On Computing

Helpful Apps to Consider

Joel Howell

Article by Joel Howell Newsletter Editorial Board

Posted

With thanks to the usual suspects, here are some apps that will likely help your practice.

Good Reader is an app that allows the user to annotate, modify, and edit PDF files as well as many other varieties of documents. It’s compatible with Dropbox for sending large files and allows documents to be organized by case as well. (But it does cost $4.99.)

When you’re not at the office but have a document that needs to be scanned and sent, what do you do? You download the free Office Lens app developed by Microsoft! It allows the user to take a picture of the document and then turn it into a Word file, insert a picture into note taking apps, store contact information from business cards and a lot more. It’s available for Android, Apple and Windows phones.

Asana is another useful application that allows teams of attorneys and paralegals to make edits to a document without the burden of email threads. It also allows for team management by offering due dates, task lists, reminders, and requests. It is available to both Apple and Android devices and is free for teams of up to 15.

Circleback by Circle Back Inc. is a free app that keeps up with all the contacts in your mobile or digital device. You may have dozens of contacts that are no longer valid. Circleback lets you know when a contact changes his or her number or gets a new email address. That way you’ll never have to “circle back” to retrieve their new contact information.

Sending large files via your mobile device can be a frustrating hassle that takes more time than you’d like just to send an email. WeTransfer is an app that sends up to 10GB of data quickly, allowing you to not worry about whether the entire email went through or possibly sending 3 emails just to send a file to a client. WeTransfer also allows you to share files from another app as well. It’s available on iOS and Android and is free!

SignMyPad simplifies the normally tedious process of printing a document, signing it, scanning it, and then emailing it to a client. Rather SignMyPad allows you to digitally sign the document and then send it, which is ideal for the environment and busy schedules. A bit pricey at $19.99, it’s available in Google Play and Apple.

SpiderOak is a great app for secure high confidentiality data storage. Much like Dropbox, it saves files; however SpiderOak is encrypted and is excellent for storing sensitive files. Under their Zero Knowledge Policy, the company isn’t even able to retrieve your files. SpiderOak also allows you to put the encrypted files in designated share rooms and send file links. It’s free up to the first 2 GB.


Questions or comments? Drop me an email: jwh3@mindspring.com