Zoho CRM Community Digest - December 2025 | Part 1

Zoho CRM Community Digest - December 2025 | Part 1




Hello Everyone! 

In the first half of December, Zoho CRM rolled out auto-invite for portals, smarter CPQ with Zia suggestions and price rules, and Query Workbench for faster query building. We also highlight other noteworthy conversations you shouldn’t miss.

Product Updates:

Auto-Invite Users to Portals Based on Conditions

Automatically grant portal access in Zoho CRM by triggering invites when predefined conditions are met. Customize invitation languages based on customer location or preferences, with optional checks like subscription status, and track failures with detailed logs to resolve invite issues quickly. Read the full post to see how this simplifies portal onboarding at scale.

CPQ Gets Smarter with Zia Suggestions and Enhanced Price Rules

Zoho CRM CPQ now leverages Zia to recommend Product Configurator rules by spotting frequently used product combinations in past quotes. This helps sales teams quote faster and more accurately while reducing manual setup and ensuring pricing applies only to the right line items. Admins can review, refine, or activate AI-generated suggestions as sales patterns change. Read the full post to see how these updates bring smarter quoting and greater control.

Query Workbench Brings a Faster Way to Build Queries in Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM introduces Query Workbench, a unified interface that lets developers build, execute, and validate queries, all in one workspace without switching panels. With instant query execution, response previews, and a cleaner guided layout, users can reduce errors, work faster, and gain confidence while building complex queries. The Workbench enhances the classic query experience and lays the foundation for upcoming support for external databases and cloud data sources. Check out the post to see what’s next with expanded data sources and other enhancements.

Quick Wins:

Handling Duplicate Account Names with Variations

@Dale Wilson needed a way to prevent duplicate customer records in Zoho CRM when names differed only by suffixed like LTD or PLC. @Bhoomi Joshi suggested using a validation rule with a Function or Client Script to check the base name and alert users if a duplicate exists. The solution worked perfectly, keeping Dale's customer records clean and consistent. Check out the post to see how this logic can be implemented in your CRM.

 

Lead Reports Made Complete: Including Converted Leads

@Sahal Akel asked how to include converted leads in Lead reports. @Ishwarya SG explained how to build a single report by combining filters for both converted and non-converted leads using an OR condition. This straightforward setup helps teams get a complete view of their lead data in one place. Check the full conversation in the post to know more.

HTML Tags Showing in Report Exports

@Marshall raised an issue where HTML tags appeared in exported reports when Notes included rich text formatting. @Ishwarya SG clarified that reports now support exporting rich text as plain text for Excel and CSV, and shared how to enable this option. This is a helpful reference for teams working with formatted notes and report exports. Check the post to see where to turn on this setting.

Kaizen:

Kaizen #219: Getting Started with Webhooks in Zoho CRM

This Kaizen post explains how Webhooks in Zoho CRM enable real-time data sharing with external systems using workflows. Using a high-value lead validation use case, it walks through configuring webhooks via the UI and APIs, covering headers, body formats, and HTTP methods. The post shows how CRM data is pushed instantly when conditions are met. Read the full post to see the step-by-step setup and what’s coming next in Part 2.

Kaizen #220: Managing and Testing Webhooks with Zoho CRM APIs

This follow-up Kaizen explores managing Webhooks using GET, PUT, and DELETE APIs, and shows how to associate them with workflow rules. It demonstrates end-to-end testing by triggering a webhook through record creation and validating real-time data delivery to an external system. A practical continuation of Part 1, focused on control, updates, and live execution. Read the post to see each step in action.

 

And that’s a wrap for this fortnight’s Zoho CRM Community Digest. Caught something cool we missed? Or have a favorite from this edition?

 

Drop it in the comments! We’d love to hear from you. We’ll be back in two weeks with more updates and community gems. Until then, stay tuned!


    • Sticky Posts

    • 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

      <br> 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

    • CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.

        Hello everyone! What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel,

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Idle Chat Reminders for Agent-Handled Conversations

        Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, Greetings, We would like to request an enhancement to the Idle Chat Handling functionality in Zoho SalesIQ—specifically for chats that are handled by human agents after a bot-to-agent transfer. Current Behavior: In Zobot settings,

      • Snapchat

        Are there any plans to add Snapchat to Zoho Social or is there any API that we can use to integrate into Zoho.

