Zoho Chat is one of our key applications that enables conversation between Zoho users. Our Chat bus integrates many Zoho Applications under the hood. Today, with 2.0 version, we are taking it couple of steps further with multi-protocol support and many other new features.



Multi-protocol support

With Zoho Chat 2.0, you can now login to multiple Instant Messaging networks. You can login to Yahoo!, Google, MSN, AIM, ICQ and any network that supports Jabber and simultaneously chat with members from other networks. You have options to save your login credentials of other networks within Zoho Chat and automatically login to multiple networks when you login to Zoho.


The mini-tabs at the bottom let you login and view status of members from other IM networks. You also have an option to view the status of all users from all networks from the 'All' tab.

Application Integration

Chat clients supporting multi-protocols is nothing new. There are many standalone and online apps currently available. Uniqueness of multi-protocol support in Zoho Chat 2.0 is our integration with Productivity, Collaboration & Business Applications.

Zoho Chat is the common bus that runs across most of Zoho Applications. It is currently integrated with our productivity & collaboration applications like Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show, Mail, Notebook, Docs and even our business applications like Zoho Meeting, Business etc. This means, when you are logged into multiple IM networks (like Yahoo, Google, AIM etc) in Zoho Chat, you will receive chat messages no matter which Zoho application you are in. You could be working in a document in Zoho Writer and chat with a Google or Yahoo user in the same tab and all your chat transcripts are archived and available for a future search.

When messaging apps are integrated with productivity apps, it can be really powerful and when you combine it with features like multi-protocol support, we believe it is going to be further useful.

Zoho Meeting Integration

Zoho Meeting is integrated with Zoho Chat 2.0 which lets you share your desktop with other users. As we support multi-protocols, you can share your desktop with users from any IM network. For now, windows users will be able to share desktops. If you are viewing another user's desktop, you can be on any operating system.

Option to share your desktop is now available in the chat window.


Zoho Calendar Integration

In Zoho Chat 2.0, you'll notice a small bar on the bottom right that lets you view your events from Zoho Calendar. You can also add a new event by just typing it into the text box. Say something like 'Meeting with John at 2PM' and it'll appear in Zoho Calendar.



You'll also notice a feeds section which is basically a notification area. This displays your unread chat messages, document sharing messages etc. 

You can also send out quick messages to other Zoho users using the quick message option (on the top right). This will send out the message as a notification to Zoho users. You can also send these quick messages to offline users.

More Goodies...

Zoho Chat 2.0 comes with more goodies. You can now choose your background image in Zoho Chat. We also added Audio notifications which are configurable.

If you are chatting with other Zoho users, you now have an option to send files through chat. If you are sending images, we also show you a preview of sent images. You can also wake up the other user using our new 'Buzz' option.

Zoho Chat also lets you chat with groups. If you have groups created in Zoho Business, you can start a chat session with all members within the group with a single click.

We have other good features from our previous versions intact like the History section that lets you review/search all chat transcripts with all users and the Embed options that let you embed your chat boxes on your website/blog.

Our team has been hard at work for this update. This is an important milestone for us and we hope you'll find this useful. As always, we are looking forward to your feedback. Try Zoho Chat 2.0 now.