With great communication comes great productivity. If you’re tired of digging through emails or hard drives, missing deadlines or forgetting tasks, or trying too hard to keep your team on the same page, it’s time to join the future of collaboration tools — and it’s digital.
Here are 25 online collaboration tools to boost your team’s productivity.
Adobe Creative Cloud
The incredible apps of the Adobe Creative Suite now use cloud technology to empower collaboration. You can easily share assets, fonts, and colors among team members using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and many other apps. You can also track versions of files so that your team is always on the same page.
Great for:
- Marketing, web, and content creation teams
- Teams who need to adhere to brand standards
Best features:
- Helpful tutorials Customizable workspace
Airtable
If you have a lot of content that needs to be sent out on a schedule, Airtable is the way to go. You can assign due dates and collaborators to “records” that are organized in a spreadsheet-like fashion. Share files and copy instantly with collaborators and sort documents by labels, cost, or other criteria.
Great for:
- Marketing teams, publications offices, sales teams
- People who need to organize massive amounts of content
Best features:
- Extreme customizability
- Ability to link records to each other
Asana
If you’re looking for a traditional project management app that’s easy to use, consider Asana. It’s primarily a task manager but allows you to attach “Conversations” to any project, as well as comment on tasks and threads. Asana facilitates collaboration by keeping all project to-dos and files in the same place.
Great for:
- Teams with multiple long-term projects
- People who need to communicate with clients
- Web, IT, publications, and marketing teams
Best features:
- Ability to switch between list and board (Kanban) views
- Conversations and files close at hand
Avaza
If your team does a lot of work for clients, you need a way to track time and link invoices directly to your tasks. Avaza is a great solution. Not only is it an intuitive task manager, but it’s also an easy way to share files, check for overloaded team members, and get feedback on work.
Great for:
- Teams with a lot of external clients
- Teams who need to juggle a lot of tasks at once
Best features:
- Built-in time tracker
- Time estimates for tasks and ability to comment and add files
Basecamp
If you have several different teams, all with different clients, or if there’s a lot of crossover among teams for shared clients, you’ll enjoy Basecamp’s ability to sort and share projects according to your specifications. Basecamp is also great at cutting the waste from projects. Don’t need a chat app for one project? Get rid of it. Don’t need task management? Disable it. With a streamlined experience comes greater productivity.
Great for:
- Consulting, marketing, PR, and publications teams
- People who need to control access to certain projects
Best features:
- Ultra-customizable project setup
- Ability to forward in and collect emails pertaining to a project
- Campfire feature for quick check-ins
Bit.ai
If your team swaps and creates a lot of documents, you need a smart document platform. Look no further than Bit.ai, which allows you to collaborate on, share, and track documents with your team. Work together on documents in real-time and see who has downloaded your materials.
Great for:
- Legal, marketing, and publications teams
- People who need to ensure consistent messaging or brand identity
Best features:
- Easy, beautiful document templates and editing functionality
- Ability to monitor and track document engagement
Canva
For design teams, social media marketers, and everyone in between, it can be helpful to have everyone able to quickly generate graphics. Canva allows you to establish a brand kit and design templates that your team members can quickly and easily copy and use to create branded graphics.
Great for:
- Marketing and design teams with limited resources
- Teams who have several people creating designs
Best features:
- Ability to convert and resize designs for different social media platforms
- Customizable color palettes and brand kits
- Ready-made templates
Chanty
If your team is on the chatty side, get Chanty. Use AI-powered predictive typing to quickly check in with team members and share documents, videos, and code blocks. Organize your chats by teams, projects, or both, and create client-facing channels to get feedback
Great for:
- PR and marketing teams, newsrooms, web teams
- People who need quick communication to meet fast deadlines
Best features:
- Predictive text
- Customizable access channels
ClickUp
If you’d like a more customizable project management system with integrated chat and file-sharing, give ClickUp a try. It also offers request tracking and process management, so it’s great for development and IT teams.
Great for:
- Web/app development teams, IT departments, marketing or consulting firms
- People who need a full-service productivity solution
Best features:
- Wide range of project views
- Task dependencies and progress tracking
Dropbox
Teams who need to share large files and get feedback, as well as store meeting notes or digital documents, will benefit from Dropbox. The app now offers file-sharing, storage solutions, document creation, revision history and recovery, and portfolio products.
Great for:
- Design teams, newsrooms, legal teams
- Teams who need documents to be worked on by multiple people
Best features:
- Integration with tools such as HelloSign and GoogleDocs
- Ample storage space
Evernote
If your team talks to a lot of sources or stakeholders, you probably take a lot of notes. With Evernote, you can share and co-edit notes, attach files, and set reminders for followups. There’s also a Work Chat feature to quickly check in with colleagues.
Great for:
- Journalists, newsrooms, publication offices
- People who need to share notes, PDFs, and links in one place
Best features:
- Ability to attach multiple types of files, collect screenshots, and save content from the web
- Ability to create public links to notes so that anyone can see them
Facebook Workplace
If you’re looking for an intranet without the hassle of setting it up yourself, consider Facebook. You can create a private social network with all of Facebook’s best features, plus team-specific channels, company-wide updates, and automated tasks.
Great for:
- Any small- to mid-sized company with teams who need to work together
- Teams with remote members
Best features:
- Video calls
- Running news feed
Flock
Flock is a messaging app that lets you sort chats by topic, attach files, and quickly share your screen. If your team has a lot of remote workers, Flock is a great choice. Connect to Google Drive, add notes and tasks, and keep important files close at hand.
