Zoho Books | Product Updates | February 2025

Zoho Books | Product Updates | February 2025

Hello users,

Now that January is over, here are some exciting updates to make this new year even better. We’re back with new features and enhancements in Zoho Books, including comparing fields as criteria in workflow rules and a custom SMTP integration. Explore these updates that are designed to elevate your accounting experience.

Import/Export E-Invoices in the ZUGFeRD and XRechnung Format [Germany Edition]

Customers can now download their e-Invoices in both XRechnung and ZUGFeRD formats directly from their customer portal. Additionally, vendors can upload invoices through their vendor portal and later convert them into bills from the Bills module.




Create Compound and Group Taxes [Germany Edition]

We’ve introduced the option to create compound and group taxes to manage local taxes and surcharges. In some cases, additional taxes, such as tourism or municipal taxes, may be charged alongside VAT. If the local tax is included in the total amount, VAT will be calculated on the entire amount (including the surcharge). However, if the local tax is applied separately, it will not be subject to VAT and will not appear in VAT-based reports. Additionally, when creating a tax rate, you can set tracking preferences for both sales and purchases.



Use Field Comparison as Criteria in Workflow Rules

When creating workflow rules, you can now use the comparison of two fields as criteria. For example, you can set a rule that triggers a workflow when the Discount Amount exceeds the Tax Amount.



To compare fields as criteria, navigate to Settings > Automation > Workflow Rules > + New Workflow Rule. Enter the Workflow Rule Name and select the Module. Choose an Action Type and click Next. Then, click + New Criteria, select a field from the first dropdown, choose a comparator from the second dropdown, click Select Placeholder below the third dropdown, and select the field to compare. Click Done.

Background Execution Custom Button

When creating a custom button, if the execution takes longer than 10 seconds, you can choose to either wait for it to finish or move it to the background. For tasks that run over five minutes, the system will automatically shift them to the background unless you opt to do so manually. After the process is completed, you'll receive an in-app notification.

Send Emails with Custom SMTP Servers

With Email Relay, you can use your own SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) servers to send emails and avoid spam filters. You can add multiple SMTP servers, assign them to specific emails or domains, and set a daily sending limit. Once the limit is reached, emails will be sent through our Transmail server.



To setup an email relay, go to Settings > Reminders and Notifications > Email Notifications > Email Relay > + New Server.

Leave Organization

We've introduced the option to leave an organization from the Manage Organizations page. However, if you're the admin who created the organization or the only admin, you'll need to delete the organization instead. Additionally, if you've enabled any integrations in the organization, you'll need to disable them before leaving.



Filter Lookup Custom Fields by Setting Criteria and Using Custom Views

You can now filter your lookup custom fields by using custom views and setting criteria. Records will be filtered based on both the Custom View and Criteria, ensuring all conditions are met.



Create Workflow Rules with Sub-Modules

You can now create workflow rules for sub-entities within the Invoice module. For example, within the Invoice module, you can execute workflows with Bill of Supply, Debit Note, and Late Fee as sub-modules.



To create workflow rules for sub-entities within the Invoice module, navigate to Settings > Automation > Workflow Rules > + New Workflow Rule. Enter the Workflow Rule Name, select the module as Invoice, choose an option under Execute Workflow For, and select the sub-entity from the Invoice Type dropdown.

Handle Duplicate Items Using SKU in Zoho Books - Zoho CRM Integration

You can now use product SKU as the field based on which duplicate items will be identified while integrating Zoho Books organization with Zoho CRM.



Zoho Inventory Add-On Updates

Print/Download Purchase Receives

Now, you can print or download your purchase receives. We have also supported a standard template with which you can view the PDF of your purchase receives.

To print or download a purchase receive, go to Purchases > Purchase Receives. Select the purchase receive and click PDF/Print.

To view the PDF of a purchase receive, go to Purchases > Purchase Receives. Select the purchase receive and enable the Show PDF View option on its details page.

Other Feature Enhancements

  • Access your Customer/Vendor Balance Summary reports with the same configuration and filters as before, and create custom reports.
  • We now support exporting the current view of your filtered Tasks that you and your users have to complete.
  • You can now mark the default filters of all modules as your favorites. This change will only be visible to you and will not affect other users in the organization.



    We hope you like the new features and enhancements in Zoho Books! Take some time to explore the latest updates. We’ll be back next month with even more updates, as we continually strive to elevate your accounting experience.

    You can also visit the What's New timeline for bite-sized information about our previous feature updates and enhancements. If you need any assistance, feel free to reach out at support@zohobooks.com.