      • Zoho Sign "An unexpected error occured" when clients trying to sign documents

        We are unable to have clients sign our documents. When attempting to complete the process an error appears saying "an unexpected error occured" and in the document history just shows "signing failure." We are at a complete standstill with no response

      • ¡Vuelven los Workshops Certificados de Zoho a España!

        ¡Hola usuarios de Español Zoho Community! Hace ya unos días que hemos dado la bienvenida al 2026, y promete ser un año de lo más emocionante. Y es que nos gustaría haceros nuestro particular regalo de Reyes, aunque lleguemos un poco tarde. 🎁 ¡Nos gustaría

      • How to list services on quote instead of products

        I need to create a customer facing estimate that displays our services. The default quote layout only allows products to be listed. Is there a way to correct this?

      • Syncing calendar with Google Calendar doesn't work when events are sent to auto repeat

        Hi... The ZOHO CRM -- GOOGLE CALENDAR sync is broken. If I create a single event on either side, sync works, but if I create an event with auto repeat on either side it doesn't work. Furthermore, events created before the sync don't show up in the calendar.

      • Invoice status on write-off is "Paid" - how do I change this to "Written off"

        HI guys, I want to write off a couple of outstanding invoices, but when I do this, the status of the invoices shows as "Paid". Clearly this is not the case and I need to be able to see that they are written off in the customer's history. Is there a way

      • Zoho Books - France

        L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité

      • Creating meetings from an email

        Hi. Similar to Outlook, it would be helpful if a meeting can be scheduled from an email so that the attendees need not be manually entered every time it's created.

      • Please, make writer into a content creation tool

        I'm tired of relying on Google Docs. I'm actually considering moving to ClickUp, but if Writer were a good content creation tool instead of just a word processor, I would finally be able to move all my development within the Zoho ecosystem, rather than

      • ZohoSalesIQ.Chat cannot send messages

        Chat cannot send messages. Our app implements the customer service chat window functionality by integrating the Mobilisten SDK. Recently, we encountered an issue: after successful SDK initialization and visitor registration, when the `startWithQuestion`

      • Missed chats on WhatsApp closing after one minute

        Hi, we have added WhatsApp as a channel. However, if a chat is not picked up within 2mins, the chat is marked as missed and is closed within a minute. Why are they not staying in our "missed" queue for 24 hours as per our WhatsApp preference settings?

      • Feature Request: Add Tax ID Display on Event Tickets

        Hello Backstage Team, I’ve had several clients bring up an issue regarding tax compliance when creating events. For tax purposes, they are required to show their Tax ID on the event tickets. Currently, this isn’t an option, so they have to manually generate

      • Release Notes | January 2026

        We have rolled out a set of powerful new enhancements across Zoho Vertical Studio that bring several long-awaited capabilities to your applications. These updates focus on deeper customization, smarter automation, better reporting, and improved usability

      • Email Alias: To keep emails flowing without disruption

        Email Alias acts like a nickname for a user’s primary email address, allowing multiple email addresses to deliver messages into the same mailbox. Consider the scenario where an employee manages multiple responsibilities, such as responding to sales inquiries,

      • Zoho Sites - General Feedback

        Hi Everyone-- Quick question for discussion: is it me or is working with Zoho Sites like entering the Twilight Zone? I've built many sites over the years, but this platform seems impossible. I've spent an entire day and a half trying to get a simple one-color

      • Archive Option in Conversation View

        Hello, I have a suggestion\request to add an "Archive Thread" button in conversation view of Zoho Mail. The best suggestion I have is to put an "Archive Thread" button next to the "Label Entire Thread" button in conversation view. Most users don't just

      • Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs

        hello Would you ever implement Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs in zoho writer ? Best regards

      • Inventory "Bulk Actions" button - add more fields to "Bulk Update > Select a field"

        Can we not get a lot more actions that are commonly used by customers into the "More Actions" button on the Inventory list? More fields listed in the Bulk Update > Select A Field? Possible Bulk update Fields Preferred Supplier ( to quickly move items

      • Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce

        I dont know if I am not looking into it properly but is there no option to bulk upload images along with the products? Like after you upload the products, I will have to upload images one by one again? Can someone help me out here? And what should I enter

      • Function #11: Apply unused credits automatically to invoices

        Today, we bring you a custom function that automatically applies unused credits from excess payments, credit notes, and retainer payments to an invoice when it is created. Prerequisites: Create a Connection named "zbooks" to successfully execute the function.

