Leverage layout rules to customize workflow

Leverage layout rules to customize workflow

Layout rules in Zoho Sprints primarily aim to customize the field layout of your creation forms to meet complex requirements. But it doesn't stop there. Its customization can push the boundaries of how your fields behave, how data is gathered, how processes are branched out, and how workflow is channeled.

Based on conditions, you can tailor field behavior, direct the life cycle of an item, mandate specific actions, restrict the field options, or auto-assign users. The possibilities are aplenty.

We've tried to provide a few sample scenarios that help you automate your data collection and progress tracking flow. If you have any specific requirements, please state them in the comments, and we'll find out if layout rules can help you.

Use case 1: Restricting item statuses based on work item types

With layout rules, each item type can have its own workflow. This means it can have its own unique set of statuses that align with its specific lifecycle.

Let's assume you have three item types: Bug, Story, and Task.
Each type follows its own lifecycle, represented by the following statuses.
  • Bug goes through the To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done statuses.
  • Story has To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
  • And Task moves through a simple To Do, In Progress, and Done.
To align with these flows, certain statuses should not be available to specific item types. For instance, a story or a task should not be moved to the Bug Fixing status. Similarly, a bug or a task should not be moved to the Development status.

To enforce this, we can create layout rules that control which statuses are available based on the item type.

So, we'll create three conditions with each item type as the primary field.
  • If the item type is Bug, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, Bug Fixing, Bug Testing, and Done.
  • If the item type is Story, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, Ideation, In Progress, Development, Review, and Done.
  • If the item type is Task, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to To Do, In Progress, and Done.
Together, these conditions control the status progression for each item type. So, when you create a bug, it will only progress into the statuses that belong to the Bug lifecycle.


Use Case 2: Restricting future statuses based on the item's current status

When your team requires a pre-defined strict workflow where an item can be moved from a specific status to only a few statuses, layout rules can help implement this. For example, an item in the Bug Fixing status should only move to Bug Testing, and no other status. This way, each status controls the next status in the workflow.

To ensure this, create layout rules specifying conditions for each of the item status:
  • If the status is To do, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Rejected.
  • If the status is In progress, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress and Development.
  • If the status is Development, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Review Level 1.
  • If the status is Review Level 1, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to Reopen and Review Level 2.
  • If the status is Reopen, specify the condition with the trigger action to restrict the status pick list to In progress.

Use case 3: Making a field mandatory based on item status or item type

Let's assume you want a field to be made mandatory only when the item is moved to one particular status. Which implies the field will remain non-mandatory during other statuses and will be mandatory only at that particular status. So, the progress to that status must be allowed only when the mandatory field is updated.

For instance, when an item is moved to the Done status, the Approver field must become mandatory to record completion approval. To ensure that this process is executed, you can create a layout rule where the primary field is the Status Name. If the status field is updated to Done, specify the condition with the trigger action to set the Approver field as mandatory.
​
​

Use case 4: Showing or hiding a section or field based on item types

Layout rules enable you to show or hide fields or sections based on item type conditions.

Let's say a section with fields related to a new feature should only be visible when the item type is New Feature.

Similarly, when the item type is Security Issue, the section with fields related to Security issue must be visible.

To achieve this, create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
  • Create a condition for the New Feature item type with a trigger action to show the New Feature Details section.
  • Create a condition for the Security Issue item type with a trigger action to show the Security Issue Details section.

Use case 5: Selecting specific assignees for item types and priorities

Layout rules can help you assign users based on the item type and priority. Let's say your team has a group of developers with varied levels of experience and expertise. You want to assign the high priority items to a more experienced member like John, while assigning low priority items to a novice like Peter.

If the item type is Bug and the priority level is Critical, you can assign the bug to John. If the priority level is High, it goes to Peter.

