Working at home due to illness or to prevent contamination? These apps will give you a helping hand.
Useful home work apps
Now that many people have the flu around the change of season, or are afraid of contamination from the corona virus, they prefer to be on the safe side by working from home. Nowadays this is perfectly possible because most communication and data storage is digital. Are you working on an Apple device? Then these apps will make it even easier for you to work from home.
Also read: These are the consequences of the coronavirus for Apple
Communication with colleagues
The difficult thing about working from home is that you cannot quickly ask a colleague for something. Fortunately, there are plenty of chat apps with which you can quickly reach your colleagues. Some tips:
1. Slack
Slack focuses specifically on communication for larger groups, such as an entire company or a team within a company. Here you can send targeted private messages to colleagues as well as address a large group. You work with different channels. For example, if you want to discuss something with a certain team within a company, but don’t want to address one specific person, you can send a message via Slack to that team’s channel. A consultation can then take place in that group.
Also read: Eyeballs #14: Slack is our favorite productive chat app
2. Skype
Skype is a solution for an oral consultation. Here you can call with audio only as well as with images. You can also chat with your colleagues here. All you need is the email address or Skype username of the person you want to reach via Skype. You can also have a conversation in groups, for example if you want to attend a meeting digitally. Extra handy: in Skype you can share your screen with your conversation partner, so that you can also easily share presentations and other files.
3. FaceTime
If you both use an Apple device, FaceTime is even more convenient to consult with your colleagues than Skype. You can call your contacts directly by searching for their name, email address or phone number. The FaceTime app comes standard on your MacBook and iPhone. However, it only works if you’re signed in with an Apple ID, so make sure your coworker is also using an Apple device.
Also read: Set, disable or limit FaceTime: this is how you do it
Collaborate on projects
If you need to collaborate on a project, you and your project partners must be able to edit the same file. If you work from home, you can’t look at the same screen together. Yet that is not a problem: there are several apps with which you can work together with your project partners in the same document.
4. iWork
On your Apple device, iWork is the logical start. On a Mac, you will find this package by default in your Launchpad. That means you Pages (for word processing), numbers (for administration) and keynote (for presentations). These are easy-to-understand programs that are finely integrated into macOS. It is also quite simple with iWork to create documents and presentations that look really nice. These apps can also be used in your web browser via iCloud.
Also read: Tip: Collaborate on projects with Apple apps
5. Google Drive
With both macOS and Windows, Google Docs is a convenient way to collaborate on a file with colleagues. Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides are part of Google’s cloud service. You invite others by giving them a link to the document, or add them via email. It is then possible to work together on the same document in real time. Google’s services can even be used offline within your browser. Once you’re connected again, your work will be automatically saved to the cloud again. That way you never have to worry about not saving a file properly.
6. Notes app
Did you know you can also use Apple’s default Notes app to collaborate? Handy for to-do lists that you share with colleagues. When someone makes a change to a shared note, it’s automatically reflected on other people’s devices. With a yellow dot, the app shows when someone else is working in a note. To share a note, tap the circular icon at the top right of the screen next to the share icon. Here you choose an app to share the note and enter the desired contacts.
Also read: Tip: Collaborate in the Notes app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Shared data storage
Do you want to go back to the office the next day? Then you naturally want to be able to store your files in one place so that you can access them anytime and anywhere. Shared files should of course also be available to your colleagues. There are also various apps for saving files that make this extra easy.
7. Dropbox
In Dropbox you can store your files online. This way you always have access to it, and you don’t run the risk of losing your files if, for example, your laptop crashes. You can also see in the app what your colleagues are working on. You can see at a glance who has made changes to a file. In addition, you can easily give feedback on a shared file. When you open a preview of a file, you can leave comments or feedback at the bottom of the chat window. You can customize the Dropbox home screen to see exactly what your team is up to, or see your most important files at a glance.
Also read: 3 Ways Dropbox Makes Collaborating With Colleagues Easier
8. iCloud Drive
If you store your files in iCloud, you can find them anywhere, on any Apple device. Provided you have synchronization enabled of course. You upload files to your iCloud by opening iCloud in your web browser and simply dragging them into this window. Here too you can share documents with your colleagues. To do this, go to the file you want to share in your iCloud Drive. Right click, choose ‘share’ and then ‘add people’. An invitation will then be sent to the person in question.
Knowing more?
Curious about other useful apps to increase your productivity? On iPhoned.nl regularly read reviews and tips about useful macOS and iOS apps. To-do app Memento, for example, is a handy app to keep track of your to-do lists. The standard Reminders app has also received a number of useful new features in iOS 13.