The Online Collaboration Tools Guide
Collaboration tools and online storage applications offer many possibilities: online collaborative editing, synchronizing across computers, sharing multiple files and discussion boards, and sharing windows and documents on the spot, to name a few. The following review of major products in this space will help you choose the right collaboration tools for your needs.
This is a guest post by Eyal Sela, author of the productivity and Internet blog ProductiveWise. He is a freelance Internet and social-media project manager.
Online Editors
Online editors are web applications that let you create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online through your web browser. No installation is required, and you can use them in offline mode when there is no Internet connection.
You can share documents with other people by entering their email addresses and inviting them to collaborate or just view the documents. Several collaborators can edit the same document at once. Collaborators can also add inline comments. Version management features allow you to retrieve earlier versions of a document in case you are not happy with the initial result.
Zoho and Google Docs are two online editors that work (and look) quite the same. Both require you and the people you collaborate with to have an account (Zoho allows you to sign in using your Google or Yahoo account).
Zoho has built-in chat for collaborators to communicate in real time while editing. It also has a plugin for Microsoft Office that makes changes in your Office documents reflect directly in your Zoho account (but it is available only for documents and spreadsheets).
Zoho Writer in action
Google has built-in chat only for the spreadsheet application. Collaborative features vary among Google's applications (see "Simultaneous editing and viewing" for more information). Notification of changes is available only for Google spreadsheets.
A Google Docs document
Use online editors in the following cases:
- You want to collaborate with someone on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation and you or they don't have collaboration software.
- Some of your collaborators do not have access to a word processor, spreadsheet, or presentation tool on their computers.
- You wish to collaborate simultaneously.
Synchronization Services
Synchronization services allow you to keep working with your desktop applications as usual, without having to learn a new interface or work through your web browser. They automatically save folders and files to all of your computers, to the computers of people you collaborate with, and to the web, keeping everybody in sync. All collaborators must register, download, and install software.
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Good review of tools/services you should be using in your work.
Posted by: Robert Scoble
|
April 16, 2009 2:09 AM
Without being overly self-promoting, I think I should mention my business, Woobius: http://www.woobius.com .
While Woobius designed for architects/construction, it may be useful for other niches too. Woobius offers something that's missing from all those tools, which focus on person-to-person collaboration: company-to-company collaboration. If your projects tend to involve a number of _companies_ collaborating on something, rather than a number of _people_ within 1 or 2 companies, Woobius might be very handy.
Hope this helps someone,
Daniel
A good review list indeed!
These tools are really very helpful. Nice review!
Hi! Very interesting post, but i'd like to add www.adminmytime.com a new startup very very usefull, specialy for freelancers!
thanks
so great list,
so great review.
i like these wonderful services.
Why no mention of Collanos.com and its free P2P workgroup tools -- or the new Skype InnerPass addon?
Mark Frazier
Openworld, Inc.
www.openworld.com
@openworld (twitter)
Why is this review focused solely on software as a service ? There are equivalent tools that users can host on their own servers - not everyone like to live in a hotel.
Good work indeed. Thanks for sharing this guide.
If you are into rapidly browsing the FULL UNIVERSE of online collaboration tools out there, give a snap look also at the collaborative guide of the best collaboration tools out there I have created with over 150 people last November during the LearnTrends live event.
https://www.mindmeister.com/12213323
I have kept updating the map of tools and it now lists over 200 free or low-cost accessible collaboration tools, divided by category of use and applications.
your post and manual photos help me so mach
GIRLS UP CARS (30 photos) » canfindonline | canfindonline
I'm a developer of Comindwork, online collaboration tool. And I was investigating a way to build something like "dropbox", to be it really integrated into another software. It's a pity that all these guys do not think of integration at all.
How can people use together Basecamp, Dropbox, and Google Docs at the same time? This is really annoying me in current collaboration scheme. And we gonna change that! :)
Thanks for the article, will leave in my favorities as a reference
Alex
Thanks for providing the insight into on-line collaboration tools. I am big fan of 'cloud computing' apps which you featured. This is rich field to explore further and I trust you will offer more on the subject.
Thanks a lot everybody for your comments and tweets! I'm glad you've liked the post and find it useful.
This is an absolutely sh*t post.
You left out about half the major collaborative tools I can think off the top of my head, and included ones that aren't really collaborative.
Whoever let this imbecile guest blog for you should be fired.
I'd add to this list. I've been using a service called SMEStorage.com. I can't say enough good things about it. The guys who run it have been great. If I've asked for new features they've responded quickly, and I promised them I would blog about their service.
A quick run down of what they provide.
Support for Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Box.net, GMail-as-a-cloud, Email-As-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud.