To meet this requirement, you can create a layout rule with Item Type as the primary field.
  • Create a condition for the item type Bug with a subcondition where the priority level is Critical and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as John.
  • For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is High and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Peter.
Similarly, say you want the Task item type with a medium priority level to go to Helen, and a low priority level should go to James.
  • Create a condition for the item type Task with a subcondition where the priority level is Medium and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as Helen.
  • For the same condition, add a subcondition where the priority level is Low and the trigger action has the Set Field Value Assignee as James.


These are just a few examples of how layout rules can streamline your project management. Do you have any particular scenario that needs resolution? Please share it with us.

Thanks,
Zoho Sprints Team

      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • Tip #28 - Plan less and deliver more using WIP limit in Zoho Sprints

            Hello, It's been a while since we met with a quick, interesting tip. As the saying goes, "Too much of anything is good for nothing", today the focus is on delivering your outcomes with the right amount of planning. Your plan should be practical, calculative, and achievable for driving a qualitative success.    Laura's plan   Laura has a habit of planning her project deliverables before assigning work to her team-mates. Once the plan is finalized, she schedules a general meeting with her team and

          • Tip # 3- Working on the Scrum board

            Continuing from our Tip #2 on leading to a sprint, let's see how to manage the work items on the Scrum board.  Once you start the sprint your work items are automatically displayed on the Scrum board where you will actually manage the work items. It is a snapshot of the backlog items identified for the current sprint.    The layout of the Scrum board Simply put, the scrum board is just like a physical board with sticky notes on which the work items of the active sprint are displayed.  The scrum board

          • Tip#2- Leading you to a Sprint

            Product Backlog After the user stories are written and finalized, they are sorted to create the Product Backlog for the project during the Backlog Grooming meeting. This is a master list of all the work items that have been identified for the project and sorted by priority. Requirements are not constant during this period.The Product Backlog is dynamic and is an ongoing process. Every user story in the Product Backlog is customer centric. The Product Backlog includes: User centric stories based on

          • Tip #1- Why swimlanes?

            Lanes define a clear path to reach your destination. In Agile, swimlane is one such concept that sets a simple and clear process of the work that you do.   The concept of swimlane can be related to the pool, where the swimmers gather in their respective lanes to start off. Similar to the pool, work items are grouped in different categories. Each category is referred as a lane and is displayed in horizontal format. Swimlanes are effective in categorizing the work items with respective to specific

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

                                    Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

                                  • Collective-booking event not added to all staff calendars

                                    We assign two staff to certain events. When the client books this event, it adds it to one staff calendar (the 'organiser') but not the other. How can I ensure all staff assigned to a collective booking get the event in their calendar? (A side note: it

                                  • Project Management Bulletin: October, 2025

                                    Every need leads to innovation. Project Management tools were developed out of sheer necessity to drive large projects. With wide usage, the specifications grew precise, and so did the refinement. Over years we’ve crafted one of the best project management

                                  • Zoho Sheets saying locked when not locked

                                    Zoho Sheets won't let me add more rows to sheet because it's saying the sheet is locked, but the sheet is not locked. I tried using a different browser but I still have the same issue.

                                  • Identifying and Merging Accounts with Similar (Non-Exact) Names

                                    Hello everyone, I’m aware of the built-in deduplication feature in Zoho CRM that allows merging records with exactly matching values for selected fields. However, I’m running into a situation where our migrated data contains multiple variations of the

                                  • Option for super admin to recover the deleted chats in Zoho Cliq

                                    Currently, in Zoho Cliq, if a user accidentally deletes their chats, there is no option for the Super Admin to recover or view those deleted messages. I believe it would be helpful if Super Admins had a recovery option, perhaps within a certain time frame,

                                  • Zoho CRM iOS app updates: the Homepage, Zoho Survey integration, and support for multiple file uploads in subform

                                    Hello everyone! The Zoho CRM mobile app continues to evolve to bring you a smoother and more powerful CRM-on-the-go experience. We're excited to share some important updates now available in the iOS app. Here's what's new: Homepage support Zoho Survey

                                  • I am trying to integrate my module in sandbox environment to add data via API

                                    I went through the documents and tried to setup the API for adding the module via the api but the problem is the token setup is done on "https://accounts.zoho.in/oauth/v2/token" domain and the bulk write is done on "https://content.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/upload"

                                  • Setting up primary mobile number.

