Is it possible somehow to easily use Google Docs as a wiki? I mean, I create a first document, then add a link to another one and so on, so the procedure is easy and fast and the different docs files are easily organized.
asked Oct 23, 2010 at 15:43
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9 Answers
Yes.
But you have to manually keep track of the URLs to the documents. And you have to setup manually the edit permissions per document as well.
Consider using sites.google.com.
Google Docs does not make a good wiki.
- Optimized for printed page, not viewing online (page margins, document margins) (Update in 2022: You can create pageless docs now, but they're not responsive still)
- Always in edit mode (Update in 2022: View only mode exists now)
- No mechanism to dynamically embed content or especially lists of documents in another document
- No friendly URLs for documents
- Does not link documents nearly as easy as in a wiki (requires interaction with menus/mouse and copying full URLs to documents)
- Does not support text zooming fully (appears to work, but try it, hit CTRL-+ and some document components often don't display properly. Basic documents work fine.)
- No cross-document consistent styling
Update 2022: Except for the two issues commented on above, the rest are still accurate. IMO this makes Google Docs unsuitable for use as a wiki still.
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1Now, you can make full size documents without printing style support.google.com/docs/answer/11528737 Commented Jun 21, 2022 at 9:36
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@DanielBlazquez Thanks for the update. I've been using this and it is a great addition but has tons of its own problems too (docs are not responsive like they would be in a wiki). There's also a view-only mode now, I'm not sure if that was always there or if it was added. Other issues afaik are all still there, so Google Docs as a wiki is still a no-go in my opinion.– SamCommented Jun 27, 2022 at 19:27
I know this is way old, but I've wanted this functionality for a really long time, so I finally built a little wiki viewer for Google Docs. Check out an example at https://gwiki.kaelshipman.me, and the source code on GitHub: https://github.com/kael-shipman/libgwiki.
All it does is use Google's Drive API to fetch a document hierarchy from a "home" folder that you feed it. Then it builds a little UI around that hierarchy that provides a "main menu" at the top (for all direct children of the home folder) and a nested sub-menu on the side as you descend into the hierarchy.
(Note that the example asks for permission to view your google drive docs (for obvious reasons). If you're not comfortable with that, you can always just download the repo and set it up yourself, though you'll have to create a Google API key and client credentials.)
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1Looks interesting but I get this error: "This app is blocked This app tried to access sensitive info in your Google Account. To keep your account safe, Google blocked this access."– PatrickCommented Dec 19, 2020 at 18:52
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Yes, google has gotten very aggressive with security measures these days. A good thing, yes, but it certainly makes it hard to demo a proof of concept...– kaelCommented Dec 20, 2020 at 19:10
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@Kael Does that mean we don't get this error if we install the app on our own servers?– MatengCommented Sep 1, 2021 at 7:27
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Mm, google does provide a way to turn their security features off, but only for gsuite users who are all on the same domain (there's a "this is an internal app" checkbox). I think you can also use it on your own server if you create your own google api creds and use your own user. But I don't think you can share it with others. Really annoying, but again, I guess I can appreciate what they're trying to do.– kaelCommented Sep 7, 2021 at 22:47
https://youneedawiki.com/ looks awesome, however to me what makes a wiki useful is the search functionality which is lacking from the free version, and only 1 user. That's as their model pushed users towards the paid version.
https://www.zoho.com/wiki/?src=zoho-home seems to do the trick for me (search + 3 users) in the free version.
Both allow you to import your existing G-Drive docs.
I noticed one feature in Google Drive that is relevant here:
Link lookup by text: you type in a text for the link, then you select it and press Ctrl+K. A dialog appears with two fields, and the field for the URL has drop-down list with suggestions that match the text. So this allows emulate easily some wiki-like functionality.
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3
There are many solutions and it all depends how you manage your information. The concept of wiki itself means quick. Quick answers, ease of access to information:
- Use Google Docs with headings and document maps. Add combination of bit.ly or url shorteners maybe keeping an organized table in Google Sheets of the hyperlinks. use Ctrl + K to insert links in a human readable form.
- Use Google sites and build stuff by using HTML
- Use third party apps such as Gwki(Gwiki had disabled the Google login), Zoho Wiki
- Use a Google product to have a map (key | value) table like structure. You can have things such as categories > table with information > sub tables > sub categories > tables > sub-tables.
Disclaimer I have not yet used this tool This tool looks promising: https://youneedawiki.com/
It allows you to create a wiki that is backed by Google Docs.
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3Please don't just post a library as an answer. At least demonstrate how it solves the problem. Commented Mar 15, 2019 at 14:29
I'm building https://kbee.app to solve this problem. We are heavy Google Drive users and really wanted to use it to power our internal wiki as well as our customer help center and didn't find anything that worked the way we wanted.
The interesting thing Kbee does that other tools in this space don't is that it builds static snapshots of your Google docs so navigation is lightning fast and the full-text search is powered by Algolia DocSearch so you get relevant results when you search.
We are looking at doing things like building a slackbot so you can access your wiki inside slack, a chrome extension so you can search in the omnibox for content, etc.
To second Sam's point: Google Docs also doesn't appear to have the option for the page width to automatically fit the browser width. So you either have significant unused space on both sides or have to constantly scroll sideways to read the text.
