Odoo says it plainly: a roadmap is not a promise. Their own wording in the presentation sums it up — "list of things we may do, list of things we may not do". What Luc Nailis, product manager at Odoo, presented nonetheless remains the clearest vision of what Odoo 20 will be, built around three pillars: Simple. Efficient. Accessible.
Here is what the 90 slides tell us, with no sales filter.
Odoo Roadmap For Odoo 20.pdf
Principle — The question that structures everything
The second slide asks a single question: "What will you do when it's done?" This is not trivial. Odoo deliberately positions itself as a platform that absorbs satellite tools — QuickBooks, Notion, DocuSign, Salesforce, Slack, Asana, Shopify, Tableau — replaced one by one by Odoo apps.
Adding is easy — the real difficulty is removing, simplifying, unifying.
Odoo 20 is not chasing feature count. The goal is to reduce the complexity perceived by the end user. Each new feature should ideally let you remove a third-party tool or reduce training time.
Simple and intuitive — Interface first
Mobile: complete interface redesign
The mobile interface is entirely rethought for use on phone or tablet. Until now, Odoo on mobile was simply the desktop version adapted to a small screen. In version 20, forms are redesigned specifically for touch: larger fields, simplified navigation, profile picture highlighted. A real mobile app, not a shrunken desktop version.
Payroll: new alert dashboard
The Payroll module gains a dashboard that automatically flags everything that could block salary processing before the monthly closing:
- Employees without a current contract
- Missing bank details
- Missing identification numbers
- Payslips to recompute following a change to an employee's data
No more manually searching through lists to find out why a payslip cannot be generated. Alerts are grouped with a direct link to the corrective action.
Payroll: removal of work entries
Today, Odoo generates a calendar of work entries for each employee every month before computing payslips. This intermediate step, a source of many blockages and errors, disappears in version 20. Salary computation is based directly on leave taken and the schedule, with no additional validation step.
Calendar: in-depth overhaul
- Each user can manage several separate calendars in the same interface
- A personal appointment booking page, accessible by link from outside, with no need for a third-party tool
- Simultaneous connection to several Google or Outlook calendars
- When you type "meeting 2pm" as an event title, Odoo automatically detects the time
- The day's work location (office, remote, travel) syncs with the calendar
The calendar becomes a real time-management app, not a simple display of appointments.
Timesheets: global timer and smart assistant
A floating timer, accessible from any Odoo page, lets you start the stopwatch on a task without leaving your work screen. At the end of the day, an assistant analyzes what the user did — calls received, documents viewed, messaging exchanges — and suggests time allocations per project, which the user only has to validate or adjust.
Artificial intelligence as a cross-cutting layer
Odoo 20 does not add an isolated "AI app". Artificial intelligence is integrated directly into each module, not to generate text, but to perform concrete actions on data.
Accounting assistance for non-accountants
An AI assistant reviews the company's bank accounts, expenses and reconciliations, identifies anomalies — for example three bank transfers with no matching invoice — and produces a summary report. The finance manager only has to validate or investigate the flagged items.
AI-assisted website builder
The Odoo website editor integrates a contextual chat. The user describes in plain language what they want to change — "make the title catchier", "generate a photo of a gym", "add a contact button below the image" — and the changes apply immediately on the page, without handling code or configuration menus.
Creation and update by voice or text command
AI can execute actions directly in the Odoo database from a natural-language instruction:
- Bulk reassign sales opportunities from one salesperson to another
- Create a complete project with its stages and tasks from a PDF requirements document
- Answer analytical questions about company data without going through reports
Smart helpdesk
From a support ticket, AI can summarize the history of exchanges with the customer, draft a suitable reply and automatically search for similar tickets already resolved to suggest a solution. Useful for teams handling a high volume of recurring requests.
A point to watch for integrators
AI that creates and modifies Odoo records by command fundamentally changes the risk profile of deployments. Clear scopes of action for AI agents will need to be defined with customers, particularly on financial and human resources modules. Odoo access rights apply, but the exposure to human error mechanically increases.
Accounting — Several structural changes
Payment from Odoo
Today, to pay vendors by bank transfer, a company must export a file from Odoo, import it into its banking interface, then validate. In version 20, Odoo sends the transfer order directly to the bank in one click, with a single validation. The bank connection becomes two-way: Odoo receives statements and issues payments.
Reconciliation on all accounts
Accounting reconciliation consists of matching entries that cancel each other out — for example an invoice and its payment. Until now, this operation was only possible on receivable, payable and bank accounts. In version 20, it applies to any account in the chart of accounts. Odoo automatically generates the necessary adjustment entries when differences appear, for example when a foreign-currency invoice is canceled.