Great for:
- Teams with remote members
- Marketing, web, and development teams
Best features:
- Ability to sort, name, pin, and mute chats
- Easy file sharing
GitHub
GitHub one of the ultimate collaboration tools for programmers. It’s the perfect way to track versions of code, fork code for new features, and push changes to your development or production environments. You can also assign tasks and get help from the GitHub community.
Great for:
- Web and app development teams, software programmers
- Teams who need to track multiple projects
Best features:
- Resource library and tutorials/guides
- Ability to seamlessly merge changes
Google Suite
If you need to have several people working on documents at once, Google Docs is the fastest way to achieve that. You can easily import, export, and share documents, add and resolve comments, and attach notes from Google Keep.
The G Suite also includes the famous Gmail, which integrates with Keep and Tasks, and Drive, which lets you sort all your documents and set sharing permissions. In addition, Google offers Forms to collect information from people, Sheets to sort spreadsheet data, and Slides to create presentations. All the apps are integrated and allow easy collaboration and co-editing.
Great for:
- Any content creation team
- People who need to co-author and co-edit a lot of documents
- Teams look for minimalistic project management systems
Best features:
- Instant saving and backup, plus version history and document recovery
- Seamless integration among apps
GoToMeeting
If your team has a lot of remote members who prefer face-to-face interaction, you need a powerful video conferencing tool. GoToMeeting provides that, as well as the ability to share your screen and annotate it in real-time.
Great for:
- Remote teams (or teams with remote clients)
- People who need to present ideas, show wireframes, etc
Best features:
- Ability to “draw” on-screen during a call
- Integration with popular calendar apps
Hightail
If you need to share a lot of extremely large files, such as videos, you need a powerful app with which to do so and get feedback on them. Hightail allows you to preview large files in your browser and leave comments.
Great for:
- Digital marketing teams, video production teams
- People who need to send videos or large designs to clients or stakeholders for feedback
Best features:
- Easy, fast sharing of large files
InVision
For design or web/app development teams who want to get feedback on designs, InVision is a must. Graphic or web designers can create interactive prototypes and your team members can leave comments and tag other people, such as in the screenshot below.
Great for:
- Design and development teams
- People who need to share a lot of prototypes or mockups
Best features:
- Digital whiteboard for brainstorming, sketching, and planning
- Easy commenting
Microsoft Teams
If your team is all about Microsoft Office 365, your suite isn’t complete without Teams, which provides chat, videoconferencing, and easy integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other key apps. Schedule meetings, swap files, and check in quickly with this powerful tool — even with clients and stakeholders.
Great for:
- Teams with remote members, clients, or stakeholders
- Teams already using Microsoft Office 365
- Provides access to Microsoft Office tools in one place
Best features:
- Integration with Office 365 apps
- Video calling
- Cloud storage solution
MindMeister
Whether you’re laying out project plans, brainstorming ideas, or creating flowcharts or other presentations for stakeholders, MindMeister is an easy, beautiful way to do it. Plus, you can attach files and notes to add context.
Great for:
- Any team who needs to share ideas in a visual way
- Any team who needs to present ideas to clients or stakeholders
Best features:
- Ability to color-code and attach images to maps
- Can easily collect feedback on maps
Monday.com
If you’re in the market for a project management system and collaboration tool that’s more task-oriented, consider the flexibile, easy-to-use Monday.com. It allows you to track workflows and team progress in a variety of ways, and plus, you can easily upload files to tasks or integrate with other apps on this list, such as Dropbox and Slack.
Great for:
- Teams with a lot of overlapping projects
- Offices with projects that have people from different teams working on them
Best features:
- Intuitive, flexible, customizable interface
- Ability to set time needed to perform tasks
Slack
Slack is more than a messaging app — it’s a subculture of collaboration tools. Easily chat, share files, make and answer polls, and watch videos right there in Slack. Set custom channels with the team members you choose.
Great for:
- Teams who want to offload their messages from email
- People who want tasks and messages automated for them
Best features:
- Huge app directory
- Easy, fast sharing of large files
Trello
Trello is a Kanban app that arranges your tasks or projects as “cards” in a visual layout called a “board.” Cards are very customizable, and you can attach tons of information to them, including notes, files, comments, and links, as well as integrations with other collaboration tools on this list, including Google Suite and Evernote.
Great for:
- Content creation teams, strategy teams, marketing teams
- People who prefer visual learning/planning
Best features:
- Easy drag and drop interface
- “Power Ups” that automate, customize, and integrate the cards
Zoho
If you need a full-service provider that offers email, tasks, file sharing, a CRM, you name it, look into Zoho as a business solution. Among its unique features are the ability to tag people in emails and convert emails into tasks. Zoho also offers chat and digital conferencing apps.
Great for:
- Large offices or small businesses
- Sales teams
Best features:
- Is cumbersome to set up
- Is expensive
Finals Thoughts on Collaboration Tools
You may have noticed that all of these collaboration tools are cloud-based to ensure easy access, sharing with third parties, and enhanced security. Plus, they use the power of the Internet to streamline and speed up the integration among your files, tasks, and messages. Thus, these tools are great choices to boost your team’s productivity.
Leo Kangin is a Productivity Trends specialist for Brief. He’s also a regular contributor at DataBird Business Journal.
