Ten Free Web Apps to Increase Productivity at the Office

Anyone who has worked in an office environment (especially larger ones) knows that it's a miracle anything gets done on time or even at all. Here's 10 free web apps you can start using immediately to increase productivity, improve collaboration, get things done, and slay the Rancor- all in a day's work.

1. Drop.io - Simple file hosting

Have email file size restrictions? Create "drops" with semi-custom domain names and send them out. Bonus features include password protection, date when the drop will be deleted, unique drop email address, phone numbers for voice mails that get stored on the drop, conference calls, the list goes on. Check out my review of drop.io here.

2. Zenbe Lists - Take Your To-do List to the Web

Create multiple to-do lists with the speed of a mongoose. Add tasks, set dates, get it done. Plus there's a free iPhone app that syncs with your account, direct link to download here.

3. 24im - Enterprise-wide Group Chat

Decent alternative to Campfire. Separates chat rooms out by department, allows for guest chat and includes 1GB of file storage as well.

4. Twiddla - An Online Meeting Playground

If your business does international work, or you have many offices across the country, or even if you can never get anyone in the same meeting room at the same time, Twiddla solves those problems by providing a place to chat, draw, and show web pages to show others. No sign up required. Video walkthrough and review here.

5. Posti.ca - Digitize Your Sticky Notes

If your desk (or desktop) looks like it's been peppered with a Post-it note shotgun, give Posti.ca a try. Review and walkthrough here.

6. Google Presentations - Quit Screwing Around with Decks

Highly under utilized is the presentation capability that Google Docs has. If you're in an organization that has many people who all have to have their say on what to put into a deck or Powerpoint, don't email it around and create a version tracking nightmare- just share it with everyone on Google Docs. When you have the content nailed down, export it as a Powerpoint file and then make it look pretty.

7. Backboard - Get Quick Feedback and Approval

Another thing that can blow a deadline is just simply getting approval from the right people. Backboard allows you to collect and track feedback and get approval on images, web sites and text. Review and walkthrough here.

8. Gliffy - Create and Share Charts

When a bunch of people all need to be able to see the latest version of a flow or org chart, don't bother sending it around to everyone, only having to change it and send it around again. Make your chart in Gliffy. It's not as robust as some offline programs like OmniGraffle, but it's hard to beat free.

9. HitMeLater - A Snooze Button for your Email

There's no way you're going to remember every damn email that gets sent to you during the day, especially if you don't even have time to check your emails. Just forward an email to "10min@hitmelater.com" or even "wednesday@hitmelater.com" and you'll get that same email resent to you at your designated time. Review and walkthrough here.

10. Privnote - When You Don't Want A Papertrail

Let's face it, sometimes things need to get communicated, but you can't have them being read more than once, or by the wrong person. Privnote allows you to send private notes that self-destruct after reading. Review and walkthrough here.

Got any others apps that are useful at the office?

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Twiddla: Get Your Virtual Meeting On

With companies and personnel being dispersed across the globe, it's a miracle anything gets done...ever. In order to communicate certain points, often one needs to be able to physically show someone with a pen and paper what an idea looks like. However, it can often be horrifically difficult to get the right people in the right room at the same time. Twiddla provides a space for detailed meetings and brainstorms to happen regardless of location.

Twiddla is a virtual whiteboard and meeting room that allows you to draw, load web pages for others to view, and voice chat- all asynchronously and in real-time. If used right, you can almost accomplish everything you normally would in a meeting that's face-to-face.

Check out the walkthrough (direct link to video):

How functional is the app?	8
How intuitive is it to use?	8
How simple is the design?	8
How innovative is the app?	8
Overall	8

I feel like this app is only three-quarters of the way there. Excellent idea, however, the execution is somewhat half-baked. The chat system could be more robust, the drawing portion should be vastly improved and be easier to illustrate points, they should have a large number of stock images on hand, and a user should be able to download the full whiteboard that you have spent time creating to your own machine, not just to your Twiddla dashboard.

I think they've added some nice functionality since launch, but haven't cleaned up and debugged fully. I had some problems just adding in a simple text box. Also, as popular as AJAX and DHTML is, support should be provided for this while viewing a loaded website.

But, I don't know of many other sites out there that supply this sort of functionality, so for what it's worth, this app is damn good.

Do you think this would be a viable replacement for a face-to-face meeting?

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Backboard: A feedback management system

For anyone whose ever worked a day in their life, you know that getting the right feedback and approval from the right people can be an enourmous pain. This pain is then worsened when revision after revision has to be made by multiple people, and often revisions are revisions of someone elses revisions and so forth.

Backboard essentially solves this problem, or at least, will cause a few less headaches. A "backboard" is a landing page, a unique URL (with optional password protection), that displays a graphic, website, or block of text, and allows for people to leave and track comments as well as "approve" of whatever the backboard is centered around.

It's as simple as that really. The only thing you get for having a paid account is the ability to have a backboard be "invite only", using email as a way of verifying whether or not a user can leave feedback. Feature comparison here.

Have a look at the walkthrough:

Does the app fulfill its intended purpose?	9
How clean and simplistic is the UI?	10
Is the app forward thinking and innovative?	9
How re-usable is the app?	10
Overall	9.5

I think Backboard does a good job of solving a big problem that many teams have, and this app almost makes the Perfect 10 cut. However, I just feel like the commenting system could have been a little more feature rich. Perhaps throw in a tagging system similar to Flickr that allows for specific areas of an image/site to be mapped out and commented.

But I think repeat use is very high for this app, and I myself will be back to use this again for sure. Check out the backboards I created here, and leave a comment to try it out if you'd like.

Drop.io: My new online file storing obsession

My current obsession in the workplace is drop.io. Wow, why hasn't someone thought of this before. I'm a huge fan of office productivity tools, and drop.io is perfect for companies who a) don't have an internal file server, or b) have a max file size on their outgoing emails. Plus, its password protected. Plus, there's no registration required. Plus, it's free.

Any downsides? As with any file hosting app, obviously there are restrictions for non-paying users (max free upload size is 100mb), but this app couldn't be more user friendly. Anytime I don't have to hand out my email for verification purposes is a time when I break out the champagne.

A huge feature is the availability to choose your own sub-domain on drop.io where your files will be stored. This sub-domain acts as a directory of sorts where all of your files will be hosted, so a user can select a few files and drop them all in the same spot, under a password (no user name required) and viola, instant protected file nougat-y goodness.

And wow, is the user interface wonderful. A proper UI should be intuitive, and never require explanation to anyone. Drop.io accomplishes this flawlessly, even co-workers with little application experience should be able to get the hang of this site without an explanation or how to use it.

Here's the walk through:

Does the app fulfill its intended purpose?	10
How clean and simplistic is the UI?	10
Is the app forward thinking and innovative?	10
How re-usable is the app?	10
Overall	10

Yes, a perfect score.

Drop.io is pushing the limits of what it means to host files online. Not enough space? They have a snazzy calculator that caters to incredibly customized file storing solutions; ie. 1 yr * 1 gb * 1 use = $10. Yes, I can get more space for free one other sites, but for this sort of functionality with the added benefit of password protecting your private data, I might just skip dinner tonight and get a drop.io account.