Features I'd like to see (or not see) in Zoho writer

Features I'd like to see (or not see) in Zoho writer

Hi, In one of the forum notes a few days ago. One of your tech people tried to help a user but was unable to because he was wanting a function that Writer did not have. At the end of the exchange, the user said something like, we'll it's a great program and I shouldn't expect too much from it, after all it's free and just can't do so many things. The Tech person wrote back saying he was surprised to hear that because he actually thought of Writer as a very "robust" program, and he asked the user to give him a few examples of things he thought were lacking in Zoho Writer. 

I've lost that original exchange, and don't know the name of the person who asked the question, but here is my answer. I love Zoho and use it a lot, but if you want me to be perfectly honest about things that I would LOVE to have in it that are not, here is my list. In fact, I'm sure the list could be much longer if I had more time, but I finally need to get back to my life. 

I hope you take these comments as coming from a loyal supporter and not direct angry criticism, because I am not angry. I use the program daily and will continue to. But I have to admit that whenever I need a word processor for something more than the very simplist of notes, I go back to Word. I would very much prefer to stay away from the giants (Microsoft and Google), but so far Zoho is so far away from my desktop-based version of Word, that I can't quite make the leap. 

Best, 

Stan Duncan 

  1. Ability to see complex formatting on screen. Very difficult to format when you can't see the formating. It makes it hard to do two-column newsletters, for example. It also can't handle graphics. I just received a coupon for a dinner at a restaurant. It came as an attachment in Word. It has two pictures at the top left and right of the heading. Zoho garbles those graphics all over the page making it impossible to dicipher and use. 
  2. This isn't exactly a needed feature, but the bulleting is confusing and I can't get it to work (this may just be me; see below)
  3. Would love to see the auto capitalizing feature for the beginning of sentances.  
  4. Spelling auto correct.
  5. The ability to print with key strokes, rather than having to stop and pick up the mouse and click on print, would be very nice. In fact, a much richer list of key-stroke short cuts would be a real plus. 
  6. The ability to access the ribbon commands through keystrokes would be good (a slightly different suggestion than the one just above). For example, in Word, if I wished to put a word in small caps, I would highlight the word and press Alt-o-f-m. Or if I wanted to strike through I would press Alt-o-f-k. 
  7. This next issue is confusing. Many words in Writer have the red "squiggly" underlines, indicating that they are misspelled, but the word is actually spelled correctly. When I click on it and open the spell checker there's nothing listed as being incorrect. For example, the words "commands" and "beginning" in the sentences above are both flagged as mispelled, but they aren't. 
  8. Even more odd, sometimes just portions of words are flagged as misspelled. For example, the letters "corr" in the word "correct" above, and "por" in the word "portions" in thisparagraph have red underlines. 
  9. When I open a doc file (called "import" in Zoho) and edit it, I can't save it back to where I got it. If I press "save" it's saved in the online zoho directory (in a kind of confusing disorganized mess, but that's another story). If I try to "export" it, it goes into the download directory of mycomputer, with all of the formatting taken out of it. I have to then go into Windows Explorer and  drag and drop it back to its original directory. I wish there was a way to call up a doc file, work on it and save it back to where it came from with the original formatting.
  10. A related feature that would be nice would be to be able to open up online documents from other programs. I keep most of my documents on Microsoft's Skydrive. I've created an app on Writer that will go to the Skydrive directory list, but I can't get the two to relate to one another. If I want a file from a Skydrive directory, I have to download it as a word doc, save it on my hard drive (which I was attempting to avoid by using Skydrive) and then "import" it into Zoho. It's so tedious and complicated that it kind of takes all of the joy out of word processing. 
  11. In Word, when you have a bulleted list, and you press enter at the end of a line, it creates a new bulleted line just below it. With Zoho Writer, it just creates another line, without the bullet. This is slightly disconcerting if you have a fresh document in Writer, but you can always go back and create another bullet (would be nice if there was a non-mouse key-stroke for this). But if you have opened a Word Doc and try a carriage return after an already existing bulleted line, it notonly does not make another bullet, it steadfastly refuses to allow one. If you try to create a bullet by going to the bullet function on the ribbon, it creates one with a different sized bullet and adifferent level of indentation. In fact often (perhaps because it uses different codes than Word tocreate the document) Zoho  places the bullet into the sentence itself at about letter four or five.Very frustrating. I have worked with it for weeks and read everything I can find on it from Zoho, and I so far have totally failed to find any way of fixing this. It's a real mess for formatting. 
  12. This next issue may just be a casualty of Writer being online instead of tied to a computer.However, it is frustrating that the screen is unable to keep up with my typing. I type pretty fast, and often when Writer struggles to catch up, it leaves out letters from my words. I don't know if you can fix that, but it is a problem.  
  13. Writer does one thing that has so far baffled me. When I try to change the line spacing in one section, it frequently (maybe usually) changes the line spacing in another instead. For example, if I want there to be a 12 pt space after paragraphs in the body of a letter, but zero pt spacing in the letterhead at the top, I will highlight the text paragraphs, go to Page Setup > Page Format. Click on "Space after paragraph," click the down arrow to something like .6 or .12. Click Apply and Close. Then, when I go back to my document, the Letter Head at the top has a widened space after each paragraph mark, and the text I had highlighted to change remains unchanged. It has so far eluded me as to why. I'm sure that there is some obscure, arcane reason for the way this is set up and if I will just discover the logic behind the programmers setting it up that way I can lick it, but for now it has beaten me. I cannot figure it out. 
  14. I would like Writer to also have an auto date fill-in function where I can start the month and it would fill it in for me. I never know what the date is, and this would be a real help. 
  15. The margins are near impossible to set by hand. I would love to be able to slide the margin lines back and forth and have them lock in place. But it almost never happens. They over shoot or undershoot and it is VERY difficult (sometimes impossible) to get a margin to line up with the indentation that I want. Sometimes I have just saved the document. Copied the text, opened Word (or Word Perfect), pasted the text. Formatted the margins. Copied the text again, opened Writer, and pasted the text back in again. It's faster to do my formatting in another program and bring it into Writer than it is to fight with Writer to figure out how to over rule its rules. 
  16. Similarly, I have yet to figure out how to make line or paragraph spacing work when Writer does not want to make the change. I have clicked on every button in Page Setup or Insert or formatand nothing seems to dislodge Writer from its own preference until it is ready (usuallywhen I get mad and turn it off and then back on again). This may not be appropriate for a list of features that I would like to see, but it is a problem.)

