3 Nifty Time Saving Tools (Free Too…)
By Anna Johnson on October 7th, 2010Automating repetitive tasks is a great time-saver and there are some terrific – and free – tools on the Internet to help you do so. Here are three tools I use DAILY to save time and which I highly recommend…
TypeItIn lets you create groups of buttons you can use to automatically type text or populate forms on the web and in software applications.
If, for example, you’re always filling in forms with your name and email address, you can create a group in TypeItIn called, say, ‘Name and Email’. Then you create a button for your name and a button for your email address, typing your name in the field for the Name button and your email address in the field for the Email button.
Now, whenever, you’re faced with a form, you just load TypeItIn and press the Name button to populate the form with your name, and the Email button to populate the form with your email address.
Another great way to use TypeItIn is to store different signatures, descriptions of your business (if you’re constantly filling in profiles, etc) and even HTML code you might find yourself posting on a regular basis.
Now, TypeItIn is not password protected and is therefore NOT appropriate for storing confidential information such as passwords. Which brings me to…
Password Safe lets you create and store an encrypted list of usernames and passwords. As long as you can remember one password in order to open up Password Safe itself, you can then use the tool to store all the account details you may have e.g. your username and password combinations for social networks, membership sites, affiliate accounts, and so on. A particularly nifty feature of Password Safe is its ability to, at the press of a button, generate passwords for you.
TimeLeft doesn’t just automate the task of tracking time; it also helps to manage and optimize your time.
I’ve found that dividing my working day into 25 minute time intervals helps to keep me accountable for what I do, and to inspire me to be as productive as possible. But the trick is to use a timer (thanks to Ed Dale for that suggestion) and TimeLeft is perfect for this.
Why use TimeLeft rather than ‘watch the clock’? Because TimeLeft doesn’t misjudge the time (as we, flawed, human beings often do) and also takes away the cognitive pressure of having to constantly check the time.
