Question: What software is absolutely essential to you

Posted by Gary Carson
Aug 2, 2011 at 03:40 PM

The only truly indispensable information-management program I own would be OneNote. I’ve been using it for years to store information I need to save long-term and have built up some massive notebooks. OneNote will do just about everything.

I know the original question was about software, but I’ll interpret that to include hardware as well. The best productivity tools I own are hardware-related.

1. Multiple monitors. Using a second monitor is so efficient that I can’t imagine working without one.

2. Voice recorders. I carry one around with me all the time and use it to dictate notes, memos, task lists, reminders, etc. I record daily wake-up messages and play them back while I’m shaving every morning. It’s fantastically simple and efficient.

Getting back to software, Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred is another indispensable program. I’ve been using my recorder more and more for brainstorming, creating outlines and rough drafts, taking research notes, etc. If I’m dictating something I want to save, I’ll dictate punctuation, transcribe the recording into Word or Dragonpad, then save the transcript into OneNote.

I’d switch to dictation for everything if I could find a good application for searching audio files. So far, I haven’t been able to find one.