Overview of Zoho Docs Explorer Window

Zoho Docs is the central document management system for Zoho’s three office applications: Writer, Sheet, and Show. There are numerous other types of documents that can be stored in it.

It has 16 features that can be performed on an individual document. They are as follows:

Share

The Share feature allows you to invite collaborators for a document. You can enter an email or user name of someone who is already part of your organization and assign one of three levels of privilege: Read/Write, Read Only, and Co-Owner.

  • Read/Write: This allows collaborators to edit the document and use the comment feature.
  • Read Only: This allows the collaborator to only see the document. He cannot edit it or add comments.
  • Co-Owner: This allows the collaborator the same features as the Read/Write privilege with the addition of being able to invite other collaborators.

In addition to inviting collaborators, there are also options to make the document visible to everyone in your organization, to anyone with a password, and to everyone with the URL for the document.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Share icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Clicking the Share icon to the right of the document’s name.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Share from the list.
  • This feature also can be accessed through an open document itself.

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Add Task

This feature allows you to assign tasks to other people. Clicking the icon opens a dialog that gives you a drop-down menu with three types of tasks: Review, Approve, or Remind. You can assign a due date and write a description for the task. There is a field for entering an email. Only one task can be assigned to a document at a time.

This feature is only available to those who have Standard or Premium accounts. If the person who you assign the task to only has a free account, they will not be able to view or change the status of it. The person receiving a task automatically becomes a collaborator.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Add Task icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Clicking the Add Task icon to the right of the document’s name.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Add Task from the list.

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Move

This feature allows you to put the document in a different folder, deleting it from the current location. Clicking this opens a dialog that give a list of folders. The folders have radio buttons to the left of the folder’s name. There are arrows to the left of folders that have sub-folders. Click an arrow to reveal the sub folders. The sub-folders also have radio buttons to the left of them. Click the radio button of the folder you want to move it to.

If someone shares a document with you, you will not be able to move the document.

There also is a button to Create a folder. First click on the radio button of the folder where you want to save your new folder. When you are done, click the Move button.

This feature works when check marks are placed next to more than one document.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Move icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Move from the list.

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Copy

This feature allows you to put the document in a different folder, without deleting it from the current location. Clicking this opens a dialog that give a list of folders. The folders have radio buttons to the left of the folder’s name. There are arrows to the left of folders that have sub-folders. Click an arrow to reveal the sub folders. The sub-folders also have radio buttons to the left of them. Click the radio button of the folder you want to move it to.

The new, copied document will be the same name. However, it will not be connected to the original, so any edits made to the original will not be made in the copy, and vis versa.

There also is a button to Create a folder. First click on the radio button of the folder where you want to save your new folder. When you are done, click the Copy button.

This feature works when check marks are placed next to more than one document.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Copy icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Copy from the list.

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Trash/Remove

This places one or more selected documents to the trash folder, where they can be deleted or restored. If a document has been shared, it will be removed from the collaborators Zoho Docs Explorer Window.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Trash/Remove icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Trash/Remove from the list.

After performing one of these, a dialog appears that requires you to click the YES button to confirm the move.
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Send Mail

This opens a email in a separate pop-out window, where you can send the document as an attachment in DOCX format.

You need to have a Standard or Premium level account. If you have a Free level account a dialog will appear, saying that you need to upgrade. It has an Upgrade button in it.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Send Mail icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Send Mail from the list.

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Mark as Favorite

Every document has a clear star by it. Clicking a star changes it to a gold color and copies it to the Favorites folder. Clicking the Favorites link will show all the documents with a gold star by them.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Mark as Favorite icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Clicking the star to the left of the document’s name.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Mark as Favorite from the list.

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Check-out

The check-out feature makes it so collaborators and others who have access to a document can open it but cannot edit it. When the document is opened by others, there will be a note at the top of their browser windows letting them know the document is checked out. In Zoho Docs, a lock icon will be by the document name, showing the name of the person who checked out the document.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Check-out icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Check-out from the list.