      • Tip #60- Exploring Technician Console: Screen Resolution- 'Insider Insights'

        Hello Zoho Assist Community! Have you ever started a remote session and felt the screen quality wasn’t sharp enough for detailed work? A new user recently explored Zoho Assist after installing the trial version and running a few initial tests. While the

      • Right Moment, Right Message, Right Operator: Never Miss a High-Intent Lead

        Ever been on a website or app, thinking “Should I buy this or not?” and suddenly a friendly message “Hi! How can I help you?” pops up at the perfect moment? That’s not luck. That’s timing done right. Engaging right visitors at the right moment, with the

      • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

        Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

      • Zoho CRM Workflow Automation: Activate & Deactivate Workflows Using API

        Zoho has now enabled: ✅ Activate / Deactivate workflows using API ✅ Schedule workflow activation & deactivation This is extremely useful for real-world automation use cases 💡 🧩 My Use Case I created a scheduled automation that: ☀️ Activates workflows

      • {Action Required} Re-authenticate your Google Accounts to Continue Data Sync

        Hello Users! To align with Google’s latest updates on how apps access files in Google Drive, we’ve enhanced our integration to comply with the updated security and privacy standards, ensuring safer and more reliable access to your data. With this update,

      • 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.

      • Project-Based Inventory Consumption and Proforma Invoice in Zoho ERP

        While working with customers across different industries, we have identified a few functional questions and gaps that commonly arise—especially for project-based and service-oriented businesses. Many organizations, such as those in shipping, construction,

      • [Free Webinar] Zoho RPA - OCR, PDF Automation, & More

        Hello Everyone! Greetings from the Zoho RPA Training Team! We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on the latest release updates for Zoho RPA, where we’ll unveil powerful new capabilities designed to make your automation journey smarter, faster,

      • Zobot Execution Logs & Run History (Similar to Zoho Flow)

        Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, We would like to request an enhancement for Zoho SalesIQ Zobot: adding an execution log / run history, similar to what already exists in Zoho Flow. Reference: Zoho Flow In Zoho Flow, every execution is recorded in the History tab,

      • Global Search Settings

        I'd love a way to remove some modules from being included in the global search. This would allow use to provide a better user experience, limiting the global search to only those modules that are regularly used removing any models used for background

      • Card Location in Zobot

        Hello, when using the “Location” card in a codeless builder Zobot, the behavior in WhatsApp is inconsistent. When asking the user to share their location, they can type a message, which will return the message “Sorry, the entered location is invalid.

      • Automation Series: Auto-create Dependent Task on Status Change

        In Zoho Projects, you can automatically create and assign a dependent task when a task’s status is updated. This helps teams stay aligned, ensures reviews happen on time, and reduces manual effort. In this post, we’ll walk through an easy setup using

      • Languages in Zobot

        Hello, I have found a list of supported languages for the Zobot. The information specifies the languages are supported in the following 3 features: SalesIQ supports 34 different languages in the following features. Resources (Articles, FAQs, Small Talks)

      • 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

      • Action required: Reauthorizing your Google account in Zoho Sign for automatic cloud backup to Google Drive

        This is applicable to users who have already configured automatic cloud backup to Google Drive. Hi there! Google has mandated reauthorization of all preconfigured third-party integrations to ensure only the necessary scopes are shared as an improved security

      • Zoho CRM Layouts

        I have customised all our modules, Leads, Contacts and deals, and within them, I have created lots of different layouts depending on the type of Lead or contact, for example. Since the new Zoho UI came out, they have all disappeared. I have gone into

      • Streamlining E-commerce Photography with AI Background Tools

        Hey Zoho Community, I’ve been messing around with ways to make product images less of a headache for fashion brands on Zoho Commerce. You know how boring generic backdrops can get, and how much time traditional photoshoots eat up, right? I tried out this

      • WhatsApp IM in Zoho Desk always routes to Admin instead of assigned agent

        Hello Zoho Experts, I connected WhatsApp IM to my Zoho Desk account. I only assigned my Customer Service (CS) agent to the WhatsApp channel, and I did NOT include Admin in this channel. However, every new WhatsApp conversation automatically gets assigned

      • hide resolution from help centre

        to my surprise, i just found out that the resolution text is public in the helpcenter, even if 'notify customer' is off. is there a workaround to that? how do others deal with this? How zoho support does this and I don't think its used by Zoho in the first place. the resolution is meant to be private, not public

      • Next Page