      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • [Announcement] Insert image from URL changes in Zoho Writer

            Hi Zoho Writer users! We'd like to let you know that we've changed the behavior of the Insert image from URL option in Zoho Writer for security reasons. Earlier behavior Once you inserted an image URL in a Writer document, the image would be fetched from
          • Deprecation of certain URL patterns for published Zoho Writer documents

            Hi Zoho Writer users! We'd like to let you know that we have deprecated certain URL patterns for published and embedded documents in Zoho Writer due to security reasons. If the published or embedded documents are in any of these URL patterns, then their
          • Introducing plagiarism checker in Zoho Writer

            Zia, Zoho Writer's AI-driven writing assistant, now highlights plagiarized and duplicated content in addition to offering contextual grammar and writing suggestions to help you write clearly and concisely in English. Zoho Writer's plagiarism reports Here
          • [Important announcement] Impact of Google's new email guidelines for Zoho Writer automation users

            Hi users, Google has recently announced new guidelines for sending emails to Gmail and other Google-hosted domains. These guidelines will be effective starting Feb. 1, 2024, and can impact the delivery of emails sent from Zoho Writer. Your organization
          • Transitioning from MS Word to Writer: A complete walkthrough

            Hello everyone! We understand moving to a new word processing tool can be difficult, especially if it means switching from a legacy software like MS Word. That's why we've organized an exclusive webinar where we talk you through ways to make your switch from MS Word to Writer as easy as possible. In this webinar, you'll learn: - Why Writer is a simple yet powerful alternative to MS Word. - How to locate your favorite MS Word features and functions in Writer.  - How to migrate your Word documents

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Zoho Social - Cliq Integration / Bot

                                    Dear community / zoho, I am looking for a way to create a bot within Zoho Cliq to update my colleagues about our Zoho Social activities. For example, if a new post is published, it would be great if this post automatically would be shared in our social
                                  • Comment to DM Automation

                                    Comment to DM automation feature in Zoho Marketing Automation, similar to what tools like ManyChat offer. Use case: When a user comments on a social media post (Instagram / Facebook), the system should automatically: Send a private DM to the user Capture
                                  • Send / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts

                                    Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only for
                                  • Handling Agent Transfer from Marketing Automation Journey to SalesIQ WhatsApp

                                    We are currently using Marketing Automation for WhatsApp marketing, and the features are great so far We have a scenario where, during a campaign or journey, we give customers an option to chat with our sales team. For this, we are using SalesIQ WhatsApp
                                  • Transfer Amount from One Vendor to Another Vendor

                                    One of the vendors, who has a balance with us, has closed the business and has started a new business; Now he wants me to transfer the outstanding from the old account to the new Vendor Account. I am trying to do this using Payment Settlement a/c, But
                                  • Webinar - Getting Started with Zoho LandingPage

