can export data, apply filters like ticket class or check-in status, and customize visible columns.



  • Session Check-In: Supports both free and paid sessions. Organizers can register and check in attendees directly, even if they haven't registered in advance, through the Yet to Register section under Session Check-In.
After registration, attendees receive session details by email, similar to ticket confirmations. Email notifications also cover session cancelations. Within the Order Details tab, session information is listed alongside tickets, with cancelations and refunds captured in the Cancel & Refund History pane.
Info
Plan availability: Available across all plans. Paid sessions are supported starting from Essentials and above.

Ticket grouping

Because tickets deserve a family tree too.

We’re adding more clarity and flexibility to how tickets are managed in Zoho Backstage with the introduction of ticket class grouping. This feature allows organizers to organize different ticket types into groups, making it easier to present a structured and intuitive registration flow for attendees.

Ticket classes such as General Admission, VIP, Free, Investor, or Partner passes can now be grouped together in a way that highlights their distinctions while still keeping the registration process simple. This helps attendees quickly understand the differences between options and choose tickets that best match their preferences, budget, or privileges.



How it works:
  • Navigate to Registrations > Ticket Class > Add Ticket Group. Create a new group and assign ticket classes to it.
  • Once created, groups can be edited at any time to add or remove ticket classes. If you need to rearrange, simply use the "Move to" option or drag and drop ticket classes within or across groups. If a group is deleted, only the group itself is removed, while the ticket classes remain available and appear as ungrouped.
This update gives organizers flexibility to design their ticketing structure around audience segments, ensuring clarity during registration while keeping the backend easy to manage.



On the event website, tickets are displayed in their grouped structure by default, giving attendees a clear view of available options. Organizers can choose to disable this grouped display from the website builder if they prefer a simpler layout. Any ungrouped ticket classes are automatically displayed under an “Others” section, ensuring no ticket is left out. The grouped view is consistently shown across the Tickets page, the Select Tickets screen, and even when adding an order from the Orders tab.

By grouping ticket classes, event organizers can create a clearer, more organized registration experience that benefits both their team and their attendees.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans. 

Assign primary contacts for custom forms

No more “Who’s handling this?” moments.

Managing form responses just got a whole lot easier. With this update, Zoho Backstage now lets you assign a primary contact for each custom form. That means every submission reaches the right person without extra forwarding or missed follow-ups.



How it works:
  • Navigate to Communicate > Preferences > Primary Contact > Module-Specific Primary Contact > Assign Primary Contact.
  • Or, head to Manage > Custom Forms > Edit > Form Builder and set the contact directly from there.
  • If you ever need to make a change, simply click Change, and you’ll be redirected back to the Primary Contact settings under Communicate. From there, you can update your configuration without any hassle.
Once a primary contact is set, every response submitted through your event website will trigger an email notification to the designated person. This means no more delayed follow-ups or confusion over who’s responsible for handling incoming submissions. Communication becomes more streamlined, and accountability is always clear.

The benefit of this update is simple: by assigning primary contacts, you ensure that form responses never slip through the cracks. The right people receive the right submissions, ownership is straightforward, and your team can manage event communications with greater confidence.

This enhancement is now available across all plans that support custom forms. 
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans.

Enhancements

A new look for order management in Zoho Backstage

Orders, organized!

The Orders tab in the Registration module has been reimagined. What was once a simple list of purchases is now a full-featured workspace where organizers can view, edit, and act on orders with far more control than before.



At the heart of the update is a redesigned Order Details view. Each order is now broken down into clear sections: Order Information, Purchaser Details, and Order Summary. This structure helps organizers quickly locate the information they need without extra effort. Attendees and session registrations are also displayed in separate panels, making it clear who is associated with each order.

If something needs to be updated, the new Edit Order pane lets organizers adjust purchaser information and access billing addresses quickly. For offline orders, payments can now be marked manually as paid or unpaid, with fields for payment mode, transaction ID, and notes.

