Too many distractions can bring down your productivity, but
so can boredom, a whole pile of brainless and repetitive tasks and so on and so
forth. Here we’ve compiled a list of apps and Chrome extensions that can help
streamline your work as well as take care of those “pesky” distractions.
Managing desktops
Anyone who has used an OS like Ubuntu or OS X will be
familiar with the concept of a virtual desktop and how convenient it can be.
Windows users need not fret however. Download mdesktop from http://dgit.in/ULOQKW
mdesktop is a tiny little app that, once installed, will
allow you to manage up to 10 desktops at a time. By default you will be given 4
virtual desktops to work in and you can switch between them using the
ALT+(number) keys; very handy and perfect for managing your work (or ensuring a
quick and easy escape route in case your boss happens to come around).
mdesktop is a tiny
little app that, once installed, will allow you to manage up to 10 desktops at
a time.
Chrome plug-ins
Google Chrome is now the most popular browser in the world
and chances are, most of your work revolves around using this browser and many
of Googe’s myriad services.
Any.do
This is a free app that is available on iOS, Android and as
a plug-in to Chrome. All you need to do is download it and set it up and it
will sync tasks across all your devices. It can sync with Gmail, remind you to
call someone back, send a mail and much more. The app will add a bar below your
mail (with options for setting reminders) and a “remind me” button near the
header to allow you to manage your mail. This is a must have app/extension for
the scatter-brained among us
Split Screen
Available at http://dgit.in/SEmypx, split screen does
exactly what the name suggests. It creates a new chrome tab that will let you
browse two different sites at once. If 40 open tabs weren’t enough, you can now
literally double the number of sites you view simultaneously. Just imagine a
boring spreadsheet on one page, YouTube on the other. Work and play at the same
time, what more could you ask for?
Quotes Book
Running out of quotes for that epic speech you’re preparing?
This is the app for you. This Chrome App is nothing more than a veritable Quot Encyclopedia;
allowing you to search and pick the ideal quote. Download the app at http://
dgit.in/VLv5lH
Save to Google Drive
This is one of the most useful productivity enhancing apps
that we’ve come across. Its working is very similar to other site/article
archiving utilities like Evernote but with a twist. Just install the plug-in
from http://dgit.in/ZcCTon and hit the button. The extension will scroll
through the entire webpage that you are viewing and take snapshots, compiling
them into one large image that will be saved to your Google drive.
Google Drive -
This is one of the most useful productivity enhancing apps that we’ve come
across
Tab.bz
Not closing your browser because there are too many tabs
open and you don’t know which ones you want? Want to save a collection of
articles for later use? Tab.bz is the ideal tool for you. This handy extension
(http: //dgit.in/VLw1GH) will package all your open tabs into one link that you
can share, save or do whatever you want with. There are privacy issues though,
where if you accidentally create a tab package with some private tabs, the link
is not immediately deleted; so use with caution.
StayFocusd
This extension’s sole purpose is to make sure that you’re
actually working at your PC. You can download the plugin at http://dgit.in/
Rzw0dB. After installation, you will need to setup the plugin. There are a
myriad of settings to choose from and they are surprisingly comprehensive. Some
of the functions of this plugin are as follows:
·
Set a blacklist and whitelist from the sites you regularly visit.
·
Allot a fixed amount of time in total for your blacklisted sites,
access to which will be blocked once your allotted time has expired.
·
A nuclear mode that will block all sites permanently till the
timer is reset for the next day.
·
A complicated puzzle needs to be solved to change the settings,
making it more of a hassle if you want to sneak in some extra time behind the
program’s back.
·
Hitting the “StayFocusd” button in your Chrome browser will
automatically add that site to the blacklist.
·
The plugin will warn you when you are AFK for more than a set
period of time.
WunderlIst
Those of you who are searching for an app to get organized
in order to finish your work on time, your search ends here. Wunderlist is one
of the best, easy to use and free cross plat form task management applications
one can use to simply get things done on time. Wunderlist shows your tasks in
the form of Inboxes’. In Wunderlist you can tap on the box displayed above your
list to create a new task and add notes to that task or set reminders or due
dates on it. Let’s look at some of the tips you can use to make the most out of
Wunderlist.
Note: The below tricks only work with Windows and Mac OS
application for Wunderlist.
Mac OS application
for Wunderlist
Starring a task faster
To set our tasks by their priority, we can use the “star”
functionality of Wunderlist. Instead of clicking the star icon on the task to
make it a starred task, you can add an * (Asterisk) at the beginning of the task
to directly make it a starred task by default. For Example, If you want to
create a task or to do item called “Complete Physics Homework ” and mark it
starred, Just write the name of the task as “ *Complete Physics Homework ”.
This will mark your task as starred by default and make this task appear at the
top of your list.
Using Smart Date Recognition
You can add a due date to a task while creating it by typing
the date after the task name. To do this you first have to enable “smart date
recognition” by going to the Settings tab and selecting “Enable smart date
recognition” in the desktop application of Wunderlist and restart the
application. Now, If you want to create a task named “Submit Project” with
the due date 12th of January, Just type the name of the task followed by the
due date like this “Submit Project on 12th January” or like “Submit Project
on 12 January”. This will set the due date for the task to 12/01/2013 by
default.
You can also use Smart date recognition to type dates naturally
by just typing the following words:
today adds today as the due date, tomorrow adds tomorrow
as the due date, in 4 days adds the date in 4 days, in 4 months adds the date
from today in 4 months, in 4 years adds the date from today in 4 years, on april
20/on april 20th adds the due date for april 20.
Or you can add dates quickly by adding # (Hash tags)
like:-#td for Today, #tm for Tomorrow, #4d - In 4 days, #4m - In 4 months, #4y
- In 4 years, #tuesday adds next Tuesday’s date, #april20 / #20april adds April
20.
Merging lists in Wunderlist
If for some reason you want to move your tasks from an
existing list to another list, without re-typing every task into the new list,
then don’t worry as this is relatively simple. In the desktop version of Wunderlist,
simply click and hold a task and move it to your desired list and you’re done.
You just have to drag a task and drop it into another list to make that task
appear in that list.
Emailing to List
When you are working on an email and you want to add a task
or to do to your list based on the message you received, you can email the
desired task to your Wunderlist. You just have to simply put your task in the
body of the email, type the name of the list you want your task to be added to
in the Subject line of the email and send this email to“me@wunderlist.com”. When you’re done, your task
will be added to your chosen list. It is a very handy and a lesser known
feature of Wunderlist.
Note: At the time of this issue going into print, Wunderlist
released a new version of their app called Wunderlist 2. Some of the tricks
mentioned above such as Smart Date and Starring Lists may not work with this
version. But Wunderlist will eventually release an updated version of their app
thus addressing this issue.
