Zoho Desk: 2023 Feature Release - All New Zoho Desk with accessibility controls and exciting new features and enhancements

Redefining customer service experiences

I. New Generation Zoho Desk

The Zoho Desk UI has been enhanced with a more engaging, intuitive, and user-friendly interface. The new design adheres to an advanced unified component library and follows standard design guidelines.

The fresh Zoho Desk interface brings changes that provide support to agents with a range of easy-to-use and convenient options that save time and effort while increasing productivity.

Take a look at some of the elements of our new UI:

The Agent Queue now displays the agent's name first in the queue. Agents can work on assigned tickets right from this window. 

Tags can be edited and deleted from the Tag view in the left panel.

Work Modes provide an organized and clutter-free view. All work modes, including status, handshake, countdown, and priority are consolidated under the list views. 

Ticket status can now be changed right from the Queue view without opening the Ticket Detail view. 

Filters applied to quick search a record are now displayed as breadcrumbs to provide better context and facilitate better understanding.

Ticket Detail view now includes more functionalities:

• Tags can be added from the info panel.
  
• CCs can be added and edited from the info panel.
  
• Color distinction differentiates between public and private comments.
  
  
• Compact info bar holds more icons and displays extensions for quick access.
  
  

This is just a glimpse of some of the key changes incorporated into the new UI design.

Resources: Help documents 

II. Providing inclusive experiences

We believe that software should be accessible to all. This was our goal in building an all-inclusive interface to cater to our world-wide customer base. With this in mind, we introduce:

• Accessibility controls that help users adjust, enable, or disable visual and display preferences to their liking. Users now have the option to:
  
• Highlight critical information, such as Ticket ID, agent name, email address, and ticket owner in striking colors for prominence and cognitive appeal.
  
• Underline links for quick identification.
  
• Emphasize areas that a user should focus on with highlights and colored outlines around the text.
  
  
• Optimize animations, motion graphics, and transitions by reducing motion or by allowing Zoho Desk to auto-adjust based on the computer settings. The screen jerks, page transitions, unwanted animations, and motions that can cause distraction and increase strain on the eyes can be mitigated substantially.
  
• Use a reading mask to shine a spotlight on the text as you hover over it. Blur the background for distinction, less distraction, and better comprehension. 
  
  
• Adjust display and layout with page zoom and font size and type. 
  
• Set display preferences with new themes and night/dark mode. Switch between light mode, night mode, or auto-mode based on your surroundings.
  
  
  
  
  
• Multilingual support for your Knowledge Base helps customers access self-service content in their preferred language. Your KB content can be translated and published in 50+ languages.
  
  

III. Introducing enhanced privacy and transparent management

Data is the backbone of a business and it requires secure handling. This year, Zoho Desk took big strides to enhance privacy and provide better data management options by introducing:

Data subject rights: In accordance with GDPR, Zoho Desk now provides a reliable and secure system to protect and process customer data. DSR protects two different rights: Right to Access and Right to Erasure. Refer to the help doc for more details.

• Right to Access: Data subjects can request a copy of their personal data. In Zoho Desk, you can register a request and send a copy of the data from one or more modules. Data will be exported, and you can send it securely from your official email account.
  
• Right to Erasure: Data subjects can raise a request asking the organization to delete their personal data. In Zoho Desk, you can take up this request and permanently delete the data from one or more modules.
  

Read receipts for emails: Emails sent from tickets will bear a green double check mark when they've been read by the recipient. This helps agents manage high-priority tasks, deadlines, follow-up conversations, and more. Check marks in different colors indicate whether CC or BCC recipients have read the email, the number of recipients that replied to the email, whether the email bounced or failed, and more. Read the help doc for more details.

Data Backup: A foolproof method for preventing data loss is to periodically back up your data. Zoho Desk now facilitates instant and scheduled backups. Data from the Tickets, Products, KB, Activities, Agents, Teams, and other modules can be backed up as and when needed. Refer to the help doc for more details. 

Other new features and enhancements

Aside from these updates, we have some exciting new features:

Auto-translation of your help center

To support your multilingual knowledge base further, Zoho Desk now offers auto-translation of your KB articles to multiple languages. The article, title, tags, SEO title, meta descriptions, and meta keywords will be auto-translated using tools such as Google Translate, Unbable, or Zia, based on their configuration. Refer to the help doc for more details.

Custom actions gallery for Workflow automations

Introducing custom actions to improve workflow automations. The new set of available actions includes: Assign Ticket, Add Comment, Send Email Reply, Share Ticket, Send Cliq Notification, Reply and Notify via Instant Messaging, and more. Refer to the help doc for more details. 

Idle timeout to improve agent productivity and optimize ticket assignment

Desk provides the option to set the maximum duration for which an agent can remain idle.  After that time, their status will automatically change from online to offline. Increase productivity and maintain better control over ticket assignment by choosing agents based on status. Refer to the help doc for more details.  

