Note to self: never forget a thing
Rich on Tech Tips
Good morning and Happy President’s Day!
I don’t know about you, but I’m always trying to find a way to remember little tidbits of information - could be someone’s phone number, a cool quote I see in an article or just something I need to remember to do.
Over the years, I’ve tried all kinds of ways to remember this stuff - from To Do lists, to taking pictures, writing notes and audio messages… it always seems to get lost in the shuffle.
But one tried and true method that always seems to work is emailing myself. The reason? I look at my inbox many times a day but might only open my photo gallery or To Do list once or twice.
So today I’m sharing two apps that have helped me remember all kinds of stuff by turning my email inbox into a mini task list.
The first is Email Me for iOS.
This is a super simple, yet powerful app. Put it on your iPhone home screen and set it up using your email address. Then, the next time you think of something important, you open the app, type in your note, then hit Send. Your note will be waiting for you in your email inbox, ready for action when you are.
You can also speak an audio message, capture a photo, or insert a photo from your camera roll. The beauty here is in the simplicity. I must send myself at least a dozen notes a week or more using this method.
If you want to get fancy, you can set up a filter in your email so you can see a list of all your notes sent from this app.
It also integrates nicely into the iOS share menu so you can email yourself links and more.
There is some free use of the app but I fell in love with it so fast that I immediately paid the subscription fee.
If you’re on Android, the closest equivalent I found is called Boomerang: Email myself.
Although it hasn’t been updated in a while, it functions in a very similar way. It’s completely free.
I have found this method of emailing myself to be far superior to any other note taking app or system I’ve tried. The best part is that you always have a quick way to remember something in the moment, and then later when you’re checking your email you can route your note to the right location: A phone number can go into your address book. A clipping in your notes app. A task to your To Do list.
Just a note about privacy: since both these apps seem to route your notes through their servers, I would just be aware of the privacy implications of that. It might not be the smartest thing to send social security numbers or any super sensitive private info this way.
Hope you find this system just as useful as I do.
Rich
P.S. In my podcast, I talk tech and answer the questions you send me. You can listen to the latest episode here.
I like the concept but the privacy issues and the subscription will be a stumbling point for me! I do something similar with "notes" app. Works great and it is as secure as your phone is and readily usable and "free"!! THX Be well!
Thanks Rich. I use a similar app called Ivoky that doesn't support the watch, nor does it allow for voice notes, but one thing it does that Email Me does not do, is allows for scheduling of notes/reminders to my email inbox, such as daily, on a specific day or the week, every week, etc. It does not support more complex scheduling such as the first Sunday of every other month, but it works of rme.
I see others commenting why someone would want to email themselves reminders. Yes, there are tons of reminder/to-do apps, but few that will send reminders to email and only one iPhone app that I know of (Ivoky) that will send scheduled emails. For some people such as myself, we have a ton of apps and after awhile, you try to manage alerts and notifications, but those haptic and audible reminders just seem to get buried.
And for some, email is a integral part of our lives already, so having a note or reminder sent to email is the perfect place for placing something that needs to be taken note of, front and center in ones daily life. For myself, Ivoky has literally eliminated me forgetting anything. I simply go through my email as I do several times a day, and if there's something I need to take care of, Ivoky reminds me.
And if you're using a grouping feature that most email apps feature, you won't get a bunch of individual emails but a summarized grouping of Ivoky emails in one place in your inbox that you can concisely review. And Ivoky does not require a subscription.
Never-the-less, I do plan to pay for a lifetime Email Me subscription anyway. One reason is the watch and voice notes support and also, I hope that one day, the developers of Email Me will support my suggestion to add scheduling. Ivoky does not have the quality and polish that Email Me does, and maybe by supporting their efforts, they'll scratch my back too!