If there is one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has thought us in the past few months, it is that there is so much more we could do from the comfort of our homes than we initially thought. With the entire world essentially on lockdown, people all over the globe have come to a life-changing realization ─ you can do a lot at home with just four things: stable electricity, internet connection, and a working computer and the right software. With just these four things, you can do basically anything you want ─ entertain yourself, study, and even work ─ right from the comfort of your home.
Working from home, however, is not as easy as so many people make it sound; after all, it is called work for a reason. Just as it is with working in an office, working from home requires dedication, commitment, and most importantly, the right tools for the job. Using the right tools help to improve your productivity. While different online jobs require different tools, below are the top 5 tools you need to start working from home during the lockdown.
1. PDFelement — Edit, Convert, Annotate PDFs with OCR
Basically, PDFs are the most essential documents for any online business. They are the best formats for sharing documents since they are easy to share, easy to access, but harder to tamper with, making them one of the hardest documents to forge.
Having a PDF editor would definitely be useful during the lockdown. But choosing just any PDF tool is not enough, you need to choose the best you can find. And when it comes to choosing the best, PDFelement is one of the best out there. An all-in-one PDF tool, PDFelement is basically a one-stop-shop for all things PDF related. From creating and editing PDF files to converting them into other formats, this PDF tool essentially provides all the necessary features you could need to properly handle PDF files. In addition, it lets you sign documents, collaborate, and share with others easily. So, whether you are planning to take an online course during the lockdown, working from home, or getting into freelancing, PDFelement is one tool you do not want to do without.
2. Slack — Stay Connected in a Virtual Office
When working from home, one of the most important things to consider is communication. How do you communicate the progress of jobs with clients and team members when working remotely? How does the client get to you when there is a new update to the requirement of the project? All these are things to take into consideration when working from home.
The answer to both questions mentioned above is to have a great messaging tool. Slack offers you just that and more. Unlike other instant messaging apps, Slack is a messaging tool designed specifically to aid collaborative projects. With all the regular features in messaging tools ─ direct messaging, search history, file transfer, voice and video calls ─ Slack offers even more features perfect for freelancers, especially those working in teams. Enjoy features like improved conversation organization and Slack channels which help you better communicate with your teammate and synchronize workflow. With this messaging tool, you essentially gain the same level of communication you would from an office setting, right from the comfort of your preferred device.
3. Teams — Chat , Meeting, Calling, Collaboration
As said earlier, collaboration is one of the most important part of working at home, and messaging tools are one of the best ways to stay in touch with both your clients and your team members. Sometimes, though, a messaging tool is not enough. Sometimes what you need is a hub for team collaboration. Microsoft Teams is the perfect tool for the job.
Designed essentially for working groups within larger companies, Teams is a collaborative platform perfect when you need to stay in touch on a larger scale. While individual freelancers would most likely feel at home communicating over Slack, Teams is a much larger platform for much larger organizations. So, if you are a part of a company whose business has been affected by the lockdown and is hoping to go online, Teams is definitely a good choice to keep in touch with your co-workers and colleagues.
4. Cropro — Screen Capture Tool
Any architect, web designer, or graphic designer would definitely agree that Screenshot Tools are definitely a must-have when working at home. And they are right. The importance of having a screenshot tool cannot be overemphasized, especially if you as a freelancer deal with the more visual kind of business where progress can only be measured by taking shots of how much work you have done.
With a screenshot took like Cropro, you not only have a software to help create screenshots in case your laptop doesn’t naturally offer that feature, but you also get tools to help you edit the screenshots taken. With this tool, you also get to stamp your screenshots with your desired stamp. That way, clients can always recognize your works and differentiate them from fakes.
5. Toggl — Time Tracking Tool
The saying time is money probably holds true for freelancers more than anyone else ─ the more time you spend working, the more money you make. This is why time tracking software is a must for everyone looking to work from home. With Toggl, you get possibly the most powerful and effective time tracker there is. The software enables you to carry out a number of important functions like analyzing how much your time is worth and figuring out which projects are more time consuming than others. This helps you make smarter choices in terms of time allocation, project costing, and so much more.
Whatever the case, the current lockdown is not the end of business activities. With the right tools as listed above, you can always be productive working from home as you would be working in an office.
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