Snip.ly is a tool that allows users to easily capture and share snippets of text, images, or videos from websites. It can save hours of repetitive typing by automatically inserting saved snippets. The document provides a summary of over 50 desktop productivity tools for communication, efficiency, focus, project management, writing and editing, photo editing, social media, web development, and marketing that the authors have found useful.

1. 50+ Desktop Productivity Tools
You Can’t Live Without
By Darren Jansen & Gisel Olivares

2. Introduction
● If you…
○ Hate wasting time with unnecessary busywork
because you want to balance your time on, not
just work, but also the people who matter...
○ Strive for efficiency with every task...
Using the right tools is a key part of all that!
So since we care about you here at IVANNOVATION, keep
reading for some of the top desktop productivity tools
that we use.

3. Our Favorite
Productivity Tools

4. Click on any of the
following to go to a
specific section:
● Communication
● Efficiency
● Focus
● Project Management
● Writing, Editing, &
Grammar
● Photo Editing & Photos
● Social Media
● Web Development
● Marketing
● Info & Data
● Scheduling
● Etc.

5. Communication
Translation professionals are also
communication professionals.
To make sure we communicate
effectively here at IVANNOVATION we
like to make sure that we are sharing
our views, company information, and
insight on the right platforms.

6. Slack
Slack is a messaging tool with
message threads organized in
private and public channels.
Messages themselves can be
commented on so that message
threads can be focused on single
topics rather than rambling over
various topics.

7. WebEx
● WebEx by Cisco is
a web conferencing
service.
● You can send an
email with a link
to a contact.
● Clicking the link
will log the
contact into the
call. Source: WebEx

8. WebEx Continued...
● They can choose to
use a telephone or
the computer
microphone and
speaker to join in.
● Users can share
their screens and
text chat as well.
● It’s an excellent
and reliable
service.
Source: WebEx

9. ● An alternative to WebEx is join.me.
● The great thing about join.me is that it
has a free tier for those who want to
share screens without parting with their
hard earned cash.
Join.Me

10. GMass
● GMass is a mass email, mail
merge, and follow-up email
service built to run in
Gmail.
● It even allows you to track
opens and clicks.
● We’ve only started
experimenting with this since
we usually use MailChimp for
our email list.
● But we love the convenience
of having a mass email tool
in Gmail.
● Finally, GMass is free for up
to 50 emails per day.

11. Efficiency
● We all hate to waste time on repetitive tasks.
● The great thing about technology these days is that so
many repetitive tasks have become unnecessary.
● Some of the following tools help you to save moments
here and there by eliminating repetitive typing, and
others help you to link your web services together so
that they communicate with each other seamlessly.

12. Gmail Canned Responses
● Gmail Canned Responses is
a Gmail Labs feature that
you have to enable.
● Click on the gear icon at
the top right in Gmail.
● Then click “Settings” and
then “Labs.”
● Finally, you should see
Canned Responses.

13. Gmail Canned Responses Continued...
● After you write an email that
you think you will send to
people more than once, click
“save” in Canned Responses.
● Later, instead of writing the
same email again, go to
Canned Responses, and choose
the email from the “Insert”
list.
● Make sure to NOT click
“Delete” instead of “Insert!”

14. TextExpander
TextExpander allows you to save snippets of
text along with shortcuts.
When you type the shortcut, the program will
automatically insert the entire text.
This tool can save hours of your time.

15. PhraseExpress
PhraseExpress is a feature-rich
tool like TextExpander.
Useful features include a
clipboard history tool, a document
generator, & a macro recorder.
Payment is on the honor system; it
can be downloaded for free, but
then the user can pay for it after
a trial period.

16. IFTTT Zapier
● IFTTT (IF This Then That)
allows users to connect their
various services so that they
work together.
● For example, you can use IFTTT
to back up any photos you are
tagged in on Facebook to your
iOS Photos album.
● Another example, automatically
save new iOS contacts to your
Google Contacts.
Zapier works like
IFTTT. Connect
various apps and web
services so that
they work together.

17. Focus
Staying focused is essential
for any professional.
Whether it’s a noisy office
or a noisy home or just the
big old noisy world,
sometimes we need tools to
help us focus on the task at
hand.

18. ● Brave blocks ads on
the Internet.
● It helps you focus,
but more
importantly, it
makes some websites
much faster.
Brave Browser

19. SoundCloud
● Use SoundCloud to make lists
of favorite songs and then
stream them.
● It can help you to focus and
to block out distracting
noises.

20. ● myNoise provides custom background
noise for focusing at work,
relaxing at home, and/or sleeping.
● Noises include tonal drones, rain
on a tin roof, a railroad, and a
purring cat.
● What’s more, the user can adjust
various elements in the sound too,
for example, adjust the base or
increase the intensity of the
rain.
MYNOISE

21. PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
When teams work together
on projects, it’s easy
to get into “he said,
she said” mayhem.
The following tools help
teams organize their
efforts with top
efficiency and insight
into project
information.

