Zoho Writer - Document Editor 4+

Good idea but doesn’t work yet

I’m on a paid account. The service concept is similar to Google’s Docs but doesn’t work as well.

In the app: documents can only be viewed in icon view. C’mon, 1984 is long gone. Where are the lists views? Sort by name, date, type, etc.

Search function searches only file names, not file contents.

Cannot save files into a new Folder.
Cannot delete files.
Cannot share files into another Zoho app, eg: Projects

Typeface changes randomly after a server error.

Cannot tell which changes have been saved and which one not saved since last auto-save.

I experience constant “connection interrupted” and “server errors”. Each forces a page reload which dumps all changes since the last auto-save. Very annoying.
(Is this me, my China connection, or Zoho’s servers?)

Update, October 2018

Zoho Customer service is responsive; they try hard to solve Customer complaints.

My “connection interrupted”issues persist. This must be caused by my internet connection; the Service provider is called _Great Wall_ after all.

Developer Response ,

Hello, Stephen!

Thanks for trying Writer, and writing to us.
1. List view was removed from the app recently, after the newly launched design-overhaul of the app. We had taken a step back from adding more features to the app, making sure we're perfecting the design and experience first. That being said, we're almost ready with list view, along with sorting, filtering and move to folder options . Should be available along with one of our upcoming updates. :)

2. Our team's looking into the possibilities of having a content search as well, which works both online and offline. Will let you know as soon as it's ready.

3. You can delete a document by swiping right on the document thumbnail, and tapping on the delete icon. It's also available within the editor. Click on the three dots icon on the bottom right corner and choose "Delete document".

4. You can share docs to other apps as well. Choose the "Share via Link" option to directly post the document link to other Zoho apps.

5. Writer saves your edits as you type them. Even if it's just a single character. :) Regarding the server errors, we assume you tried using the app during an unfortunate service outage that lasted for a couple of hours. This affected our users across multiple platforms, and we sincerly aplogize for the inconvenience the outage would've caused you.

Hope this helps. Please drop us a mail at support@zohowriter.com if you're still facing
issues with the app. Thanks much! :)

Updated Review - Documents Retrieved

**UPDATED REVIEW
I’m updating this review from 3-4 stars because I was able to retrieve my documents from the second time they were deleted with the help of zoho support. The first time i lost my documents, I got a new phone and lost the documents in the transfer since I did not have an account. I’m relieved I was able to retrieve at least some very important documents!

~~~~~
First review: I was really enjoying using this writer tool (via app.) You can add a lock to your documents which is great. Documents and revisions automatically save. The app does not require you to have an account in order to start writing but BEWARE your files will disappear (I’m unsure if they are able to be retrieved). I am thinking it happened when I recently turned my phone off and back on. I had months of some really important writing - all gone. This is a writer’s nightmare. If anyone knows how I might retrieve these documents please reach out! Again, I did not have an account as the app DOES NOT require it - maybe that needs to change so this doesn’t continue to happen.

Developer Response ,

Hello! We deeply regret for the issue that you came across. We would like to ensure that the documents are completely safe in the app and it can be retrieved. So, please write to: ios-support@zohowriter.com.

Ooooof

My friend and I use Zoho to share our collaborative stories with each other. The website works well enough, and we have a great time editing with each other live. The app on the other hand offers none of the convenience of the site. Typing lags so far behind what you are writing, you might as well be carving it into a stone tablet. And heaven forbid you want to copy and paste more than one word into it. The thing bogs down to near crashing with as few as 20 words selected to be pasted.

We have had more than a few issues where it will randomly place our curser somewhere else in the document while we are using the app, and we will lose random sentence fragments pages away from where we had been working. If they even get written down at all.

And don’t you dare even think about any kind of formatting while on the app, it won’t translate to the site version. You won’t get any of the double space periods your phone placed in there either. Don’t forget about the weird random extra spaces between words that you get as well. That’s if it doesn’t just not save huge chunks of text at random.

We still use the site, and will keep using the site, but we cannot safely use the app and you cannot either. At least not until an acceptable update makes it useable.