FAQ - Sharing

1. What is Sharing in Zoho Creator?
2. How do I add new users?
3. What are the different levels in which an application can be shared with users and how?
4. Can I share my application with users using Deluge Script?
5. Do shared users need to hold a Zoho Creator account to access the application shared to them?
6. The business version provides the option to configure a user as a developer?What is the difference between a normal user and developer?
7. Do shared users be able to edit the application structure. (i.e) the form and view configurations?
8. How can a shared user with developer role, create new applications in the owners/admins workspace?
9. Do shared users have permission to add, edit or delete records in a view shared to them?
10. Is it possible to restrict the edit/delete capability of some users to only records created by that user, while allowing super users to edit/delete all records, for the same view?
11. I have given Developer Access to a user, but he was not able to edit an application. Is there anything I am missing?
12. How can I embed the Zoho registration form on my web site so that my users can login before accessing the forms?
13. Can I make my form "Public" and view "Private"?
14. Can I remove access to a shared user, at any level?
15. Can I view the list of users to whom I have shared my application at different levels?
16. What can I do if I have problems/issues with my application and would like to share it with the support staff?
17. When do I use the option "Allow edit access to support"?

1. What is Sharing in Zoho Creator ?

An application created in Zoho Creator can either be public or private. All forms and views in a public application is accessible by public visitors. A private application can be accessed only if the owner of the application shares it with specific users, from the Share tab. By default, an application created in Zoho Creator is private.

The Share tab displays the layout of the application on the left-side with the forms and views arranged under each tab, as shown in the screen-shot below. Refer the topic App Builder -> FAQ -> Customize to customize the layout of your application as tabbed layouts or as pane layouts. Zoho Creator enables the owner of a private application to share the entire application or specific forms and views, with anyone who has Internet access and an e-mail id. The number of users with whom the application can be shared, depends on your subscription plan. The Go To -> Account Settings option displayed on the top right corner of your application, will display your current plan details and the list of shared users.

If the shared user holds an existing Zoho account with login id as the shared e-mail id, he can just Sign in to access the application. If the shared user does not own an existing Zoho account, he has to Sign Up with the e-mail id specified in the invitation e-mail. The shared applications will be listed under Shared to me (shared apps quick links) tab provided in your login home page.

2. How do I add new users?

You can add new users from the Go To -> Account Settings option displayed on the top-right corner or directly from the Share tab of a specific application or by Adding Deluge Script.

To add new users from the Account Settings option,

1. Select the Manage Users tab in the Account Settings dialog. You can add new users, delete existing users, activate or deactivate users from the Manage Users tab.
2. Click 'Add New User' > specify e-mail ids > click 'Add'. By default, a user will be added as 'Active' with role as 'User'. You can share your application only with users whose status is 'Active'. The number of users you can add depends on your subscription plan.

To share your application with users from the GUI refer Different levels of sharing an application.
To share your application with users using Deluge Scripting, refer Deluge Reference -> Sharing

3. What are the different levels in which an application can be shared with users and how?

You can share the entire application (all forms/views in the application) or specific forms and views in the application.

• Application level sharing
• Page level sharing
• Form/view level sharing

Application level sharing
Sharing an entire application enables the shared users to access all the forms and views in the application.

To configure application level sharing:

1. Select the name of the application displayed on the left-side. For example, selecting the application name EmployeeDetails in the given screen-shot, will enable access to the shared users for all the Forms and Views in the application.
2. Click on Share to users. This will display the Share dialog where you can enter new e-mail ids or share your application with existing user e-mail ids by selecting Add From Contacts link.
3. Add the required e-mail id and click Share to add a user at the selected level.

The screen-shot given below displays the users shared at the application level. Selecting the link displayed near each user, displays the names of all the forms and view shared to the user. You can delete a shared user from this list or re-send invitation by selecting the respective icons placed before the e-mail id

Page level sharing
You can organize your forms and views in separate sections and configure page level sharing. Refer the topic App Builder -> FAQ -> Customize to customize the layout of your application.

To configure page level sharing,

1. Select the respective section/page in your application. For example, to share only the forms in "Employee Management", select the section Forms. This will display existing users, if any, who are shared at the application level.
2. Click on Share to users. This will display the Share dialog where you can enter new e-mail ids or share your application with existing user e-mail ids by selecting Add From Contacts link.
3. Add the required e-mail id and click Share to add a user at the selected level.

In the screen-shot given below, a new user is added at the Forms level to access only the forms (Employee Form and Department Form) listed under the page named Forms.

Form/View level sharing
Sharing specific forms/views enables the shared users to access only the specific Form/View.

To configure form/view level sharing,

1. Select the Form/View to be shared, from the left-side tree. For example, selecting the view Department view in the "Views" section, will enable access to the shared users to only the Department view.
2. Click on Share to users. This will display the Share dialog where you can enter new e-mail ids or share your application with existing user e-mail ids by selecting Add From Contacts link.
3. Add the required e-mail id and click Share to add a user at the selected level.

The screen-shot given below lists a new user who is shared to access only the "Department view". Selecting the link displayed near each user, displays the names of all the forms and view shared to the user. To cancel sharing or re-send invitation to users, select the respective icon placed before each e-mail id.

4. Can I share my application with users using Deluge Scripting?

The Share/UnShare Deluge task can be used in form/field action scripts to dynamically share or unshare an email address to an application, page, form or view. Refer Deluge Reference -> Sharing for more information.