22. Asana
Asana is a system of to-do
lists designed for groups
rather than individuals.
It provides workflow and
team solutions, used to
track your team’s work and
manage projects.
The screen is divided into
three panes.

23. Asana Continued...
On the left is the list of projects.
In the middle is the lists of tasks for that project.
Finally, in the right pane is the information about that
task, including subtasks.

24. Confluence
● Confluence, by Atlassian,
is like a system of word
processing documents
optimized for managing
teams and sharing
information.
● It’s ideal for keeping all
the pertinent information
for projects both before
and after completion of
the project.

25. Confluence
● It also makes a great
tool for creating
guides and handbooks
for employees to refer
to.

26. Jira
● JIRA is for assigning and tracking tasks.
● It’s perfect for teams that use the Agile
method.
● Although it was designed for computer
developers, other types of teams can enjoy
it as well.

27. Trello
● Trello is another
project management
system, that looks like
a whiteboard with sticky
notes posted on it.
● Each sticky note can
represent an issue or
task.
● Each card can have its
own discussion thread.

28. TrelloContinued...
● The main drawback is also its
strength; it’s that it’s
unstructured.
○ Any structure in the system must be imposed by
the user, making it a little intimidating to
start using to organize your projects.

29. Writing, Editing & Grammar
Here at IVANNOVATION, we do a lot of writing, but we don’t
sharpen many pencils. In other words, we use a lot of online
and desktop tools to increase the speed and quality of our
writing. Here are just a few...

30. NotePad++
● Notepad++ is a
lightweight code
editor, opening almost
instantly.
● It’s perfect for
creating .txt files.
● You will always be able
to view TXT files even
after DOCX has become
obsolete.
● We often use it to strip all
formatting from text.
● And it’s completely free!

31. ● Simplenote lives up to its name.
● We started using it as an easy way to pass text from an
iPhone to a PC.
● But before long we started drafting all our articles with
Simplenote in the browser, along with Dragon dictation.
● It even keeps a history of all your notes!
Simplenote

32. Dragon
● Dragon by Nuance is a dictation software.
● We use it to compose emails and write blog articles.
● Dragon is worth paying the $70-100 price tag!
● It is much more accurate in our experience than Google
and Apple’s dictation tools.
● To try it for free, download Dragon Dictation from the
Apple App Store.

33. ● Grammarly is an “English language writing-enhancement
platform” not only proofreads your work, but they also
offer plagiarism-detection resources to check through
more than 250 grammar rules.
● An extension can also be added to your browser.
● This writing app was built by linguists and language
lovers.
● It detects and fixes intricate writing mistakes without
having to go back and re-read everything.
Grammarly

34. Hemingway App
● The Hemingway app
helps with grammar,
spelling, and
readability.
● It is available
offline when needed.
● Sentences that are too
long are highlighted
in yellow.
● Sentences that are
difficult to read are
highlighted in red.

35. Hemingway AppContinued...
● The text is formattable and can be exported to MS Word or
other editors.
● It has one-click integrations with the Medium platform
and any WordPress blog so that you can easily publish a
live post or a draft.
● Highlights on Hemingway can also be sent to colleagues.

36. Writefull
● Writefull comes as a browser extension as well as a
desktop app.
● Basically, if you’re not sure how to use a particular
vocabulary word, you can enter it into the search bar and
immediately find, not only a definition of the word but
thousands of example sentences using the word.
● It’s helpful for anyone, but especially for a second
language learner.

37. Google News
● Before Writefull existed, we used Google News for
basically the same purpose as Writefull.
● Sometimes we wanted to see examples of how professional
writers used a particular word or phrase, and we would
search for that word or phrase on Google News for
thousands of examples.
● Google News lacks some of the features that Writefull
has, but it does show you the entire context of the word
that you search for rather than just one sentence or part
of the sentence like Writefull does.

38. Titlecapitalization.com
Just paste your article or book title into
the text field on this site, and it will
capitalize it correctly for you.
That’s all!

39. Photo Editing & Photos
When you spend hours writing something useful for your
customers, it’s discouraging if no one ever reads it.
Eye-catching images can make the difference between
your content getting clicks or getting yawns.
In the following slides are some tools that we use to
make our materials more visually appealing.

40. Canva
● Canva allows you to
easily put together
beautiful designs and
documents you can use
on social media or as
templates for your
resume or
presentations.
● Just choose a layout
and get started.

41. CANVA Continued...
● There are millions of images to choose from, photo
filters, free icons and shapes, and hundreds of fonts.
● The tool is available not only on the Web but on iPad and
iPhone as well.
● Once you’re done with a design, it’s yours to download
and share how you please.

