Some of you may know that I don’t have a regular job and freelance some of the time. It’s not so bad but it can be a challenge to be productive. Thank the tech gods that there are cool productivity apps I can use to do my work. Today I’m listing them down just because. Hah. :)
But first, I tell you about my hardware
Before I get to my list, let me just mention that I normally work on my laptop, phone and iPad – all iOS devices. I do most of my work on my laptop and I don’t like lugging it around (unless I really have to) so I rely on my phone when I’m out of the house. I rarely use my iPad for work because it’s old and runs on iOS 7, which means it’s not compatible with the latest version of most productivity apps and makes syncing unavailable. Updating it to the latest software will render it practically useless so I mainly just use it for ebooks, email and web browsing. I can still use it for work though when I really really have to and it’s usually in tandem with my phone.
And we get to the fabulous apps I’m using right now
Evernote
You can say Evernote is my main productivity tool – I have all my notes, to-do lists, travel lists and what not on it. I love it because I have it on my phone and computer so it’s easy to share and sync files. I also have it on my old iPad but ever since Evernote changed their free membership inclusions – which means I can only use it on two devices – I haven’t opened it on my iPad. Having it only on my phone and computer is working fine for me right now so I’m not ready just yet to pay for a Plus or Premium account to get Evernote on all my devices.
Dropbox
Dropbox is the shiznit. I use it to store important (and some not so important) files in the cloud so that I can pull them up anytime using any of my devices. I just find it really convenient. Some of my jobs also required a Dropbox account so I really can’t do without it. Though it’s a great backup for my files, I don’t rely on it entirely. I always back up my files separately on my computer and on an external drive just to be safe. Can’t be too careful these days.
Pages
Pages came with my computer and phone so it’s my default tool when I need to write something up. I can’t use it on my poor old iPad though which sucks just a little bit, but it’s alright.
Google Docs
Almost every job I’ve applied to required Google Docs and I use it all the time these days because of my current writing project. It’s also the one productivity app that still functions fairly well on my rickety old iPad so it’s pretty important. When I need to work on something on my iPad, I use Google Docs and just copy the file on my laptop later on.
Google Drive
I guess Google Drive is kind of a given since I use Google Docs, and, since most job applications use Google apps, I keep a copy of my CV, cover letter and writing samples here.
Trello
I’m new to this one, but I’m on it since my current gig requires it. It’s very interesting actually. Trello is a project management tool and it works really well when you have different people in the same project. Honestly, I have yet to really figure out how to use this outside of my current project, but it looks pretty useful.
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So there. It’s not exactly a spectacular list, but these are the apps that I use fairly regularly. I didn’t include things like email and stuff cos those things are pretty basic.