Glasscubes integrates Zoho

Nov 03 2009 02:53:37 PM Posted By : Raju Vegesna
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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.

Elementool Integrates Zoho

Oct 13 2009 09:50:51 AM Posted By : Arvind
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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.

Zoho's Notification Feeds

Aug 06 2009 05:58:20 AM Posted By : Arvind
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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 Calculator?!

Jul 29 2009 09:27:53 AM Posted By : Dhan
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Well, it's not a new product from Zoho. At Zoho we have a tradition of fun Saturdays. A lot of our products sprung roots from some fun project initiated on these days. A few Saturdays back, some of our developers in the Zoho Gadgets and Sheet teams wanted to develop a Windows-like calculator for Linux . And then they stumbled on the idea of throwing more power at the simple calculator. Yes - you got it right! We now have our own Zoho Sheet as a quick web based calculator. The power added to a simple calculator is mind blowing. Go on! Do your calculations at a breeze on the web - and if your throw away calculation is important enough, save it back as a sheet in Zoho Sheet.




Other than the 'Export as xls', keyboard shortcuts and support for more than 300 functions, the biggest advantage with this spreadsheet gadget is that it doesn't require a Zoho login. Anyone can use it on the fly. Make it part of your iGoogle start page and see how handy it is. Get the spreadsheet gadget from here.

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

XLSX File Format Support

We recently added support for Excel 2007 file format (.xlsx). You can now import your xlsx spreadsheets to Zoho Sheet and edit them or publish them online. However, exporting to xlsx format is not yet supported. It will come in a future update, after which xlsx files will be supported via our Remote API too.

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.

New Zoho API Partner : Rabbit

Jun 26 2009 05:11:00 AM Posted By : Arvind
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Rabbit is a web-based operating system that connects people, processes and content, combining the power of social networking into an enterprise environment. A key component of Rabbit is its information sharing capabilities, which let users work on documents they’ve uploaded to Rabbit’s web workspace, and share this with other users. Rabbit has selected Zoho for this because of Zoho's proven ability to provide high levels of functionality and performance, and to provide a smooth transition for enterprise users from working locally on the desktop to working on the web.

All documents, spreadsheets and presentations uploaded and stored in Rabbit can be opened using Zoho. The documents and spreadsheets can be edited and saved back where as the presentations can be viewed. Below is a screenshot of files in Rabbit being opened using Zoho.

Rabbit and Zoho

New documents and spreadsheets can be created too from inside Rabbit by invoking Zoho Writer and Sheet. This video by the Rabbit team explains the functionality in detail.

Rabbit has a 14-day trial. Try them out.


Zoho is primarily about working online. We have a great set of online productivity apps which businesses find extremely useful for collaboration. Microsoft SharePoint is ubiquitous in enterprises for content management, but it lacks several advantages that cloud applications like Zoho enjoy.

Today we are pleased to announce Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint that brings the advantages of Zoho online productivity applications to ubiquitous Microsoft SharePoint.

Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint extends the value of Microsoft SharePoint by allowing users to create new documents using Zoho's office suite and then save them directly to SharePoint in Microsoft Office supported formats. Users can view or edit existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations using Zoho Writer, Sheet & Show and save them back to SharePoint.


This video gives a good overview of this add-on.



Installation video is available here. As Zoho applications are served from the cloud, you don't need any installations on desktops to create/view/edit documents. Once you install the add-on for SharePoint server, you can be more productive with just your browser.


Zoho Collaboration on Microsoft SharePoint

Apart from providing editing capability for existing documents, the add-on also provides collaborative editing functionality. Based on sharing permissions already defined in SharePoint, multiple users can collaboratively work on documents/spreadsheets/presentations in real-time. This feature basically brings one of the key advantages of an online office suite to SharePoint.


While collaboratively editing documents, you can also chat with other members using our integrated Zoho Chat.

Data Behind your Firewall

Along with small and medium businesses, we see a good percentage of departments in larger organizations using our productivity apps for collaboration. There are  businesses which prefer keeping their data behind the enterprise firewall. For such organizations, this new add-on brings in the best of both worlds - Collaboration capabilities of an online application while keeping the data behind your firewall.

If you have SharePoint installed in your intranet behind your corporate firewall, you still will be able to view/edit documents using our online applications. After changes, your documents are saved back to your SharePoint server behind your corporate firewall leaving no data on Zoho Servers.

When you open the document, a copy is transferred temporarily to Zoho servers securely. When the document is closed, it is permanently deleted from our servers immediately leaving no data on our side.

Pricing & Availability

Starting today, this add-on is available for Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and 2003 versions. You can try the 30 day evaluation version for unlimited users. After the trial period, it costs $2/user/month on an yearly subscription or $3/user/month for monthly subscription.

If you have already invested in Microsoft SharePoint, this add-on is a great compliment that brings in the advantages of online productivity applications to SharePoint. If you are able to access SharePoint, you'll be able to view/edit documents without having to invest on productivity suites for every desktop in your business.

Additional information is available @ http://www.zoho.com/sharepoint

Please do give it a try and let us know what you think. 

