There are many free productivity tools available on the Internet, but many of them are a waste of time. The key is to find the right tool that fits your work personality or management type that can boost your productivity. Here are some suggestions based on the type of person you are:
Scatterbrain. You have a very difficult time being organized. Use Boomerang to write an e-mail now and schedule it to be sent at a later time. Just type the message and then click the "Send Later" button. Use it to send reminders or to notify you only when someone has not responded to your e-mail. Another great tool to use is Reqall. Productivity expert Jennifer Dombroski suggests using this app with your smartphone as a virtual assistant. It captures the things you need to remember either through voice or text and then analyzes what has been entered. It organizes all of them into categories you assign such as To-Do, Meetings, Notes or a Shopping List.
Cyber-stalker. You love to do secret reconnaissance work on your customers and prospects. Rapportive gives you additional information about any person in your inbox such as his picture, company and title or where he are located. Use this to grow your network and establish further relationships.
Obsessive compulsive. You need to stay organized and know where everything is located. For this, Dombroski suggests OfficeDrop. It allows a user to scan any document with a smartphone, and then saves it to the Office Drop “cloud” where it becomes a searchable PDF.
Delegater. Everything needs to be scheduled to down to the minute on your calendar. Tungle Me makes it easy to find the optimal time for many parties to meet based on their calendar availability. Eliminate all that back and forth or double booking of appointments.
Social media addict. You are afraid to leave Facebook because you might miss something. Try Docs for Facebook which lets you create Word, Excel and PowerPoint within your Web browser. You can then share those documents with your Facebook contacts.
Task master. You are a die-hard list maker. TeuxDeux is a great tool for managing your to-do list. Its simple design ensures that you see everything, and if you miss a task on Monday, it automatically moves it to Tuesday—no need to rewrite it. A project management app by the makers of SalesForce called Do makes it simple to manage a project with others.
Control freak. If you always need to literally be looking over someone's shoulder, use Join Me as a way to see another person's screen instantly. There is no complicated sign in; just type their special URL and the screen appears.This way, every one will literally be on the same page.
Insomniac. Don't want your computer to sleep when you do? Insomnia prevents Windows from going to sleep. This is helpful when you are in the middle of downloading a large file or burning a DVD and you can't afford your computer to prematurely end the task by going to sleep.