Online Productivity Archives - Page 3 of 6 - PDF Blog

How To Turn Chrome Into A Notepad

Among the many things you do online in a single day, we bet that taking down a note or two is somewhere at the top of your list. Was it for research? Recording a reference number? Brainstorming? Whatever the reason, having a scratch pad at arm’s length is a necessity.

One trick that can solve that problem—turn your browser into a note pad. It may sound odd, but it’s entirely possible. For this tip, we tried it in Chrome, and we have to admit that this is a neat little trick everyone should have handy.

All you have to do is copy and paste this single line of code into your browser’s URL bar:

data:text/html, <html contenteditable>

Then hit enter. Click on the blank tab window that shows up and start typing away. Testing it on the latest Chrome build, it worked out great. You can even bookmark the URL and call it up anytime for instant access.

Chrome Browser Notepad

This tip originally comes from Jose Jesus Perez Aguinaga, web engineer and Javascript developer, who shared this tip on his blog, Coderwall.com, a few years ago. And it still works.

Right off the bat, you can get a good idea of how this can make things easier for you while you’re on the web. As a writer, student or researcher, you can use this as a distraction free writing tool or quick text editor.

You don’t have to install a plugin or open another application. And without having to worry about any formatting frills, you can get in a good chunk of writing without having to leave the browser.

The one drawback, however, is that if you close the tab, you’ll lose all your notes. If you jot down reminders or to-do lists which you don’t need afterwards, then this shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it may even be convenient as you can skip over the usual dialog reminding you to save the file.

But if you do need those notes, then you can easily save them before closing the tab. To do so, just use Chrome’s “Save page as…” function from the menu and save it as an HTML webpage. You should then be able to access the file in any browser.

If you hated the hassle of opening up a second app just to copy-paste or record something, try this out. This little trick will help simplify the process and speed things up.

How To Sign PDF Documents With Google Docs & Offline

Sign PDF with Google Docs and PDF Editor Software

The business world is now a digital one. Professionals and users are looking to do and keep everything digital–even signing PDF documents. Users are turning to access a quick way to deal with e-signatures without having to print, sign, and re-scan contracts and forms.

There are a ton of services that can help you sign your documents, both online and offline.

In this tutorial, we show you how to sign your PDF documents offline using Able2Extract Professional PDF editor and online using Google Docs.

Continue reading →

5 Chrome Apps And Extensions Lawyers Should Be Using

Keyboard Law Technology

While it’s true that highly niched professionals like lawyers require a specific set of tools, sometimes something as simple as a Chrome add-on can be just as (or dare we say, even more?) powerful.

If you’re a lawyer looking for better, faster ways to get things done, working with Google Chrome can be a plus. Whether you’re on the web for legal research, accessing databases, or working remotely outside of the office, Chrome offers a long list of apps and extensions to help improve the way you work.

And the right ones can make a world of difference.

So take your online productivity up a notch. A couple of these Chrome apps and extensions can speed up the most common and time consuming tasks.

Collect Online Evidence With WebPreserver

When you have cases involving social media harassment, incriminating posts, or cyberstalking, it automatically means spending hours online gathering screenshots. Not only that, but your research needs to be legally admissible. Luckily, there’s an extension for that: WebPreserver.

This Chrome extension will allow you to preserve, timestamp and authorize your findings with a single click. The extension links you to a web capture system designed for law firms and agencies to instantly create legally admissible evidence.

Research More Effectively On WestlawNext With Bestlaw

This next Chrome extension is centered upon offering you an expanded toolset to improve your workflow with WestlawNext. Bestlaw claims to add the features WestlawNext forgot.

WestlawNext Research Toolbar

Image Source: Bestlaw.io

Bestlaw does this by adding a toolbar to the document you’re reading. With it, you can copy Bluebook citations, generate table of contents, jump to footnotes, look up case information on Google and Wikipedia, share documents via email or social media and more.