From the More Actions menu, every order now comes with tools to:
  • Resend order emails
  • Edit purchaser information
  • Cancel or refund orders (with adjustable fees and refund amounts)
  • Check purchaser email history
  • Track order activity in real time
This means fewer steps, less switching between screens, and a faster workflow for managing registrations.

Events can generate thousands of orders, and keeping them organized is now easier than ever. The Orders tab includes advanced filters for order status, type, payment method, payment mode, and source. Sorting by purchaser name, order ID, or date/time makes it simple to surface the right records. And with 18 column headers to choose from, organizers can design their own view of the data, showing only what matters most.

This release doesn’t just improve the present—it also prepares for what’s ahead. 
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans. 

Exhibitor categories made better

Give your categories a glow-up.

We’ve upgraded your exhibitor category setup and management in Zoho Backstage. The new design gives you a cleaner interface, more flexibility, and better visibility controls.

With this release, categories are now more customizable. Organizers can group and organize benefits within each category, assign distinct colors for easy identification, and use visibility toggles to decide what's shown. Flexible display options allow each event setup to match its specific requirements, ensuring categories are both functional and clear.

The new creation and management screens make it easier to move between categories and their associated benefits. Benefits can be enabled or disabled whenever required, and their availability, counts, and status are presented in a structured way. This gives organizers a complete view of what's currently active in each category.

Categories can also be linked directly to exhibitor or sponsor packages so that reserved benefits are applied consistently. Assigning unique colors to categories adds another layer of clarity, making it simpler to manage and distinguish them.



On the website, organizers can now decide how categories are displayed to attendees. Categories may be shown or hidden, and exhibitor listings can appear in either a card view or a table view, depending on the style that best suits the event.

To start using it:
  • Navigate to Exhibitors > Exhibitor Categories, or configure the display preferences in Design > Website.
With Exhibitor Categories V2, organizers gain more control over how exhibitors are managed and presented, while attendees receive a clearer and more organized view of event participants.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans. 

New withdrawal flow in Registration Approval

Sometimes “no thanks” deserves its own button.

Event registration just got more flexible. We’ve added a new Withdrawn status to make the ticket request process smoother for both attendees and organizers. From now on, attendees who no longer wish to attend can simply withdraw their registration requests directly from the event website. These requests will be neatly recorded in the system and can be found under the Canceled filter in the Registration Approval tab.

On the website, attendees will see their request clearly marked as Withdrawn, ensuring there’s no confusion about whether their registration is still pending. For event organizers, this new status provides better visibility by separating attendee-initiated withdrawals from organizer-declined requests. This way, you’ll always know which cancelations were voluntary and which were rejected during approval.



To help you stay on top of your workflow, the Registration Approval tab now follows a simple guide. Pending requests are those awaiting review, approved requests are the ones you have confirmed, rejected requests are those you have declined, and withdrawn requests are those attendees have chosen to cancel themselves.
This update not only simplifies your approval process but also gives attendees more control over their registrations, making the overall experience clearer, more transparent, and easier to manage for everyone involved.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Free, Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans. 

More flexibility with Transaction ID requests

Ask for details only when you really need them.

We’ve introduced a new level of flexibility to how transaction details are collected during ticket registration. Event organizers can now choose whether to display the Transaction ID pop-up when attendees select an offline payment option.

By default, the Transaction ID request will appear for Bank Transfer, Check, and Other payment modes, ensuring that important reference details are collected upfront. However, if you prefer not to request these details, you now have the option to disable it with a simple setting change. On the other hand, for Pay at Venue, the Transaction ID request will remain disabled by default, but you can easily enable it if your workflow requires attendees to provide transaction details in advance.



To keep things transparent, any changes you make to the offline payment settings will be automatically recorded in the activity logs. This gives you a reliable trail of updates and ensures accountability across your event management team.