Multiple identifiers per partner
A single partner record can now store several official identifiers with their associated type: intra-community VAT number, SIRET, LEI number for financial institutions, EORI number for customs exchanges. Each identifier is typed and validated according to its format.
Dynamic tax-excluded and tax-included pricing
For each product, you can define whether the displayed price is tax-excluded or tax-included. On the document — quotation, invoice — a button lets you switch the display from one mode to the other without recalculating manually. Particularly useful for companies that sell to both businesses (tax-excluded) and consumers (tax-included).
Point of Sale — Hardware, restaurant, kiosk
The Odoo 20 Point of Sale module receives one of the densest sets of new features in the presentation.
Hardware connection with no technical handling
Today, connecting a receipt printer or a payment terminal to Odoo requires installing an intermediate box and manually importing a security certificate. In version 20, the Chrome browser automatically detects and connects equipment on the local network, just like connecting a printer from Windows. Setting up POS hardware becomes accessible to everyone, with no IT intervention. This feature is limited to the Chrome browser — it does not yet work on iPhone and iPad.
Combo menus applied automatically
When a customer orders several items that match a combo menu — for example a burger, fries and a drink — Odoo detects the combination and offers to automatically switch to the menu price, with the savings clearly displayed. The server no longer has to remember to apply the menu manually.
Redesigned floor plan editor
The restaurant floor plan is configured directly from the POS screen, by simple drag and drop. You choose the shape of each table — square, rectangular, round or oval — define zones by color and can import a photo of the restaurant as a background. No more going into the back office to change the room layout.
Temporarily postponing a product
From the POS screen, an item can be temporarily hidden from the online ordering menu — for example because it is out of stock tonight — without changing the product record or affecting other points of sale. A "postpone" button is enough, and the item reappears at the next service.
New payment integrations
- Mollie, M-Pesa, Wero (which replaces Payconiq and Bancontact)
- Automatic cash machines that give change without human intervention: Glory, Cashdro, Cashmatic
- All payment terminals become compatible with self-service ordering kiosks
Electronic signature — Automation and international reach
Signature requests can be triggered automatically by Odoo based on events — for example, as soon as a sales opportunity moves to the "proposal" stage, Odoo automatically sends a non-disclosure agreement to the contact, with no manual intervention.
Signers can be defined dynamically from the record's data — the contact linked to the opportunity — or set in advance — always the sales director for the internal signature.
A signature can also be requested from any Odoo record via the activity system, without going through the Sign module. And signature fields can be embedded directly in PDF documents generated by Odoo — purchase orders, contracts — from the native report editor.
International reach
- Support for itsme, the Belgian electronic identification system equivalent to France Connect, in more than 30 countries
- Font adaptation for more than 40 new localizations, enabling signature in countries with non-Latin alphabets
- Interface optimized for touch and mobile when creating document templates
The answers filled in by signers in a document — contact details, reference number, desired date — can be exported in bulk to a spreadsheet for batch processing.
Planning — Field Service becomes Planning
The module changes name and scope. It no longer manages only technical field interventions, but all resource planning: technicians, traveling salespeople, equipment, vehicles.
Several resources per intervention
A single intervention can mobilize several technicians with different roles and several pieces of equipment at the same time. The time allocated to each is managed separately.
Customizable intervention sheets
Each intervention sheet can be adapted to the trade: you enter the equipment manufacturer, its serial number, the type of service performed, a free description. The sheet ends with the technician's digital signature, directly on a tablet.
Coming in this version
- Display of travel time between interventions in the Gantt planning
- Automatic calculation of the optimal route when a technician has several interventions in the day, to minimize travel
- Map showing in real time the position of each technician on the move, visible to the planning manager
- Ability to assign equipment or tools directly to an employee in the planning
- Side planning panel to drag and drop interventions without leaving the main view
Project: profitability reports
Two reports are announced to track profitability by project or by deal:
- Actual margin: what the project earned (fixed price, billed time, milestones reached, manual invoicing) minus what it cost in non-billable time
- Projected margin: comparison between what was sold, what was invoiced and what the project is still expected to cost until completion
For consulting and service companies, this is exactly the profitability-by-deal view that was missing in standard Odoo.
Website and e-commerce
Customer self-service returns
From their customer account on the website, the buyer can start a return request — select the items concerned, indicate the quantity and the reason — without calling or sending an email. The request automatically triggers the logistics process on the company side.
Automatic cross-sell suggestions
Odoo analyzes the cart contents and automatically suggests relevant complementary products, without the need to manually configure recommendation rules.
Shop dashboard and promotional progress bar
A centralized dashboard brings together the online shop's key indicators. On the customer side, a progress bar is displayed for conditional promotions — "spend another €15 to get free shipping" — visible directly in the cart.
