Growing Teams: The Top 9 Document Collaboration Tools

Whether you operate entirely from the office, have remote staff, or enjoy the best of both worlds with a hybrid workforce, collaboration is an essential part of any business operation. And at a time when the lines dividing teams have started to blur, maintaining a sense of seamlessness starts with data – with a chunk of it residing in documents, be it text files, spreadsheets, presentations, or more. This is where document collaboration tools gain prominence.

As the name indicates, document collaboration tools enable distributed teams to function collaboratively while processing the same document. As such, all actions – from file sharing to editing to updating to commenting – take place in real-time and with the active participation of the entire team – making it the epitome of frictionless teamwork.

In this post, we take a look at why you should invest in document collaboration tools, the features to look out for, and the best document collaboration tools available in the market.

Benefits of Investing in Document Collaboration Tools

Let’s start by understanding the significance of document collaboration tools and what they bring to the table. Some of the clear advantages of document collaboration tools are as follows:

• They allow co-located or remote teams to stay organized.
• They can be used for monitoring the team’s workflow or project progress.
• They enhance productivity through teamwork and collaboration.
• They bring the entire team on the same page by furnishing up-to-date information.
• They expedite decision-making and serve as a channel for feedback.
• Sharable digital documents unlock new avenues for inter-team communication.
• They encourage employee engagement while maintaining accountability.
• File sharing and information recency eliminate any organizational or data silos.
• They can be useful for version control or tracking changes in project management.
• Similarly, they can be used for task management during real-time collaboration.

9 Essential Features of a Document Collaboration Tools

Now that you’ve realized the value of document collaboration tools, let’s quickly go over some of the key features that you must seek. These are:

1. Real-time editor: multiple users can edit a document in “live” mode which synchronizes data at all terminals.
2. Edit tracking: with the entire team working on the same document, edit tracking keeps a log of all the changes made to the document and who made them.
3. Autosave: automatically saves the changes made to the document – either as a local copy or on the cloud.
4. Version control: saves different versions of a document with the provision to revert to a previous version.
5. Comments: share feedback, assign tasks, and seek clarification without modifying the main document.
6. Access control: enjoy granular control of who can view, share, and edit documents and whether a copy of the document is available online or offline.
7. Multiple formats: document files should be interchangeable, be it from .pdf to .docx and beyond.
8. Mobile-friendly: it is a mission-critical feature when you have team members that are always on the go.
9. Cloud storage: cloud technology is ubiquitous and allows businesses to maintain scalability regardless of the size of the document(s).

List of 9 Best Document Collaboration Tools

Since we’ve established the importance of document collaboration tools and talked about some vital features, let’s round it up with some of the top document collaboration software solutions available. Here’s our list of the top nine.

1. Xebrio

Xebrio is the ultimate addition to your project management tech stack. Use it for requirement management, task management, milestone tracking, coverage testing, release management, and beyond – its document collaboration tool will prove its worth at every step.

2. Monday Workdocs

Project managers working on Monday.com can use Monday Workdocs to set up team collaboration. It allows co-editing in real-time, document sharing, and drag-and-drop text that allows effortless document collaboration.

3. ClickUp

ClickUp is yet another document collaboration tool that is heavily used during project management. Project managers can store project details, assign tasks, and record updates in real-time.

4. Confluence

Confluence is a remote-friendly workspace for those working in the Atlassian ecosystem. However, you can use its integration capabilities to use it with apps you already use. It helps with knowledge management, project collaboration, and internal communication.

5. ProofHub

Just like most other document collaboration tools on this list, ProofHub centralizes project management with effective file management and document collaboration capabilities. Team members can upload documents, share notes, and hold discussions easily.

6. Google Docs

A part of the Google Suite, Google Docs is a free document collaboration tool that is widely used by companies of all shapes and sizes, and, of course, individuals. The cloud-based application is completely online and allows format interchangeability.

7. Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 comes with Microsoft Word – the OG document processor that has been in use for several decades. Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based model of the entire Microsoft Office Suite backed by the power of cloud technology.

8. Dropbox Paper

Next in the list of free document collaboration tools, we have Dropbox Paper by the makers of Dropbox. This co-editing tool allows team collaboration as well as document management while allowing users to embed YouTube or Pinterest links while brainstorming.

9. Zoho Docs

Zoho Docs is a part of the Zoho WorkDrive and is pretty similar to the Google and Microsoft product lines. Zoho Docs functions as the document collaboration tool while Zoho WorkDrive is your online file management that stores up to 5GB of data.

Conclusion

By now, it may be evident that a document collaboration tool empowers teams to collaborate with online document creation, editing, and comments. Use the above list to get started and discover a document collaboration solution that works best for you!