Hey everyone 👋

The era of 'scrolling and searching' is officially over. Whether it's a dense legal contract or a long meeting recording, searching for specific details is a massive time-sink. We think you should be able to interact with your files, not just read them.

What if you could simply ask a file for the answer?

We’re excited to introduce Zia’s Ask Questions feature, which turns static documents into interactive conversations. Instead of hunting for data, you can now interact with your files as easily as asking a teammate for a quick update.

From Searching to Asking

Zia changes how you interact with files. Instead of manually searching, you can ask natural-language questions directly from your documents and get accurate answers pulled straight from the content—complete with source references.

⚖️ The "Old Way" vs. The Zia Way:

• The Old Way: You open a 40-page legal contract, hit Ctrl+F, and type "termination." You then click "Next" 15 times, hoping one of those matches is the specific clause you need.
  

• The Zia Way: You simply ask, "What is the notice period for terminating this agreement?" Zia analyzes the text and gives you the exact answer immediately.

Zia doesn’t just guess. For documents and images, Zia highlights the exact section where the information appears.  You always have the context needed to move forward with confidence.

Even for audio and video files, answers include precise timestamps, letting you jump straight to the relevant moment. So there is no more guessing if the AI got it right.

Zia in Action

To show how this works across everyday tasks, here’s how Zia handles different file formats:

Video files 🎥 

You missed a 90-minute project sync and just need the key decision.
Ask Zia: “At what point did the director approve the Q3 marketing budget?”
Zia takes you to the exact second in the recording, so you don’t have to watch the entire video.

PDF and text documents 📄

You’re reviewing a dense industry whitepaper and need the key takeaways.
Ask Zia: “What were the three main risks identified in this report?”
Zia clearly lists the risks and highlights the sections they came from.

Audio recordings 🎧

You have a voice memo from a long brainstorming session.
Ask Zia: “Summarize the action items discussed at the end of the meeting.”
Zia gives you a concise checklist, and pinpoints the exact moment in the audio so you can hear the original context.

Images 🖼️ 

You’ve uploaded a photo of a whiteboard or a scanned receipt.
Ask Zia: “What was the total amount spent on office supplies in this invoice?”
Zia reads the text in the image and pulls out the exact amount you need.

🚀 How to get started

Once the feature is enabled for your team, getting answers is a breeze. Open any supported file in Preview mode and hit the Zia icon in the right pane. And, that's it, type your question in plain English, just like you're asking a teammate.

Zia reads the specific file and delivers an answer based entirely on that content. No fluff, just the facts.

🧠 Turn answers into assets

What starts as a single question can quickly become a team resource. You can save Zia’s answers as Zoho Writer documents. This makes it easy to turn a quick insight into a formal report, refine the notes, and share them with the rest of your team without leaving the workspace.

👀 Ready to see it in action? 

Go find that one 'wall of text' document you’ve been avoiding, ask a question, and let Zia do the heavy lifting while you focus on the big picture.

For a closer look at Zia's Ask Questions, check out the help article.

Quick Note: This is currently rolling out for WorkDrive Business and Zoho One Business users in the US, IN, and EU data centers.

Cheers,
Team WorkDrive 💙