                                    Want to launch landing pages that support real marketing goals? This webinar is designed to help you understand the role landing pages play in your overall campaigns and how they contribute to lead generation and conversions. During this session, you’ll
                                  • Increase Round Robin Scheduler Frequency in Zoho Desk

                                    Dear Zoho Desk Team, We hope this message finds you well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Round Robin Scheduler in Zoho Desk to better address ticket assignment efficiency. Current Behavior At present, the Round Robin Scheduler operates
                                  • Marketing Tip #19: Upsell on product page to increase order value

                                    Upselling doesn’t have to feel pushy. It can actually feel helpful when done right. Think "people also bought", upgrades, add-ons, or complementary items. A smart upsell increases your average order value and improves the customer experience by making
                                  • CRM limit reached: only 2 subforms can be created

                                    we recently stumbled upon a limit of 2 subforms per module. while we found a workaround on this occasion, only 2 subforms can be quite limiting in an enterprise setting. @Anonymous User I've read about imminent increase of other components (e.
                                  • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

                                    Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.
                                  • Removing Tables from HTML Inventory Templates - headers, footers and page number tags only?

                                    I'm a bit confused by the update that is coming to HTML Inventory Templates https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm-nextgen/customize-crm-account/customizing-templates/articles/nextgen-update-your-html-inventory-templates-for-pdf-generator-upgrade It says
                                  • Ability to Link Reported Issues from Zoho Desk to Specific Tasks or Subtasks in Zoho Projects

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you're doing well. When reporting a bug from Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects, we’ve noticed that it’s currently not possible to select an existing task or subtask to associate the issue with. However, when working directly inside Zoho
                                  • How do i move multiple tickets to a different department?

                                    Hello, i have several tickets that have been assigned to the wrong department.  I am talking about hundreds of automatically generated ones that come from a separate system. How can i select them all at once to move them to another department in one go? I can select them in "unsassigned open tickets view" but i can't find a "move to another department" option. I also can't seem to assign multiple tickets to the same agent in that same view. Could somebody advice?
                                  • Capture Bank Charges for Invoice Payments

                                    We've added the Bank Charges field in the "Add Payments" page both in Zoho Invoice & Zoho Books. So all you need to do is to enter the bank charges when you record a payment for the invoices. This bank charge will be included to the amount paid for that invoice. Steps to add the bank charges while you record the payment:       1. Click the "Invoices" sub-tab under the "Money-In" tab.       2. Click the 'add payment' link for the invoice that you wish to record the payment for.       3. On the add
                                  • How to apply customized Zoho Crm Home Page to all users?

                                    I have tried to study manuals and play with Zoho CRM but haven't found a way how to apply customized Zoho CRM Home Page as a (default) home page for other CRM users.. How that can be done, if possible? - kipi Moderation Update: Currently, each user has
                                  • Plug Sample #14: Automate Invoice Queries with SalesIQ Chatbot

                                    Hi everyone! We're back with a powerful plug to make your Zobot smarter and your support faster. This time, we're solving a common friction point for finance teams by giving customers quick access to their invoices. We are going to be automating invoice
                                  • Enrich your contact and company details automatically using the Data Enrichment topping

                                    Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're happy to announce the latest topping we've added to Bigin: The Data Enrichment topping, powered by WebAmigo. This topping helps you automatically enhance your contact and company records in Bigin. By leveraging
                                  • Zoho Billing Partial Proration...

                                    Hi, In Zoho billing, we offer upgrades, downgrades, suspends, and resumes. We use online payment for most subscriptions, but have only a few that are offline, but we treat them the same either way.. We prorate only parts of these changes.. Right now zoho
                                  • Getting Subform Fields to Display Top to Bottom

                                    I have a form where the fields are all in one column. I want to insert a subform where the fields are stacked in one column as well. I have built both the form and subform but the subform displays the fields from left to right instead of a stacked column. This will cause a problem displaying the subform correctly on mobile apps. How can I do this please?' Here is my form with subform now. As you can see the subform "Follow Up Activity" is displaying the fields left to right. I need them to go top
                                  • [Feature Deprecated] Gamescope in Zoho Projects

                                    This feature is no longer available. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, yes. That's true! Tiring work, buzzing coffee makers, busy turnstiles , occupied meeting rooms, back-to-back status updates and what not. Your everyday routine need not have to be this hectic. It can be more rewarding. It can be more fun. Zoho Projects believes in this fact and hence has launched Gamescope - A module that turns every project into an exciting game and boosts the spirit of your team by leaps and
                                  • Creating a task, i can not work out how to get ID for What_Id

                                    hi From Module A function I map Module B record reference membershipid (ours). I need Module B Zoho ID to create the related to on task. All examples i've seen start with the Zoho ID. void automation.LTM_Assign_Dispute_Task(String membershipid) { try
                                  • Can't connect to POP and SMTP over VPN

