7 XWiki apps & features to boost your team's productivity

15 Sep 2022 5 min read

Written by

Dorina Anton

, Marketing Specialist

This article has been updated on the 16th of June, 2023.

Be it individually, at a team's, or organizational level, at the end of the year, everyone is pondering over the question: "How much did we achieve this year?". In a previous article, we gathered 7 strategies for staying productive wherever you work, while in today's article, we will tackle the tech part of this topic. Technology has improved our lives tremendously, and made our jobs easier, with smoother processes and workflows. And let's be honest. We all want our work to have fewer hiccups, many more positive outcomes, and palpable results. Being able to use technological advancements and have all your information organized and available in a single collaborative space can:

  • Bring up to speed your new employees;
  • Provide clarity on what should happen in the next period, with an overview of priorities;
  • Keep your employees in touch with each other even when working asynchronously;
  • Cut down the precious minutes wasted on finding an email, document, or page.

How to use XWiki to increase your team's productivity

Below we hand-picked 7 of our favorite XWiki apps and features that can help your team collaborate easier and increase overall productivity while reducing friction in the organization. To try out the following apps and features, you can create a cloud demo in a couple of minutes and then start testing and customizing your wiki.

Task Manager Application (Pro)

If you are already familiar with to-do lists, then the Task Manager Application (Pro) would suit your style of work. You can add all your team's tasks in a table, as well as create a panel that allows you to easily visualize your due tasks. It is also possible to create a Kanban board and track progress in real-time. You can install the app (and XWiki apps in general) from the Extension Manager Application incorporated in your wiki: Administration > Extensions section > Extensions.

File Manager Application (Pro)

Do you want to have easy access to all the files, documents, and department folders? With the File Manager Application (Pro), you can create and manage a hierarchy of files and folders using drag and drop. This way, you will keep all the files organized inside your wiki. And if you like this application, then you will surely want to use the next one as well since they complement each other.

Tip: Decide with your team what the structure of the documents' names should be so that you ensure consistency and search easier for those files.

HomePage.png

Solr Search Application

This might be one of my personal favorites. This application allows you to search for a specific page, PDF, Excel, or even image. It is basically a search engine inside your wiki. The application also returns by default documents sorted by relevance (as you can see below), but you can also sort the results.

Each search result highlights the places where the search keywords have been found. Only one match is displayed initially but you can view all the matches by clicking on the "Highlight all matches" link. This application comes by default with the wiki and doesn't require a separate installation.

Tip: Coupled with the File Manager Application, you can keep all the files neatly organized and easy to find for yourself and your team as well.

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Comments and Annotations

Collaboration is essential, especially when working from home or with colleagues that are in different time zones and have different schedules. Through comments and annotations, you can easily:

  • Provide feedback;
  • Make notes for meetings;
  • Ask questions;
  • Tag a user;
  • Highlight sections that you'd like to address your colleagues without leaving the wiki page. 

It is one of our most used applications at XWiki as it helps us stay connected even with a flexible working schedule. Similar to SOLR Search App, the comments and annotations are integrated by default into your wiki and do not require a separate installation.

Flash Messages Application (Pro)

Whenever you need to give a reminder to a specific team about a project, goal, or task, you can schedule and display a flash announcement. When a new flash message is created, it automatically pops up on the screen for all the users from the selected groups, the first time they visit the wiki. The frequency of the reminders can also be customized as a one-off or as a recurring event.

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Calendar Application (Pro)

This app can host several calendars in one, and show each event with a specific color and description. This way, you can easily see when a teammate is also busy, and you can agree even at a team level to have synchronized hours when each works on individual tasks uninterruptedly. What's more, this app can be combined with the Meeting Application below.

CalendarPlugin.png

Meeting Application (Pro)

The meetings application allows you to organize information and documents related to your meetings, so you never leave one again without knowing what needs to happen next. You can also create, modify and view meetings to come in a calendar format, add meeting participants and send email invites to them, vote on the next steps and ideas through the included poll.

Productivity starts with the people in your team

We hope these apps and features sparked some ideas about how to help your team achieve their professional goals and be more productive. Don't forget to be mindful of the habits that you formed as a team as well. A new practice is much easier to build on top of an existing habit rather than completely changing it.

Are you considering XWiki's capabilities to be what your team needs? XWiki comes with a wide array of organizing apps and features, which could make it the right tool. Try it for free or get in touch with one of our experts to discuss a custom project.

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