With this enhancement, you have greater control over how payments are managed, offering both convenience and flexibility for your attendees while keeping your processes streamlined.
Info
Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Premium, and Ultimate plans

Other updates

New UI in Marketing Plus

A refreshed Zoho Backstage interface has been introduced in the Marketing Plus and CRM Plus bundles. The updated design improves navigation, creates consistency across modules, and helps organizers manage events with greater clarity and ease.

New themes: Velvet and Neo Noir

The Velvet and Neo Noir themes has been added to the website, giving organizers a bold and stylish option to match event branding. These modern designs introduce a darker palette with sleek layouts for professional-looking event pages.

New session card layout

A third layout style has been released for session cards under Design > Website settings. Organizers can select from multiple layouts to better highlight speakers, timings, or details, creating an agenda design tailored to their event.

Publish events without a location

Events can now be published without requiring a location to be entered, giving organizers more flexibility when setting up offline or hybrid events. This change makes publishing faster while accommodating events that may not need a physical address.

Schedule Demo option for Trial plans

Trial plan users are given the option to schedule a demo directly from their account. This addition makes it easier for new users to explore features, understand workflows, and receive guided assistance before moving to a paid plan.

Host parallel sessions

The restriction limiting organizers to a single active session has been lifted. Organizers gain more flexibility to test, manage, and run multiple tracks or parallel sessions without interruption, making event operations more efficient.


That’s everything we have for this month. Every improvement comes from your feedback, ideas, and support. Thank you for being part of this journey and for trusting Backstage to power your events. We'll be back soon with more updates. Until then, here’s to smoother planning, stronger connections, and events that leave lasting memories.

Info
All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.
For additional assistance or questions regarding these new features, contact support@zohobackstage.com. Stay tuned for continued updates designed to enhance your event management capabilities.

    • Recent Topics

    • Inquiry Regarding Automated Assignment of Zoho TeamInbox Messages using Zoho Flow and Deluge

      Hello, Our company is currently using Zoho TeamInbox, and we are interested in automating the assignment of responsible parties using tools such as ZOHO Flow and Deluge. Is it possible to achieve this? Allow me to provide more details. Currently, when

    • Customizing Global Search Settings for All Users

      Hi Our team use the brilliant global search functionality within CRM many many times daily. But, we struggle with the out-of-the box columns that CRM gives you. We are always telling users to customize this look to more suit our business, to show the

    • Qwen to be the default open source Generative AI model in Zoho Desk

      Hello everyone, At Zoho Desk, we will make the latest Qwen (30B parameters) the default LLM for our Generative AI features, including Answer Bot, Reply Assistant, and others. As a subsequent step, we will discontinue support for Llama (8B parameters).

    • Condition based aggregate fields in subforms

      Hello everyone, We're excited to inform you about the latest enhancements made to our aggregate field capabilities in subforms; create aggregate fields based on conditions! An aggregate field is a column on which a mathematical function has been applied.

    • Upgrade Zoho Desk Agent-Side Answer Bot to GenAI

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. Following the recent announcements and rollout of the GenAI-based Answer Bot in Zoho SalesIQ (Nova '25), we’d like to formally request a similar upgrade for the Answer Bot used by agents inside Zoho Desk.

    • Marketers' Space: The importance of warming up your sender domain

      Hello Marketers, Welcome back to yet another post! Today, we'll talk about why warming up your sender domain matters. Imagine you've recently started a business and want to share the news with your customers. You've designed a great email campaign using

    • An Exclusive Session for Zoho Desk Users: AI in Zoho Desk

      A Zoho Community Learning Initiative Hello everyone! This is an announcement for Zoho Desk users and anyone exploring Zoho Desk. With every nook and corner buzzing, "AI's here, AI's there," it's the right time for us to take a closer look at how the AI

    • Search Just Got Smarter in Notebook

      Hello there! Introducing Our New & Improved Search Experience! We heard your feedback! Many of you shared that our previous search had some challenges like • Inconsistent results across different clients • Limited accuracy in finding the right content