                                    Hi Sir Earlier I joined IIFL team and got an organizational email of zoho services. Later i quit and now my account is deactivated with IIFL but i am unable to link my mobile number to my own email id with zoho.

                                  • Zoho sheet for desktop

                                    Hi is zoho sheets available for desktop version for windows

                                  • Tables for Europe Datacenter customers?

                                    It's been over a year now for the launch of Zoho Tables - and still not available für EU DC customers. When will it be available?

                                  • Guided Conversations - Ticket Creation

                                    Hi there, Using Guided Conversations to Take Customer Data and apply it into a Support Ticket for internal use, Is there a way to take multiple Textual Variables Inputs (A series of questions), and have the answers all appear in the Description of the

                                  • How to send certain invoices for Approval based on condition?

                                    To streamline operations, I need the invoices to go for approval when certain conditions are met. For example, if my staff gives a discount of x amount, it must go for approval. If there is no discount, then the invoice will be approved automatically.

                                  • Unable to continue payment

                                    Hi, I want to make a payment for my email subscription, but I cannot proceed with the payment because my NITKU is invalid. In Indonesia, the NITKU consists of 22 digits, but Zoho only provides 20 digits, causing my NITKU to be invalid. Please help me

                                  • Is 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 detail

                                  • Massive spam pretending to come from our address – is this a Zoho security issue?

                                    Hi, We’ve been receiving more and more suspicious emails lately — many of them clearly look like scams. But yesterday, we got an email that appeared to be sent from our own address, which was very concerning. We're starting to wonder if this might be

                                  • Cant recieve mails

                                    I’m having an issue with my external IMAP account not fetching any emails into Zoho Mail, even though the connection test says “Success”. I can send, if someone sends an email to me. my original directory (home.pl host) recieves it in their portal but

                                  • Zoho Sheet Autofit Data

                                    While using Autofit Data function in Zoho Sheets with Devnagri Maratji or Hindi Fonts, a word or a number, it keeps couple of characters outside the right side border.

                                  • Enhancements to finance suite integrations

                                    Update on the migration (October 28, 2025): Starting this week (October 29 tentatively), we’ll begin migrating Zoho CRM users to Zoho Books as integration users. This means actions will now run under each user’s own Zoho Books access, instead of the admin’s.

                                  • Edit 'my' Notes only

                                    The permissions around Notes should be more granular, and allow to user to be able to edit the notes he created only. The edit Notes permission is useful as it allows the user to correct any mistakes or add information as needed. However, with this same

                                  • How do I filter contacts by account parameters?

                                    Need to filter a contact view according to account parameter, eg account type. Without this filter users are overwhelmed with irrelevant contacts. Workaround is to create a custom 'Contact Type' field but this unbearable duplicity as the information already

                                  • Job Alerts for Candidates

                                    hi All, I have 2 questions relating to sharing job details with candidates. 1. is there a way to notify candidates that meet certain criteria of current jobs available? eg. I run a candidate search, and identify 50 candidates that might be suitable. Can

                                  • Add multiple users to a task

                                    When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman

                                  • Enhancing Task Accuracy: Automatically notify the owners upon Task duplication.