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Microsoft, SharePoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. ZOHO Corp is not affiliated or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.

Japan's NTT Communications (NTT Com) unveiled their first foray into Cloud through a concept called "Setten" in Japan starting with a suite of applications for businesses. We are very excited to announce that some of Zoho's Applications are included as part of NTT Com's offerings.

NTT Communications is one of the largest telecommunications company in Japan and they are unveiling their cloud concept 'Setten' offering virtual office environment with a suite of online applications. To start with, the offering will include
  • Email Application (Based on Zoho Mail)
  • Office Suite (Zoho Writer, Sheet & Show)
  • Virtual Desktop for PC/Mobile
  • Business Goo (a Groupware from NTT Resonant)
  • Online Storage
This online offering will also provide the capability to integrate with customer's internal/in-house web applications including Mail & File servers. The offering also supports multiple authentications (ID/PW, IC Card, one time password). NTT Com also plans to open up the APIs for the suite.

Initially, this offering will be available to 15 selected companies in Japan. The applications offered through this suite will expand as the suite matures over time. This offering will enter the commercial phase this fiscal year in 2009.

While Zoho Applications are offered as individual applications, they are also integrated with NTT Com's File Explorer. The mail applications is also integrated with their Address Book application providing seamless user experience through out the suite.

Zoho: The Deployment Model
Interesting part to notice in this case is that the Zoho Applications are not served from Zoho's data centers in US. Instead, Zoho applications are deployed in NTT Com's data centers. Zoho provides frequent updates to these applications. For larger companies as well as service providers, we do offer an on-site deployment option of Zoho Apps within their data centers. This gives them better control over the infrastructure and data.

This custom deployment model is not new as we have done this earlier with Baihui in China offering Zoho Apps in Chinese market. For Baihui, the Zoho Apps are deployed in Baihui's data centers within China to serve the local market. With NTT Com offering Zoho Apps as part of their integrated online suite for businesses, Zoho applications will be served from NTT Com's data centers.

At Zoho, we have seen some good interest from carriers across the world. We think Cloud Apps can complement very well with the offerings from carriers. Cloud Applications combined with the local deployment model is a great win-win situation for both cloud vendors as well as carriers.

NTT Communication's Press Release

Here is the press release.

Integration between Zoho Apps : Part II

May 15 2009 10:04:00 AM Posted By : Raju Vegesna
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In one of my previous posts, I talked about integration between different Zoho Apps expanding on the following integrations.

  • Sheet integration with CRM
  • Writer & Sheet integration in Zoho Projects
  • Meeting & Chat integration in Zoho Show
  • Creator Integration in People
  • Projects integration in Invoice
  • Writer, Sheet & Show integration in Notebook
  • Writer, Sheet & Show integration into Wiki
  • Chat integration in Writer, Sheet, Show, Notebook, Meeting etc
Here in this post, let us look at some of the integrations we have added since then. Here we go...

Writer, Sheet & Show integration in Zoho Docs

When we introduced Zoho Docs, we not only aggregated all your documents from Zoho Writer, Sheet & Show, we also added the ability to open these documents right within Zoho Docs. With Writer, Sheet & Show integration in Zoho Docs, we let you open documents as a tab in view-only mode within the Zoho Docs application. You always have an option to 'Edit' these files which launches the appropriate Zoho application in a new window.



Zoho Mail Integration in Docs and Vice Versa

In Zoho Mail, we added an option to attach documents directly from Zoho Docs. This is a simpler way to send documents created in Zoho. Similarly, if you are in Zoho Docs, we integrated Zoho Mail to email your documents. Additional information about this integration is available here.




Zoho Chat Integration with Mail, Docs, People & Business

When I previously talked about Zoho Chat integration, we had Zoho Chat integrated with Writer, Sheet, Show, Notebook & Meeting. We now extended this integration to Mail, Docs, People & Business. This means you'll see the consistent chat bar at the bottom across all Zoho Apps allowing you to chat with members in your buddy list. With Zoho Chat supporting multiple IM Networks, you can now seamless chat with your buddies from other IM Networks no matter which Zoho Application you are in.



Zoho Meeting Integration in Zoho Chat

I previously talked about Zoho Chat integration with Zoho Meeting. This time, the integration is the other way around. We integrated Zoho Meeting in Chat. This means, while chatting with other users in Zoho Chat, if you have a need to share your desktop with other users, you can do so with a single click. As Zoho Chat is integrated with multiple IM Networks (Yahoo, Google, MSN, AIM, ICQ & Jabber), you can share your desktop with users from any  IM networks.




Zoho Meeting Integration in Zoho CRM

Zoho Meeting is contextually integrated into Zoho CRM. When you search for a contact in Zoho CRM, you'll see an option on the right to start a quick one-on-one meeting with that user with just a click. As Zoho Meeting is free for one-on-one meetings, you need not be a paid Zoho Meeting user to try this functionality.



These are some of the new integrations between Zoho Apps. We have few others which I'll expand in a future post. We also have some interesting integrations coming. Stay tuned.