Filtering on large amounts of files (like in Finance Domain)
Collaboration features via Groups with permissions and workflow rules
File share via email, Twitter, Groups etc
Notification of file share via Twitter
Integration with Zoho for Document editing, Scribd for document viewing, and Picnik for image editing as well as Yahoo Media Player for MP3 streaming.
Cloud sync - backup one cloud to another automatically on a schedule
Many clients - Rich Ajax web explorer, Windows virtual drive, Windows explorer, FireFox plug-in, Adobe Air client (beta), iPhone client, iGoogle Widget, Facebook Widget
Integration with MS Office, Open Office
If you have the time check it out. It is a nice set of tools and site.
Have to agree with Steven that unfortunately you missed some interesting collaboration tools, like the European "Winkwaves Kenniscafe", a whitelabel enterprise social networking and knowledge sharing environment, being used by (a.o.) Deloitte and Red Cross. More info can be found on:
http://winkwaves.com/producties/winkwaves-kenniscafe/winkwaves-kenniscafe-english/
I specially liked reading the social networking cookbook!
It's a good article and a lot of useful info; still I don't think you can use all these tools at the same time. We'll need to try and check a couple. BTW, you haven't mentioned any of the collaboration systems though. Was it on purpose? Nothing like Basecamp or Zoho Projects. Then, that makes perfect sense. These two have been covered to death in this blog. Currently, I'm looking at another solution - wrike.com. There also a couple of others on my radar. Would be great to read a post about something fresh :)
I may be biased, but I would suggest ProjectSpaces - www.projectspaces.com - as a great online collaboration tool. It's lightweight, fast, intuitive, and does what it does extremely well. Check it out!
www.projectspaces.com
Microsoft's Office Live Workspace is another great online collaboration tool. It's a free web application that allows you to store, comment on and edit documents you place on your workspace. You can then allow colleagues to access the workspace so that they can share their documents and comment on yours. Try it out: http://www.officelive.com
- Jake
MSFT Office Live Outreach Team
Hi Eyal Sela,
I would like to introduce one more very good and affordable Online Collaboration tool for virtual office environment.Its called as "Collaber".
Collaber is a collaboration tool similar to Microsoft Groove. It allows user to create workspace and share among other users. There are many tools like files tool to share files, task tools to manage tasks, Discussion and polls tool to discuss matters and so on. Collaber have different packages to meet the requirement of different user groups, which includes one free plan as well.
The features that proves collaber batter than other similar products are
1. Compatible with all platforms(Linux, Windows, Mac and Web). This gives user the flexibility of accessing their data anywhere.
2. Price at just 10% of that of similar products available in market.
3. Backup tool, it is similar to restore point in windows xp.
4. Works in offline mode, you can work even when you are offline and all your changes will be shared among your team members when you will be connected to server.
5. Total of 14 tools which help you share all sort information like files,pictures,discussions and so on with other members in that workspace.
Please visit http://www.collaber.com for more information.
I hope this would help many users out there looking for a multi-platform collaboration tool.
Happy Collaboration.
Regards,
Swapna
I would have expected the HyperOffice Online Collaboration Suite to be on the list.
- its one of the oldest solutions in the domain (1998)
- its got amongst the most comprehensive solutions (integrated online meetings, online databases and web forms)
- it comes on top for most "online collaboration" searches.
Cloud computing holds great promise. When it comes to cloud storage (online file storage), people and businesses are starting to look for a lot more than just raw offsite storage. Storing files offsite, and working on files from a mapped web drive is just the beginning.
In addition to new web services that are emerging in cloud computing, a number of existing "legacy" online storage companies are already starting to add advanced cloud computing features to the files they host in the cloud.
FilesAnywhere is a good example. Even though this online storage company has been around for some 10 years, they have added a whole suite of online productivity features, just in the last 1 year, allowing you do much more with their online storage than just backup and share files - now these companies like filesanywhere have online editing, multi-user collaboration, file conversion, document features, mobile access, and more. These services are even freely available and some like FA offer plenty of disk storage and no ads, in an effort to win people over with upgrades to larger storage accounts or multi-user business accounts.
Unlike social web innovations, IT professionals and small business owners will be the first to adopt these new cloud computing technologies. The masses will follow, once the cloud computing features extend to more and more consumer uses, and as the cost of cloud computing makes local computing more expensive (local software licensing, the time and cost of transferring files from the local computer to the net, and the "cost" of keeping your files anchored to a local computer).
-Mark
HyperOffice's capabilities span over many of the areas you mentioned - sharing and collaborating on documents, file synchronization, in addition to offering features for project management, creating intranets and extranets, mobile collaboration and more.
We just released Zoho Projects 2.0 which we believe will increase your collaborative efforts further. Try it out.
