Written by
Lorina Balan
, Digital Marketer
On April 29th, we hosted our live webinar, "Why Choose XWiki?", where attendees explored how XWiki empowers organizations to retain critical knowledge in-house, enhance operational efficiency, and foster a collaborative culture. The session was led by our XWiki experts, Cédric Lamblin and Clément Aubin, who provided insights into XWiki's capabilities and demonstrated its practical applications.
During the webinar, we covered key aspects of XWiki:
- Introduction to XWiki: understanding XWiki’s open-source, modular platform designed for dynamic knowledge sharing
- Scalability and flexibility: exploring how XWiki scales with your business, accommodating growth without sacrificing performance
- Migration from Confluence: introducing the Confluence Migration Toolkit, which facilitates a smooth transition from Confluence to XWiki by handling content migration with support for numerous macros
- Live demo: providing a hands-on demonstration of XWiki's features and capabilities
- Interactive Q&A session: addressing attendee questions on topics such as authentication systems, rights management, and integrations with tools like draw.io and Jira
Key takeaways
#1 Data ownership is non-negotiable
XWiki ensures you can deploy on your own terms, with the freedom to switch between hosting options or to migrate data anytime, without vendor lock-in.
#2 XWiki is built for growth
Whether you’re managing a small internal team or a sprawling global operation, XWiki scales smoothly, with architecture designed to grow with you.
#3 Support that actually supports
From setup to migration to daily use, our professional support team (yes, real people with actual experience in working with XWiki) provides real help.
#4 A true alternative to Confluence
If you’re evaluating the move away from Atlassian’s ecosystem, XWiki offers more transparency, a sustainable pricing model, and long-term freedom, without compromising on features.
For those looking to explore more, we recommend checking out our comparison page.
📽️ Missed the webinar? Check the recording below.
Q&A session
Q1: Can we export/import properly in bulk in MD, HTML, PDF, DOCX?
A: Bulk export isn't available for all formats. PDF export works for full hierarchy. For other formats like HTML/MD, you can only export the current page by default. Bulk exports can be done using the API, but requires additional work. In theory, it's all possible. It's just not enabled by default in the product. For specific export needs, contact the XWiki team for custom solutions.
Q2: Where is the functionality for real-time editing?
A: It's natively embedded with a checkbox option when editing. Real-time collaboration has been activated by default since version 16.4, but can be deactivated through the user interface or admin panel. It requires WebSocket support in your system.
Q3: Can we move and organize pages by drag and drop?
A: Admins could pin pages in XWiki via the pinned pages option, but starting with version 17.2, if you have edit rights in a space, you can now pin pages in the navigation panel. This makes it easier to structure content and ensure important pages are always easy to find.
Q4: Is there a plan for an XWiki application for offline editing?
A: Not in the current roadmap, but we're developing Cristal which may become the future front end of XWiki, that could include offline capabilities. There's also a work in progress local editor based on Electron.
Q5: Will there be a VIM mode?
A: Not officially, but there's a prototype that is allowing you to do mostly everything you need. We released it to the community because we have community contributors that are interested in using this. It's still work in progress and this extension may need a bit of attention to be fully useful.
Q6: We embed a lot of diagrams in Confluence. What's the best way to migrate and keep them editable?
A: Use the Confluence migrator extension available in the Extension Manager. There's also a Diagram Application (Pro) extension that relies on draw.io, allowing users to import content and then edit it.
Q7: Can XWiki connect to Jira for issue tracking or task tracking in the back end? Are there other options for issue tracking?
A: Yes, there is an extension that allows configuring JIRA instances (URL, username, or password) for Jira. We also have a Gitlab integration that can be used for tracking purposes, and are working on an extension to connect to OpenProject (an open- source project management tool), expected later in the year, most probably in Q4.
Q8: What's the easiest way to embed Office 365 or Google Docs?
A: For Office 365, there's an Office Integration (Pro) tool, plus OnlyOffice and Collabora connectors for editing Office files directly in XWiki. For Google Docs, we have Google Apps Integration (Pro) that allows you to log into XWiki using your Google account. This integration uses the OAuth2 protocol to connect Google Apps with XWiki. It works with individual Google accounts as well as company-wide Google Apps accounts.
Q9: We want to migrate from Confluence but XWiki does not have spaces. Is there any way to replicate the structure in XWiki?
A: XWiki doesn't have spaces like Confluence, but you can create sub-pages to replicate this structure. You'll need to explain the difference to end users, but you can set permissions for different parts of the page tree and customize homepages. The majority of the macros you have been using in Confluence already have an equivalent in XWiki, but some may not. To ensure your team has a smooth migration process, we gathered a transparent, comprehensive and easy-to-follow comparison between commonly used Confluence macros and their alternatives in XWiki.
Q10: What is the recommended backup and disaster recovery approach?
A: While XWiki offers backup and restore features, the recommended approach is backing up both the database and storage separately. You should handle this like any other application on your premises.
Q11: If we want to move from XWiki Cloud to on-premises or vice versa later on, is it possible?
A: Yes, the easiest way is to export the full wiki and then import it back to your new instance.
Q12: We need to manage content in German, French, and Italian. Can XWiki handle translation workflows and side-by-side language versions?
A: Yes, activate multilingual support in the localization settings. Users can then translate pages through the translation link. XWiki will define the language in which you are creating a document based on the language of the UI that you are using. There are also tools like DeepL that you can use in XWiki to connect to external translation services, including machine translation that preserves formatting and elements like images and macros.
Q13: In Confluence, content is deeply nested. Do pages in the page index in XWiki surface pages that are deep in the hierarchy?
A: The page index will display all pages, but the search engine is better for finding content. XWiki can handle very deep hierarchies without limitations. One consideration: By default, searches in the main wiki include sub-wikis, while searches in sub-wikis only search that specific sub-wiki.
Q14: How do we connect to our existing Active Directory setup, so users sign in with their corporate credentials?
A: XWiki offers several extensions for SSO login, including an Active Directory application and OIDC extension. These can be configured to link to your identity provider.
Q15: How can we automate backup and restore of both the database and the file store? Are CLI tools/scripts provided?
A: No built-in tools are provided. This needs to be handled separately through your own database and file system backup processes.
Q16: What's the process for upgrading between major releases? How disruptive are upgrades and how much custom code is affected?
A: Follow the upgrade process in the documentation, which varies depending on your installation method. If you have custom code added to your instance, you should reapply customizations after the update and thoroughly test them. While we aim for backwards compatibility, unexpected behaviors can occur with custom code. Always check release notes for any specific actions needed.
Q17: What do you offer for uptime and response time on cloud versus on-premises support contracts?
A: SLAs are defined in the sales terms and available on our pricing page. Different support levels are available (Bronze for online payment only, Pro Silver, Pro Gold, Pro Platinum) with varying response times. The main difference between cloud and on-premises is in the uptime guarantees. We currently have a 99% uptime for Cloud.
