The biggest benefit of Quip is how it works with Salesforce, but if you’re using it as a stand-alone app, its core features include collaborative documents and in-app chat. There are some features added to the documents that make Quip a better option than Google Docs. In fact, it’s more of a Notion competitor with its task management and collaboration features.
Document Collaboration
We found Quip’s document tool easy to use. As soon as you create a document, you get options to add elements to turn the document into a Kanban board, for example. However, it isn’t a full-featured project management tool, so it’s a bit more difficult to customize. You can add cards to columns, but there’s no way to add custom fields for more information or checklists for tasks.
The collaboration part is great though. Anyone on your plan can jump into a shared document to contribute on the same document, so you can all work on a project simultaneously. You can comment on literally everything, so the conversation can continue and you keep information corralled to one spot.
You can add files to a comment, so there is a workaround to not having a space in each card or event on a calendar to add information. We just treated each comment as the area in which we add notes, instructions, task assignments and files.
To get the most use out of Quip, it’s ideal to be a Salesforce user and you should opt for the Advanced plan. It’s at this level that you can connect Salesforce and Quip with a two-way data sync, so anything you add to a document or in Salesforce can move between the two apps.
Versioning
Quip includes document history, so you can see older versions of anything your team creates (unless it’s a private document). You can also roll back or restore older versions, as needed. However, the document history doesn’t show a complete view of what was added, rather it shows you the main additions such as a project tracker or a header. Information in a project tracker or Kanban board doesn’t show at all. This makes it difficult to know what you’re actually rolling back to.
Content Hierarchy
At first, we weren’t sure if content hierarchy was possible in Quip because it’s another option that’s a bit buried in menus. If you choose to insert a document in another document you’ve created, you can add one as a link that opens in the same window. Nesting content is easy enough with different header styles and bulleted lists, but you need to tab to create a visual nesting of content. And it doesn’t always work when you copy and paste content in the place you want it, which is a bit frustrating.
Software Integrations
Integrations work a little differently in Quip. There’s a native connection to Salesforce and Slack so you can add Quip as a productivity aid to your sales or communication hubs. There’s a built-in integration with Unsplash, a royalty-free stock photo site. And then there are templates and live apps, but there are some big issues there.
Every time we tried to use any template or app, we got an error message. This happened numerous times in several days during our testing period. We were never able to test any of the templates. However, some of the templates looked familiar from the insert menu in a document. We’d consider the options from the insert menu more as blocks that you can add information to, but they aren’t full-fledged templates like the roadmap or product launch plan template promised in the live app section.
It’s worth noting that Quip’s high-tier plans allow you to create your own live apps and use apps created by others, so this could be useful for teams with developers on staff. As for what’s available from the Salesforce app marketplace though, there’s a lot left to be desired. There are only eight listed on the site, but at least they’re all free to use.
