Zoho One supports adding and managing three different types of apps:
Zoho apps
| These are the standard apps that came bundled with your Zoho One subscription.
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Marketplace apps
| These are Creator custom apps and single sign-on (SSO) connectors for apps developed by third-party vendors like Atlassian and Google. You can install them from our Marketplace.
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Non-directory apps
| These are apps that are not available in the Marketplace. They can be used to display on-premise apps, cloud apps that aren't pre-configured in the Marketplace, or even specific URLs (like local wikis and intranet portals) in the One Launcher.
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Zoho One apps
These are apps like Zoho CRM and Zoho People that are already a part of your Zoho One subscription. Zoho One currently contains
over 40 tightly knit Zoho apps that can help you run your entire business. As these apps are heavily integrated with the Admin Panel as well as with each other, they provide a better user experience than all the other types. Learn how to
add a Zoho app.
Features accompanying Zoho One apps are:
- One-click SSO: Your users can access these apps from the One Launcher with a single click.
- Conditional assignment: You can set up conditions to automatically assign these apps to new users matching predefined criteria.
- User account provisioning: When a user is added to a Zoho app from the Zoho One Admin Panel, an account will automatically be created in the app. You don't need to add the user in both places, making Zoho One a one-stop management solution.
- In-app user privileges: While provisioning the user accounts, you can also choose the roles and privileges to be assigned to the user. For example, you can add a user to Zoho CRM and assign them as an Administrator inside CRM, all from the Admin Panel.
Marketplace apps
Although Zoho One is bundled with all the apps you'll need for running a business, you might occasionally want to use external apps. In those cases, you can build a Custom app, use a pre-built Creator app, or integrate an app developed by a third-party vendor. Your employees may need to sign in to every one of these apps separately, affecting productivity. To prevent this, we've come up with a way to access those apps from Zoho One's My Apps page, just like you'd access Zoho apps.
The three types of Marketplace apps are:
- Zoho Creator Custom apps: Zoho Creator is a powerful multi-platform app builder that lets you easily build your own apps to suit your specific business needs. For example, you might need a lightweight app for end-to-end management of shipments. Rather than subscribing to a new app, you can build your own app in mere minutes using Zoho Creator.
- Ready-made Creator apps: These apps can help you when you're in a rush and need an instant fix. Creator's App Deck has over 50 ready-to-use business apps. From managing logistics, to sales, to distribution, you'll find pre-built solutions that cater to every aspect of your business.
- Directory apps: These are pre-configured SSO connectors for third-party developed enterprise cloud apps. They allow you to integrate your favorite enterprise apps with Zoho One in a few simple steps, even if you aren't an SSO expert. We have over 50 Directory apps ready for installing. Learn how to install a marketplace app, or browse our marketplace.
Features accompanying Marketplace apps are:
- One-click SSO: Your users can access these apps from the One Launcher with a single click.
- Conditional assignment: You can set up conditions to automatically assign these apps to new users matching predefined criteria.
- User account provisioning (only for Zoho Creator apps): When a user is added to a Zoho Creator app from the Zoho One Admin Panel, their account will automatically be created in the app. You don't have to add the user in both places, making Zoho One a one-stop management solution.
Non-Directory apps
These are manually configurable apps that aren't available as out-of-the-box SSO solutions.
The three types of Non-Directory apps are:
SAML apps: Despite the convenience and ease-of-deployment of cloud apps, some users still prefer on-premise solutions for requirements such as internal IT operations. Those on-premise apps can also be accessed with Zoho One's SSO. Since every deployment is unique, we will not be able to provide connectors for these apps. However, you can easily configure a SAML connection between Zoho One and your on-premise app and access the app from the One Launcher. Besides this, you can also provide SSO to cloud apps which do not have a pre-configured SSO connector yet. In other words, any app that can implement SAML can be connected to Zoho One as a Non-Directory SAML app. Learn how to
add a non-directory SAML app.
Features accompanying Non-Directory SAML apps are:
- One-click SSO: Your users can access these apps from the One Launcher with a single click.
- Conditional assignment: You can set up conditions to automatically assign these apps to new users matching predefined criteria.
Associated apps: These apps are used to easily set up SSO for multiple apps sharing the same authentication server. For example, consider Zoho—all individual Zoho apps use accounts.zoho.com for authentication. To set up SSO for Zoho, you can add Zoho Accounts as a
Non-Directory SAML App and add the individual apps as
Non-Directory Associated Apps . You will only have to configure SAML for Zoho Accounts. You can then associate the other apps to Zoho Accounts, and they will inherit the SAML configuration automatically. This also simplifies user access—you won't have to assign users or set up Conditional Assignment for these apps separately. The users who have been granted access to the parent app will automatically be able to view and access the associated apps as well. Learn how to
add a non-directory associated app.
Features accompanying Non-Directory associated apps are:
- One-click SSO: Your users can access these apps from the One Launcher with a single click.
- Easy configuration: You won't need to configure anything. Just choose an existing app, and its configuration will be inherited.
Bookmarked apps: Bookmarked apps are like browser bookmarks. They do not provide SSO or perform any authentication service. They merely provide your users easy access to specific web pages from the One Launcher. For example, you might have intranet pages that can only be accessed when a user is connected to your local area network (LAN), but do not need any authentication. Or, you may need to give your mobile developers access to a publicly hosted resource, such as Google's Android Developer Best Practices guide. Rather than asking end users to bookmark these in their browsers, you can create bookmarked apps and display them to the users who may need them. Learn how to
add a non-directory bookmarked app.
Features accompanying Non-Directory bookmarked apps are:
- Easy access: Users can find everything they need for work in a single place—the One Launcher.
- Conditional assignment: You can set up conditions to automatically assign these apps to new users matching predefined criteria.
- Administrative convenience: You can ensure the right users always have the right resources, reducing user tickets.