Zoho Recruit identifies the file format and opens in appropriate Zoho Application. You still have the option to download the file if you need a copy of it.

We announced the "Insert buttons" functionality few months back. With the power of Buttons and VBA Macros in Zoho Sheet, you can do a whole lot of things that weren't possible earlier. Here are some sample spreadsheets:

1. Kids Zone

This spreadsheet, titled "Kids Zone", was created by one of our team members, Senthil. It has a lot of interactive lessons for kids. Kids can learn the letters of the alphabet, and a section for identifying pictures. There are separate chapters for rhymes and stories as well.

Click on the image below to access the public spreadsheet. You can then navigate to the various sections by clicking on the buttons in the "HOME" tab.

This Zoho spreadsheet makes extensive use of Images and Buttons. There are around 350 images and 1125 buttons in this spreadsheet. VBA Macros are assigned to the Buttons and they are used to navigate between the various sheets. In chapters like "Identify Picture", buttons are used to get input from the user and display the answer based on the user's input. In "Arrange Alphabet" chapter, macros and functions are used to indicate whether the user is arranging the letters of the alphabet in the right way. Go ahead and explore the spreadsheet.

2. Word Puzzle

Here is a word puzzle on Zoho Sheet. This is a variation of the Hangman game. A random 5-letter word is displayed with only the vowels filled in. You are allowed to guess up to 4 letters which you think might be part of the word. If you key in a letter that is part of the word, then all the occurrences of that letter will be filled in. After 4 chances, you have to guess the full word. Click on the image below to open the spreadsheet.

Online Project Collaboration application vendor Central Desktop integrated Zoho Sheet into their application using our Remote APIs. Zoho Sheet is integrated contextually within their application letting users view/edit spreadsheets and save them back to Central Desktop's storage.

This integration brings in all the goodies from Zoho Sheet into Central Desktop's application. This integration went live this weekend replacing EditGrid's spreadsheet application. Additional details about this integration are available here.



Zoho's unique APIs makes it easy for applications to integrate our office apps contextually to enhance their functionality and provide seamless experience. Central Desktop's integration is another such example. We'd like to thank our friends at Central Desktop for integrating our app. We are looking forward to a productive partnership.

Related Link

• Zoho API Partners

• Sample list of Zoho API Integration Partners
  

Online applications are ideal for collaboration, especially for collaborating with users from multiple locations. These browser based applications offer convenience, mobility among many other advantages. But when you have to depend on a locally installed application, to open a document for example, breaks the flow. Integrating document editing capability within in the browser can offer seamless experience and can make users productive as well as remove the hurdle to have an installed application.

We have seen collaboration vendors like Box.net, Huddle, Knowledge Tree etc offer seamless online document editing experience using Zoho editors. Today, another online collaboration & project management vendor, Glasscubes integrated Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet into their application.

If you upload documents or spreadsheets into GlassCubes documents section, you'll notice an additional option to edit the document.

Choosing the 'Edit Document' option opens the document (including 2007 formats) in the appropriate Zoho Editors. You can make changes to the document and save it back to the Glasscubes application. Thanks to our Remote APIs, Glasscubes users need not have a Zoho account to use this functionality.

Rob Hallums explains this integration on their blog. We'd like to thank GlassCubes for integrating Zoho.

At Zoho, we provide APIs for a good many of our products and they have all been well received. A sample list of our API partners here. The latest one to join the list is Elementool.

Elementool provides web based project management tools for help desk, bug and defect tracking and time tracking tools. Elementool has implemented Zoho's API in their Docs module. All uploaded documents, spreadsheets and presentations to the Elementool's Docs module can now be viewed using Zoho. Not just viewing, you can edit the file too and when you save the file again, all changes get reflected in your uploaded file in the Elementool account.

Such a functionality is useful if you are uploading a lot of your project/work-related documents, spreadsheets & presentations online and want them viewed or edited then and there in the browser itself (instead of downloading each of them and editing them using a desktop application). Try Elementool out and see if it fits your needs.

We have a couple of other API collaborations happening too which we will blog about in the days to come. Stay tuned.

Zoho Sheet underwent an update last week with some cool functionality. Here are the new features in this update:

1. Insert Button:
   
   Buttons which trigger VBA macros can now be inserted into your spreadsheets in Zoho. This opens up a lot of possibilities to create spreadsheet based applications. We would love to see what kind of spreadsheets you create using this. Here is a simple BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator with buttons embedded below. Just fill in your details and hit the calculate button.
   
   
   
   To insert a button, look for "Insert Button" under the Insert icon (plus icon) on the toolbar. You can then assign an existing macro to it or assign a new one by writing a VBA macro or by just recording a macro.
   
   
   
   
2. Full XLSX Support:
   
   Earlier we supported import of xlsx files (Microsoft Excel's file format since 2007). Now we support export to xlsx as well. Our APIs too support this new format.
   
   
3. Time Zone Preference:
   
   We now respect your time zone preference and display the date and time accordingly. TODAY() and NOW() functions will give out the date/time based on your time zone setting. You can set your timezone preference by clicking on "Account Settings > My Account" link available on the top bar. You can also visit http://accounts.zoho.com and set your preferences which will be used across the various Zoho services.
   

Apart from the above, there are some enhancements and bug fixes as well. Refer our What's New page for more information.

PS: Zoho Sheet is now on Twitter. Follow us @zohosheet.

The chat bar you see at the bottom of applications like Zoho Mail, Zoho Business, Zoho Docs does a lot of useful things. Most of them has got to do with your presence status and the bar helps you in chatting live with your contacts who are online. But there's one other important feature - notifications. The little bell icon adds a number to itself whenever there is a new notification.

You get notified for a good many work instances.

1. When you are offline and someone sends you a chat message
2. When someone shares a Zoho document, spreadsheet or presentation.
3. When you upload a file to Zoho Docs
4. When you make a post in a Zoho Discussions forum and someone responds to it. You get notified when you watch someone or a forum too.
5. Users can send a direct notification message (instead of a chat message) to their Contacts / Groups from Zoho Chat



You can see the past notifications history by clicking on the Feeds link.

So, watch the little Notification icon at the bottom-left when you login to Zoho the next time. It might have some important notifications for you :) The chat/presence bar itself will continue to evolve as we have planned for more useful features to be delivered through it.

Zoho Sheet underwent few updates in the last couple of months after our Freeze panes update. Here are the highlights:

XLSX File Format Support

Collaboration Enhancements

When multiple people are collaborating on a spreadsheet at the same time, we now display who is working on which cell. Each collaborator is given a color code, and we highlight the cell which the user is working on using that color. When you hover the mouse over that cell, it displays the name of the collaborator. We have also fixed certain issues in real time collaboration. 

Cell Comment Enhancements

The cell comments user interface has been enhanced. Some pressing issues in cell comments have been fixed as well.

Apart from the above changes, we have done some performance improvements and bug fixes as well. Refer our What's New page for more information.