Canvas not appearing for portal users or as the default view means the canvas you built and marked as "default" or assigned to the Detailed View is not being applied in the Portal or for the expected user profiles. The community reports show users selecting Assign Canvas at module and Detailed View levels but still seeing no change in Portals or default display [1].
What it means
Canvas assignments in Zoho CRM are scoped to where and to whom the canvas was published and assigned; choosing a canvas as "default" or assigning it to a module/Detailed View does not guarantee Portal users or every profile will see it unless the canvas is published and assigned to the correct target (module, view, and user profile or portal configuration) [1].
Common causes
- Canvas was created and assigned in the CRM UI but not published or not set as the active canvas for Portal users or specific profiles [1].
- The canvas was assigned only to the module's internal Detailed View and not to the Portal view or the profile used by portal users [1].
- Browser cache, session cookies, or old front-end assets prevent the new canvas from rendering for some users; affected users still see the previous layout [1].
- Portal or role permissions restrict layout changes for portal accounts, so the canvas assignment doesn’t apply to those accounts [1].
How to fix it
- Open the Canvas designer for the module and confirm you have Published the canvas (not just saved it). A saved draft won’t replace the active layout.
- Re-open Assign Canvas for the module, confirm you selected: the correct module, Detailed View (or List/Record view as needed), and set it as the default; explicitly assign it to the user profiles that include your portal accounts or the Portal-specific profile. Save and confirm the assignment.
- If your target users are portal users, check the Portal configuration and user roles: confirm portal users are mapped to a CRM profile that you assigned the canvas to. If you have a separate portal-profile, assign the canvas to that profile too.
- Test as an affected user: open an incognito/private window or a different browser, log in as a portal user, and navigate to the record. Clearing cache and cookies can reveal whether stale assets were the problem.
- If a subset of users still see the old layout, confirm feature limits and permissions (portal accounts often have restricted UI support) and re-publish the canvas after a small content change to force propagation.
- Document the steps you tried, take screenshots showing the Assign Canvas settings and the portal behavior, then proceed to escalate if needed.
When to escalate
If the canvas is published and correctly assigned to the portal/profile but portal users still see the old view after cache clearing and testing