Use Locate A Lawyer To Quickly Find & Consult With Other Lawyers

Looking for another lawyer? Use Locate A Lawyer in your search. Developed by LawInfo.com, Locate A Lawyer can give you quick access from Chrome to its directory of pre-screened attorneys, all with verified qualifications and credentials. You can easily search by name, zip code, firm, and area of law.

Use Agilewords To Speed Up Legal Document Reviews

The review and approval process is necessarily a lengthy one at times, especially for legal documents that need feedback, editing, updating, and approval. For lawyers who need to collaborate on legal document, there’s Agilewords, the document reviewing tool you can access directly within Chrome.

This tool provides you with features such as real-time collaboration, secure uploading and hosting, revision tracking, online/offline editing, and the ability to audit your document’s access.

Instantly Look Up Citations From Webpages With Jureeka!

When researching a case, you may come across web pages with legal citations that appear throughout the article that aren’t hyperlinked. This Chrome extension can save you that hassle of toggling back and forth, looking up citation sources. Jureeka! will turn those legal citations into hyperlinks as long as it is on a web page. So even if the author of the article does not link the citation, Jureeka! does.

7 Google Drive Tips To Make Online Research Easier

When you need to learn about something, the Internet is the number one resource to scout out. And given the amount of information you can find online, no matter what area, industry, or topic you’re researching, a huge chunk of your time will be spent recording the research you find.

As you can imagine, combined with the web pages you have to go through, this can slow you dow big time. That’s why some users like to keep their workflow online with tools like Google Drive. But if you’re using Google Drive to quickly record data, then your biggest challenge lies in working between your research and how you use Google Drive itself.

If you’re writing for an online publication, are drafting a research paper, or are reporting on industry trends, accessing the information you record is perhaps one of your main priorities. To make things easier, try a few of the Google Drive tips below to keep your research going smoothly.

1. Perform A Google Drive Search from Chrome

Because you can need a document at any given time, it’s important to be able to pull up the right file in an instant. Google Drive Quick Search makes it easy to start a search through your Drive directly from the Chrome URL address bar. Type “drive” in the address bar, your keywords and query, then hit enter. You’ll be directed to your drive with the related results ready and waiting for you to sift through.

2. Save Your Text to Google Drive

Save Text to Google Drive does exactly what its name implies. This Chrome extension makes it super easy to export heavily dense text webpage research from the web directly to your Google Drive.

Save text to Google Drive

Once installed, simply highlight the text you’re interested in, activate the extension by clicking on it in your toolbar or extension menu, and click on the Save button. The extension will create a document with the text in the Drive you’re logged into.

3. Quickly Access Folders and Create Google Docs From Your Toolbar

To access folders and separate files instantly, simply bookmark the URL of the file or document on your toolbar. Open the file or folder in Google Drive and bookmark the URL you see in the address bar. Admittedly, this is a simple tip, but extremely handy if you like keeping things at your fingertips.

Creating Google Docs Instantly

4. Search Your Google Drive Directly From Gmail

Don’t waste time going back and forth between your Google Drive and Gmail. You can do both at the same time by adding the Apps Search for Gmail extension. This is handy for when you’re either exchanging emails regarding your research project or are working with colleagues.

It will let you extend your search to Google Docs to fish out the files you’re looking for. You can add the extension by going into Settings>Labs from your Gmail. Then select to enable it for your account. Don’t forget to hit the “Save Changes” button at the bottom.

5. Edit PDF Text Uploaded To Google Drive

Because a lot of research comes in the PDF format, you may want to pay attention to the “Convert Text from Uploaded PDF and image files” setting. Have you been ignoring it? Well, it’s time to start paying attention to it. This setting allows you to convert PDF to text which you can then edit within a Google Doc.

Convert text from PDF

Go to the gear icon Google Drive and access the drop down menu. Then go to Upload Settings. From there, put a check mark in the “Convert Text from Uploaded PDF and image files” option by clicking on it. Select the Document language. You can have this permanently turned on, but if you want to use it selectively, keep the “Confirm settings before each upload” option checked.

