Adding Custom Page Layouts

If you support several different products or processes, your agents will need specific information to make them solve tickets faster. This means your help desk will comprise of a bunch of custom fields that show up on the customer-facing ticket forms. So much so that your customers come across fields that are entirely irrelevant to their problem. This is where custom page layouts can come in handy.

Page layouts allow you to show a separate set of fields for each product, process, or service and ensure that your customers and agents see only the relevant fields. This is not just for the ticket; you can add multiple page layouts for accounts, contacts, activities, products, and time entries. For example, you might need the customer's ZIP code to check if you can deliver to their address, and their purchase date to check warranty status. By having specific page layouts based on the type of request a customer makes, you can speed things up and collect the information you need in the format you want.

Points to Remember

Here are some key points to keep in mind before you start adding multiple layouts.

1. Users with the Manage Layouts and Fields permission in profile can add custom layouts.
   
2. Layouts can be visible to both end users and agents or only to agents.
   
3. Agents can select the layout they wish to use while adding a ticket in the Zoho Desk interface.
   
4. End users choose the appropriate layout to submit their ticket if multiple layouts are available.
   
5. Only ticket layouts can be made visible to end users in the Help Center.
   
6. Org-wide modules such as Accounts, Contacts, and Products can have a maximum of 20 active layouts.
   
7. Tickets, Activities, and Time Entries can have a maximum of 20 active layouts per department.
   
8. The Contracts module does not support multiple layouts.
   
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. By default, a Standard Layout is assigned to all user profiles. Their permissions and display preferences cannot be modified.
    
15. You could either rename the Standard Layout and customize it or clone it to create a new layout.
    
16. 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
   

Adding a new layout

You can add a new layout under the Setup menu.

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.
    

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