The new roadmap is out!
We published Zextras Suite development steps here as many of you asked us for some updates. We’d like to discuss them with you in our Forum and evaluate your feedbacks, too. So, feel free to join the conversation!
Last year we planned to develop some features, then, as it always happens when you work in a fast-moving market like the software one, sometimes we had to change priorities. We moved forward features that could bring a more significant and immediate impact for the users or were preparatory to developing the most important ones and slow down some less demanded details.
Therefore, you’ll find some features from 2020 and some totally new ones in this development roadmap. The path is long, the future bright, and the needs and a wish list are growing. Sometimes, you simply have to decide.
So, to smoothly continue the developments while staying aligned with your requests, we commit to continually updating the roadmap here and on the related Forum thread.
Feature by feature, we’ll specify what we’re working on next on this page. We’ll punctually publish the release notes in the Zextras World section. Every time a new idea or feature will be added to our plan, we’ll post it here, too.
TEAM
Chat new user-friendly features DONE 3.1.5
Reply / Edit / Delete / Forward messages
Privacy Settings DONE 3.1.10
Delete messages / Offline – Online status
Clear conversation history DONE 3.1.10
Users can clear a conversation in a chat, while the others still see it until they decide to delete it, too.
VIDEO MEETINGS
Video Server DONE 3.1.8
Audio and video flows are compressed, optimized, and combined in order to obtain a unique and specific stream for each device, considering and using the best bandwidth/codec for every specific device.
Read the article
New user-friendly features DONE 3.1.9
Layout improvement / Mute / Push to talk
Moderator mode DONE 3.2.0
Possibility to have one or more people with the moderator role inside chats or video meetings. They will have the rights to moderate and manage the conversations.
Webinar mode PLANNED
Create 1:many video meetings with moderators and speakers, who can share the screen or the video.
Other features that will be included are: participants will have the possibility to ask to talk in a webinar. Events log.
Meeting recording PLANNED
The video of the meeting will be available to use.
Instant Meeting Refactoring IN PROGRESS
IN PROGRESSCreate a meeting room and share access to it with other users through persistent and shareable links.
DRIVE
External account integration PLANNED
Connect your file-sharing system account (e.g. Dropbox, Gdrive, nextCloud, OwnCloud) to Zextras Suite Drive and get full access to your files.
INSTANT MEETINGS AND DRIVE SHARES FOR EXT. USERS ON MOBILE DEVICES PLANNED
External users will access instant meetings or Drive shared files from their mobile devices. Moreover, they won’t have to download any app to access the content!
DOCS, SPREADSHEETS, PRESENTATIONS
Integrated Docs Server PLANNED
Docs Server will be in the mailbox server. Installation and Upgrade on a separate node will no longer be needed.
BACKUP
Backup on External Storage BETA
Backup your system either on Object Storage like S3 (local/hybrid/cloud) or to external file blobs such as NFS. Metadata’s local cache allows maintaining the original performance while it will also be stored on the external endpoint for disaster recovery purposes.
AUTHENTICATION AND LOGIN
Login page DONE 3.1.7
White-label customizable login page. Admin can change the background image and the logo.
Read the article
2FA – SAML – QR Code DONE 3.1.11
Mobile apps QR authentication DONE 3.1.5
Use our Mobile Apps password-free employing the new QR-Login system that allows handling Cross Authorization within our Apps ecosystem and manage devices authorization and registration.
Read the article
ADDRESS BOOK SERVICE DONE
DONEConnect Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, and Mac Mail to your centralized Zimbra GAL and address books to achieve a complete client experience. Microsoft Outlook can leverage EAS and Address Book to provide a full Outlook connector experience without any plugin on the client!
PANELS REFACTORING
Admin interface – Notification panel DONE 3.1.3
A new Admin Interface for the Notification Panel based on React. We are moving all Zextras related options to a new technology remaining consistent and integrated into the Legacy Admin UI.
Admin interface – Backup Panel IN PROGRESS
IN PROGRESSA new Admin Interface for Zextras Components based on React.
Admin interface – Other PLANNED
A new Admin Interface for Zextras Components based on React.
User Preferences refactoring PLANNED
Preferences interface based on React.
INSTALLERS & PACKAGING
Zx Suite Installer – Native Linux packaging system IN PROGRESS
The new Zextras package will be distributed using a repository leveraging Linux methodology. When installing and updating the package, you just need to use OS commands like “apt-get install/update”.
Comments
The Docs integration is essential as having any kind of Company file system based soley on Zextras and Zimbra is not something that works for many people. It's fine for the odd file. having access to current storage and current file systems is essential. I had installed the Open Drive plugin you put out on Git Hub a few years ago and that was pretty much exactly what we wanted in terms of functionality I got it working and it was fine but out of date and complex. This would also solve the need to have files mountable on user desktops rather than only through Zimbra or ZxDrive app.
Hi Snowy, according to the roadmap, the External account integration feature will be implemented later this year. It will allow users to manage files from external systems like gDrive, Dropbox, and Owncloud to simplify both the usage of content from external systems and content migration from third-party systems to Zextras Drive. Moreover, our team is working on a Desktop client. We do not have an ETA as to when this will be released into production, so it is not inserted in the Roadmap yet. However, we will make an announcement when it will be available.
I am of the same opinion for the Docs server, but not on an old LibreOffice V4. Do you plan to use Onlyoffice ? Which I remind, works on a simple JSON request to an API link ? A Docker is enough to set up and update Onlyoffice !
Hi Mark, our team is working to improve Zextras docs day by day, to enhance it with new features. This is why we don’t plan to use a third-party system but we continue instead making our own product increasingly better. Leveraging Docs, users can edit and collaborate on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Of course, specific feedback about collaborative editing features that may be useful for users is more than welcome.
> Microsoft Outlook can leverage on EAS and Address Book to provide a full Outlook connector experience without any plugin on the client! It's not fully true. I most wish Outlook plugin to manage Zimbra sieve filter rules like ZCO. Disadvatage of Outlook rules is moved messages deletes from Inbox and recreates in target folder filling in dumpster.
Hi Aleksei, our teams are working to make Outlook users connect to Zextras Mobile without installing any additional extensions to the client itself. This approach might limit the features available for the user. However, it's quite normal since Outlook is another mail server's client 🙂 Moreover, by using standard protocols, users won't need administrative rights, neither won't be scared by installing a security patch.
Hi Arman, >> our teams are working to make Outlook users connect to Zextras Mobile without installing any additional extensions to the client itself <> users won't need administrative rights << System administrators in corporate network will free to deploy "Zextras Filter Outlook Add-in" for Outlook EAS/IMAP users automatically or by demand.
Sorry, lost most text in previous reply between <> signs
Support for a newer version of LibreOffice Online, or why not Collabora Online, and the ability to share docs with external users via secure public links, would bring the solution to the level of features of drive tools such as Nextcloud.
Hi Cristophe, yes our teams are working to improve Zextras Docs to make it increasingly full-featured, although, as we answered to @Mark, we don’t plan to include third-party systems. We’ll keep you updated on this page!
I'd also like to see a chat search feature in Teams. Either part of the global search (like the old zxchat) or part of the tab (like you have search in drive). At the moment the only way to do it is to scroll up and up loading chat history and then ctrl-f to use browser search facility.
Hi Mark, yes, this is a very useful feature and will be certainly available in the future.