For the person who checked out a document, the Check-out item is replaced by Check-in. The Check-in item is not available to collaborators.
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Revisions

This item opens a dialog for the document on the Revisions tab. The Revisions tab allows you to see revision versions of a document, the size of that document, the date it was modified, and notes that were written for that version*. It also allows you to download each revision.

Through the Revisions tab in the document’s dialog, you can download old versions of a document
and upload a document from your computer. This uploaded document will become the latest version
of the document.

In addition to being able to view old versions of a document, it also allows you to upload new versions of a document. Simply click the Choose File button and search your hard drive for the desired document. Then, if desired, write notes for it and click the Upload button.

This is a good feature for documents that have been collaborated on, but individual collaborators have also worked on independently in another office application, such as Microsoft Word. They simply upload the latest version of the document with notes attached.

When a revision is uploaded and the dialog is closed, the latest revisions will appear when the document is opened.
This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Revisions icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Revisions from the list.

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Add Tag

This allows you to assign keywords to a document. These words can be used to find a document, when you search by tags in the Search field at the top of the Explorer window.

Adding tags to documents allows you tofind them by setting the search box to tags.
To this, click the arrow in the search field to open the drop-down menu, and select tags.

Add Tag is accessed by the menu at the top of the Explorer Window or the right-click menu. When you click on the item, a dialog opens allowing you to enter the keywords. Separate each one with a comma. Click the Add Tag button when you are done. The Add Tagitem is available when more than one document is selected.
This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Add Tag icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Add Tag from the list.
  • If two or more documents are selected, right-clicking on the document name and choosing Add Tag from the list.

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Zip

This will archive a document or multiple documents that have been selected by placing them in a compressed folder.

Zip is located in the menu at the top of the Explorer window or in the right-click menu. When you click on it a dialog opens where you can enter a name for the zipped folder.
This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Zip icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • If two or more documents are selected, right-clicking on the document name and choosing Zip from the list.

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Comment

This allows you to add a comment that applies to the entire document. Collaborators can see the comments when they click on this item when they select this document.

You also can attach an image or other types of documents to a comment.

This is different from the comments that can be made when a document is open. Comments made within a document are about a section of text.

The Comment item can be accessed through the menu at the top of the Explorer window, the menu to the right of a document, and through the right-click menu. It only is available when one document is selected.
This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Comment icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Clicking the Comment icon to the right of the document’s name.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Mark as Favorite from the list.

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Rename

This allows you to change the name of a document. When a document has been selected and this has been clicked, te document’s name will be changed so it is in a text box. Then you can type a new name. Press enter when you are finished.

Collaborators also can change the name of a document.
This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Rename icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Rename from the list.

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Download

This will download a document through the browser’s download. Zoho formatted documents will be downloaded in their corresponding Microsoft Office formats ( zdoc to docx, zsheet to xlsx, and zslides to pptx). Other documents, such as OpenDocument and images, will be downloaded in their same format.

Only one document can be downloaded at one time.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Download icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Clicking the Download icon to the right of the document’s name.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Download from the list.

It only is available when one document is selected.

Access Stats

This opens the dialog for the document with the Access tab active. This gives information about how many times the document was previewed and how many times it was downloaded. It shows which collaborators previewed it and who downloaded it.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Access Stats icon in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Access Stats from the list.

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Properties

This opens the document’s dialog with the Document details tab active. The following information is in the tab:

  • Version
  • Status: Check box for locked. If there is a check in the box then it will say the account name of who has locked it
  • Permalink
  • Modified: (date)
  • Created: (date)
  • Size: (kb)
  • Modified by: (account name)

    • Created by: (account name)

  • Publish: This shows whether a document is private, published within an organization, or made visible for the whole world.
    If it is private this line will say: “Make this document public.”
    If published within organization: “This document has been published within organization.”
    If published to external world: “This document has been published to external world.”
  • Description: This has an edit button that lets you write a description. The maximum is 200 characters.
    There are buttons for Download and Edit. Edit opens the document.

This feature can be accessed by:

  • Putting a check next to the desired document and clicking the Properties item in the menu at the top of the Explorer Window, below the All Files or folder label.
  • Right-clicking on the document name and choosing Properties from the list.

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