                                    I use Thunderbird to access Zoho Mail via POP and SMTP. I have configured an app-specific password for Thunderbird to use. Everything is properly configured and works correctly — until I enable my VPN. I'm using a paid commercial VPN service (Mullvad).
                                  • my zoho mail is hacked

                                    my email is sending my username and password to people i dont know
                                  • Suministrar accesos

                                    Asunto: Enable UPLOAD_RULE for API Attachments Mensaje: Hola, Necesito habilitar la capacidad de subir attachments vía API en Zoho Mail. Actualmente recibo el error: "UPLOAD_RULE_NOT_CONFIGURED" al usar el endpoint: POST /api/accounts/{accountId}/messages/attachments
                                  • Introducing real-time document commenting and collaboration in Zoho Sign

                                    Hi, there! We are delighted to introduce Document commenting, a feature that helps you communicate with your recipients more efficiently for a streamlined document signing process. Some key benefits include: Collaborate with your recipients easily without
                                  • Ticket Loop from Auto Responce

                                    We’re seeing an issue where a client’s help desk triggers a ticket loop. When they email us, our system creates a ticket and sends the acknowledgement. Their system then creates a ticket from that acknowledgement and sends one back to us, which creates
                                  • How to make rule to filter out some emails from receiving the notification "Receiving a new ticket"?

                                    Good Morning, We are currently using the "Receiving a new ticket" notification rule to provide that auto reply template to a customer that emails us for support. However, there are some emails we don't want to receive this auto-reply. Where can I set
                                  • Zoho Signatures Missing

                                    In the past after collecting signatures from two different PDFs I would merge them by calling an api and the signatures would appear in the combined PDF. Recently the signatures have disappeared whenever I combine the PDFs together. Why did this randomly
                                  • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

                                    Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They
                                  • Exciting Updates to the Kiosk Studio Feature in Zoho CRM!

                                    Hello Everyone, We are here again with a series of new enhancements to Kiosk Studio, designed to elevate your experience and bring even greater efficiency to your business processes. These updates build upon our ongoing commitment to making Kiosk a powerful
                                  • New activity options for workflows

                                    Greetings, We are excited to announce the addition of two new dynamic actions to our workflow functionality: Create Event and Schedule Call. These actions have been thoughtfully designed to enhance your workflow processes and bring more efficiency to
                                  • Remove the “One Migration Per User” Limitation in Zoho WorkDrive

                                    Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to raise a critical feature request regarding the Google Drive → Zoho WorkDrive migration process. Current Limitation: Zoho WorkDrive currently enforces a hard limitation: A Zoho WorkDrive
                                  • Kaizen #228 - Process Large-Scale Migrated Data Using Catalyst Solutions

                                    Howdy, tech wizards! This week’s Kaizen explores how Catalyst Solutions in the Zoho CRM Developer Hub help import large volumes of data into Zoho CRM while improving data quality and simplifying the migration process. Why Catalyst Solutions? Catalyst
                                  • Zoho Expense Import Reports Won't Work Because Default Accounts Already Exist

                                    Im trying to import reports from another Zoho expense account to mine and im getting errors that won't allow the import to happen The account name that you've entered 'Ground Transportation' already exists. Enter another name for the account and try again.z
                                  • Inactive License for free account.

                                    I recently upgraded my Cliq subscription not my team (on the free version), are unable to login to their accounts. The error message received is Inactive License Looks like you have not been covered under the current free plan of users. Please contact
                                  • 2026 Product Roadmap and Upcoming Features

                                    This is your guide to what is coming in Zoho Vertical Studio throughout 2026. We’ll update this post throughout the year as items move from development to release, and as and when new initiatives are added. Once a feature is released, it will be reflected
                                  • Syncing zoho books into zoho crm

                                    I was wondering how I can use zoho books in crm as I have been using them separately and would like to sync the two. Is this possible and if so, how? Thanks
                                  • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.34.0)

                                    Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the latest updates to Trident, which are designed to take workplace communication to the next level. Let’s take a quick look at what’s new. Connect with customers using Zoho Voice integration. You can now easily
                                  • How Zoho Contracts Makes Negotiations Clear, Secure, and Transparent

                                    Negotiation is one of the most critical—and often most chaotic—stages of the contract lifecycle. Multiple stakeholders review the same document, propose changes, debate terms, and exchange feedback. Without the right tools, this collaborative process
                                  • Error: Invalid Element tax_override_preference

                                    In both Books and Inventory, we're getting the following error whenever we try to enter any Bill: I think this is a bug. Even cloning an old bill (that obviously was entered just fine), this error occurs.
                                  • Next Page