Tools for Working Paperless

Welcome to Part 4 of this series on working paperless!

As you probably know, this series consists of these four parts.

1. How it all started
2. Why I work paperless
3. How I work paperless
4. Tools for working paperless

So today’s Blog Post is all about the tools for working paperless. And this is also the last episode in this short series.

As I tell you in the video, it’s also important that you scan all the stuff that you write on whiteboards. You can use Scannable and Office Lens for this.

• Evernote
• Drafts
• For annotations you can use: Notability and Evernote

The Notability app is also a great tool to make quick drawings.

Please also take into consideration to use dictation. It is especially handy on a smartphone or tablet, and it works better than you can probably imagine.

Of course, it’s also crucial that you can store your digital stuff in a save way and that you’re able to retrieve it fast and easy. The apps that I use for this are:

• Evernote
• Google Drive
• Dropbox

Evernote is a great app because it can do so much for you, and it makes it really easy to retrieve your stuff. You can use it combined with Google Drive, but it’s already great on its own.

Lists are just a small part of working paperless, but I still think that it’s good to mention how to replace the lists that you keep on paper. It can be all kinds of lists, but the most common are check lists and to-do lists. I use Trello for this.
Now please don’t get the impression that Trello is a list replacement app because it is so much more. But still, it also does a great job in replacing the lists that you used to put on paper.

And, last but not least, you need the right hardware. Working paperless can only succeed if you use the right devices. Especially mobile devices are crucial. I’m talking about a Smartphone and a Tablet. It’s also very handy to have a stylus with you for writing and drawing on your tablet. It, of course, depends on what you do but when you need to make annotations or drawings, then I think you should buy a stylus.

When I first bought a tablet, I refused to use an external keyboard. I thought that, if you connect an external keyboard to a tablet, you might as well buy a notebook computer. And in a way that might still be true, especially when you look at the size and weight of the latest MacBook. Nevertheless, I think that a tablet is still easier to carry around and it offers more options for working paperless. And because I started to write more stuff on a tablet I noticed that I needed an external keyboard. I use it all the time now, and it works like a charm. I think it’s an important element in your collection of tools for working paperless.

And, if there’s still a lot of paper coming in, you also need a good scanner.

Logitech’s Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

Those are the tools for working paperless that I wanted to share with you. And that also completes this series of blog posts. I hope you enjoyed the posts and videos.

Thanks for joining me on this paperless journey. I hope I helped you to see the possibilities of working paperless. If you ask me, I think you should try working paperless too. The advantages of working paperless are huge. As you work paperless for a couple of months, you will start to notice all the benefits.

Please take a little time to watch this week’s video.

Thanks so much for being here.

See you on the next one!