Personalize Apps with Zoho Creator Record Templates
When you think of Zoho, you undoubtedly think of a few different words or phrases. One of those is very likely “customizable.” When you use Zoho, you know you have all sorts of options for customizing all the apps in the suite. Following that tradition, Zoho has brought customization to record templates in Zoho Creator, so you can customize even more of your experience – or, in this case, your customers’ experience.
Custom Record Templates in Zoho Creator? What for?
Zoho Creator record templates behave pretty similarly to Zoho CRM custom inventory templates. Those custom templates allow you to customize what your customer sees when you send them an invoice, for example. You may track all sorts of information related to your invoice in the CRM – but, how that invoice appears to your customer is very much up to you. Place information exactly where you want it on your template with merge fields in Zoho Creator, just like you would on inventory templates in Zoho CRM.
But, wait. Why use Zoho Creator for this stuff at all?
It’s a common question: Zoho has so many different ways of doing nearly anything. Why use Zoho Creator to create these record templates when you could just use the CRM?
You’ll want to use Zoho Creator when you have particular business needs that standard Zoho apps won’t meet. Creator can be customized much more heavily than even very malleable Zoho apps, so the possibilities for your custom app are far greater. At the end of the day, you’ll likely store some data in the Zoho Creator app instead of a standard app like Zoho CRM. Zoho Creator record templates provide a way to act on the data in that system so you don’t have to transfer it to the CRM first.
Sound confusing? We hope not – but if so, just ask us and we can walk you through it.
Create all kinds of record templates
The possibilities are endless; here are just a few you could use in your own apps:
- Estimates or custom quotes
- Brochures, catalogs, or sell sheets
- Certificates
- Newsletters or campaign emails
- Name tags
These templates will all be tied to different record types. For example, you may keep records in your Zoho Creator app called Estimates, Brochures, Certificates, or Newsletters. The templates you design will allow you to customize how each of these records look.
Starting is a cinch!
Creating your own Zoho Creator record templates or modifying pre-built templates is easy:
- Navigate to your Creator app Settings menu and select Record Templates.
- Click the New Template button, where you’ll choose between modifying a pre-designed record template, or creating a brand new template you can mark up as needed.
The drag-and-drop interface makes creating or editing record templates simple. And, if you’re somewhat code-savvy, you can even drop HTML into the templates. Then your record templates are ready to use.
Once you’ve created and distributed records as needed using the record templates, you or your customers can print or export individual records as PDFs (just like inventory templates or emails) using special Zoho Creator URLs.
The hits keep coming
With Zoho, the world really is your oyster – and this new feature in Zoho Creator reinforces that notion, making Creator an even more versatile platform on which to build custom applications. There’s a lot you can do with Zoho Creator; in fact, we’ve even built our own vertical software for field services and construction companies on it.
In a bind? Contact us!
Let us know if you need any help architecting your own custom app – or just need help with Zoho Creator record templates – and we’ll plan it all out with you. We can even build it for you if you so choose.
