Documentation/Knowledge Base Repository Suggestions

Software
1

I’m looking for a product that allows a small team to easily read/write documentation (including attachments) as well as any tips/tricks that would otherwise be stashed away in random chat messages or e-mails.

I came to this community because we’re currently using Sharepoint and it’s so terrible that everyone has pretty much stopped using the site. I’m almost looking for a combination of a text editor like Bear (minus its current lack of table support) and the zen feeling of Things–beautiful, functional, and powerful when used properly.

My basic requirements:

  • Native app (or Electron I suppose :frowning:) for macOS and iPadOS. Must also support a lone Windows user with either a native app or a web app, but if that is too constraining we may be able to make other arrangements for him.
  • Support for attachments
  • Support Spotlight for quick searching
  • Support for tables
  • WYSIWYG editor (Markdown is a bonus!)
  • User friendly while still being powerful

I’m sure it’s asking too much, but I’d love a product that logs the searches people perform so we can identify gaps in our documentation so that if results aren’t found, we can either add a new page or tweak the language on an existing page (so it’s more discoverable).

I’ve looked at:

  • Notion, but I’m not sure how I feel about it so far. It may be too open-ended for our group.
  • Confluence, and while nice, it lacks native applications
  • Using a generic git repository so that others could use their app of choice + markdown, but I worry a few folks would be unwilling to learn markdown and would likely struggle with the Git concepts like push/pull/merge.

I would really appreciate any suggestions / conversation on the topic!

2

You didn’t mention a budget!

Dropbox for Teams is $15/month/user

GSuite offers plans at $6/month/user and $12/month/user

Basecamp is $99/month for all team members, and offers messages, realtime chat, to-do lists, schedules, file storage, documents, and check-ins

3

If you already have Sharepoint (and therefore O365?) have you looked into using Teams and its “teams” and wiki functionality?

Might be worth trying out before you spend $ on another solution.

(I’m also curious what aspects of Sharepoint you were using and how they failed you. I’m not a huge fan, but there’s something to be said for going all in on Microsoft if you have to be there for at least some part of it.)

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4

If you are a Microsoft shop, have you looked at their new Fluid product they recently announced? Sounds like it might be part of their O365 bundle.

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5

I would also suggest looking into MS Teams. It is really shaping up to become an essential tool for my organization. There are multiple modules available, the Wiki being one of them.

Also, MediaWiki is a great OpenSource alternative, if you want to run things yourself.

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6

All of the suggestions above are good, or you could set your own Wiki up.

7

What did you end up going with cdeck? I am in the same boat. We are using Sharepoint, and there will be no other option to purchase more software. We use MS Teams as well. It has been going fairly well, though there is the learning curve which is bigger than I anticipated. Have you checked out the Sharepoint training?