Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#1

Post by sdedovic » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 3:54 PM UTC

I am curious what internal documentation tools people are using. My current use case is an engineering handbook and internal documentation that isn't related to any specific codebase.

Some basic requirements are: - searchable - code snippets - hyperlinking

I know of a few tools and I've even worked at companies that use git repos with markdown. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#2

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

The desktop version of OneNote.

We've tried to use MediaWiki and other fancy solutions (inc. O365's SharePoint/online OneNote) and desktop OneNote is the only one that stuck. We have .one files for each major topic with sections and pages within them. It is kind of a "low tech" solution, and maybe that is why it works. It gets out of the way, easy to backup, no downtime, etc.

Although Microsoft keeps threatening to discontinue the desktop version of OneNote.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#3

Post by thetest3r » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:20 PM UTC

Had base-tier Confluence at one company. Super nice.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#4

Post by gnulinux » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

For personal stuff I use org-mode of emacs. At the work, we use Quip.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#5

Post by ewood » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC

Boostnote (https://boostnote.io) with notes stored in the relevant repos.

Its not perfect (Boostnote really only supports local files) but it does mean our shared body of knowledge is versioned to what is in our repos. If someone makes large changes they can work on documentation while they are developing the change knowing that their docs are only released when their change is merged.

If Boostnote was aware of this workflow or allowed editing directly to remote repos it would be pretty much perfect.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#6

Post by wozmirek » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:27 PM UTC

Confluence.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#7

Post by juandazapata » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

Google Docs

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#8

Post by bberenberg » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:33 PM UTC

Confluence

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#9

Post by stunt » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:34 PM UTC

We have a few docs generated by Docsify for technical guidelines and handbooks.

Github markdown files for short project specific docs.

And Confluence for everything else including a few technical guidelines.

Re: Ask HN: Which Wiki or internal documentation tools do you use?

#10

Post by juvoni » Thu, Jan 10, 2019, 4:36 PM UTC

Notion (https://notion.so) All in one workspace, combines, trello, airtable, evernote, and docs. Great embed support and awesome for small teams and personal use. It's a modern day commonplace book.