What file-sharing tools do you use?

When working with distributed groups, do you collaborate on documents using Microsoft Word, or do you rely on other tools like Google Docs, wikis, project-collaboration software, or file-synchronization software? What method do you prefer, and why?

I usually share docs using Microsoft Word (or OpenOffice which can save in Word doc format).

Occasionally I've been involved in using BaseCamp with I really liked.

I've tried to collaborate using a company wiki but couldn't get it going. The others that I collaborate with are in a central office. This means that I am the most motivated to find better systems, and need to make it work the most easily for others. The learning curve on the Wiki was too great to overcome under the circumstances.

Best wishes,

We're currently using Word, but are looking for other options. Our National Office is investigating the pros and cons of setting up a SharePoint Server.

We use a variety of tools, including an internal blog, but also use GoogleApps Education Edition (free for non-profits), and Microsoft Office Online (free).

There's not much difference between the GoogleApps product and the MS Office Online product, except most people find using the MS product easier to adjust to using on a regular basis, and when it saves a file as an MS Word (or other MS document format), you know what you're getting.

The convertor used in the GoogleApps document tool saves to MS Word format, but doesn't do perfect formatting for the MS Word format.

The great thing about GoogleApps and the MS Office Online app is that both allow you to assign access, as well as editor or reader permissions to files and directories. If someone doesn't have access, don't worry about hurt feelings, either. Unless you tell someone they don't have access to all the files and directories, they will never know!

We have a few sandboxes online for development, and a few blogs for projects, and other collaboration tools. Documents, such as post-mortems, can be handled in any of the environments, and it often is up to the team leader to decide which forum to use for the project(s).

We will, after a period of evaluation, be knocking out some of the "options," but keeping the doors (and accounts) open, "just in case." Never burn bridges, you know? ;)

Cheers,
Dave Jackson
National Coordinator
Awake In America, Inc.
http://www.AwakeInAmerica.org/
"Helping others sleep better every night!

Thanks for all of your responses and feedback.

For those of you who are new to long-distance file-sharing or for those of you who are looking for alternatives to email when it comes to document collaboration, Idealware's article A Few Good Tools for Sharing Files with Distributed Groups offers an overview of various solutions.

If you've tried any of these tools, feel free to share your feedback here.

Unfortunately, some of the information in that article is a little outdated, but for organizations, should be updated. One example: GoogleDocs vs. GoogleApps (for non-profits, the Education Edition is free, and much friendlier and robust than GoogleDocs).

Also, MS Office Live (http://office.live.com/), along with many of the Live.com tools, such as SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com/), FolderShare (http://www.foldershare.com/), and many others.

For non-profits with Web hosting plans featuring Fantastico (not that I like Fantastico, as it is always a version behind in many cases), but it's a great tool for less-than-techie people (and those with small-to-no IT staff) to get great collaboration tools and other generally-done-by-larger-sites tools. You can check out the list of utilities including in the C-Panel/Fantastico packages at: http://cpanel-host.com/fantastico/. It's available on one of the many packages I have (personally), and I use it to do quick installs for sandboxes (test sites) for various things.

Once I've played around for a few days and made a decision whether I like it or despise it, I dump the Fantastico install, grab the installer package from the FOSS site for the package itself, such as TikiWiki, Moodle, Noah's Classifieds, etc., and do a proper install. That's my preference. Need mailing list software and "Mailman"? No problem, it's there. ;) But it is also FOSS (free and open-source software).

Have fun playing in the great ether!

Cheers,
Dave Jackson
National Coordinator
Awake In America, Inc.
http://www.AwakeInAmerica.org/
AIM/AOL: AwakeInAmerica05
V: 215-764-6568

This is a great list, and I've recommended almost all of these to a number of folks. I have however found some of my less tech savvy clients like ProjectSpaces, which doesn't quite have all of the implementation as some of the others, but is great for users needing to use a tool without struggling to figure out how to use it. They also have a non-profit discount for those organizations (I think it's something like 20%). Check the tool out - www.projectspaces.com.

Great list though! Google Apps seems to get better every time I check it out.