The Best Google Docs Alternative for Social Workers

google docs alternative

Google Drive is a wonderful collection of tools for collaborating and documenting information; however, it has its limits. Social workers are often frustrated by the service and struggle to keep the various forms and files organized.

The simple fact is, most social workers are using Google Docs for their note-taking needs because a personal account is free, but there’s a big trade-off. These accounts aren’t designed for business, which means they require a ton of workarounds and compromises to manage basic tasks. Plus, if Google’s AI thinks a personal account is displaying unusual activity—like business-level productivity—it may be locked or even deleted without warning.

Fortunately, there are several excellent alternatives to Google Docs that are specifically tailored for the note-taking and organizational needs of social workers—and Notehouse is the best of the best. Here’s how a little investment in this game-changing software can pay the big dividends you need to give your clients the care they deserve.

Professional Sharing Capabilities

One of the challenges of using Google Docs is that specific people retain ownership of the content you all share. Transferring document creator status to other team members is difficult despite Google’s basic sharing capabilities. That makes it a huge hassle to move clients from one social worker to another, even if they are on the same team.

Working in Google Docs is even worse when someone leaves your organization. The notes live in their Drive and potentially become inaccessible. You might even need to keep their email address active to preserve the documents, and it’s just another of many reasons why it’s just not great for professional use.

Notehouse, on the other hand, is designed precisely with professional social work activities in mind and makes it easy to preserve, share, and transfer documents across your team. Documents are easily transferred from one person to another and everything can be managed through the app. That means when one social worker on your team leaves, their client notes remain. This allows you to provide better services to the people you support even during a period of transition.

Easily Search for Documents

While Google is certainly a powerhouse search engine, the search functionality within Drive is a mess. Typing certain words into the search bar can bring up random documents and files that you haven't opened for years. This can be frustrating if you frequently need to find specific documents and aren't sure what folders they are saved in. You also have to create and organize all your own folders, and it’s impossible to tag related content to make it easily findable.

Notehouse provides social workers with simple, intuitive tagging tools that let you organize your work so it’s always at your fingertips. You can tag each document individually with custom tags that resonate with your colleagues so a quick search easily pulls up everything they need. That means your team will spend less time looking for docs and more time serving their clients.

Enjoy Greater Work-Life Balance

Up to 75% of social workers experience burnout in their careers, while 62% say a greater work-life balance (WLB) would reduce their anxiety and stress levels. One way to improve WLB is to disconnect your personal and professional communication. This can be challenging if you manage your clients in your Google Drive—every single comment floods your inbox with notifications, so it’s nearly impossible to unplug and manage your own life. Yes! You still have one of those, remember?

Notehouse makes sure that your personal and professional lives intersect only when you want them to. It’s not going to bombard you with notifications on your day off, and it will keep everything organized for you when it’s time to get back to work. This also prevents your peers from interrupting your vacation because you are the only one with access to the documents they need.

Maintain HIPAA Compliance

Google Docs are only HIPAA compliant if your organization invests in a Google Workspace business plan. From there, your company needs to configure specific settings to implement and maintain compliance. If you aren’t familiar with these steps or use the free version of Google Drive, your notes might not be compliant.

As of Summer 2024, Notehouse is HIPAA-compliant and designed to support social workers. Not only does it offer a better Google Docs alternative but it can keep your organization in compliance. And if you’ve already made the decision to invest in a professional platform, why use a generic Google business plan? Notehouse is made for social workers, so you won’t have to adapt your processes to make it work.

Track Changes as You Collaborate

Not only does Notehouse provide better features than Google Docs, but social workers don’t have to sacrifice functionality they’re already accustomed to when transitioning. Collaboration is easy with this software because multiple authors can make edits and leave comments at the same time. Each comment gets a timestamp so you can track when certain changes occurred.

In fact, Notehouse actually elevated this feature by making the comments more transparent. You don't need to access the document history to see who has been on the page, which means you can quickly identify who’s taking the lead.

With our note-taking software, you never have to worry that you are handling old information. You can easily see who you are collaborating with and what they're contributing.

Try Notehouse as a Google Docs Alternative

If you are looking for a Google Docs alternative, choose an app that was designed to support your profession. Notehouse is easy to learn, fast to onboard, professionally designed and meets your HIPAA compliance needs. Using this software will be a breath of fresh air and allow you to thrive as a social worker. Try Notehouse today and start improving your workflow!