John Concrane January 14, 2020

A modern and extremely simple way to organize your software processes, a new online software solution for organizing software requirements. Today’s software programming has become an extremly complicated thing to organize. Let’s start with the basics: The markdown feature in Docstell is very convenient to use. When a text zone is added to a node you can start typing your markdown right away. When leaving the edit area the text is automatically formatted. The idea with markdown is that it will save you a lot of time when formatting your texts. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, which is then converted to valid HTML. Instead of getting frustrated about how a lot of common word processors format your text in every way but the one you want, markdown is very predictable and easy to learn.

Docstell is also implementing functions to upload various file types to a node. You can upload any type of file and share with you team or keep it in a private node. Just drag it from you computer and drop it on the node you want to attach it to. They added a preview zone that makes it possible to preview files adjacent to your other information. You can view for example pdf, docx, xlsx, csv, txt, png, jpeg and mpeg4 files. If you for example receive a specification in a pdf file format you keep this file here together with the rest of the documentation and will easily be able to preview it and let all your team have access to it.

Spread sheet: Builtin spreadsheet to quickly add specification data. Copy and paste from Excel. Upload files: Upload files to any node. Previewer for pdf, txt, word, excel etc. Tags: Use tags to group your requirements for fast and easy access. Export: Export documentation to HTML with containing SVG-format diagrams. Print to pdf file. Fast access: Add bookmarks to your content for super fast access. Discover more details on Document your software requirements.

Slack integration was recently added to Docstell. This lets you get alerted in you preferred Slack channel when a person in your team is adding comments to your docs. From the message in Slack you get a link back to the node with the comment in Docstell, this makes it convenient to answer the question in the right context and to build up the knowledge base where it should be. There will also be a number in the browser tab indicating the number of unresolved comments where you are mentioned. The background color of the comments icon is also changed to yellow. When clicking the comments icon you see the comments pane where it is possible to use the filter to see only the ones where you are mentioned.

How to avoid software documentation hell? The key to this is that it must be possible to hide information that is in the way to get the big picture but still be there to be found when it’s the details that you need. A good search function is vital of course, but it must not hinder you from seeing the information that might be adjacent to your search terms and crucial for your understanding. When everybody is on the same page you will notice that you can start to have fewer meetings and still be able to take better decisions.

Docstell lets you focus on the right thing, hiding for the moment irrelative information. Real time documentation, always up to date with the latest information accessible to your whole team. Find more details on https://docstell.com/.