    • Client Portal ZOHO ONE

      Dear Zoho one is fantastic option for companies but it seems to me that it is still an aggregation of aps let me explain I have zoho books with client portal so client access their invoice then I have zoho project with client portal so they can access their project but not their invoice without another URL another LOGIN Are you planning in creating a beautiful UI portal for client so we can control access to client in one location to multiple aps at least unify project and invoice aps that would

    • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

      Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything

    • Zoho Desk app update - AI Integration for IM Chats

      Hello everyone! We have now introduced AI integration for IM Chats within the Zoho Desk mobile app. To access the feature, please enable the 'Generative AI' settings on the desktop site(desk.zoho.com). Please refer to the help link attached below: Zoho

    • Open A.I assistant Connect with Zoho Desk instant Message Conversations

      I would like to know how do I connect my instant messenger in Zoho desk with my Open A.I Gpt Assistant. this is very easy to setup using the Salesiq Zobot but when it comes to Zoho Desk i cannot figure how to make the connection. Ideal workflow Customers

    • Cannot upgrade subscription plan due to payment error message

      Hi Zoho team, This is to request support on an issue I am facing during an upgrade I am trying to make to our company's yearly Zoho subscription. I am trying to add 3 more license to my plan and during the payment phase I get the below error as in the

    • Incoming emails not appearing in Inbox

      Hello, I have an issue with incoming emails sent from my website (domain: h2ostop.si). Emails are visible in the Sent folder, which means they are successfully sent through Zoho SMTP, but they never appear in my Inbox. Nothing arrives in Inbox, Spam,

    • Synchronise item image between Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books/Inventory/CRM

      Here is a blindingly simple idea to tie several Zoho products together. Zoho - please include a method to synchronise the item image (or images) from one Zoho application to another. For example, if you upload an item image in Zoho Inventory, a user should

    • Enhancing Zia's service with better contextual responses and article generation

      Hello everyone, We are enhancing Zia's Generative AI service to make your support experience smarter. Here's how: Increased accuracy with Qwen One of the key challenges in AI is delivering responses that are both contextually accurate and empathetic while

    • Zoho Desk app update: AI powered features

      Hello everyone! We’ve introduced various AI-powered services on the Zoho Desk app. Let's take a look at what's new. Generate Content: Generate Content uses AI to formulate responses based on the your query and provides a ready-to-use reply which can be

    • Passing the CRM

      Hi, I am hoping someone can help. I have a zoho form that has a CRM lookup field. I was hoping to send this to my publicly to clients via a text message and the form then attaches the signed form back to the custom module. This work absolutely fine when

    • Bulk update Archived Ticket

      Dear All We would like to update the "Category" values to the new filed. We found the archived Ticket seems to be don't support the bulk action. Do we have any way to update it. Finally, we would to generate a report for our ticket system. Regards I

    • SalesInbox

      Sorry for saying this but SalesInbox is a really mess. BIG FAIL. Bad UX and VERY bad IMAP sync. I don't know how can someone use this to be more productive. It's just the oposite. I'm trying to use SalesInbox for a while but sales people do not have just sales activities so we still have to came back to the mail app anyway. Folders of SalesInbox are not in sync with folders of mail server (wich syncs Ok to mobile) and vice-versa wich leads to double work as now you have to cleanup 3 inboxes (Mail

    • Channel Configuration and Default Channels

      There are some of the default fields that cannot be removed or changed. Examples are the social media ones, such as Facebook. It would be nice to be able to remove these fields as it would be confusing if someone selected this but it's not configure

    • Dependent drop-downs... how?

      Good day. I have 2 different situations where I need a dependent drop-down field. First is for a subform, where I want to show related fields for a specific customer on the main form. In my case it is a parent whose children make use of our school transport

    • 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

    • Delay function execute

      I've got a workflow which uses a webhook to send information to Flow, which in return updates a record in Creator. Problem is, by the time this has executed, the rest of my script has run and can't find the (yet to be) updated info in the record. Is there

    • Kiosk Button Actions

      I need to add an action to a Kiosk Button to loop me back to start the kiosk again and I am not sure what that looks like (function, etc.).