42. Pablo
With Buffer’s new multimedia
feature, Pablo, you can now also
create your own content with the
perfect size and format to share
on any social media platform you
wish to post to.
It allows you to edit the
typography with more than 25
different fonts, and choose from
over 50,000 images to work with.

43. Pexels
● We always make sure to use our own
pictures or photos that are licensed
under the Creative Commons Zero
(CC0), such as those from Pexels.
● Over 30,000 free high quality and
completely free stock photos.
● Tagged for easy search and
approximately 3,000 new
high-resolution images are added
every month.

44. PicMonkey
Don’t know how to use Photoshop? No worries!
With PicMonkey, you can edit or touch up
images online for free and quickly create
graphic designs and collages with its design
tools.
Their best features are found in the paid
premium version, which includes exclusive
effects, “Primo” touch-up tools, and
“extra-fabulous” fonts.
Source: PicMonkey

45. Pixabay is where we get most of our high-resolution photos.
The site offers royalty free high-quality images, over
940,000 free stock photos, vectors, art illustrations, and
videos that you can use anytime anywhere.
Attribution is not required when using their images because
they are made available free of copyrights under the
Creative Commons CC0.

46. Unsplash FA2PNG
For more free,
high-resolution
photos we also turn
to Unsplash, which
was founded three
years ago as a
Tumblr blog.
FA2PNG creates PNG
images of all the
icons from Font
Awesome.
You can adjust the
size and color and
then download the
icon.

47. Social Media
Social media can be a black hole for time.
You can fritter your days away checking for “likes” on your
profiles.
The same goes for professionals who manage social media for their
brands.
Taking your words and images and posting them one-by-one on all your
profiles and then checking for engagement one-by-one is a Sisyphean
task.
In the following slides are some tools that make social media
management a lot more efficient.

48. Hootsuite
● With the Hootsuite
console, you can manage
all your social media
accounts in one place.
● From scheduling tweets to
interacting with
customers, HootSuite does
it all.
● There is even a “HootSuite
Academy” to help new users
get acclimated to the
complex environment.

49. Buffer
● Buffer has some of the same functions as HootSuite.
● It allows you to schedule posts to go out on social media
automatically.
● One of the only drawbacks is that with the free version,
you have a limit on how many posts you can schedule in
your queue.
● Buffer has a great blog that often offers free social
media templates and tips.
● While browsing the web, you can add content you find
online to your queue through browser extensions and
mobile apps.

50. Hashtagify.Me
Want to know what hashtags related to your
market are trending?
Use Hashtagify to research the appropriate
hashtags to use in your marketing messages.

51. Web Development
Developing a website and managing it can seem like a
lot of work.
But, with productivity tools, you can not only create
a website easily, but keep track of the site’s
analytics and SEO, and help your website grow.
Keep reading for some tools we use to simplify our
lives when it comes to the IVANNOVATION website:

52. WordPress
● WordPress is an open source software that helps you
create websites.
● It started as a platform for bloggers, but it turned into
a full-fledged content management system.
● Now it’s surrounded by a vibrant ecosystem of themes and
plugins that can help you make your website look and act
just about any way you want.

53. Clicky
● This tool has similar features to Google Analytics and
Google Search Console.
● Clicky’s user interface a little less intimidating than
Google Analytics, and it also includes many features that
Google Analytics lacks.
● With Clicky you can see detailed information about every
visitor that is visiting your site in real time, view
heat maps, and more.

54. Sumo
Sumo is an incredibly easy way
to set up lead generation forms
on your website.
No need for any knowledge of
HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
You can get the basic set up for
free, but to set up the tools to
automatically send leads to your
CRM, you’ll need to pay for it.

55. Mozbar
● This handy browser extension will tell you
the page authority, domain authority, and
the number of inbound links for any page
you visit.
● Mozbar is a must-have for all who want to
analyze the SEO of pages they visit.

56. Marketing
No company is complete without
marketing!
Some may find marketing to be
complex and time-consuming, and
the tools to go along with it
on the pricier side.
But, we promise you, that it
doesn’t have to be any of those
things.
Save time, money, and a
headache or two with the
following tools.

57. Zoho
● We mainly use Zoho for
its CRM.
● But its services run the
gamut from CRM, to mail,
to accounting, to DIY app
development.
● We’ve been pleased with
how Zoho’s CRM is easy to
use, visually pleasing,
and just works.

58. Hunter
● Use Hunter to find
people’s email
addresses.
● Hunter searches the
web for publicly
available information
about people
including email
address, phone
number, social media
profiles.

59. HunterContinued...
● If it cannot find the email address for the
individual you are looking at, it can find
the most common email pattern used by
people at that company and then give you
the best guess of that person’s email
address.

