Our customers have always been our biggest source of inspiration. We are constantly amazed by all the creative ways in which they adapt the features of Zoho Projects. A task, for example, can denote anything from a typical to-do work item, a book, or a recipe to a potential deal, a software build or a travel plan. So, we stepped up our game and decided to craft Zoho Projects 6: a highly customizable version that will more easily adapt to diverse project requirements. Here’s an account of what has released this week and a sneak peek of what’s coming up.
Custom fields for tasks: Organize information, not limit them
Since tasks have come to represent different things for different companies, we are letting you get creative with the details too. While default fields like owner, description, start date, end date, and priority capture the most essential data, you can also create your own fields to communicate more specific information. Whether you want to include release dates, share review status, list out beneficiaries, mention version numbers or write down measurements, we’ve got you covered. Your new fields can be either text, numeric, date, or even picklists.
Custom statuses for tasks: Break down stages
Not all task statuses are binary. From Open to Closed, tasks may have to go through several different stages. To capture this flow, we are introducing custom task statuses. You can choose to either stick with the standard two or create your own intermediate stages. This helps you better capture the workflow of each of your tasks.
Layouts for fields: Streamline and reuse
When creating custom fields and statuses, having to redo the whole thing for each of your projects is both tiring and boring. To facilitate easier reusability, Zoho Projects 6 brings you Layouts. A layout acts as a template from which you can model your projects.The most basic design is the Standard Layout with all the default fields listed out. You can either add new sections and fields to this layout, or create different layouts yourself for different types of projects. You can also reuse the fields across different layouts. The simple drag and drop interface makes the process incredibly easy and quick. Once a Layout is in place with all the necessary fields and statuses, you can associate projects to it, so that all tasks in the project are built from the layout.
Custom logo and domain name: Feel at home
Personal touches added to simple things like nameplates, letterboxes, and welcome mats are what makes your house a home. Give your Projects portal the face of your company and feel more at home, by mapping your portal to a domain name you own and by uploading your company logo.
Advanced task reports: Drill down and analyse better
In addition to the basic reports, Zoho Projects 6 introduces a set of advanced task reports and options to create and view custom reports. Just select the two criteria you’d like to compare and voila, we’ll chart it. For eg, priority based status report, owner based milestone report and more.
Joining this brigade of new features are small yet powerful updates that further enhance the app.
- A revamped Task details page. To accomodate the addition of new fields and sections, we have reorganised the design of the Task details page. The sections on the right take centre stage now with critical task info right next to the task name and with well organised and divided areas for description, fields, comments, documents, and the rest.
- Uniform design across all modules. With the introduction of customization for tasks, we’ve made sure the already existing bug custom fields also follow a similar structure.
- New and Searchable Setup page. The Setup page is your go-to place to configure custom fields, statuses and layout for tasks and projects. This page is now searchable, helping you to quickly locate the settings you are searching for.
- Custom field based reports. Along with the default fields, the custom fields also sync with Zoho Analytics, so you can view and analyse reports based on the newly created fields.
- Kanban view by status. Zoho Projects 6 introduces a new Kanban view by status. Get a quick view of what state your task is in and also drag and drop tasks across cards to change the status.
- Enhanced task filters. You can filter your tasks based on the custom fields and statuses too.
But, the list of all Zoho Projects 6 has to offer doesn’t end here. A line up of more customization options and new features await. And big names among them would be Custom roles and profiles, Custom Views for Tasks and Four types of task dependencies. We are as excited as you are. So, watch out this space in the coming weeks, as more of Zoho Projects 6 unfolds.
Until then, explore these new features and tell us what you think! Also, here’s a video to give you a quick recap of today’s announcement.
Awesome, I will be sharing this update with my clients.
We really need a project priority field and be able to report on those priorities and possibly even see the priority ranking in the Gantt chart.
Hi Jacqui, We do have plans to support more Project statuses in addition to "Active" and "Archived". For now, here's what I would suggest for you. You can create a Project custom field called "Priority" and use it for your tracking.
