How to Turn Your Tablet Into a Productivity-Boosting Second Screen
Tablets are great entertainment devices, but they’re not always that useful for work. If you want your tablet to be more than just a fun little toy, it really depends on the right apps, attitude, and configuration. Here’s how you can turn your tablet into a handy productivity tool.
Blast From The Past is a weekly feature on Lifehacker in which we bring old but still relevant posts to life for your reading and hacking enjoyment. This week we’re reviewing several ways to make this tablet more productive.
We’ve discussed why tablets are actually great productivity tools and how great they are for getting rid of distractions , but we’ve never discussed how you can actually optimize your iPad or Android tablet for better productivity. Your tablet is really great for quickly accessing frequently used information, whether it’s pre-programmed in your calendar or dynamically updated on the web. In this guide, we’ll take a look at how you can use multiple apps to offload simple tasks to your tablet to clean up your desktop clutter and free it up for bigger, day to day tasks.
Step one: download some easy-to-use apps
For the most part, you already have a lot of applications that you will need to be productive. Your calendar, email, address book, clock / timer, and calculator are all useful utilities that you might want to have ready. These are all great apps for quickly checking information, setting an alarm or anything else, but these apps are only so useful. There is much more you can do. Here are some suggestions.
Simplenote ( iOS ) or FlickNote ( Android ) are must-haves if you store a lot of text notes. While you are likely typing these on your computer as you get to work, it can be helpful to have a specific note with you for reference purposes. While you can look in a separate window on the desktop, it takes up a screen real estate. Calling up a note on your tablet allows you to keep the screen focus while still providing the necessary background information. If you work with a lot of spreadsheets and other office documents, you can also opt for an Office suite for iOS or Android .
Dropbox ( iOS / Android ) is very useful if you use a service to sync files between computers (or just store them in the cloud). If you are using another service, just download its application. However, many apps nowadays have Dropbox integration, so this is a great way to get files on your device. The Dropbox app itself is handy, but apps that natively support Dropbox can pick up files much faster. Either way, some kind of easy access to your files is vital if you need to quickly open something on your tablet so you can view it for reference while you work.
Skype ( iOS / Android ) or any VOIP app can dramatically transform your tablet into a phone. When you need to make quick calls, it is often much easier to just tap a name on the screen. You also have the advantage of Wi-Fi, which is slightly more stable than cellular. Although I use my phone to make calls on the go, Skype helps me a lot to stay connected while I’m working. Calls are never interrupted and communication is always much clearer. It’s also very easy to quickly answer incoming calls when my tablet’s large screen is raised and easily accessible.
Step 2. Create useful bookmarks and shortcuts
Much of the work we do today is done on the Internet, and even if they don’t exist, there are many sites that offer useful information and tools to help us in our work. Whether it’s your company’s wiki, a project management tool, or just a useful website, you can bookmark them for super-fast access. If you don’t know how to do this on your iPad, just read these instructions (or watch the video on the left). Android can add bookmarks and other shortcuts to things like quick directions by simply pressing and holding on an empty part of the home screen. This will give you the option to add the shortcut you want.
The set of shortcuts you need will be up to you, but chances are you will have several and things will start to get cluttered along with all your apps. To fix this problem, just go to the third step.
Step 3. Create a work page on the home screen
Tablets were mostly intended to be used as consumption devices, so it’s easy to get distracted by a bunch of games staring at you from the beautiful glossy screen. Plus, if you mix your productivity apps with everything else, you’ll have a hard time finding the app you want. For these reasons, it is useful to have an entire page on the home screen dedicated to completing tasks. This way, you can go to this page during the working day and come back when you’re done.
You can organize the page however you want, but the idea is to keep it nice and clean. You’ll want to choose the organization chart that works best for you, but here’s what I found works well:
- Create the top row of the apps you use most so that they are where you look first.
- Create a second row of frequently used applications as needed . You may not have many launcher apps, so don’t worry if you don’t have any.
- Create a third line of bookmarks for frequently visited sites for quicker access. If there are many, sort them into folders. Android users who use a home screen replacement app like ADWLauncher EX can also create shortcuts to shortcuts, notes, and other Gmail items for quicker access.
Obviously, iPad users are a little more limited in their ability to organize, so a multiple folder structure sometimes works best. Only you will know what is best for you, but an organization chart that prioritizes frequency of use should work for most people.
Step four: connect your computer to your tablet
While most of this tutorial focuses on using apps and bookmarks / shortcuts to quickly get useful information as needed, sometimes you will need to quickly open a website, image, or other information that doesn’t already exist. added to bookmarks. There are many ways to do this, but Pushbullet is our favorite solution for easily sending links and files between your devices, and much more.
Of course, when time demands, you can simply use your tablet as a real second display for your computer. We love Air Display the most for this, and it works on Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS. You can also turn your iPad into a hotkey machine or use it as a remote control for your computer, which can come in handy.
After all, productivity is how you use the tools at your disposal to make your job easier. Even if you use your tablet primarily for Netflix and comics, it’s a great place to offload certain tasks so you can focus and get your work done quickly.