The Internet has made collaboration easier than ever. With just a few mouse clicks, you can watch someone halfway around the world and work with them on whatever you want.
Many of the online collaboration tools are expensive or targeted at a specific field like visual design Make Gmail a powerful collaboration tool with these apps Make Gmail a powerful collaboration tool with these apps Are you using Gmail for collaboration ? The world's universal inbox has powerful built-in features, and then there are some wonderful third-party email collaboration tools. Here are some tips that can help. Read more . However, you don't have to pay anything for awesome tools that make collaboration easy. Here are six services that cover all your personal equipment needs.
Google Docs has become the ultimate tool for creating amazing documents. 10 best ways to create beautiful Google Docs. 10 easy ways to create beautiful Google Docs. Here's some of that power to make your documents look sleek and beautiful. Read More 5 Everyday Google Drive Collaborations That Aren't About Docs. 5 Everyday Google Drive Collaborations That Aren't About Docs. Go beyond collaboration in Docs with these efficient options in Google Drive. Read More With Google Docs, your team can work on spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and more at once. Using comments, you can leave a note on someone else's work to request a change or leave a note for later.
Part of Google Docs is Google Drive, which allows your team to set up their own file storage system. With 15 GB of free space, you should have no problem keeping everything in one central location. This is a much better system than sending documents back and forth or trying to use a flash drive. If the default set of features that Drive provides isn't enough for you, a host of apps can fill in the gaps, such as annotation apps that increase collaboration potential How to Collaborate Easily on Google Drive with Online Annotation How to Collaborate Easily on Google Drive with Online Annotation Specialized annotation web applications are available that integrate with Google Drive and make it easy to communicate with others about your document. We look at the best annotation tools for Google Drive. Read more.
With Google Docs , Your team's document creation and file storage needs are covered.
Evernote is a big name in the note-taking business, but after its price hike and privacy issues, OneNote has outdone it. Completely free on all platforms, OneNote gives your team a place to create notebooks and fill them with drawings, tables, links, and any other content you can think of. Creating a shared notebook is easy and allows everyone to add their own sections and pages.
Possibilities abound:With OneNote you can create a team wiki, stay on top of project management, and keep track of notes and ideas as they come up. If you want, you can even use OneNote as a virtual whiteboard, letting everyone draw and write together.
With OneNote , Your team's note-taking, idea management, and brainstorming needs are covered. Our Complete OneNote Guide The Only OneNote Guide You'll Ever Need The Only OneNote Guide You'll Ever Need OneNote is a powerful note-taking app. It is cross-platform and well integrated with Microsoft Office. Read this guide to become a OneNote pro! Read More
Your team may not be able to be in the same place all the time. For those times when you need to discuss matters over a video call, it doesn't get much easier than Appear.in. One of our favorite conference calling apps, this tool allows you to create a meeting room in your browser and host up to eight people.
It requires no downloads or plugins, and no one has to create an account. Simply claim a meeting room as your own, and everyone can connect via audio, video, and text chat. You can also share your screen, making it a perfect tool for getting together when everyone is apart. Appear.in is here and it's really good Move through Google Plus Hangouts. Appear.in is here and it's really good. People have been asking for a decent video conferencing app for years. We thought it was Google Plus. We were wrong. Meet Appear.in. Read more.
With Appear.in , Your team can meet at any time, no matter where they are.
Trello is one of the most well-known project management tools, so it needs no introduction. Its card and board based system is perfect for to-do lists, goals, and any other type of tasks your team wants to accomplish. We've covered everything you need to know about using Trello, but don't forget that it has other great uses outside of project management, like managing your team's funds.
With trello , your team can track and track tasks, goals, and anything else that's important to you.
While Trello is a big name in the project management space, Zenkit offers an amazing alternative to Trello that's worth checking out if you need to manage more data than Trello offers. To begin with, Zenkit provides a simple interface, but you can quickly change it to a variety of different settings depending on your needs. It's free for personal use, provides 1 GB of space for attachments, 2,000 items per collection, and collaboration with up to five others.
Whether you want to view your data in a simple list, work in a Kanban format, or even use the modern Mind Map layout, Zenkit has you covered. It features better ranking and card control than Trello, going as far as having an entire behind-the-scenes database that you can manage. If you're already using Trello, you can import your data into Zenkit with a single click.
With Zenkit, your team gets one place to create, store, organize, and sort their data.
Slack is an all-in-one team communication tool that provides a place for friendly banter, important discussions, file sharing, and more. By dividing communication topics into channels, your team members can engage with the information they need and ignore those they don't. You can send messages directly to any team member or create private groups for side conversations. Slack lets you share any file and features all sorts of useful integrations to automate your workflow.
Using Slack for communication is superior to emailing back and forth all the time or using a group chat on WhatsApp. Both are hard to follow and don't mesh well with other team members. Slack is the communication app the modern team needs with threaded conversations, mentions to different groups, the ability to make in-app calls, and powerful search.
It's free for unlimited members, but it limits you to 10 integrations and the most recent 10,000 messages, which is fine for small teams. Take a look at our top Slack tips. Solid tips for mastering Slack and being the most effective employee. Solid tips for mastering Slack and being the most effective employee. Don't have a strategy for managing Slack? It's time you got one. You can't let Slack do all the work for you. Try these tips to make effective use of Slack. Read More
With ease, Your team has a central hub for all forms of communication.
As a little more, here are some services that didn't make the six essentials, but are still worth it for their team collaboration.
Go to the meeting it is more robust than Appear.in, and offers a free plan, which allows you to host up to three users per meeting. You can't use the GoToMeeting desktop app, as the free service only supports meetings in Chrome. The free plan also doesn't allow you to use any drawing tools during meetings, although you can share your screen. In general, Appear.in is a simpler option, but GoToMeeting is perhaps a bit more professional for meeting clients.
If OneNote isn't whiteboard enough for you, Realtime Whiteboard It's worth taking a look. The free plan allows up to three people to collaborate, with three boards per account. Whether you want to freely brainstorm, create an agile workflow or board, or draw pictures, you can do it here.
With these six tools, any small team can manage their data, work together to create documents, and stay in constant communication. While free tools can't match the features of business software, these apps will suffice for teams of just a few people. No matter how you work, your needs are covered!
For a geekier twist, try turning Gmail into a collaboration tool Turn Gmail into a powerful collaboration tool with these apps Turn Gmail into a powerful collaboration tool with these apps Are you using Gmail for collaboration? The world's universal inbox has powerful built-in features, and then there are some wonderful third-party email collaboration tools. Here are some tips that can help. Read more or check out more free project management tools 7+ Best free tools to manage any project with ease 7+ Best free tools to manage any project with ease Collaborating on projects is much easier with the Internet. Particularly if your team is spread out or not always in the same place. We show you which tools can help you manage your projects online. Read more.
If you run a small team, we want to hear from you, now. What free tools does your team use to collaborate? Add your favorites to the list by leaving a comment!