6. Save Images Directly to Google Drive

Who doesn’t clip web pages when researching online? Good news is you can do it with Google Drive. Save to Google Drive can serve as a simple web clipping tool, allowing you to instantly save content from the web to a Google Drive folder. Once you have it installed, go to the page you’re interested in and activate it by clicking on its button to the right of the address bar. It will then save your content in .PNG format.

7. Access Google Drive And Other Google Services From Chrome

Here’s a great Chrome extension for pushing your research productivity to the limits. Black Menu for Google allows you to access files on your Drive and to your other Google services in a side bar right within Chrome.

Perfect for Google addicts with research spread across different services. You can get the Black Menu extension from the Chrome Web Store.

Got any Google Drive tips of your own? We’d love to hear them! Add them in the comments below and let us know how they helped you deal with your web research.

How To Use Google Docs And Sheets Add-ons For Writing Papers

If you’re a student, you’re probably always on the lookout for ways to cut costs wherever possible. And a free online word processor like Google Docs, is a popular alternative. It’s where you go when you need to share, edit and store documents.

But do you always have what you need when working with Google Docs? Now that Google Drive offers Google Docs and Sheets add-ons, you do. They offer more functionality and flexibility when creating complex documents online. If you haven’t tried these out yet, you should.

The life of a student is made up of a lot of information, and you need to be able to break down, organize, write, and carefully cite your arguments. With Google Docs and Sheets add-ons, you can now accomplish almost everything needed to write a paper, from start to finish.

Here’s a quick guide on what we thought were the handiest add-ons for the job.

Plan Out Your Argument With Gliffy Diagrams

One of the first steps for creating any paper is the outline. For an essay of any notable length, you need to map out your arguments clearly and effectively. In Google Docs, you can use the Gliffy diagrams add-on where you can easily create a flow chart or mind map on your topic.

Image Credit: Gliffy.com

The add-on takes you to the Gliffy site where you can start creating a simple map out of your ideas and then access or insert it right into Google Docs to keep yourself on track. With a free account, you can create up to 5 diagrams.

Use Texthelp Study Skills To Sift Through Your Notes

When it comes time to sift through class notes and first drafts, it can be frustrating to have to go through them all one by one and extract what you need. But by using the Texthelp Study Skills highlighting tools add-on, you can speed up the sorting process significantly.

Texthelp Highlighting Tools

These highlighting tools allow you to highlight important points and then collect that highlighted text into a new document. This is handy as you can then start filling out your paper around the text. No need to copy and paste or toggle back and forth. An extremely helpful add-on for integrating your research notes with the actual writing of your paper.

Get EasyBib To Create Your Bibliography

As you write and incorporate your research and quotations, use EasyBib to create a bibliography. This eliminates the tedious task of manually documenting sources, especially when they can come in every possible type of format.

You can cite sources into MLA, APA, or Chicago style directly in the side bar. Easybib makes it as easy as pasting in the title, ISBN, or URL of your source.At the end, clicking on the Generate Bibliography button will add it neatly to the end of your paper. This way you can focus on the writing instead of the details of your citations.

Have ProWriting Aid Double Check The Text

When you’re ready to edit and proof read your finished draft, make sure you catch all errors by using the ProWriting Aid add-on.

ProWritingAid Text Checker

It not only performs instant checks for grammar, but also checks consistency, plagiarism and overused words. ProWriting Aid will provide you with a full report in the side bar. And from there, you can edit and rewrite your text as needed.

Consult Thesaurus To Give Your Writing A Boost

As an added measure, the Thesaurus add-on is helpful when adding the finishing touches to your writing. Just select a word in your document and activate the add-on. A side-bar will pop up with suggestions right within Google Docs, which is more convenient than having to Google around for another word in another window.

By no means do you have to pigeon-hole yourselves to these add-ons. All the offered add-ons are general enough to help with any writing need you may have. So check them out and let us know which ones help you the most.