Spotlight #7 - Automatic Transitions in Blueprint

Spotlight #7 - Automatic Transitions in Blueprint



Previously, records could not be moved from one state to another without user intervention. With automatic transitions, move records from one state to another automatically, when it elapses its pre-defined time. This Spotlight discusses how automatic transitions optimise your sales conversion process in Blueprints. If you'd like a deeper understanding of how Blueprint works, check this out.

Automatic Transitions in Blueprint 

Automatic transition, as the name suggests, auto-moves a record from one state to another state when it exceeds a pre-defined time. We can set the time, varying from 15 minutes to even months for the automatic transition of a record to another state. It fills the process gaps where mistimed or delayed transitions can be triggered, as fail-safe default transitions in a sales process. Thus preventing sales process delays and helping to optimize conversion.

Business use-case



For a better understanding, let us consider the sales process of Zylker, a software product company. The sales team gathers the client requirements and analyses them carefully. Once suitable products are identified, a demo is set up for the client. The client is then sent a quote, post which the record enters the negotiation stage. If the client accepts the quote, the deal gets marked as Won. Most of you must be familiar with Blueprints in Zoho CRM that helps execute this process in a systematic manner.  

Assume Joey, one of Zylker's sales reps has gone on an unplanned leave. Before going on leave, he had asked for detailed requirements from the client. Let's say the client has already submitted his requirement through an email. As Joe has not validated the requirements and performed the next transition in the sales pipeline, the deal is stuck in the "Needs analysis" stage. This delays the sales process. 
 
By defining a set time for each stage, Joey can ensure that any record that lapses the pre-set time can then be moved to the next stage automatically. If the deal elapses the wait time in "Need analysis" state, the record gets moved automatically to the 
"Negotiation" state. 



This ensures that the record is not left idle for want of human intervention. Of course, not all stages require an automatic transition. This can be set in line with the sales process.

Now let us check out how to configure automatic transition 
  • To configure automatic transition, create a new transition between need analysis and negotiation
  • Below the transition name, there is a small check box called automatic transition - "Check" and "Save" it. 

  • Choose the wait time - days, hours or minutes. 
  • If the record stays in the current state for more than the defined time, it will be transferred to the AT configured state automatically. 
  • Customise actions such as email notification, webhook, actions and much more to get executed upon the transition. 
To check how it gets executed. Create a new deal.  In case none of the Transitions are selected in the automatic transition configured state, an info message gets displayed that states <this transition> will be executed automatically on <date> and <time>.



Leveraging automatic transition ensures that the record is not stuck beyond a point in a particular state and helps further sales conversion. 


      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

          • Zoho CRM Community Digest - February 2026 | Part 2

            In this edition, we’re highlighting a few more product enhancements, along with some helpful community discussions that explore everyday CRM scenarios from automating reminders and managing lead outreach to making the most of APIs and client scripts.
          • How to reach the official Zoho Support channels and avoid fake ones.

            Dear Customers, Thanks a lot for choosing Zoho! Our applications are built to help achieve your day-to-day business goals. We are committed to engaging with you, to understand and develop solutions that enhance your productivity.  We are happy and ready to help you use our services effectively. Understanding and avoiding fake support Just like using popular bank names and financial applications for phishing purposes, using Zoho and claiming to be providing Zoho Support or services with false numbers
          • Function #35: Close all tasks associated with a lead and create a new task.

            Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to close all tasks of a deal depending upon the deal stage. This week, let's look at a custom function that lets you close all of the tasks associated with a lead while simultaneously creating a new task, like when you need to halt all progress towards a lead while the lead is not available at the moment but create a reminder task. Business scenario: The success of a company, in one way or another, is determined by the leads it gets. Each lead is just
          • Zoho CRM Webinar - Redesigning Daily User Experiences with Canvas

            &lt;br&gt; Your users across roles use the CRM for day-to-day tasks that are necessary. Whether they perform their tasks on time, the right way, or at all depends on a lot of factors, including User Experience. Many businesses struggle with rigid layouts,
          • Join us at the Canada ZUG Meetup: What’s New in Zoho CRM

            Hello Zoho Community! Start your year with fresh insights into Zoho CRM’s latest updates and tools. Whether you're a CRM beginner or a experienced user, this meetup is crafted to help you optimise your processes and leverage new features. Explore practical

          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

                                  • Composite items inside of composite items; bill of materials needed

                                    Hi Zoho and Everyone, I am evaluating whether Zoho Inventory will work for my small business. I grow and harvest herbs and spices but also get from wholesalers. I use all these items to make herbal teas, but also sell them as individual items on my Shopify store and Etsy. I discovered the composite item bundling and am wondering if I could get some assistance since there is no bill of materials: Our herbal company's best selling tea is a sleepytime tea. Sleepytime Tea can be purchased in three weights
                                  • Automation Series: Sync Task Status with Zoho Desk Tickets

                                    In Zoho Projects, you can automatically close and reopen an associated Zoho Desk ticket when the status of a task is changed. This syncs the current state of the task with the support ticket without manual updates. For instance, a support team handling
                                  • Auto-Generate Line Numbers in Item Table Using HTML & CSS Counters (Zoho Books & Zoho Inventory Custom Templates)

                                    <div> <style> /* Start counter from 0 inside tbody */ tbody#lineitem { counter-reset: rowNumber; } /* Increment counter for each row */ tbody#lineitem tr { counter-increment: rowNumber; } /* Show counter value in first column */ tbody#lineitem tr td:first-child::before
                                  • Does zoho inventory need Enterprise or Premium subsrciption to make Widgets.

