Over the last year or so, I have tried to find better ways to organize all of my digital “stuff.” I must admit, I tend to be a digital packrat. Therefore, I need tools that allow me to store lots of data and have great search capabilities so that I can find it all later. Additionally, I use 3 computers on a regular basis, so having my data readily accessible on all of them is important for my work. Finally, iPhone integration is a nice feature for me as I continue to use it for an increasing amount of work.
Several people recently have asked me to share some of my favorite digital tools. I thought I’d share a few of my favorites for storing my digital “stuff.” I use all 3 on a daily basis for capturing and storing all my digital data. The nice thing is they are all free! (although paid upgrades are also available.
What it does: Captures and synchronizes web content across multiple devices. Also provides great tagging and search capabilities.
Evernote’s tagline is Capture, Sync, Find which it does with amazing simplicity. I am a heavy browser of blogs and techie sites. I often find little snipets of information that I want to keep for future reference or to help generate new ideas. I often times don’t need an entire article or all the comments associated to it…I just want the main points. Evernote is a great tool for capturing and storing this type of data.
To begin using Evernote, simply sign up for an account and download the client (OS X, Windows, or Linux.) A paid upgrade is available, but I haven’t come close to needing it yet. To use Evernote, find a section of an article or posting that you wish to keep and use the supplied browser widget to “paste” into Evernote. You can tag, create folders, and apply metadata as needed for future reference.
If you have a supported Smartphone, you can also synchronize data to it. This comes in handy when you are in a meeting and need to recall some information you don’t have with you. Additionally, I have started to use it as a capture tool for new ideas (the phone versions have voice recording and photo capabilities.)
What it does: Provides 2gb of online storage that synchronizes your files across multiple computers. Additionally it provide version control and recovery of accidently deleted files.
As a long time Mac user, I have struggled through the highs and lows of Apple’s MobileMe service. For me, iDisk never quite lived up to it’s promise. I have looked at other online storage solutions, but felt they were either too clunky or priced too high.
Enter Dropbox. Upon installing the client, you create a folder on your computer that the Dropbox service will use to store your files. From that point on, any file placed into this folder will automatically be uploaded to the Dropbox servers AND will sync up with any other computers you have allowed. It’s lightening fast (in part because it only uploads the changes you made in a file, not the entire file) and shows a real time synching status, so you know your files are up to date. It even keeps a log of your activity and allows you to restore files, or versions of files, you might have deleted on accident.
Dropbox also has the ability to create shared folders, so you can share files with others, as well as a photo gallery.
What it does: Email, calendering, and collaboration with virtually unlimited storage capacity.
I am convinced that Google will rule the computing world someday. I won’t go into to much detail on the various tools which are available from Google, but to suffice it to say they have some really well thought out apps. In my experience, Gmail is tough to beat as it offers a huge amount of storage, has the best search tools and spam filter, and has great integration with a variety of systems.
Give these tools a try and see if they don’t help you organize your “stuff” better than you are today!
