Allowing users to access and attach files from the Google service

Dec 2, 2009 13:43 GMT  ·  By
Zoho now allows users of several Zoho Apps to access and attach files from Google Docs
   Zoho now allows users of several Zoho Apps to access and attach files from Google Docs

Online office and collaboration suite maker Zoho has an interesting relationship with Google, arguably its main competitor for most of its products and, at first glance, the two companies are surprisingly friendly and warm towards each other. Recently, Zoho has launched integration with Google and Google Apps accounts, allowing users to register and log in with their existing credentials, and now the company is launching a full-blown integration between Zoho Apps and Google Docs.

“We previously integrated Zoho and Google at Sign-on level (for both Google & Google Apps) and now, we are taking the integration to the application level. Following a series of updates, Google Docs is now integrated with Zoho Applications - Zoho CRM, Mail, Docs & Projects,” Zoho announced on its wiki. “We believe Google Docs integration with several Zoho Apps will provide seamless experience for users who use both Zoho and Google Apps. We will to continue to integrate Zoho Apps with Google,” it added, hinting at future developments.

For its customer relations management (CRM) app, Zoho has introduced the option to attach files from Google Docs in several modules (Leads, Contacts, Cases etc.) in every place where it was possible to attach a file from Zoho Docs, the company's answer to the Google suite. The attach dialog is the same for both sources and it allows users to filter by file type and to search for the document or presentation they need.

Similar functionality is now available in Zoho Mail, the option to attach files from Zoho Docs has been expanded to allow for Google Docs files as well. The company's project management tool, Projecs (Zoho seems to really like Google's approach to product names), gets the same treatment allowing users to select files from Google Docs. Finally, Zoho allows users to move files from Google Docs to Zoho Docs directly even if they're not using them in any specific app. All the features use oAuth to log into the user's Google account making this step seamless and secure.

But don't let all of this fool you, Zoho knows exactly who its enemies are and Google is chief among them. However, the fact of the matter is, it can't really take Google head on and it has to work twice as hard to ensure that its users don't flock to Google Apps and that new users keep rolling in. So far, this strategy seems to be paying off and Zoho can boast some pretty impressive user numbers.