More functionalities added to Blueprints

Advanced configurations we've added to Blueprint include:

• Strict mode: Agents can be restricted from performing certain actions, like editing fields, sending replies, leaving comments, and asking for approvals during a transition. These functions will be hidden from the ticket interface.
  
• Dynamic transition owner: Users can assign transition owners for records as and when needed. The transition owners need not be necessarily from the same department that the record belongs to.
  
• Save draft: Blueprints that are in progress can be saved as drafts so you can resume work at another time.
  
• Additional fields provided during transition: During transition, "tags" is included as a field that can be updated by the agent.  Ticket sharing is also an available action. If the agents want, they can share a ticket with team members during the transition.
  
• Transition draft: Save a transition until its finalized as a partial draft. During this stage, multiple transition owners can be involved in its completion. The draft will display the name of the person who drafted the transition and when it was drafted.

New set of marketplace extensions

Earlier this year, we introduced a set of new extensions aimed at enhancing Zoho Desk's performance. The new extensions are:

Zoho Campaigns integration

Experience the benefits of Campaigns within your help desk. Create mailing lists, add or remove customers from mailing lists, find out how many campaigns customers are part of, and more. Refer to the help doc for more details.

Broadcast email template

Create email templates for multiple departments at once, insert an agent's signature and default happiness rating within the template, provide profile-based access to the template, and more. Refer to the help doc for more details.

Related tickets by custom fields

Improve ticket resolutions by adding custom fields. Using these fields, agents can look up tickets with similar field values to identify similar problems, and provide quicker and more personalized solutions. Up to five custom fields can be added to a layout, and can display information such as ticket ID, ticket owner, status, and date/time created from related tickets. Refer to the help doc for more details.   

That's a wrap.

We're excited to share the new version of Zoho Desk with its inclusive functionality, improved automation, comprehensive privacy options, helpful extensions, and more.

The new features are now available for all users. Give them a try and share your feedback.

Regards,

Anumita Gupta

Book the date!

We will be hosting an exclusive webinar for the 2023 Release Features on 22nd December (Thursday) at 9pm IST. 

Kindly register using the link below. 

Registration Link

 

• Topic Participants

• Anumita Gupta

  

• Sticky Posts

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

  Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

• Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

  Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

• Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

  Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

• Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

  Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

• Recent Topics

• how to disable staff selection Zoho Booking integrated to SalesIQ?

  currently there is only one Consultant in my Zoho Bookings like this I integrate Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ to create a chatbot. Unfortunately, even though I only have one consultant for a consultation, the user have to pick the consultant. It will

• How to change the text in WhatsApp Zobot integrated to Zoho Booking?

  I have integrated Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ, I want to change the text in WhatsApp when creating a booking in Zobot how to change those text?

• Updating Subform Record from other Form

  Just wanted to ask how to properly approach this. I have 2 forms and would like to trigger an auto update on the subform once record submitted. block below only updates 1 row for each recordRow in input.AV_System { AssetRecord = Site_Asset_Services[SOR_No

• Zoho Books - Hide Convert to Sales Order if it can't be used.

  Hi Books team, I noticed that it is not possible to convert a Quote to a Sales Order when a Quote is not yet marked as accepted. My idea is to not show the Convert to Sales Order button when it is not possible to use it, or show it in a grey inactive

• How do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects

  Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapil

• Cross-Data Center Collaboration and / Or allowing users to choose DC

  Dear Zoho Cliq Support Team, We are writing to request a significant enhancement to Zoho Cliq that would greatly benefit our geographically dispersed development team. Current Challenge: Currently, Zoho Cliq automatically routes users to specific data

• New Mandatory One-Click Unsubscribe Link Overshadowing Custom Unsubscribe Link

  I was recently informed by Zoho CRM Support that they are now mandated by the large email service providers like Google and Yahoo to provide a one-click unsubscribe option in the header (not the body) of all mass emails. I have a custom unsubscribe link

• Send / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts

  Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only for

• Is it possible to register webhooks in Zoho CRM using API?

  Hello, I am trying to register a webhook in Zoho CRM programmatically (using the API). Specifically, I want to register a webhook that is fired when new Contacts are created in the CRM. I was able to setup a webhook using the UI, by creating a rule that

• Calls where the local audio is shared, have echo

  When another user is sharing their screen with audio, I get echo from my own voice. We tested this with multiple users, with different audio setups, and there's no obvious way to fix it. Is this a bug you could look into, or are we missing something?

• Update application by uploading an updated DS file

  Is it possible? I have been working with AI on my desktop improving my application, and I have to keep copy pasting stuff... Would it be possible to import the DS file on top of an existing application to update the app accordingly?

• Markdown support, code cells...

  Hi Zoho I'd like to vote for a feature that markdown is supported with: Headings Code highlighting Quoteblocks ... Furthermore a inline card(like inline sketch card) for special text like Code would be great. And just to add my vote as well for "Tags"!

