Organizing your files
File organization doesn't have to be tricky just because you're on a mobile device. Here are some options for keeping things simple.
- DropboxA free service that syncs your documents across multiple computers and mobile devices.
- Google DriveAnother free service that syncs files across multiple computers and mobile devices.
- EvernoteSave entire web pages or just pieces of them, type in your own notes, search through everything, create categories, and have access from your computer or your mobile device.
iPad and iPhone apps
- EvernoteSave entire web pages or just pieces of them, type in your own notes, search through everything, create categories, and have access from your computer or your mobile device.
- MendeleyMendeley, owned by Elsevier, lets you save and annotate PDFs. You can also search across your own and others people's collections.
- iAnnotateRead and annotate PDFs on your iPad. Sync with Dropbox.
- Notes PlusWrite notes long-hand or typed. Read and annotate PDFs on your iPad. Sync with Dropbox.
- Papers (Mac & IOS only)Search, annotate, organize, and share PDFs.
Android Apps
- ezPDF ReaderRead and annotate PDFs.
- EvernoteSave entire web pages or just pieces of them, type in your own notes, search through everything, create categories, and have access from your computer or your mobile device.
eReaders
Most eReaders allow you to load in your own documents. Here are links to the instructions for the most popular devices.
File Types
You can take notes and make comments on Word documents by using the "review" feature.
For most of the options on this page, PDF files are far preferable to other types of files. You can save Word documents as PDFs, use the "print" menu to print web pages or other files to PDF, or use Adobe Acrobat Pro (available on all lab computers) to convert files to PDF.
Many of the annotation features work best if the PDF has been run through an OCR process (Optical Character Recognition helps the PDF reader know that the words on a screen are words rather than images, which enables things like copying, pasting, and highlighting). You can do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro, which is available on all lab machines.