I would like to know can I add the Feed to my Zoho home screen with widgets? Do you have any free trial layout, which I would like to explore if it's suitable for my project use so that I would like to subscribe to it?
Hi Winnie, You will not be able to add Feed to the home screen widgets, but there is a tab called "Feed" right next to Home that lets you view all activities across projects. If you'd like to explore all features mentioned in the blog, do let me know, I can give you a free trial of our Enterprise version.
Does Zoho Projects work with Zoho Sprints?
Hi Kris, No, right now. they are two separate products.
Hello, our office is near Hannibal, Ohio, but we do a significant amount of work in the State of West Virginia. For tax purposes, we need to keep track on the time sheet where the work was done. Could we add a custom field for location on the timesheet or pull the location information from the task? Thanks!
Hi Matthew, I understand that what you require is custom fields for timesheets. Right now, this is not possible. We will consider implementing this in the future. Thank you. :)
O zoho parece ser uma ferramenta muito interessante e estamos testando na minha empresa para usar... mas esta faltando um recuro muito utili para minha organização é a dependencia de tarefas entre projetos: Exemplo eu crio uma tarefa em um projeto e uma sub tarefa em outro projeto pois nos separamos os departamentos da empresa em projetos.
Hi Marcio, We are introducing three new dependencies for tasks in our upcoming release, but dependencies among projects is something we are yet to take up. Do continue evaluating our product and write to us if you need any assistance.
What plan will enable connection to Active Directory users for my company? Is there any feature that allows me to show reports for a group of projects?
Hi Ahmad, Reports for a group of projects is something we will be taking up in the future. Thanks for your suggestion!
I find the new canvas excellent. But it would be even more perfect if it would be possibile to put a canvas under another one, if they are short. It this way it is possibile to have more tabs in the same page.
When I try to add a custom field to the standard layout, it says I need to upgrade to premium plan. But I am already on a premium plan.
Hi Pravith, The custom fields feature is available only in our Enterprise plan. The message says you will not be able to access them in the Premium plan and that you have to upgrade.
Hi, Am unable to set reminder for the task assigned. Such an option cannot be found!
Hi Ann, You will find the Reminder option under the Task Information section on top.
I think we really need to be able to export all documents into a zip file in one swoop. Or even do Document folders separately. Once the project is finished, there is no way of backing up all the ducuments that were used for it.
Hi Hardeep, You can download your document folders as a zip file by right clicking on the folder's name and clicking "Download".
I can no longer see my task descriptions after creating the task. What happened?!
Hi Tony, you may have scrolled the page. The description is at the top right after the task title.
Zoho is Awesome... love all these updates ! What a feature rich product. Can you please add being able to include the comments associated with the tasks (logged time) on the zoho projects / timesheet view? when exporting to a pdf. currently one has to export an excel file, open in zoho sheets and then export to pdf to get access to the logged time comments
Hi Randall! I'm glad you are loving the updates. I understand your pain point. I'll relay this to our development team and we'll keep this in mind going forward.
Wow, read my thoughts. You've introduced two of the missing features that made me search for alternatives up to precisely today. Love to see the progress, gonna stick around for a bit more now. ;)
Hi Tulio, your search ends today. :) Thanks for sticking around with us. Do use the features and let us know what you think.
Love Zoho!! Keep up the good work!
Excellent updates! Will there be tighter integrations with Zoho CRM, like the ability to see and even tasks and reminders across both?
Thanks, Orrin! Right now, your tasks are synced between both, but you don't have the ability to see the reminders yet.
This is great. Glad to be invested in such a progressive company.
You are doing amazing work at Zoho! I'm loving Zoho Projects, and this update comes at the perfect time. Thanks!
Hi Justin! I'm glad you think so. Do use the features and let us know what you think!
Nice announcements. Are custom fields for tasks also available through the API?
Thanks, Adriano! Yes, they are available through the API too.