• Minimise chat when user navigates to new page

  When the user is in an active chat (chatbot) and is provide with an internal link, when they click the link to go to the internal page the chat opens again. This is not a good user experience. They have been sent the link to read what is on the page.

• How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

  How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

• Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

  Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with

• Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

  Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

• zurl URL shortener Not working in Zoho social

  zurl URL shortener Not working in while creating a post in Zoho social

• In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to sh

  Hi In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to show alert. How We can achive in Zoho CRm Using custom

• Power of Automation::Streamline log hours to work hours upon task completion.

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

• Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

  Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.

• Custom report

  Hello Everyone I hope everything is fine. I've tried to To change the layout of the reports, especially the summary page report, and I want to divide summary of each section in the survey but I can't For example: I have a survey containing five different

• Zoho Journey - ZOHO MARKETING AUTOMATION

  I’ve encountered an issue while working with a journey in Zoho Marketing Automation. After creating the journey, I wanted to edit the "Match Criteria" settings. Unfortunately: The criteria section appears to be locked and not editable. I’m also unable

• Custom Fields in PDF outputs

  I created a couple of custom fields. e.g Country of Origin and HS Tariff Code. I need these to appear on a clone of a sales order PDF template but on on the standard PDF template. When I select "appear on PDFs' it appears on both but when I don't select

• How to create a Service Agreement with Quarterly Estimate

  Hello, I'm not sure if this has been asked before so please don't get mad at me for asking. We're an NDIS provider in Australia so we need to draft a Service Agreement for our client. With the recent changes in the NDIS we're now required to also include

• Change Currency symbol

  I would like to change the way our currency displays when printed on quotes, invoices and purchase orders. Currently, we have Australian Dollars AUD as our Home Currency. The only two symbol choices available for this currency are "AU $" or "AUD". I would

• Python - code studio

  Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

• Zoho Social - Post Footer Templates

  As a content creator I often want to include some information at the end of most posts. It would be great if there was an option to add pre-written footers, similar to the Hashtag Groups at the end of posts. For example, if there is an offer I'm running

• Allow to pick color for project groups in Zoho Projects

  Hi Zoho Team, It would be really helpful if users could assign colors to project groups. This would make it easier to visually distinguish groups, improve navigation, and give a clearer overview when managing multiple projects. Thanks for considering

• Zoho Books - Quotes to Sales Order Automation

  Hi Books team, In the Quote settings there is an option to convert a Quote to an Invoice upon acceptance, but there is not feature to convert a Quote to a Sales Order (see screenshot below) For users selling products through Zoho Inventory, the workflow

• Can't find imported leads

  Hi There I have imported leads into the CRM via a .xls document, and the import is showing up as having been successful, however - when I try and locate the leads in the CRM system, I cannot find them.  1. There are no filters applied  2. They are not

• Custom Button Disappearing in mobile view | Zoho CRM Canvas

  I'm working in Zoho CRM Canvas to create a custom view for our sales team. One of the features I'm adding is a custom button that opens the leads address in another tab. I've had no issue with this in the desktop view, but in the mobile view the button

• The connected workflow is a great idea just needs Projects Integrations

  I just discovered the connected workflows in CRM and its a Great Idea i wish it was integrated with Zoho Projects I will explain our use case I am already trying to do something like connected workflow with zoho flow Our requirement was to Create a Task

• Zoho Projects MCP Feedback

  I've started using the MCP connector with Zoho Projects, and the features that exist really do work quite well - I feel this is going to be a major update to the Zoho Ecosystem. In projects a major missing feature is the ability to manage, (especially

• Function #10: Update item prices automatically based on the last transaction created

  In businesses, item prices are not always fixed and can fluctuate due to various factors. If you find yourself manually adjusting the item rates every time they change, we have the ideal time-saving solution for you. In today's post, we bring you custom

• email template

  How do I create and save an email template

• Enhancements in Portal User Group creation flow

  Hello everyone, Before introducing new Portal features, here are some changes to the UI of Portals page to improve the user experience. Some tabs and options have been repositioned so that users can better access the functionalities of the feature. From

• Archiving Contacts

  How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?

• 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

• Can I add Conditional merge tags on my Templates?

  Hi I was wondering if I can use Conditional Mail Merge tags inside my Email templates/Quotes etc within the CRM? In spanish and in our business we use gender and academic degree salutations , ie: Dr., Dra., Sr., Srta., so the beginning of an email / letter

• email moderation issue when email is sent in the name of a mail group

  Symptom: an email that is sent by a mail group moderator in the name of a moderated mail group is held back for approval. Reproduction: Create a moderated mail group with members and moderators. Allow that mails can be sent in the name of the group (extended settings). Send an email to the group as a group moderator, but in the name of the group. This mail is held back for moderation which is unexpected. Expected: A mail sent by group moderator to a moderated group are not held back for moderation

• Next Page