My Top 3 Awesome Productivity Tech Tools – Part 3

On to my 3rd and Final Productivity Tool that fundamentally changed things for me last year. As I was putting together this list of three tools I use, I actually had a difficult time choosing. I realized that I could probably do more than a 3 Part Series on this stuff!
But I said three, so here’s the last one.

If you just found your way to Part 3 and have no idea what I’m talking about , I’ll do a quick recap. I was reflecting back on my year and trying to identify what tools I had used or implemented that fundamentally changed how productive and organized I was. This is the last post in the series, if you missed Parts One and Two, you can find them here.
Productivity Tool #1 – Omnifocus – you can read that post here.
Productivity Tool #2 – eVoice you can read that post here.

Here is the last of my Top 3 Tools/Tech That Improved my Productivity:

And number 3 – Notability

In my continuing quest to become paperless and not carrying pages and pages of notes and lists (see Omnifocus post link above), I dived into Notability.

Notability is an app for my iPad, but also syncs to my Mac, and probably my iPhone, although I’ll admit, I’ve never tried opening any of the files on my phone. At its core, it’s a note taking app. But like all of the apps that I LOVE and implement, it’s a note taking app on steroids. 🙂
I use it in conjunction with my iPencil and it allows me to actually use my iPad like a Notepad. I have the choice of paper colours, lines/no lines, width of lines, colours of pens, thickness of pen….you get the drift…..I have a TON of options to suit my style and my mood. I will admit that I do change them up. I went through a dark gray paper phase with lime green as my pen colour 🙂 (It looks much cooler than it sounds).

So is it all of the paper and pen options that allow me to deem it being on steroids? Nope. Here’s why it’s a note taking app on steroids.

1 – It records.

Yup. A note taking app that records the meeting that you are taking notes from. It’s been an absolute life saver. Wondering why you wrote that sentence down? Wonder, no more – just click on the recording and it’s synced with the handwriting. So not only can you hear what was said when you jotted down those words, but the app takes you to the actual place in the recording when you wrote the note! So you don’t have to try and remember when in the meeting those words were said, Notability does it for you.

2 – It accepts imports.

I can import any PDF file into Notability and then mark it up. I can make notes, I can highlight, I can fill in forms. Tons of options. Once I’m done, I can export it as a PDF and email it to someone else to implement the edits. It takes delegation to a whole new level!

3 – It’s more than just words.

I love my words. But sometimes I need more than just words. I need to draw a diagram, or I have a photo I’ve taken that I need to include in my notes. Not a problem. The note can be a combination of any or all. The flexibility of what I can include in the note makes it so much more powerful than when I was typing notes into my Mac.

4 – It’s everywhere.

This is mandatory for me now. I’ve been spoiled, I admit it. But the ability to have these notes available anywhere I am has become a must have for me. One of the limitations of paper is that you actually need to have that notebook with you if you want to reference it. The notes I create on Notability with my iPad sync across iCloud and are also on my Mac. I also automatically sync Notability to Google Drive, so I’m always covered and there’s no danger of losing the data. Forgot my iPad on my dresser at home? (Not that that’s ever happened before!) I’m good. I can open up the note on my Mac and no lost productivity.

I found Notability extremely powerful during conference season when I sat in on sessions. It was a definite game changer for me! And when we are having client onboarding meetings, with tons of details being given for a new client….priceless!

Well, that’s it. The end of series and the last of my 3 Awesome Productivity Tools. I hope that I’ve given you some ideas. Maybe I’ve saved you some research time. That was the goal. To help you filter through all of the noise and help you get some time back this year.

Would love to hear your favourite tools that increase your productivity, or that you love and can’t live without. I love to see and hear about the new tech that’s available, and it’s changing almost daily.

So do drop your faves in the comments below!