Zoho Books update September 2024

Goldstar IT

In Summary:

5 min read

Extension settings in Zoho Books Developer Portal
Enhance your keyboard navigation
Branch specific value differences in Journals
Set Criteria for custom buttons
Other Feature Enhancements

Welcome to the Zoho Books update for September 2024! This month’s release brings a suite of advanced features and improvements designed to elevate your accounting processes and strengthen your financial management strategies. With enhanced automation capabilities and expanded reporting options, Zoho Books continues to lead the way in innovation, addressing the evolving needs of businesses around the world.

Join us as we explore the new updates that promise to optimise your financial workflows and boost productivity. Dive into the latest features in our Zoho Books update September 2024!

Extension settings in Zoho Books Developer Portal

This feature enables you to configure essential options such as the Extension’s Secret Key and Redirection Domain, enhancing the overall functionality and security of your extensions. The Extension’s Secret Key serves as a private key known only to the extension developer and Zoho, adding an extra layer of security. For instance, in payment gateway extensions, this key is used to sign payment requests alongside the user’s password, ensuring secure transactions. Additionally, the same key can be utilised for other unauthenticated calls when necessary.

The Redirection Domain feature allows developers to specify a domain for user redirection once the extension is installed. This functionality is crucial for maintaining navigation continuity, particularly when handling external extensions. It’s important to ensure that the redirection domain matches the domain specified in the installation_redirect_url, preventing any potential navigation issues.

Business benefits of extension settings in Zoho Books Developer Portal

Enhanced Security: The use of a private Secret Key safeguards sensitive data during transactions, ensuring that payment requests are securely signed and processed.
Improved User Experience: The ability to set a redirection domain helps provide a seamless navigation experience for users, making it easier for them to continue their workflow after installing the extension.
Streamlined Development: With these settings, developers can easily manage key configuration options directly within the Zoho Books Developer Portal, making the extension development process more efficient and organized.

This update is designed to empower developers and enhance the security and usability of extensions within Zoho Books, ultimately leading to better user satisfaction and trust.

Enhance your keyboard navigation

The new Navigate-to feature in Zoho Books is designed to improve navigation for users who rely on keyboard shortcuts or accessibility tools. Upon loading the app, you can easily activate this feature by pressing the Tab key or using the shortcut (Option or Alt) + 0.

This enhancement allows users to bypass repetitive content and jump straight to the main content of the page, streamlining the navigation process. For example, if you’re looking to navigate to the Total Receivables section in your Dashboard, simply select “Main Content” from the Navigate To dropdown. This functionality eliminates the need to wade through all the headers and sidebar options, making it a much more efficient experience.

Business benefits of enhanced keyboard navigation

Improved Accessibility: This feature enhances accessibility for users with disabilities or those who prefer keyboard navigation, ensuring a smoother experience within the app.
Time-Saving Navigation: By allowing users to skip unnecessary content, the Navigate-to feature significantly reduces the time spent navigating through the interface, enabling quicker access to important information.
Increased Efficiency: Streamlined navigation contributes to overall productivity, as users can focus on their tasks without being hindered by cumbersome navigation processes.

With this update, Zoho Books continues to prioritize user experience, making it easier for everyone to manage their accounting tasks efficiently.

Branch specific value differences in Journals

We’re pleased to announce a new feature that enhances your financial tracking capabilities: branch-specific value differences in manual journals. With this update, you can now view the differences in credit and debit values for each branch associated with the line items of a manual journal. Once you save the journal, these differences will be displayed on the details page, providing greater clarity and control over your financial records.

Business benefits of branch specific value differences in Journals

Enhanced Financial Oversight: By allowing you to see the specific differences in values across branches, this feature helps you maintain better oversight of your financial transactions and discrepancies.
Improved Accuracy: Branch-specific tracking ensures that you can quickly identify and address any inconsistencies in credit and debit entries, reducing the risk of errors in your financial reporting.
Streamlined Reconciliation: This functionality simplifies the reconciliation process by making it easier to spot discrepancies, enabling you to resolve issues more efficiently.

With the addition of branch-specific value differences, Zoho Books continues to empower you with the tools needed for effective financial management and reporting.

Set Criteria for custom buttons

We’re excited to introduce the ability to set criteria for custom buttons in Zoho Books. This feature allows you to define specific conditions under which your custom buttons will be visible or accessible. By setting these criteria, you can ensure that the right buttons are displayed to the right users, enhancing user experience and operational efficiency.

Business benefits of setting Criteria for custom buttons

Improved User Experience: By controlling the visibility of custom buttons based on criteria, users can easily access only the relevant actions, reducing confusion and streamlining workflows.
Enhanced Security: Setting criteria allows you to restrict access to certain functionalities based on user roles or conditions, ensuring sensitive operations are only available to authorised personnel.
Customisation for Workflow Efficiency: Tailoring the visibility of buttons to match specific business processes helps in optimising workflows, enabling users to focus on their tasks without unnecessary distractions.

With the new ability to set criteria for custom buttons, Zoho Books enhances your ability to customize and secure your financial management processes effectively.

To add criteria to a custom button, go to Settings> Select a Module> Custom Buttons> +New> Create a custom button. Under When to show this button?, select Show based on criteria and click +New Criteria.

Other Feature Enhancements

You can now filter the advanced search based on specific modules using either default filters or custom views.
We have enhanced PUT API to support updates or upserts using unique custom fields rather than just primary key values. This change will streamline integrations by allowing updates via a custom field that stores the third-party integration’s primary key value.
We have aligned the Chart of Accounts module with the Plan Comptable Général (PCG) standard to comply with the common accounting principles in France. [Global Edition]

As we conclude the Zoho Books update September 2024, we’re excited to see how these enhancements will elevate your accounting experience. From streamlined reports and enhanced transaction capabilities to improved user interfaces and expanded customisation options, these updates are designed to empower your financial management strategies.

We invite you to explore these new features and discover how they can simplify your workflows, increase efficiency, and drive business growth. Should you have any questions or need further assistance why not b ook a meeting with our experts.