By default, Zefty imports every unpaid bill from Zoho Books: open, partially paid and overdue. For many businesses that is exactly right. For others, the Bills screen fills up with things that should never be paid by EFT: bills on hold pending a dispute, bills for a division that pays by cheque, bills tagged for a different bank account. Zoho Books custom views solve this cleanly. You describe the bills you want with a filter in Zoho Books, and Zefty only imports those. This guide shows how to set that up.
When a custom view is worth it
A custom view is a saved filter on the Bills list in Zoho Books. Zefty can use one of them as the boundary of what it syncs. Use one if any of these sound familiar:
- Approval workflow. You want only bills that have been approved to appear in Zefty. A custom field such as "Approved for EFT" with a yes/no value, plus a view that filters on it, turns Zoho Books into the approval step.
- Mixed payment methods. Some vendors are paid by EFT, others by cheque or credit card. A view filtered on a vendor-level custom field, or on a bill-level "Payment method" field, keeps the cheque vendors out of the EFT run.
- Several bank accounts. You run EFT files from two accounts and want Zefty to see only the bills that belong to one of them. Combined with Zefty's multi-organization support, one view per organization does the job.
- Timing. You only pay bills due in the next 14 days and want the rest to stay out of sight until they are due.
If none of these apply, skip the view. Zefty's default import is simpler and you can still deselect any bill before generating a file.
How it works under the hood
Zoho Books assigns every custom view a numeric identifier. When Zefty syncs bills, it asks the Zoho Books API for bills that belong to that view, and then applies its own status filter on top (open, partially paid, overdue). So a view can narrow the list; it can never widen it to include paid bills.
The view is applied on the next sync, whether nightly at 2 a.m. or triggered from the Sync with Zoho button. Bills already in Zefty that no longer match the view are not deleted, but they are no longer refreshed, and once paid they fall out of the list.
Step 1: Create the view in Zoho Books
- In Zoho Books, open Purchases and then Bills.
- At the top of the list, open the view selector (it usually reads All Bills) and choose New Custom View.
- Give the view a name you will recognize later, for example
EFT - Approved. - Add criteria. Common choices: a custom field equals a value, vendor name contains a keyword, due date is within a range, or a bill-level tag. You can combine several conditions.
- Decide who can see the view (only you, or everyone in the organization) and save.
Test it by opening the view in Zoho Books and checking that the bills listed are the ones you expect.
Step 2: Find the view ID in the URL
With the custom view open in Zoho Books, look at your browser's address bar. The URL contains a long numeric identifier for that view. That number is the Zoho Books Custom View ID. Copy it.
The ID is what Zefty stores, not the name. If you later rename the view in Zoho Books, nothing changes in Zefty. If you delete the view and create a new one, the ID changes and you must update it in Zefty.
Step 3: Register the view in Zefty
- In Zefty, open Views in the Payments section.
- Click to create a new view.
- Enter a View Name (any label; it is for your own reference).
- Paste the identifier into Zoho Books Custom View ID.
- Switch Active on and save.
Only one view can be active per organization. If you activate a second one, the first is deactivated automatically. You can keep several views saved and switch between them, for example one for the regular run and one for a year-end cleanup.
Step 4: Sync and verify
Click Sync with Zoho on the Bills screen. Once the sync completes, the Bills table should show only bills that match the view. If it looks wrong:
- Too many bills: the view is probably not active, or the ID belongs to a different view. Open Views and check the Active toggle.
- No bills at all: the view may match zero unpaid bills, or the ID may have been pasted with a stray character. Open the view in Zoho Books and confirm it lists unpaid bills.
- Bills missing that should be there: remember that Zefty adds its own status filter. A bill that is paid, void or in draft will not appear even if the view includes it.
Combining views with the other controls
Views are one of three ways to shape a payment run. The other two still apply:
| Control | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Custom view | Zoho Books, then Views in Zefty | Decides which bills are imported at all |
| Selection | Bills screen | Decides which imported bills go into this file |
| Partial Payment | Bills screen, per row | Decides how much of each selected bill is paid |
A practical pattern is to let the view enforce policy (approved, EFT vendors only) and to use selection for timing (what gets paid this week).
Key takeaways
- A Zoho Books custom view is a saved filter on the Bills list; Zefty can use one as the boundary of its import.
- The view's numeric ID is in the Zoho Books URL when the view is open. Zefty stores the ID, not the name.
- Register the view under Views in Zefty, paste the ID, switch it to Active. One active view per organization.
- Zefty still applies its own unpaid-status filter, so a view can narrow the list but never add paid bills.
- Views control what is imported; selection and partial payments control what is paid.
Custom views are one of several ways Zefty adapts to how your accounts payable team already works in Zoho Books. See the full list on the features page, or contact us if you would like help designing a view for an approval workflow.