Zoho, makers of an awesome web-based software suite comprised of document, project and invoicing management tools, has given its online word processing tool Writer a fresh look along with a couple of new features worth checking out. The Chennai, India-based startup says Zoho Writer 2.0 comes with hundreds of improvements, for the most part on the user interface.
But the makeover isn’t the whole story. Zoho is also introducing a couple of enhancements and new features worth highlighting. The menu toolbar, for example, has been completely redesigned and renamed to reflect these changes. Now called the ‘MenuTab’, it categorizes the features as tabs based on functionality and mimics the familiarity of traditional office software by opening a drop-down menu upon clicking. This should make users who are making the switch from the well-known desktop word-processing software programs feel right at home, unless of course they’ve grown accustomed to Office 2007’s ‘ribbon’ menus by now (which I have, by the way).
The sidebar in Writer has also been changed to look more like the sidebar in Zoho Sheet. It now includes search functionality (very welcome), multi-selection of documents and support for performing several actions in one go. There were several other enhancements to the application in Header/Footers with support for auto-insertion of fields, Collaborative Editing, inclusion of Word and Character count in status bar, and so on, but maybe it’s best if you just give it a spin yourself. After all, it’s free.
Also worth noting is the fact that the changes will be reflected to all applications using Zoho Writer, including internal applications and third-party ones making use of the Zoho Writer API.
Update: here’s a screenshot tour (best watched in fullscreen)
I like Zoho a lot, especially because of their offline capabilities, easy access thanks to support for Google and Yahoo IDs and the group sharing across different apps feature. That said, some people will simply stick to desktop software for office tasks no matter what, and Zoho is going to have to fight an uphill battle to keep the rest of users from flocking to the web-based applications offered by companies with a vast reach (Google, Microsoft, Adobe, etc.).
Or maybe Zoho will keep on surprising everyone.
It’s becoming more powerful… I wonder when people would actually start switching online to do office work?
TechFilipino
Zoho rocks … one of the rising starts of the Indian startup scene.
You will be seeing a lot more great things come out of India over the next 3-5 years.
I was Google Docs all the way until I bought a Macbook Air and *cough* acquired iWorks ‘09.
I have a macbook and Macbook pro I bought IWorks a year ago and it is still sitting in the box. You really like it? What are you using it for?
I actually started using Zoho Writer for take-home work. I can access the documents from home and have the same version back at work the next day. This latest change makes it even more usable. I honestly think this is the best online word processor out there. I use Google Docs regularly, but I prefer Zoho and use it the most.
I think it’s becoming more and more common for people to go online to work – especially for those that work remotely. You can access your data from different computers instead of being tied to your desktop or laptop (which can be bulky to drag around at times!)
looks good.
http://twitter.com/zafarali
salam kenal
Its hard to stand against mighty google
Well done Zoho.
I am just wondering what the Google Docs team has been doing while Zoho keeps on improving.
The problem for me with all the online document creators is the inability to paste images into the document from the clipboard
I can use it no problem, until one day I am at somewhere with no internet, then I want to kill myself. However online editor really does help with collaboration between a few people. That is the main advantage for me
Very good post
I like zoho.com a lot but do not see how they could survive without being purchased–Yahoo maybe?
I would be hard to do ad revenue since Google is the dominant player.
I have tried google docs and now ThinkFree Office.
I did not know that Adobe had an office suite online. Microsoft online? no, no, no I say, NO.
It’s time for YHOO to by ZOHO
Yahoo already acquired Zimbra.
I agree, if there is no revenue model, it worries me. But there are a lot of companies out there doing well without much of a business model, twitter, digg, etc.
I think Zoho receives the most traffic and revenue from their CRM model, but some say it just a rebrand of Open Source CRM vTiger. So its development costs are close to zero; rhymes with Zoho.
John -
Not so. vTiger and Zoho CRM use two different codebases.
Rodrigo
Yes, Zoho is really cool. the UI just looks like MS office Word. ~
We had all our company docs and spreadsheets in zoho.. But we recently migrated those to google docs.
Google docs is great ! Zoho is slow.. crappy.. It’s version history sucks big time..
Even google docs has less features i like it’s stability, reliability and it’s fast. The best part is Google Apps in general.. We moved our email, docs, calender, starter page, chat etc.. is great..
I like the integration..
Google docs will rule in future..
Mark my words..
Wow! I couldn’t disagree with you more. Google Docs is so crude compared to Zoho. Zoho’s copy and paste works perfectly. Cmd-S or Ctrl-S for PCs actually saves the file instead of trying to save the webpage.
Zoho is slick. Google docs is slack.
Went from Zoho to Google docs last quarter and haven’t been disappointed one bit….
Using web services for office-type functions makes access to your data ubiquitous. Let someone else take care of backing up your data for you. Vista went flaky on my desktop yesterday, today I’m working on my laptop without missing a beat.
Don’t let your data or your apps be captive to any computer or OS.
zoho is overrated
These are great enhancements to Zoho Writer. I am used to writing in Print View in Word, so I’m glad to see this feature implemented. GoEverywhere provides quick and easy access to Zoho on their personal desktop, allowing users to work with all the Zoho products from any location. You also get single sign on access to all your log-in sites like Amazon, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
zoho is awesome? really?
any time i tried it, it’s been completely amateurish. it’s crap.
Does Zoho have an offline mode like google docs does? if not then it is a deal breaker
http://blogs.zo...offline-editing
Zoho Writer supports Offline mode since Aug 2007 and it is the first application in Zoho to support offline mode using Gears. Related posts @ our blogs:
Zoho Writer Offline mode release: http://blogs.zo...-in-zoho-writer
Zoho Writer supports Offline Editing: http://blogs.zo...offline-editing
Zoho Writer extends Offline Support for Windows: http://blogs.zo...ng-google-gears Mobile
In this current Writer 2.0 release, we have added the support for creating new documents in Offline mode. Do give it a try and let us know your comments.
Srikanth
Zoho Team
Whatever. http://www.FreeCRM.com is a better product.
Why pay? Hidden costs and INDIAN Support at Zoho.
Try it: http://www.FreeCRM.com
Wow, your blatant disregard for even attempting to be courteous, and jerk attitude has ensured that I will NEVER use your product. If your customer service is anything like your response then you will be a miserable failure. Just because you’re on the internet doesn’t mean you can be an ass when you feel like it. You fail at generating positive buzz around your company FreeCRM
Not to mention that ZoHo is a word processor, not a CRM suite… idiot.
Currently the scene in India is such that if you repeat that post many times, many more Indians will happily try out ZOHO – as it can prove cost effective. Thanks for helping Indian businesses and ZOHO. Seriously, in the age of open source software and web2.0, geography and politics have lesser and lesser significance. Patriotism was for the previous century, we’re now much more closely knit as a species due to mobile phones and the internet. “The fight” should be between good folks and bad people. Because people help each other out across borders much more than before. And nowadays, Indians contribute to Western wealth officially too.
so many zoho marketing personnel here.
Have been using it for 6 months. Works great.