Basecamp vs Zoho Projects

2020. Basecamp launches Hey, a hosted email service for neat freaks


Project management software maker Basecamp has introduced an innovative hosted email service named Hey. With Hey, the company aims to tackle the chaos and clutter typically associated with traditional email inboxes. One of its notable features is a built-in screener that prompts users to confirm whether they wish to receive emails from new senders. Upon consent, inbound emails are sorted into different trays. The central "imbox" (short for important box) exclusively contains communications designated as important by the user. Newsletters are organized in a News Feed-style tray called The Feed, where they are conveniently displayed in a partially opened format for casual reading. Additionally, email receipts are neatly arranged in a dedicated inbox view called the Paper Trail, serving as a reference for users.


2020. Zoho Projects gets improved Gantt chart



Zoho has enhanced and revamped the Gantt chart feature within Zoho Projects to offer enhanced capabilities, streamlining the workflow process. Notably, in the updated user interface, unscheduled tasks are conveniently organized under the "unscheduled" tag, preceding the actual timeline. By simply dragging and dropping an unscheduled task onto the timeline, it will be automatically scheduled. Additionally, the new "Full Screen" view enables users to concentrate on crucial yet seemingly minor details by maximizing the utilization of screen space. Moreover, it is now possible to customize the displayed data within the Gantt chart's taskbars, including information such as start/end dates, task owners, overdue status, and task names.


2019. Zoho brings Zia AI assistant to its project management app



Zoho's AI-based chatbot, Zia, has now been integrated into Zoho Projects, enabling streamlined activities within the platform. With its conversational interface, Zia provides immediate responses to inquiries regarding tasks, issues, and events modules in Zoho Projects. Additionally, Zia can offer suggestions and recommendations based on your project-related activities. For instance, if you're pressed for time and need to quickly access your upcoming events, you can simply chat with Zia and request, "Zia, list my upcoming events." In response, Zia will promptly provide a list of all your upcoming events. Furthermore, you can ask Zia for task and issue details, such as information on active tasks, task status, task due dates, unassigned tasks, overdue tasks, user details, tasks within a task list, and similar issue-related information. Zia aims to enhance user productivity and efficiency within Zoho Projects by delivering instant and relevant assistance.


2018. Basecamp adds recurring events and image galleries



Project management service Basecamp has introduced several exciting new features. The first addition is Recurring events, allowing users to schedule daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly repeating events within Basecamp 3. Users can choose to set the recurrence until a specific date or continue indefinitely. The second feature is Image galleries, which enables users to showcase their work or share photos in visually appealing side-by-side or three-in-a-row layouts. This enhancement makes it easier than ever to present visual content. Lastly, Basecamp introduces Automatic Check-ins, a simple and informal tool extensively utilized for team communication. The entire company can engage in queries such as sharing weekend activities and work updates, while smaller teams like Support can address specific questions related to common issues encountered during the week. These new features enrich the Basecamp experience, enhancing collaboration and streamlining communication within teams.


2018. Basecamp improves client collaboration



Collaborating with clients in Basecamp has been significantly enhanced, offering an improved experience. The latest updates enable you to effortlessly assign to-dos to clients, share files and folders, schedule events and meetings, engage in Campfire chats, and even automatically ask clients check-in questions. Within a project, all items are now clearly labeled as either "private to our team" or "visible to the client." To avoid any unexpected sharing mishaps and minimize concerns, every item within a project begins as private, accessible only to your team. When you post something new, you have the flexibility to specify whether it should be visible to the client or remain private within your team. These enhancements ensure smoother collaboration and allow for precise control over shared information in Basecamp.


2018. Zoho Projects gets enhanced Gantt chart


Zoho has introduced several enhancements to its project management application, Zoho Projects. These upgrades include an advanced Gantt chart that supports all four types of task dependencies, the ability to create custom views for tasks, and much more. The integration with Zoho People allows for the seamless incorporation of vacation or time-off details of team members into Projects, ensuring that tasks or bugs are not delayed when they are unavailable. Additionally, task and bug timers can now be paused and resumed, eliminating the need to restart from the beginning. The integration with Zoho Meeting enables users to conveniently initiate online team meetings by simply clicking "Meet Now" on the Task Details page, facilitating effective communication for clarification, problem-solving, or decision-making. It's worth noting that Zoho had previously launched another project management tool, Zoho Sprints, in October of the previous year.


2017. Zoho Projects 6 brings new customization opportinities


Zoho has introduced an updated version of its project management tool, Zoho Projects 6, designed to provide greater flexibility in meeting various project needs. This release incorporates several new features, including the ability to create custom fields and custom statuses for tasks, the availability of layouts as project templates, options to set custom logos and domain names, advanced task reporting capabilities, a revamped task details page, a consistent design across all modules, an improved and searchable setup page, reports based on custom fields, a Kanban view organized by task status, and enhanced task filtering functionality. These updates enable users to tailor Zoho Projects 6 to their specific project requirements while improving the overall project management experience.


2016. Zoho Projects adds staff-based billing



Project management service Zoho Projects has offered billing based on project hours since its inception, and it has now expanded its capabilities to include billing based on staff hours as well. You now have the ability to assign a specific rate to each of your employees, and this rate will be reflected in your invoices. For instance, in a project like organizing a concert where multiple users with different skill levels are involved in various tasks, it is essential to bill the client based on the staff hours. You can set different rates for each employee based on their skills and the nature of their work, ensuring that you accurately bill your clients for the services provided.


2016. Zoho Projects adds gamification layer



Zoho is introducing Gamescope, a gamification layer integrated across various products, starting with Zoho Projects. This exciting addition aims to transform mundane tasks into an engaging game for users. By completing tasks, closing tickets and deals, and resolving bugs, users can earn points, which are tracked in a scorecard. Similar to a basketball game, each game has a specific time frame. At the end of the game, individuals who accumulate the highest points are awarded trophies. Additionally, users can earn badges by achieving specific targets. The winners have the opportunity to proudly showcase their badges and trophies on their scorecard or individual profile pages, enabling them to share their accomplishments with others.


2015. Zoho Projects gets the power of Zoho Docs



The Documents module within the project management application, Zoho Projects, has received a significant enhancement. Users can now create and collaborate on rich documents, spreadsheets, and presentations directly within the platform. This update, powered by Zoho Docs, brings several benefits to users. One notable advantage is the ability to co-create documents, allowing multiple team members to work on them simultaneously. Additionally, users can engage in real-time chat with collaborators directly within the document window. Obtaining feedback is made easy, as comments can be added to individual letters in text documents and cells in spreadsheets. Moreover, an integrated versioning system enables users to track the changes made to a document over time and, if necessary, revert to a previous version. These enhancements empower teams to collaborate efficiently and streamline their document management processes within Zoho Projects.