                                    We have Zoho One Enterprise and yet we can't create widgets on inventory.
                                  • Zoho CAMPAIGNS working hours

                                    Hi I use Campaigns Automation workflows to automate follow-ups to my Leads. I discovered this weekend that emails are being sent out on Sundays. How do I limit my Campaigns outgoing emails to business working hours? This is very important! Thanks, D
                                  • Depositing funds to account

                                    Hello, I have been using Quickbooks for many years but am considering moving to Zoho Books so I am currently running through various workflows and am working on the Invoicing aspect. In QB, the process is to create an invoice, receive payment and then
                                  • Create Receipt of a Donation (not a sale)

                                    We are a non-profit organization that receives general donations. How do I create a receipt of payment for the donor and categorize the payment as a Gift? I tried the method of creating an invoice; however that automatically created a "Sales" transaction
                                  • Function #2: Create a Deal in Zoho CRM when an Estimate is created in Zoho Books

                                    For those who use Zoho CRM integrated with Zoho Books, here's a nifty function that helps you optimize your sales process by adding a Deal in Zoho CRM whenever an estimate is created in Zoho Books. Custom Function: To create the custom function, go to
                                  • New Custom View -Sorting the Custom fields

                                    While creating a New Custom View in invoice , Customers, Bills ,expense etc , the sorting of custom fields are not available , a query function "order by / sort by  " may also be included in  Define new criteria module  which will be more beneficial to
                                  • Grouping Undeposited Funds to Move to other accounts

                                    In the bank option it would be nice to check what transactions in undeposited funds I want to move to other accounts. Then while checking this it can accumulate totals and created whats essentially a deposit slip. Once the transaction is moved it should
                                  • Sync your CRM Tasks with Zoho Projects

                                    Zoho Projects integration with Zoho CRM helps you manage your tasks more efficiently. You can create all project related activities right inside your CRM using this integration. Create new portal or associate an existing portal, add projects to the portal,
                                  • Zoho CRM strips whitespace in text fields

                                    When editing field text with multiple spaces: CRM - both UI and API trim / compress the whitespace to a single space when saving: Is this known / expected / documented behaviour?
                                  • Custom Button makes scroll bar go down in report

                                    I have a report with a Custom button called Completed. A colleague mentionned to me that when he pressed this custom button it scrolled down the page which is annoying since he want to stay at the same space on the repoort. There is no reload linked to
                                  • Quickbooks Integrations Stopped Working

                                    All of our Quickbooks integrations have stopped working. I am checking in to see if: a) this is a known issue b) if anyone else is having this issue. As usual, Zoho support is unavailable.
                                  • Incorrect Functioning of Time Logs API (Version 3)

                                    We need to fetch the list of time logs for each task for our company internal usage. We are trying to achieve it by using the next endpoint: https://projects.zoho.com/api-docs#bulk-time-logs#get-all-project-time-logs Firstly, in the documentation the
                                  • Dynamic image in form works in the app but not on the customer portal.

                                    img = frm_Fichas[ID == input.Nombre].Foto; imgno = Nophoto[ID2 = 1].Image; if(len(img) > 1) { img = img.replaceAll("/sharedBy/appLinkName/",zoho.appuri); img = img.replaceAll("viewLinkName","Fichas_de_personal_public"); img = img.replaceAll("fieldName","Foto");
                                  • Uplifted homepage experience

                                    Editions: All editions. Availability update: 17th February 2026: All editions in the CA and SA DC | JP DC (Free, Standard and Professional editions) 23 February 2026: JP (All Editions) | AU, CN (Free, Standard, Professional editions) 27 February 2026:
                                  • Approval Workflow for Purchase Orders Abrir

                                    The requirement is , that all purchase orders greater than or equal to 5000 go through an approval process from certain people, but within books I only see that the approvers can be by levels or any approver but we cannot enter a rule like these. Can
                                  • WeTravel + Zoho CRM Integration - Has Anyone Built a Connector or Extension?