5. Do users need to hold a Zoho Creator account to access the application shared to them?

Shared users must have their own Zoho Creator account to access the application/form/view shared to them. The shared e-mail id should be the one with which they have created their accounts. For instance, if an application is shared to an email-id user1@zoho.com, the user must have a Zoho account, with the same email-id, to access this application.

If the shared user holds an existing Zoho account, he can just Sign in to access the application. If the shared user does not own an existing Zoho account, he has to Sign Up with the e-mail id specified in the invitation e-mail. The shared applications will be listed under "Shared to me" tab provided in the login home page.

6. The business version provides the option to configure a user as a developer. What is the difference between a admin user, user and developer?

A developer will have permission to create new applications in the admin's workspace. A developer can access the admins workspace by selecting it from the Choose workspace list box, displayed in the Home page of his account. Refer FAQ -> Business Version -> Definitions, to learn more about what is a workspace and difference between a admin user, developer and user.

7. Will shared users be able to modify the application structure. (i.e) the form and view configurations?

Irrespective of whether an application is private or public, only the owner of the application can modify the structure of the applications created by him in Zoho Creator. (i.e.) only the owner has the permission to add, modify, delete the forms, fields and views in Zoho Creator.

In Business edition, a user can also be assigned the role of a "developer". A developer will have permission to create new applications in the admin's workspace. If the admin wants to permit the developer to edit any of his applications, he has to configure the same from the "Application Settings" dialog, by choosing the developer's ID from the Provide Edit permission to dropdown and click Save.

Refer FAQ -> Business Version -> Definitions, to learn more about what is a workspace and difference between a admin user, developer and user.

8. How can a user with developer role, create new applications in the owners/admins workspace?

A developer can access the admins workspace by selecting it from the Choose workspace list box, displayed in the Home page of his account.

9. Do shared users have permission to add, edit or delete records in a view shared to them?

The application owner can control the edit permissions of shared users using the Set Permissions option in the View tab. Refer the topic, Edit Permissions for more information on configuring the access permissions for users.

When a user adds or modifies a record in his shared application, the name of the user who added/modified the record and the time when it was added/modified will be automatically stored. This information will be displayed in the view, if the following columns are selected from View tab -> Column Properties option.

• Added User - Displays the name of the user who added the record
• Added Time - Displays the time when the record was added
• Modified User - Displays the name of the user by whom the record was last modified
• Modified Time - Displays the time when the record was last modified.

10. Is it possible to restrict the edit/delete capability of some users to only records created by that user, while allowing super users to edit/delete all records, for the same view?

The Edit permissions configured for a view will be applicable to all the users who are shared to this view.

To restrict the edit permissions to only a set of users, for the same view:

1. Select the view from the View tab.
2. Create duplicate copies of the same view by selecting, More Actions -> Duplicate this view from the view header.
3. Use the Share tab, to share the first view with normal users and the second view with super users.
4. For the first View, set the criteria as Added_User equals zoho.loginuser, to enable the normal users to access only the records that they have added. Set the Edit Permissions to Add/Delete/Edit as needed.
5. For the second View, just set the edit permissions to Add/Delete/Edit, without specifying any criteria. The users shared to this view will be able to access all the records.

11. I have given Developer access to a user, but he was not able to edit an application created by me. Is there anything I am missing?

After adding a Developer, the owner has to specify which application the developer will be able to Edit. To do this, the owner should go to the Application Settings of that particular application and in the pop window, under the dropdown "Provide Edit permission to" choose the developer's ID and Save.

12. How can I embed the Zoho registration form on my web site so that my users can login before accessing the forms?

For non registered users, add an <iframe> on your page with the following src. The parameter serviceurl can be used to forward the page to the required url after signing up the registration form:

https://accounts.zoho.com/register?servicename=ZohoCreator&serviceurl=http://www.mydomainename.com/mypage.htm

For registered users, add an iframe on your page with the following src:
https://accounts.zoho.com/login?servicename=ZohoCreator&username_label=Email%20Id&hidesignup=true&serviceurl=/userid/appid/form/1/

13. Can I make my form "Public" and view "Private"?

By default, an application created in Zoho Creator is "Private".

To make your Form as public and view as private,

1. Click on Share tab which will list all the forms and views as arranged in the "Layout tab".
2. Select the Form to be made "Public". You will find the text "xxx form is Private (change)", where xxx refers to the form name.
3. Click on "change" link. This will change the form as "public".
4. Although your overall application is set to private, your form will now be public while data views remain private.

14. Can I remove access to a shared user, at any level?

You can remove access to a shared user at any level by just deleting the user from this list. The delete icon displayed before each e-mail id can be used to delete a user.

15. Can I view the list of users to whom I have shared my application at different levels?

1. The shared users listed at the application level doesn't mean that all the users are shared to the entire application but at least to one component in the application.
2. The shared users listed at the page/section level doesn't mean that the users are shared to all the forms/views in the page but at least one form/view.

16. What can I do if I have problems/issues with my application and would like to share it with the support staff?

To share your application with Zoho Creator support,

1. Select the application and select the option Share to Support
2. When the issue is resolved, sharing can be withdrawn, by selecting "Cancel sharing to support".

17. When do I use the option "Allow edit access to support"?

To debug an issue reported, the support staff may sometimes request you to share your application to Zoho Creator support, with edit access.

To share your application with edit access,

1. Select the application.
2. Select the option Allow edit access to support, as shown in the screen-shot given below:
3. When the issue is resolved, the edit access can be withdrawn, by selecting "Cancel edit access to support"