Each issue we’re going to be hunting down the best productivity applications available on the internet so you don’t have to. This could be anything from task reminders to document organisation, from PDF editing to mind mapping and everything in between. You name it, we’re likely to cover it. Best of all, everything you’ll find on this page will be freeware. So no nagging popups, no time restrictions and no feature limitations. Just strictly no holds barred functionality! Read on to find out what we’ve been digging during the last month.
Papercrop NEW
Forego the eyestrain that’s a frequent result of viewing PDF files on your mobile phone by doing a little processing beforehand. With Papercrop it’s possible to automatically rejig PDFs into one column for easy reading on a small display while also preventing RSI from all theuneccesary touching and pinching of the screen.
Concenturio
Setting alarms and reminders in your operating system is probably a daily occurance. If it’s not you may want to install Concenturio then configure Single Tast for alarms that are needed once or Task list for those that are recurring. English speakers might want to make sure they change the interface language under Einstellungen and then Programmsprache.
Freeplane
If you need help with idea generation then the chances are you’ve heard of mind maps. If you haven’t they’re basically diagrams used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items coordinated around a central key word. Mindmaps are perfect for generating, visualising, structuring and classifying ideas. But hand drawing them can be a pain, which is where Freeplane can help.
CSV File Editor NEW
CSV or comma separated values are simply plain text files capable of storing tabular data. Commas are used to distinguish between fields in a row. CSV files tend to be more widely supported than formats like Microsoft Excel’s xls. This software offers up a huge number of additional features that just aren’t available in text editors including column edit, random number generation and row numbers.
Edit simplistic spreadsheets using the CSV format with CSV File Editor
Nemo Documents
When you’re dealing with a large number of documents you really need to adopt some organisation otherwise it just becomes too messy. Nemo Documents inspects documents, images and other files. It then displays them in a calendar-like view. This more visual way of showing the organised files means that they’re far easier to browse through and located than regular folder lists.
Nitro PDF Reader
There are way too many PDF readers to choose from, but not all the freeware options are capable of creating PDFS. Well Nitro PDF is. It can fill out and save PDF forms, stamp your signature on to documents and it looks very similar to Microsoft Office. Plus there’s browser integration for opening and saving PDFs in Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Hexonic PDF Split and Merge NEW
Perform simple PDF-editing tasks without the need to crank up an unwieldy desktop publishing suite. Hexonic can split apge or sections of PDF files and merge several PDF files together into a single document. In addition you can add page numbers, headers or footers and even amend the page layout so that multiple pages are displayed on the same sheet.
Breaker NEW
When you’re at the office and in the zone, taking a break can be seen as detrimental to your working momentum. But it can be necessary to maintain productivity. Breaker help by reminding you of when you to take a breather. The software has a number of different options including the Pomodoro style, where you work for 25 minutes and take a five minute break.
Use Breaker to take regular rests for recharging during your working day
Wieldy
Manage all your tasks with the help of this to-do list manager. It’s based on the GTD (Getting things done) approach that relies on a person moving tasks out of the mind by recording them externally. This frees the mind of remmbering so that is can concentrate on undertaking those tasks. All this is taken into account when using Wieldy.
Doxillion Document Converter NEW
It’s especially annoying when somebody sends you Word document that’s been exported in the docx format if you’ve yet to upgrade to the latest edition Office. Fortunately help is at hand with Doxillion Document Converter. It can convert the file to a readable format such as a regular doc or rtf. Even more handy is its ability to convert PDF to doc.
All these great tools are part of issue 314 of PC Plus, on the shelves on 18th October 2011. Subscribe today to the paper edition and you can get it up to a week early! Subscribe to PC Plus.
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