                                    Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. The requirement

                                  • Show/ hide specific field based on user

                                    Can someone please help me with a client script to achieve the following? I've already tried a couple of different scripts I've found on here (updating to match my details etc...) but none of them seem to work. No errors flagged in the codes, it just

                                  • Where are Kanban swimlanes

                                    So i've been playing with Zoho Projects Kanban view a bit more. It appears that task lists are being used as the Kanban columns, which makes sense from the implementation point of view but not the logical one.  Kanban columns are statuses that a task can flow through, while a task list has been a logical way to organize related tasks and relate them to a mislestone. In other words a task in a particular task can go through several stages while remaining in the same task list. After doing some research

                                  • Tip 19: How to display images in Pages using ZML snippets

                                    Hi folks, We're back with another tip on how to use Zoho Markup Language (ZML) to create interactive pages in Zoho Creator. You can use ZML snippets to add various kinds of components to your pages and structure them in meaningful ways. That's not all, though—using ZML you can ensure your application is automatically compatible with all kinds of devices without any inconsistencies. We often get questions from users about how to invoke Deluge scripts within ZML code. Here's a simple use case for adding

                                  • Can zoho swign format block text spacing automatically when prefilled from zoho crm?

                                    I'm sending zoho sign template from zoho crm, so that zoho crm pre-populates most fields. I have existing pdf documents that i am having signed. I have no ability to change the pdf documents, they are standardized government forms. The problem I am facing

                                  • Forced Logouts - Daily and More Frequent

                                    In the last month or so, I've been getting "power logged out" of all of my Zoho apps at least daily, sometimes more frequently. This happens in the same browser session on the same computer, and I need to re-login to each app separately after this happens.

                                  • Zoho Inventory / Finance Suite - Add feature to prevent duplicate values in Item Unit field

                                    I've noticed that a client has 2 values the same in the Unit field on edit/create Items. This surprised me as why would you have 2 units with the same name. Please consider adding a feature which prevents this as it seems to serve no purpose.

                                  • Reference lookup field values in Client script

                                    hello all, I'm using a "ZDK.Apps.CRM.Products.searchByCriteria" function call, which is returning the matching records correctly; however, one of the fields is a lookup field which I need the associated data. I believe there is a way to get this data

                                  • In App Auto Refresh/Update Features

                                    Hi,    I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users.   The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps.    I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With the

                                  • Every time an event is updated, all participants receive an update email. How can I deactivate this?

                                    Every time an event is updated in Zoho CRM (e.g. change description, link to Lead) every participant of this meeting gets an update email. Another customer noticed this problem years ago in the Japanese community: https://help.zoho.com/portal/ja/community/topic/any-time-an-event-is-updated-on-zohocrm-calendar-it-sends-multiple-invites-to-the-participants-how-do-i-stop-that-from-happening

                                  • How can I filter a field integration?

                                    Hi,  I have a field integration from CRM "Products" in a form, and I have three product Categories in CRM. I only need to see Products of a category. Thanks for you answers.

                                  • How to implement new online payment gateway?

                                    Hello, Can you tell me how to proceed to implement my local payment gateway? DIBS has an open avaiable API that should be easy to implement into ZOHO BOOKS. http://tech.dibspayment.com/dibs_payment_window

                                  • Zoho CRM - Portal Users Edit Their Own Account Information

                                    Hi Community, I'm working on a client portal and it seems like the only I can make the Account record editable to the Contact, is if I add another lookup on the Account to the Contact record. Am I missing something as the account already has a list of

                                  • I’ve noticed that Zoho Sheet currently doesn’t have a feature similar to the QUERY formula in Google Sheets or Power Query in Microsoft Excel.

                                    These tools are extremely helpful for: Filtering and extracting data using simple SQL-like queries Combining or transforming data from multiple sheets or tables Creating dynamic reports without using complex formulas Having a Query-like function in Zoho

                                  • Connecting Zoho Mail with Apollo.io

                                    Hi, I am trying to connect my Zoho Mail account with my Apollo.io account to start sending cold email for prospecting purposes. I have activated the IMAP setting but I am still unable to connect to the Apollo account. I am using my email credentials but

                                  • Where does this report come from in the Zoho One ecosystems?

                                    Is this directly from MA, Analytics or ??? ???

                                  • Contact's title in "Contact Role Mapping"

                                    When I'm creating a deal, I'd like to see the contacts title in the listing. Right now, I only see this: How can I get the contact's title in there?

                                  • Next Page