Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better, Third Edition

Hack 37: Set Up a Ubiquitous Note-Taking Inbox Across Devices

Level Medium

Platform All

Cost Free

Ubiquitous capture — that is, the ability to snag any thought or idea any time and any where it happens to crop up — is a key component to nearly every productivity philosophy. You want to capture those fleeting ideas before they’re gone, and you don’t want to waste brain power obsessing over remembering them until you can write them down somewhere.

When you have a great idea, want to add something to your “Gifts for E” list, or think of a great opening sentence to that paper you’re writing, you want to capture it quickly and painlessly no matter what you’re doing. Pen and paper works, but if you’re technology-inclined, you want something you can access from your PC, laptop, tablet, or smart phone — and something that can seamlessly sync between all those input devices.

Sync Plain-Text Notes Anywhere with Simplenote

Simplenote (http://simplenoteapp.com) is a web application that does one simple thing extremely well: creating, editing, and managing as many plain text notes as your heart could desire. It has an open API, which means that third-party developers can create (and have created) applications on any platform that sync with Simplenote — making it particularly well suited for ubiquitous capture.

Here’s how to get up and running with Simplenote:

1. Visit http://simplenoteapp.com and create a new account.

2. Sign into Simplenote’s web interface. You’ll see a two-paned interface ...