Try this for online file management and collaboration - http://www.ecofiling.com
It sounds great that online editors are web applications that let you create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online through your web browser. No installation is required, and you can use them in offline mode when there is no Internet connection.
A great collaborative web conferencing and remote support tool I'd recommend is by RHUB. Their product is unlike any other out there because they offer a 4-in-1 appliance approach. So not only do you own it, it is more secure than hosted, there are no monthly fees, and it includes: web conferencing, remote support, remote access, and webinars all in one box. Check it out:
http://www.rhubcom.com
The great thing about Zoho is that it's relatively easy to integrate. We're just about finishing integrating it into Glasscubes and are very excited about the benefits it can do.
The thing about Collaboration tools is that each of the online ones have benefits, but they are much of a muchness as we are learning. It's important to try a few out and then see which one best fits your organisation.
And don't forget that branding it pretty important too if you want to share with other companies.
Zoho docs and Google Docs are widely used for real-time document editing. But their unit of collaboration is each document. You have to set share options for each document, which means they are not for large-scale, corporate team collaboration.
That's why many "collaboration space" services like Ubidesk, Huddle, Central Desktop are getting popular recently.
A very good useful list. hey maybe you could check out Injoos which also uses zoho and dimdim. Here is their blog. http://injoos.com/blog/2009/10/09/seamless-collaboration-with-release-35/
Injoos teamware is the Next Generation collaboration platform for enterprises. It brings together the best in traditional collaboration tools like Email, File management, Project management, conferencing and the new age social tools like Wikis, Blogs, Discussion forums
Teamware binds the two with social business tools like rating, tagging, related links etc to provide a very simple and easy to use unified collaboration platform.
INJOOS FEATURES
Document Management
File Sharing
File Storage
Online Storage
Access from Anywhere
Groups
Knowledge Sharing
Online Collaboration
Online Workspaces
Task/project Management
Workspaces
Customize
Domain mapping
Showcase
Subdomain
Website
Widgets
share content
Oh what the hell... sorry RWW but since everyone's pimping their solution here I thought I'd just highlight Creately.com - its not everything to everyone but does a fine job of letting users collaborate on visual artifacts like flowcharts, org charts, business processes and the lot.
Here's a link to the RWW post about it.
Another online project management and collaboration tool worth mentioning is PMP HQ by TDC LLC http://www.pmphq.com. It includes calendar and gantt charts to aid visual representation of projects and their deadlines. It supports multiple projects and subprojects. PMP HQ is SaaS offering providing integrated project management features, issue tracking, and support for multiple version control options. Currently PMP HQ provides user interface in more then 30 languages including English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and many more. With simple pricing model without “per user” or “per project” charges, PMP HQ is an affordable and attractive alternative to costly in-house deployments.
how is everyone???
Thank you for your sharing.!
The collaboration needs the main thing is to
choose the right product so that it can be
done as per our needs.
I'm really very useful to follow a long-time see this as a blog here Thank you for your valuable information.
I use google documents a lot for online collaboration on everything from work files, to family Christmas lists to poker tournament scores. For accessing documents remotely, I use http://www.proxynetworks.com remote access software, which you can try for free. Thanks for the post!
Great list. I am already using some of them but i will like to try Google wave for sure. But one thing more. Now there is a growing trend towards Application sharing powered by Cloud Hosting technologies as well not well covered in online media.
I find that many “Collaboration” web apps are built in retrospect or around specific features.
I left my old job with two colleagues to launch a start-up to create a workplace for the future. Frustrated with workplace tools that didn’t meet all our needs we went away and designed and tested our ideas for a better tool.
Our approach is to build a powerful web application that is simple and productive to use. Based on our experiences delivering large projects with globally distributed teams we are focused on making a tool designed for working people.
Do I need this to complete my work?
Is this making my work easier?
Is this the most productive way to complete this action?
We are a small start-up and its steady going but we have in less then a year created a remarkable platform.
We are currently running a beta trial and are actively looking to engage users who are seeking a better online platform where they don’t need to compromise whether it is on functionality or usability. If this inspires you we would love to hear from you and get your feedback.
Visit us at http://www.sambajam.com, it’s the beginning and we hope to be the future online workplace.
If you want a structured colaboration tool, you should check out www.semmels.com
It allows you to define the structure, so it can be used for a variety of projects.
It also allows you to change the structure as the project evolves.
This structured approach becomes especially handy if you want to colaborate with a larger group of people.
Fue el 31 de enero de 2007 cuando por vez primera Yadira Hernández vio el país monárquico que tanto ama. No hizo más que el piloto decir
Whoa, there are a lot of tools listed. I should probably get familiar with some of these to help boost my productivity @ work.
-Jack
Corporates will thanky you admin super.