Website builder: various improvements
- Reduced page loading times
- Addition of structured data for SEO, allowing Google to display rich information in its results
- Hierarchical organization of site pages
- Improved redirect management tool
- Fixes for indexing, sitemap and canonical address issues that harmed SEO
Technical points — What developers need to watch
Owl 3
The framework that manages Odoo's user interface moves to version 3. Custom interface components developed in version 2 will need to be reviewed and adapted. Migration will be unavoidable for all custom modules.
New JSON2 external programming interface
The interface allowing third-party software to communicate with Odoo is moving to a new version. Existing connections with external tools — websites, business apps, connectors — will need to be updated. Documentation is published on odoo.com.
PDF report editor
The PDF document editor built into Odoo, introduced in version 17, keeps getting richer. It is now possible to insert electronic signature fields directly into document templates — purchase orders, contracts, reports.
ODOO.LIST function in the spreadsheet
A new formula in the Odoo spreadsheet lets you display any list of Odoo data — orders, customers, inventory — directly in a spreadsheet, with automatic updates. No more manual CSV exports to get fresh data into a table.
Impact on payroll: critical point for integrators
The removal of work entries in the payroll engine is the most impactful technical change. Any custom module that creates, modifies or reads hr.work.entry in a payroll context will need rework. Payroll cycles become the centralized entry point with a three-step flow: Employees → Time → Payslips.
New industry verticals
Odoo continues to industrialize its strategy of preconfigured templates by business sector — ready-to-use setups with settings, flows and documents adapted to the trade.
Hospitality
- Occupancy rate tracking by room type
- Connection to online booking platforms (Booking, Airbnb…) via Channex
- Seasonal rate management
- Tracking of rooms to prepare and floor housekeeping
Construction
- Structured quotations with work items, cost types and overheads
- Work planning by lot with subcontracting management
- Invoicing based on actual site progress
New sectors
- Auto repair shop
- Custom industrial equipment manufacturer
- Care facility and nursing home
- Pet groomer
- Home services and personal care
Other announced verticals
- Real estate (compatibility between property management, lease management and condominium management)
- Recruitment firm (integrated flow between candidates, customer relationship and invoicing)
Sectors awaiting confirmation — agricultural equipment rental, beauty salons, insurance brokers — appear in the presentation as aspirational, with no commitment to release in version 20.
CRM and marketing — Automation and complete visual flow
The marketing automation module moves to a visual flow editor where each step of the sequence is represented by a block that you link to the next. The available steps:
Communicate: email, SMS, WhatsApp, activity to create, internal note
Organize: go to another step, split based on conditions, filter contacts, wait for a delay, react to interactions
Actions: subscribe or unsubscribe to a list, send a discount coupon, update a field, trigger an artificial intelligence action, run a custom action
The presence of an AI step in the actions paves the way for sequences where the email content is written on the fly based on the contact's profile — industry, purchase history, behavior on the site.
CRM
- Management of several distinct sales pipelines in the same interface
- New extensions for professional email clients
- New automatic lead assignment logic based on configurable rules
Email marketing
- New ready-to-use content blocks and new campaign templates
- Recipient lists that update automatically based on defined criteria
- Handling of large attachments
Payments and telephony — Internationalization and built-in telephony
Payments: expanded international coverage
New payment providers: ECPay (Taiwan), Xendit (Singapore), PayWay (Cambodia), QF Pay, Belvo, Kueski (Latin America).
New connected marketplaces: TikTok Shop and Lazada, as well as a generic engine allowing other custom marketplaces to be connected.
Saving bank details for recurring payments and manual validation before debit are extended to several additional providers.
Odoo telephony
- Purchase and management of phone numbers in more than 100 countries directly from Odoo, without an external telecom operator
- Visual call flow editor: depending on the time, public holiday or caller number prefix, the call is routed to the right department or queue
- Each call is recorded with its synchronized transcript displayed in the record of the contact or ticket concerned
- A complete business phone system solution, hosted and managed from Odoo
In summary — What to remember
Odoo 20 is shaping up as a release of qualitative consolidation more than quantitative expansion. The major trends:
AI as an action layer. Not an assistant that generates text, but an agent that reads, creates and modifies Odoo data on demand. The way of working with Odoo changes profoundly.
Reduced configuration complexity. Payroll without an intermediate validation step, POS hardware that connects without technical handling, universal accounting reconciliation. Fewer workarounds needed for common cases.
Verticals as a commercial lever. Hospitality, construction, nursing homes: Odoo accelerates go-to-market in sectors where specialized software is very expensive and offers little flexibility.
For Odoo integrators, three points to watch as a priority
- Owl 2 to Owl 3 migration: audit all custom interface components
- Payroll refactoring: identify modules that manipulate hr.work.entry
- AI governance: define with customers the authorized scopes of action for AI agents