Zoho has finally added a central document management page called Zoho Docs to tie together its many useful online apps. The clean-looking, functional page looks much like the Google Docs start page, with a folder view on the left and all files - spreadsheets, documents, presentations, etc. - listed on the right.

You can create folders and drag and drop files among them, and also right-click files or folders to quickly share, tag, rename, etc. You can also sort the file list by created time, modified time or document type (such as documents or presentations).

I used to use Zoho for online word processing and spreadsheets, but switched to Google Docs specifically for the better document management (I still use it for invoicing). So I think Zoho has made a good move here. What's more, the company leapfrogged Google by allowing you to upload almost any file (10MB or smaller, and no .exe's) into Zoho Docs, which turns the offering into online storage as well as file management for Zoho creations.

Uploaded files show up in the same file list as Zoho-created files, and can be shared or moved among folders. You can download them again later, or view them if it's a file type Zoho knows how to convert (such as .pdf or Word docs). Zoho says you can also upload a zip file and unzip it after the upload, and Zoho will retain any folder structure within the zip file. Any uploaded files are scanned for viruses.

According to Killerstartups, Zoho offers 1GB of free storage for these uploaded files, though I didn't see any mention of that in Zoho's blog announcement.

Another nice move: If you click a filename in the file list, it first comes up in a read-only preview in a tab on the Zoho Docs page, which is nice if you only want to read and not edit the file. You can click an icon on the file listing, or a link on the preview, to edit the file in a separate browser tab. I'd like to see the same preview feature in Google Docs.

I'm a fan of Zoho Docs so far, though I did have to reload the page once when it wouldn't drag and drop files. Zoho was smart to largely mimic the well-made Google Docs interface, and the useful extra features like free online storage might just persuade me to switch back.

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