I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to get an easy to sync workflow for my thoughts. I’ve created folders on my mac and tried various apps for the iPhone that have only separated my thinking and made it even more complex because I had to go find the correct app. Then I’d have various reincarnation of lists, I’d waste time creating and recreating.. and it was all frustrating.
I still haven’t found a perfect solution and I’ve realized I never will (nothing is perfect). As of today though I’ve found a couple things that might help me.
Awhile back I found a way to create text files on my mac super quickly. I didn’t want to worry about formatting or making a file that only one program could read. The problem was keeping it in sync on my phone.
A few weeks ago I found an app called PlainPaper that automatically syncs with Dropbox.com. Both are free. Finally! A way I can create text files either on my mac or my phone and have quick access. Three problems with that app that I’ve noticed. 1) The file is ‘recreated’ on my mac each time I make an edit on the phone. Slight bummer when it comes to keeping track of how old a file is. Darn. 2) There isn’t a way to move text files around once they’ve been created in PlainPaper. Odd, but not that big of a deal. 3) there are ads, but maybe they’ll offer an ad free version (even if I have to pay for it).
Then there is GoodReader. For as long as I can remember I’ve been using MobileStudio on my iPhone. Syncing has always been a pain. I’d heard of GoodReader a long time ago, but I liked the idea of creating things on my iPhone instead of reading only. However, GoodReader just released an update that allows you to annotate a PDF file! MobileStudio still allows me to create an image file and audio file, but I’m eager to get rid of AJI annotate as my PDF searching app. I can put all the other random files into GoodReader too and it can read them or push them around to other apps. It also allows me to reach into DropBox and download files onto to my device, and email them and such. Plus I can move pdf files from my email to my device for annotating. Great for marking up scripts! Whew!
I’m eager to see how these two apps and dropbox will help me keep my files moving around well.
Two things I don’t like about GoodReader: 1) You can create a text file, but then have to go back to change the name. Quite cumbersome, and I emailed them to tell them so. MobileStudio asked for the name first.. plus it renamed files quicker. This isn’t that big of a problem because PlainPaper is quicker to load anyway, and there I can rename text files SUPER easily. 2) you can’t move files around on DropBox. It is more of a read only environment. That’s okay, but it isn’t creating a ‘one place for all’ space like I’d hoped.
Now it will be more like; everything on my mac and dropbox and plainpaper will be up-to-date automatically, but I’ll have several ‘local’ copies of files on my iPhone. I’m still hoping this will somehow change. I really want a depository place that will act the same on my iPhone and mac and online, so I can always have my ideas and projects together all the time. GoodReader seems to update a lot, so perhaps it will change. In the meantime I’ll take the little bad with the good that this app does.
So here’s hoping for a new process that makes less work for me.