   Best regards,
   The Zoho Books 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


          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

                                  • Quick Item Search & Auto-suggestion for Invoices

                                    Hi Team, I am facing an issue while creating invoices in Zoho Books. Currently, I have to type the full item name in the correct sequence and spelling for it to appear. For example, my item name is: "Distemper Acri Silk Special White 10kg" If I type something
                                  • Ticketbai! en el Pais Vasco

                                    Hola a todos, En enero de 2.022 se va a implantar en el país vasco un nuevo sistema de facturación, denominado ticketbai!, ¿hay alguna previsión de realizar las adaptaciones en zoho books o zoho invoices? Ignoro la cantidad de clientes que tienen estas
                                  • Zoho CRM mobile app feature update: home page widgets, field tooltips and user image upload

                                    Hello everyone! Your business doesn't pause when you're on the move, and neither should your CRM. That's why in our latest update, we've introduced a few new features to make your mobile CRM experience smoother and more efficient. Let's take a quick look
                                  • Zoho CRM Plain Text Template: Line Breaks and Formatting Issue

                                    Hello, I'm following the instructions to create email templates in Zoho CRM, but I'm having a problem with the plain text version. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zoho-sign/integrations/zoho-apps/zoho-crm/articles/zoho-crm-email-templates#Steps_to_create_a_custom_email_template
                                  • Optimizing Task Handling: Auto-Remove Recurrence for cancelled Tasks.

                                    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. Requirement:
                                  • Important updates to your connectors

                                    Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the
                                  • Create, collaborate, and manage agreements with Zoho Sign

                                    Agreements drive business. We launched Zoho Sign in 2017 as a simple digital signature tool to sign agreements from anywhere, at any time. Over the years, we've learned that most agreements go through last-minute changes before they're signed. Our users
                                  • Function #25: Automatically generate purchase orders from a sales order

                                    We kicked off the "Function Fridays" series with the goal of helping you automate your everyday accounting tasks. As we delve into today's post, I'm delighted to announce that we're here to present the 25th custom function in this series. While it is
                                  • hiding a topic from all but one segment (or list)

                                    My organization sends out a number of newsletters using Zoho Campaigns. One of those newsletters is for volunteers. In order to become a volunteer, a person has to first go through our volunteer orientation (training). After that, they can receive newsletters
                                  • How do I set up this automation correctly?

                                    When contacts enter my Subscribers list, I want it to reference a custom field to see if it is empty. Then I want it to do two things: If empty: Assign a tag based on a different custom field. If that custom field is empty, assign a different tag. If
                                  • Function #62: Display associated Quote on Invoice details screen

                                    Hello everyone! Today, we are sharing a Related List script that makes it easy to view and access the quote from which an invoice was created right from the invoice details screen. This Related List displays the Quote number and Amount, allowing you to
                                  • Desk x CRM Integration

                                    Howdy! We currently use SalesIQ but we are considering moving across to Desk as it seems to have more functionality that we want. One of the pulls is the ability for our customers to self serve. But, I might be getting over excited and not actually need
                                  • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

                                    Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.
                                  • Issue with Save & Share Link – Works for Others but Not Creator

                                    I’ve enabled the "Save and Share" feature in Zoho Forms, and it works correctly for all users accessing the public link—except for me (the form creator). Issue Details: When I save and share the link, recipients see a “no permission” error. The form is
                                  • Save the pdf report from a registration form in a Folder

                                    Through Zoho Forms I created a registration form with quite a lot of rules to handle different variables (TEAM types, payment in installments, etc.), and the result is pretty good. The automatic PDF that is sent to the respondent upon submission is already
                                  • zoho forms integration to zoho work drive

                                    Scenario: A user fills out a Zoho Form, entering details such as email, mobile number, and other required information, and uploads supporting documents like PAN, Aadhaar, etc. Upon submission, the data is available in Zoho Forms Reports. Requirement:
                                  • Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM Integration failed - can I restart it?

                                    The integration of Zoho Form to Zoho CRM has failed. Is there a way for me to restart it for the impacted entry?
                                  • insert an equation, but in document, it shows an image not available.

