Creating Layouts

1. Only those departments to which a user is added will be displayed while creating or customizing a layout.
2. Agents and customers can select an appropriate layout of the Tickets module while adding a ticket.
3. Only ticket layouts can be made visible to end users in the Help Center.
   
4. Org-wide modules such as Accounts, Contacts, and Products can have a maximum of 20 active layouts.
   
5. Tickets, Activities, and Time Entries can have a maximum of 20 active layouts per department.
   
6. The Contracts module does not support multiple layouts.
   

7. Admins can select multi-select picklist field while creating a layout rule. For example, Admins can create a rule for a "Service Topics" multiselect picklist field in Desk account, enabling customers to select various topics they need assistance with. Upon choosing their topics, a new layout will prompt them to provide billing details. This allows customers using the help center to pick multiple service topics when submitting tickets.
   

8. Regex criteria's such as Matches Regex, Not Matches Regex, and Contains Regex can be selected while creating a layout rule. Consider a scenario where an admin wants create a layout rule for a field, "Order Number", using Regex criteria. The goal is to ensure a specific format for order numbers. Let's say the admin aims for order numbers to include only alphanumeric characters, like "ORD123." In this case, the admin can utilize the "Matches Regex" criterion, setting it to enforce the requirement for alphanumeric input in the order number field. Following the entry of data into the order number field, a new layout named "Billing Details" will be displayed.
   

9. Ticket properties like status values, picklist values, multi-select picklist values, and mandatory fields are set at the layout level, not the department or organization level. For example, you can make the same field required on one layout but optional on another layout.
   
10. While adding a page layout, you must assign it to user profiles. Agents can create records in only those layouts that are assigned to their profiles.
    
11. When you add a custom layout, you can choose to allow non-department agents with the assigned profiles to access the layout.
    
12. A department will consist of a standard layout for each module. This Standard Layout is the default layout, which cannot be deactivated or deleted.
    
13. You can add new layouts and specify which layout (standard, or otherwise) must be the default layout for a department.
    
14. You can clone a layout within a department and also across departments. The layouts must belong to the same module. For eg., you can clone layout from Tickets module between department A and B.  
    
15. By default, a Standard Layout is assigned to all user profiles. Their permissions and display preferences cannot be modified.
    
16. You could either rename the Standard Layout and customize it or clone it to create a new layout.
    
17. Following are a few examples of the most common differences between two layouts:
    
1. Different fields and sections in the layouts
   
2. The values of a pick-list field are different in the different layouts
   
3. The difference in mandatory fields – while a field is mandatory in one layout – it is non-mandatory in the other

Permission Required
Users with the permission to Manage Layouts and Fields can create, edit or delete layouts and layout rules. You can create upto a maximum of 50 layout rules/department. 
Check Availability and Limits

To add a new layout

1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
   
2. In the Setup Landing page, click Layouts and Fields under Customization.
   
3. In the Layouts page, select the desired module and the department (when more than one exists) from the drop-down menu.
   If this is the first time you've started to explore page layouts, you'll see the default Standard Layout for the chosen module.
   
   
   
   
4. Click Add Layout in the upper-right corner of the page.
   
5. In the Add Layout panel, do the following:
   
6. Enter the layout's Name, Display Name in Help Center, and Description.
   
7. In the Layout Permissions field, select the user profiles that will have access to the layout.
   
8. Select the checkbox for Allow non-department agents with the assigned profiles to access the layout.
   
9. Select the checkbox for Display in Help Center.
   
10. Click Save and Configure.
    You will be directed to the Edit Layout page.
11. Customize the layout with the required fields and sections.
    You can add fields and sections, reorder, mark as required, set permissions, edit properties, replace picklist values, or remove fields.
12. Click Save or Save and Close.

Customizing a Layout

You can perform the following customizations in a module's page layout:

• Organize page details
  
• Make fields mandatory
  
• Add new sections
  
• Add custom fields

Organize Page Details

The option to Organize Page details is available in each module and helps to change the order of the related list views. Additionally, you can show or hide some of the related fields as per your department's requirement using this feature.

