A new era of AI-powered collaboration: Ask Zia in Zoho Workplace   

We hope you’ve had a chance to explore our first blog post on the exciting generative AI upgrades in Zoho Workplace—and if you haven’t yet, it’s worth the read. Now, we’re thrilled to keep the momentum going.

In this post, we’re diving into the next big leap: Ask Zia. This powerful natural language interface lets you interact with your entire workspace just by talking to it. From pulling insights to triggering actions across apps, Ask Zia understands what you mean and gets things done.

Imagine being able to talk to your apps the way you talk to your team; naturally, clearly, and without needing to click through menus or remember where things live. That’s exactly what Ask Zia brings to Zoho Workplace.

Ask Zia is a powerful conversational AI that lets you interact with your entire suite of Workplace apps just by asking it. Whether you need insights, summaries, or actions taken across Mail, Writer, Sheets, or Cliq, Zia understands your intent and gets it done.

What can you ask Zia in Zoho Mail ?

We’ve all been there: You open a long, complex email thread and instantly feel overwhelmed. You need to find a specific detail, identify the key action items, or quickly summarize it for a colleague, but you just don’t have the time to read through everything.

What if you could just ask?

We're excited to introduce a brand new way to interact with our AI assistant, Zia: Ask Zia in Zoho Mail. This isn't just about simple commands; it's about having a natural, conversational dialogue with Zia right inside your inbox, with the full context of your email.

How does this conversational assistant work?

Now, with a single click, you can have a conversation with Zia about a specific email thread. Zia understands the content and context, allowing you to get instant insights and take action.

What can you do?  

• Summarize on demand: Ask Zia to "Summarize this email chain for me," and choose your format. You can ask for a quick summary in a single paragraph, a bulleted list of key points, or even a detailed overview.
• Identify action items: Simply ask, "What are the action items from this email?" and Zia will instantly pull out tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities, so you know exactly what needs to be done.
• Draw insights: Need to find a specific number or date from a long email? Just ask, "What was the total budget mentioned in the third email?" and Zia will find the answer for you in seconds.

Real-world scenarios  

• For project managers: Before a meeting, ask Zia to summarize a week-long project email thread. In a minute, you have all of the key decisions and action items ready to go, without ever having to read through all of the replies.
• For sales reps: A long email from a client comes in. You can ask Zia to "summarize their key requests" or "pull out the total number of licenses they're interested in," so you can respond immediately with the right information.
• For anyone overwhelmed by their inbox: Instead of dreading long emails, you can now get straight to the point. Zia is your personal assistant, making sure you never miss an important detail and can act on information instantly.

How about asking Zia for a series of actions across Zoho Workplace ?

We’ve already seen how Zia makes email smarter, helping you understand, summarize, and act on messages with context. Now, imagine that same intelligence woven across every app—connecting Mail, Writer, Sheets, Cliq, and more—in Zoho Workplace. 

Why you'll love it  

Imagine this: You have a client, "Qyoro," and you need a quick summary of your recent conversations to prepare for a call. Instead of manually searching through your inbox, copying information, and creating a new document, you can simply tell Zia:

"Find me emails from Qyoro, summarize them, create a document, and share it with Paula."

Zia will:

1. Search: Instantly search your Zoho Mail inbox for all emails from Qyoro.
2. Summarize: Use its AI to pull out the key points and create a concise summary.
3. Create: Generate a new document in Zoho WorkDrive with the summarized information.
4. Share: Automatically identify who "Paula" is from your contacts and share the document with her, complete with a quick message.

Real-world scenarios  

• For project managers: Before a status meeting, you can simply ask, "What were the latest updates from the marketing team, and who’s responsible for the next steps?" Zia will pull key information from project chats, documents, and emails, so you can walk into the meeting fully prepared.
• For sales professionals: A client asks for a pricing breakdown from a previous proposal. Just ask Zia to "find that proposal and send it to the client with a quick note." Zia will locate the file and draft the email, saving you valuable time.
• For HR admins: You need to draft a new policy document. You can tell Zia to "create a document based on our HR policy template, add the new PTO guidelines, and send it to the management team for review."

Ask Zia uses your work graph to understand your relationships and context, ensuring that every action—from sharing a document to sending a message—is directed to the right person.

Don't overlook our final update!

Up next in our blog series: Zia Agents—and trust us, you won’t want to miss this one.

We’ll be talking about how these intelligent background helpers in Zoho Workplace quietly take care of repetitive, time-consuming tasks so you don’t have to.