                                    I'm new to Zoho writer and used Zoho writer in desktop app version . When I inserted an equation, I got an image not available sign. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Charles
                                  • Zoho Desk Android app update - Swipe action customization

                                    Hello everyone! We have brought in support for the swipe action customization in latest version(v2.9.13) of the Zoho Desk Android app update, enabling you to configure left and right swipe gestures on tickets to carry out the actions swiftly without opening
                                  • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

                                    Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible
                                  • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

                                    Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.
                                  • Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

                                    Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack
                                  • Arranging Ticket Templates

                                    Is there any way to arrange our ticket templates? It doesn't look very organised when it's just arranged according to when they were created. We want the list to look more organised, by arranging/grouping them by topics, or even just by alphabetical
                                  • What they mean with "Portal"?

                                    I just downloaded this app to take my personal notes on digital art studio because it seemed to me the most comfortable app to do it, I use it very often, what do they mean by “no activity on your portal”? I have about 1 year of work here and I don't
                                  • favorites no longer listed

                                    Hello, I can no longer navigate to my Favorites from the pulldown at the top of my grid view (see attached screenshot). I wasn't able to find it anywhere! Please help me display my Favorites. Thank you!
                                  • Notecards Disappeared

                                    Got a new phone. Downloaded and signed in Zoho Notebook. Not finding the Note cards. Just Empty Note books. Frustrating.
                                  • Table Errors

                                    Hello, I'm new to Zoho Notebook and using it on several Mac/Apple devices. My question is regarding tables: Why do they become broken, and how to fix the error without retyping all my data? (Please see the screenshot attached.)
                                  • Online Calculator with Zoho Forms?

                                    I'd like to build a custom calculator on my website. Zoho Forms seems to offer all the fields for basic calculations performed live without pressing any "Calculate" buttons. Unfortunately, there is still that "Submit" button at the bottom. There is nothing
                                  • Zoho Tables instead of Zoho Creator Spreadsheet reports <3

                                    That would make my day for sure. Zoho Creator is create, but miss data entering as AirTable/Spreadsheet can. Seeing Zoho putting effort in this makes me think maybe one day we could see a similar interface for Zoho Creator spreadsheet reports. B.
                                  • Notebook Stack

                                    Hi Everyone I Hope you´re fine, I´m sorry if this idea was posted before (I made a search but I haven´t find anything related). So, Having the possibility of stacking notebooks would be an interesting way to order notebooks that correspond to the same
                                  • Writing on sketch cards is bugged when zoomed in

                                    When zoomed in, it writes a noticeable distance above or to the side of where you're actually trying to write. The further you're zoomed in, the more noticeable it is. Zooming is also entirely absent on the desktop version.
                                  • Swipe between notes on iPhone

                                    It'd be convenient if I could move from one note to the next in a notebook simply by swiping left to right.
                                  • Sales IQ chat is not working in signed android apk

                                    I have integrated ZOHO sales IQ support chat and i have followed each step and its working fine in my development build but when i create signed APK for it. Chat does not work in it and showing awaiting for detail. I previously asked the same query but
                                  • COQL order by COUNT not working

                                    Dear community, I am trying to get a list of deal amounts per planner working on it and sorted to get see who has the least amount of deals. For some reason, I am unable to use sort by in combination with a COUNT. My original code was: query = "select
                                  • I want to duplicate a report and name it something else

                                    Hi, I have created a report, and now want to reproduce it and call it something else. so that I will end up with TWO separate reports with different titles. Please tell me how do I copy / reproduce a report please
                                  • Zoho CRM: Sales Rep Professional Certification Program on Coursera

                                    We are happy to share that we have published the Zoho Sales Representative Professional Certificate in partnership with Coursera, a leading platform for online learning and career development that offers access to courses and degrees from leading universities
                                  • OS X Notebook quits immediately upon launch

                                    NoteBook for OS X (Sequoia, but also under Sonoma) always quits immediately upon launch (so I cannot use the "Attach user log" option). I've restarted my MacBook but the problem persists. If it helps, attached is a diagnostic report from Library>Log
                                  • Can External users upload files or images to WorkDrive?

                                    I want to know if it is possible for someone externally through a link and PW be able to upload files and images onto WorkDrive?
                                  • Multi-line fields character limits

                                    Is there a way to set the character limit higher on multi-line fields so that we are not losing information pasted into the field? When the text is entered or pasted, there is no error to say that the text is too large. After saving and going back to view most of the text is gone.   Also, when viewing the resume, the text is not wrapped in the multi line fields and can t be read without scrolling across the page.
                                  • Taz bot not working — What should I do to resolve this issue?

                                    I am experiencing issues with the Taz bot in Zoho Cliq—not receiving responses or it does not seem to work as expected. Could you please explain why the Taz bot might not be functioning and what steps I should take to resolve this issue? Thank you!
                                  • Next Page