To organize the page details

1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
2. In the Setup Landing page, click Layouts and Fields under Customization.
3. In the Layouts page, select the desired module and the department (when more than one exists) from the drop-down menu.
   Module refers to the Tickets, Tasks, Contacts, etc.
   
4. Click Edit Layout at the bottom of the page to open the layout editor.
   
5. In the Edit Layout page, drag and drop the fields from the [Module] layout list to the Unused Fields list and vice versa to show or hide the fields.
   Note: Certain fields are mandatory (read-only and standard fields) and cannot be removed from the page layout.
6. In the [Module] Layout list, drag and drop the fields to change their order on the page as per your requirement.
   
7. Click Save Layout.
   
   
   

Marking Fields as Required

You can mark fields as required or mandatory in Zoho Desk.

To mark fields as required

1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
2. In the Setup Landing page, click Layouts and Fields under Customization.
3. In the Layouts page, select the desired module and the department (when more than one exists) from the drop-down menu.
   Module refers to the Tickets, Tasks, Contacts, etc.
4. Click Edit Layout at the bottom of the page to open the layout editor.
   
   
   
   
5. Hover your mouse pointer over the field you wish to mark as required, click the Gear icon (  ) and select the Mark as required checkbox.
   The field label is displayed in red to indicate that the field is required.
6. Click Save Layout.

Note

• A field can be set as required only when Read and Write permissions are given to all the profiles with access to that field. You can set this permission under Setup >> Layout and Fields >> Field Permissions.

Adding Sections

A section is simply an area on a page layout, where we can group similar fields under an appropriate heading. This makes it easy for your users to quickly identify and enter the information for a record, especially if your record has a significant number of fields. By default, there are certain sections available in each of your modules.

To add a new section

1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
2. In the Setup Landing page, click Layouts and Fields under Customization.
3. In the Layouts page, select the desired module and the department (when more than one exists) from the drop-down menu.
   Module refers to the Tickets, Tasks, Contacts, etc.
4. Click Edit Layout at the bottom of the page to open the layout editor.
   
   
   
   
5. From the Add Field Tray on the right, drag and drop +Add Section to include more sections for the module.
   
6. Edit the name of the section, if required.
   
7. Click Save Layout.

Note

• You can add/delete as many sections as you require. 
  
• You must remove the read-only and mandatory fields in a section before you could delete it.

Adding Custom Fields

Zoho Desk lets you add custom fields in addition to the built-in fields. When you create a custom field, you configure where you want it to appear and optionally control security at the Profile level. To learn more about adding custom fields, click here.

Deleting Layouts

1. Show Fields: Choose this action when you want specific fields to be shown
   
2. Show Sections: Choose this action when you want specific sections to be shown
   
3. Set Mandatory Fields: Choose this action when you want to make a few fields mandatory

1. Following is the split up of the number of conditions you can create within a layout rule.
   
1. 25 Parent Conditions per rule
   
2. 5 Branch Conditions per parent condition
   
3. 5 Criteria per branch condition
   
4. 25 Actions per branch condition
   
2. Layout rules are department-specific. This means, under a single module, say Tickets, you can configure different layout rules on the same field for different departments.
   
3. The [Record] Owner field cannot be chosen as the primary field that controls the layout rule.
   
4. Layout Rules are applied only when users manually create or edit a record.
   
5. Layout rules are not available for records created via import, webforms, and APIs.
   
6. Layout rules cannot be created based on a Multi-select picklist field or a Multi-line field as the primary field.
   
7. Layout Rules cannot be used on the following fields:
   
1. Department Name
   
2. Description
   
3. Resolution
8. A primary field used in a layout rule is not available for update from the Mass Actions menu.
   
9. The primary field used in a layout rule must be visible on the Help Center to validate tickets submitted through it.
   
10. A field once specified in action cannot be added again to another rule.

Renaming Layout Rule

Deactivating Layout Rule

1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
   
2. In the Setup Landing page, click Layouts and Fields under Customization.
   
3. Click Layout Rules under the Layouts and Fields sub-menu.
   
4. In the Layout Rules page, click the toggle corresponding to the layout rule to OFF.
   
5. Click Deactivate to confirm.