The Web 2.0 is making life easier for document management, tasks, notes, etc. I’m finding a lower and lower need to depend on Microsoft Office products or actual installed software as I move to free online applications. Here’s a few online software products I use that would highly recommend:
- Google Docs – (http://docs.google.com/) This is by far number one on my list. This answers the call for documents, powerpoint, and spreadsheets. The best part about Google Docs is that all of your files are stored online and can be accessed from anywhere, edited anywhere, and shared to other users to collaborate on a single document – thus eliminating the potential for multiple offline files being emailed around and nobody knowing if they have the latest version. The latest online version of your Google doc is always online. All files are searchable, publishable to a website, etc.
- Evernote – (http://www.evernote.com/) I’ve gone through several phases for random notes – post-it notes, notes in Outlook, Microsoft OneNote, etc. Evernote is an online program that allows you to file random notes into “Notebooks” that are stored, searchable, etc. all online. You can make as many notebooks as you want, i.e. Personal, Work, etc. Their pricing is based on usage, and their free version is typically enough for a basic user. Notes can be created from their website, their installable software, iPhone, etc. They also feature that if you include a photo or audio file in your note, their servers can examine those and make the text or speech in your photo/audio file searchable.
- Remember The Milk – (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/) I love task lists. I feel I work really well and stay focused when I have some sort of list. Sometimes it’s just a list in my mind, but Remember The Milk takes tasks lists to the next level. You can categorize, tag, even GeoTag your tasks based on what location they pertain to. They can send reminders via SMS, iPhone, Skype, etc. I dig it.
- Mint – (http://www.mint.com/) Some people are on the fence with having their financial data online, however Mint brags about their privacy standards. Mint is useful for keeping simple track of your budget, balances, and financial status. I have yet to part ways with using Quicken though because Mint is read-only, you cannot put any future transactions into it. It simply reads all of your transactions from your online accounts and breaks them down for reporting sake.