Small Business Tech

I have spent the last couple of weeks using Zoho Spreadsheets to keep a couple lists. I wish I had a more calculation demanding sheet to try, but I have not had an application recently.

If you are not familiar with Zoho, it is a collection of online applications including spreadsheet, word processor, and many more. It is similar to Google Docs, but has many more applications.

If you are keeping simple lists such as expenses or such the spreadsheet application works well. One complaint that I could offer is the ability to freeze header rows. This can be done in Excel as well as Google Docs spreadsheets. A review of the forums finds that many users have requested the feature. It seems as though the design team is unable to add the feature without a major code change.

One advantage that Zoho has over Google Docs is auto complete of cells. Excel and Zoho both will complete a cell if the information that you type is the same as a cell in the same column. At one time Google Docs had auto complete, but it was disabled by user request in May '08. I am unsure why it was causing problems for some, but Google is trying to bring it back as an optional feature.

As I continue to use the Zoho suite of applications, I will keep the blog updated with my experiences.

Update: Ramesh explains freezing headers...

Thanks Curtis for trying out Zoho Sheet and writing about it. We will definitely support freeze headers. We have already started on the alternate design, and it would be better to do the implementation in the new design. The new design will give more excel-like experience as well as save us duplicate effort.

Keep using Zoho and get back to us support at zoho dot com for any assistance.

Labels: Excel, Google Docs, Office, spreadsheet, zoho