60. Snip.ly
● Leave a call to
action on web pages
that you share on
social media with
Snip.ly.
● When you find an
article that you’d
like to share on
social media, paste
it into Snip.ly.

61. Snip.lyContinued...
● Snip.ly will shorten the URL, and when
people click on that shortened URL, they
will see your call to action at the bottom
of the page.
● Some websites will not let you use this
tool, but most will.

62. Mailchimp
● MailChimp needs no introduction.
● It is a beautifully designed, easy to use
email marketing tool.
● If you have a list of subscribers,
MailChimp will help you communicate with
them and give you insights into the
performance of your messages.

63. Info & Data
Gathering information and
data you need is one thing.
Keeping it organized is
another.
But, you no longer have to
separate the two with
productivity tools that help
you keep your notes in one
place, share important
details with others
effortlessly, and save
noteworthy news articles and
curated content for later.

64. Evernote
● Evernote allows you to take, share, and
cultivate your ideas through any device.
● Once you create a note, it’s always
available, no matter what device you’re
on.
● You can even search for handwritten
words that you’ve taken a snap of and
saved in Evernote.
● It also allows you to share ideas with
co-workers in a group notebook for ease
of collaboration.

65. Pocket
● Ever see an article that you want to read but don’t have
time to finish?
● Save it in Pocket and come back to it anytime.
● You can save just about anything in the pocket for later
use.
● It’s great for writers that want to save source material
to take notes from and refer to in their writing.

66. Dropbox
● Cloud storage and backup
service.
● Dropbox is an integral tool
we use to share documents
with everyone in the
organization.
● It can also be used to
request large files from
other people.
Source: Dropbox

67. Google Docs & Sheets
● We use Google apps, so Google Docs, Google sheets, etc.
all integrate so well with each other that we use them
constantly.
● Unfortunately, when we are traveling in China all these
services are blocked.
● And using them through VPNs are painfully slow.
● But as long as your work doesn’t lead you through China,
these tools from Google will make themselves
indispensable to your business.

68. Scheduling
We have discussed the scheduling of social media posts, but
how about scheduling meetings?
This can be a dreadful and annoying process, especially when
you’re going back and forth with someone, trying to find the
perfect time to schedule a call/Skype or in-person meeting
that works best for all parties involved.
Either of the next two tools is the perfect solution to that
problem.

69. Google Calendar
● Google Calendar is a free Google service that helps you
keep track of all your important events in one place.
● You can even download the iOS or Android app to have
access to it on your phone.
● You can create and edit events and share your calendar
with others, as well as add reminders to events with the
options of editing type and time.

70. Google Calendarcontinued...
● Other users can be invited to events by editing the
visibility of your calendars, like birthday calendars.
● If your work team all have Google accounts, their birth
dates can all be inputted into your calendar.
● A country-specific calendar will also display holidays
and special occasions each month.

71. Calendly
● How many messages back-and-forth does it take to finally
find a time that works for two people or more?
● Just looking through your calendar and then telling your
contact all the times you’re available is extremely
time-consuming.
● Enter Calendly. Just share your personal Calendly link
with your contacts, and they can see all your free time
slots at-a-glance.
● They choose one, and you both get a confirmation email
for the meeting time.

72. ETC.
Last, but
definitely not
least, we have a
couple of more
tools for you to
make your work life
simpler, so you
have more time and
brain space for the
things that really
matter!

73. LastPass
● LastPass stores
passwords in a
safe way so you
never forget
them.
● You don’t even
have to try to
remember them
in the first
place!

74. LastPassContinued...
● You’re also able to share logins with
others, without having to share the actual
password.
● It can be used on any device and only the
master password must be remembered, while
all other passwords are stored.

75. The Great Suspender
● “The Great
Suspender” is a
lightweight chrome
extension to help
reduce chrome’s
memory footprint
for users that
like to have too
many tabs open at
the same time.

76. The Great SuspenderContinued...
● This extension will automatically unload each tab while
retaining its favicon and title text.
● A tab can be restored by clicking anywhere on the page
when it is needed.
● This reduces the number of dom elements on the page and
ensures no memory leaks or excessive JavaScripts are
running.

77. Upwork
Use Upwork to find, hire, collaborate with,
and pay freelancers.
Check it out to find writers, designers,
developers, and more.

78. WriteURL
● WriteURL is a simple online text editor that requires no
registration and no password.
● When you click on “New Document” it creates a text
document online with a unique URL.
● You can then share either the read-write URL for
collaborators or the read-only URL for viewers.
● After you have spent hours creating a document with
WriteURL, don’t forget to copy down the URL of your
document somewhere!

79. That’s all for now!
These are some of our favorite tools that we use every day.
They help us communicate with each other, get work done,
reach out to leads, save our stuff, and more.
What are your favorite tools? What tools make your life
easier?
Leave us a comment, and we will share some of our favorite
suggestions from you on our blog.