    • Support www.camcard.com

      Hi, Is it possible CRM Zoho have integrations with https://camcard.com/? Thanks Br, Andy

    • Option to Customize Career Site URL Without “/jobs/Careers”

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Career Site URL structure in Zoho Recruit. In the old version of the career site, our URL was simply: 👉 https://jobs.domain.com However, after moving to

    • Can't make a document editable to anyone

      Hey everyone, I am using Zoho Workdrive and trying to share a document so that it is editable by anyone with the link. I am trying to convince people to shift from Google to Zoho, but they don't have accounts yet. When I try to change the share settings

    • Edit Default Print

      What I want to do is create / edit the "Default Print" template without changing the layout I'm using. Currently I can create "Email Templates" but I don't use them for emailing and getting to that selection takes multiple clicks. If an email template could be set to be the Default Print template that would be helpful. I'd also like to print these in bulk but don't see that option (there is a mail merge macro but that goes straight to emailing, not to print or PDF).

    • Widget shows error

      Hi， May I ask why below characters will be auto added into the widget link and how to solve this error? As my widget shows 404 error now. ?serviceOrigin=https%3A%2F%2Fcrm.zoho.com&frameorigin=https%3A%2F%2Fcrm.zoho.com

    • How to print envelope labels from Zoho CRM

      Can anybody give me any clue how to print envelope/package labels directly from Contacts view? Regards, Alexandru Moderation Update: The Canvas Print View, which also facilitates the formatting of mailing labels, is now available! Learn more here: Zoho

    • Data Import: New interface, improved field mapping, and more

      Hello everyone! We’ve redesigned the data import process to ensure accurate field alignment and verify that every column in the uploaded file maps correctly with Desk fields before import. Here's how: Streamlined Import Steps Importing data is now more

    • Address labels

      Hi, we've been searching for a long time for a simple way for our employees to print address labels using a Dymo Label Writer 450. We came up with two alternatives that work, bur aren't really optimal.  First one is WebMerge. Webmerge is a great application that does 100% what we need but it is way too expensive for our needs. We only need to print a couple of labels per month. The second one is the integrated print tool in Zoho CRM, (Print preview) You would think this is the obvious way to do this

    • Print Labels

      How can I configure my address to print my labels like this: Name Mailing Address Mailing City, Mailing State Mailing Zip Country Instead of: Name Mailing Address Mailing City Mailing State Mailing Zip Country Thanks!!!!

    • Mailing labels - Improperly formatted

      All I'm trying to do is print one, properly formatted, mailing label. I'm in the Contacts module. In the default "list view" for mailing labels I selected a single client, hit the "more actions" drop down and selected print mailing label. Unfortunately,

    • Printing mailing labels

      The ability to print mailing labels would seem to be an important, basic, function of a good CRM. I find it very surprising that this has still not been addressed adequately by Zoho. When trying to use the existing "mailing label" included: 1. the data

    • Pageless mode needed to modernise Writer

      When we switched from GSuite to Zoho, one of the easiest apps I found to give up, was Docs. In many ways, Writer has always been more powerful than Docs, especially in terms of workflows/fillable forms/etc. However, I went back into Docs because I notice

    • 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

    • AI Interview Insights: Turn Recorded Interviews into Quick Transcripts & Summaries

      Evaluating interviews shouldn’t require replaying long recordings or taking manual notes. With AI Interview Insights, you can now review complete transcripts and AI-generated summaries of your One-way (Recorded) interviews right inside Zoho Recruit. This

    • API method to get activity feed in Recruit

      Hi community, I'm trying to figure out - is there any API method tto get information about datetime when Recruit/Candidates record tag where added?

    • Next Page