With each passing day, the world becomes more dependent on the Internet. From productivity suites to password managers, there seems to be a web app for just about everything.
But trust in the web is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, the proliferation of online tools means you can theoretically stay productive from anywhere in the world.
But what happens when you're stuck offline? We all know that connectivity issues happen when you least expect them, and it's easy to rack up hours of lost productivity.
Which offline productivity apps will help you stay productive even when you're isolated from the web? Read on to find out more..
Any.do is a full-featured task management app. It's perfect for organizing to-do lists. 5 New Productivity Apps to Manage Your To-Do List and Get Things Done. 5 New Productivity Apps to Manage Your To-Do List and Get Things Done. The best productivity app will always be what suits you best. In this list, you can find one that helps you get things done. Read more and manage your calendar. It even offers a virtual assistant to keep you on track every day.
The $2.09/month Premium version adds support for real-time collaboration, location-based reminders, and customizable recurring tasks.
Any.do's offline productivity app is great. Any tasks you've already synced to your phone or computer will be available, and any changes you make will be charged to your account the next time you're connected.
Salesforce is one of many web-based CRM tools that have appeared in the last decade, but it remains the best known and most widely used.
Despite being designed for online use, the offline app offers robust support; you just need to make sure your administrators have enabled caching.
Naturally, there are some limitations. For example, you won't be able to create new contacts or tasks, search filters won't be available, you won't be able to see images attached to notes, and you won't be able to access Salesforce communities.
OfficeTime is one of the best apps for anyone who needs to keep track of billable hours. It's popular with freelancers and small business owners.
You can record both expenses and hours, then automatically prepare invoices for you to send to clients. The app also features an impressive array of charts, graphs, and other visual aids so you can see what's been eating up your precious hours.
The app is fully functional when you are offline; You will still be able to automatically record your time and allow you to manage ongoing projects. Any changes will be synced to the OfficeTime servers as soon as you have a connection.
The app costs a one-time fee of $50. A 21-day free trial is available.
Google Drive had to make the list, right? The cloud storage app, along with its three built-in office apps (Docs, Sheets, and Slides), is popular in the consumer, education, and business sectors.
Google Drive lets you make files available for offline viewing How to Access Google Drive Files Offline How to Access Google Drive Files Offline Read More don't have a connection.
Desktop email clients have fallen out of favor You should ditch webmail for a desktop email client if... You should ditch webmail for a desktop email client If... A few years ago , webmail was all the rave. Wondering if it's time to go back to a desktop email client? Look no further. We show you the merits of a local mail service. Read More most people use a web client to access their inbox. But there are several great desktop email apps Top 5 Desktop Email Clients That Don't Cost a Penny Top 5 Desktop Email Clients That Don't Cost a Penny Do you need a desktop email client to handle your incoming mail? Here are the best desktop email clients that you can use for free. Read More
Because Outlook downloads a local copy of your email inbox, you'll always be able to access all your messages, regardless of whether you have a web connection.
Clearly, when you're offline, you won't be able to send or receive messages. However, you can queue them; the process will complete as soon as you have a connection again.
Note: Outlook Web App also has an offline mode.
Trello uses a Kanban approach to project management. Goodbye Trello! 5 Free Kanban Board Tools Goodbye, Trello! 5 Free Alternative Kanban Board Tools Trello is an amazing app for managing projects and organizing your tasks. But there are other kanban apps that could be ideal for your tasks. Let's talk about the best Trello alternatives. Read more . Facilitates task management; we even use it here at MakeUseOf to organize internal workflows.
Since early 2017, Trello has offered offline support for its mobile apps. You can now open boards, create new cards, edit existing tasks, assign team members to boards and tasks, and add descriptions, dates, labels, and other metadata.
The app will save all changes locally and upload them to the web as soon as it's back online.
Password managers are an essential part of staying secure on the web. Is your password manager secure? 5 services compared Is your password manager secure? 5 Services Compared Unless you have an incredible memory, there's no way you can hope to remember all your usernames and passwords. The sensible option is to use a password manager, but which one is the best? Read more . They allow you to create more complex passwords without having to worry about having to remember them every time you log in to a service.
An important feature of any password manager is offline access. You don't want one of your accounts to be locked out just because you can't go online.
As long as you've logged in to your LastPass account from your device at least once you've had a connection, you'll be able to access a locally stored, encrypted copy of your Vault.
LastPass also offers LastPass Pocket on Windows and Linux. It is an application specifically designed to give you offline access to your information.
Along with Microsoft OneNote, Evernote is one of the two leading note-taking apps available today. Evernote vs. OneNote:Which Note-Taking App Is Right For You? Evernote vs. OneNote:Which Note-Taking App Is Right For You? Evernote and OneNote are amazing note-taking apps. It is difficult to choose between the two. We compare everything from the interface to the organization of notes to help you choose. What works best for you? Read more . You can spend hours arguing about the relative merits of each, but ultimately, they're both wonderful apps.
As you might expect, you can access your Evernote content when you're offline. However, the exact list of what will be available varies depending on the device you are using.
If you are using a computer, all of your content is accessible. Evernote automatically stores a local copy of everything on your hard drive. If you're on a mobile device, only note titles, labels, and a small snippet of text will be available by default.
If you want all access to full notes on your mobile, you'll need to upgrade to Evernote Plus or Evernote Premium.
Pocket is a great way to save web content to read later. But why is this a better solution than just using your browser's bookmarks? Because Pocket will make all the articles you save available offline.
As such, it's a great way to load content if you know you're not going to have a connection. For example, you could load the app with some essential reading from your industry sector and digest it all on a transatlantic flight.
Many GPS apps work offline, but Google Maps' ubiquity means it deserves a place on this list.
If you want to use Google Maps offline, you'll need to do some preparation on your Android or iOS device. Go to Settings> Offline maps> Select your own map and drag the on-screen window across the part of the map you want to save. When you're ready, tap Download .
You can access your downloaded maps by going to Settings> Offline Maps .
Hopefully the applications we present to you in this article will give you an appreciation of how much online software now has an offline feature.
As stated at the beginning of the article, offline access is a vital feature, especially if you spend a lot of time on the road.
If your favorite productivity app doesn't offer offline access, check out some of our content elsewhere on the site. You may be able to find the perfect app for your needs. 10 Free Microsoft Apps and Tools to Increase Productivity 10 Free Microsoft Tools and Apps to Increase Productivity Have you tried enough productivity apps? Appreciate Microsoft Office? Here are 10 other Microsoft productivity tools you may have missed. Read more.