                                    Hi all, I'm exploring options for integrating Zoho CRM with WeTravel (booking & payment platform for tour operators). Zapier seems to be the common method but seems limited. I'm wondering if anyone in the community has developed a more comprehensive solution,
                                  • Option in pipeline deal to select which hotel or branch or store if client has more than one local store

                                    Hi, I would like to know if there is an option in the deal pipeline to select which hotel, branch, or store a deal is related to—if the company has more than one location. For example, I have a client that owns several hotels under the same company, and
                                  • Undo article like/dislike

                                    It seems to be not possible to undo your like/dislike for an article. Would be great if you can. Kind regards, Helen
                                  • Nested notebooks

                                    Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to know if it is possible to nest notebooks. It would be very helpful when there are too many, as it would improve organization. Thank you for your response. Best regards.
                                  • Tax in Quote

                                    Each row item in a quote has a tax value. At the total numbers at the bottom, there is also a Tax entry. If you select tax in both of the (line item, and the total), the tax doubles. My assumption is that the Tax total should be totalling the tax from
                                  • Dynamically Fetching Lookup Field Display Value

                                    I have an audit trail form, Audit_Changes, that tracks old vs new values across different forms. For lookup fields, the old/new value is the ID, but I also need the display value. What's a best practice for dynamically fetching the display value of the
                                  • Stop Scrolling, Start Asking: Meet Zia for Your Files

                                    Hey everyone 👋 The era of 'scrolling and searching' is officially over. Whether it's a dense legal contract or a long meeting recording, searching for specific details is a massive time-sink. We think you should be able to interact with your files, not
                                  • How do I open MSG files in Microsoft Word?

                                    If you want to open MSG files in Microsoft Word is not natively supported, as MSG is an email file format created by Microsoft Outlook. However, there are professional approaches to access MSG content in Word. First, open the MSG file in Outlook and copy
                                  • Unable to charge GST on shipping/packing & Forwarding charges in INDIA

                                    Currently, tax rates only apply to items. It does not apply tax to any shipping or packing & forwarding charges that may be on the order as well. However, these charges are taxable under GST in India. Please add the ability to apply tax to these charges.
                                  • How to add packing & forwarding charge in purchase order & quotation???

                                    Hello Zoho Team I have just started using Zoho for my company and I wanted to make purchase order. My supplier charges fix 2% as packing & forwarding on Total amount of material and then they charge me tax. For example, Material 1 = 100 Rs Material 2
                                  • How to create a boxplot chart in Zoho Analytics?

                                    Hi, I'm looking forward to making a boxplot in Zoho Analytics, either with all my data or with a time segmentation. No documentation or YouTube video explaining that was found. I guess this is a feature gap. How feasible would it be to add this to Analytics?
                                  • What are the create bill API line item requiered fields

                                    While the following documentation says that the line items array is requiered it doesn't say what if any files are requiered in the array. Does anyone know? API documentation: https://www.zoho.com/inventory/api/v1/bills/#create-a-bill I'm trying to add
                                  • Budget function?

                                    Has there been any progress on the development of a budget function in Zoho Books / Invoice? It's impossible to grow/run a business without some kind of budgeting. If I've missed something, apologies, but there seems little point in using Zoho Books without a budgeting function. Otherwise, I'm very impressed with the Zoho apps and the support. Keep up the great work.
                                  • Connecting Zoho Inventory to ShipStation

                                    we are looking for someone to help connect via API shipStation with Zoho inventory. Any ideas? Thanks. Uri
                                  • Zoho Booking - TIN vs ATIN & ITIN

                                    Zoho Booking Vendors allows for TAX ID values of SSN, EIN, ATIN an ITIN. There is no option for TIN. What is the method to properly add TIN to the list of taxable values for companies? For reference: Social Security Numbers (SSN) Individual Taxpayer Identification
                                  • Where is the settings option in zoho writer?

                                    hi, my zoho writer on windows has menu fonts too large. where do i find the settings to change this option? my screen resolution is correct and other apps/softwares in windows have no issues. regards
                                  • Using IMAP configuration for shared email inboxes

                                    Our customer service team utilizes shared email boxes to allow multiple people to view and handle incoming customer requests. For example, the customer sends an email to info@xxxx.com and multiple people can view it and handle the request. How can I configure
                                  • When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

                                    When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?
                                  • POP mailbox limits

                                    If I am accessing a remote POP mail server using Zoho Mail is there a mailbox quota for the account or is it all related to my mail account storage limits?
                                  • Warranty Service and Repair in Zoho FSM

                                    Hi There, We are a retail store that sells products and also performs installations and repairs. Our field technicians handle this work. Some repairs are covered by manufacturers, who reimburse us for both parts and labour. In these cases, we perform
                                  • Zoho Sheet for Desktop

                                    Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?
                                  • WhatsApp phone number migration

                                    Hi @Gowri V and @Pheranda Nongpiur, Thanks for implementing the promised enhancements to the integration between Zoho CRM and WhatsApp. The previous discussion has been locked, so I'm opening this new one. I am copying below a specific
                                  • Next Page