Mobile — Gone Digital…and Not Coming Back (using Goodreader!)
In 2003, my professional world went digital.
In 2010, with the introduction of the iPad, it went mobile.
In 2016, I can now do everything on the iPhone!*
*To be fair, I still rely heavily on the iPad, but much more is, and can be done, on the smaller iPhone.
To say that this process was seamless, or easy, would be a lie. So many workflows had to change — but change they did. And I can’t imagine going back.
The app most responsible for the transition to completely mobile content management is Goodreader (app store link), which I have been using since 2010.
The purpose of this post is to share the “WHAT” of Goodreader — what it provides that has been, and is, most valuable to me.
Goodreader provides a great app overview on the app store and the images below do a great job of highlighting key functionality of the app.
Manages many different types of content
- Although PDF document management is what everyone thinks of when “content management” is mentioned, Goodreader truly handles — extremely well — any content you throw at it.
- (1) — I keep libraries of content in Goodreader. One library “Reference Resources” contains 21 folders and over 1,100 files (of all types) — see image below. This content library includes PDF’s, photos and video clips. I do this through “syncing” to the cloud, because I manage this content on my desktop (see (4) below).
- (2) — Other content that Goodreader manages very well includes photos and videos. Goodreader provides the ability to download videos from the Internet (YouTube, etc.) directly to Goodreader. This is a cool tool I use frequently!
Markup, Review and Sign PDF Documents
- (3) — once you truly work without paper, the ability to review documents digitally is essential. Goodreader excels at this, and the iPad is the perfect size for writing and annotating documents. TIP — get a stylus if you are going to do a lot of this!
- One of my favorite features is the ability to save signatures and sign documents right in Goodreader — as shown below.
Import, Synchronize and Exchange Files via the Cloud
(4) — Once you go digital, it is likely you will use cloud storage to save content. If you do, you WILL LOVE the ability to access “servers”. Along with this, you can sync folders between Goodreader and your cloud storage accounts — the potential of this is significant!
Easily Maintain, Share and Manage Huge Collections of Content
(5) — The most frequent items that I use here are revising PDF content and compressing files in a ZIP archive format. But first, one thought on the “huge collection of files and folders” that the image refers to.
- Properly structured PDF’s are easy to navigate, search, extract pages, etc., regardless of size! Below is a quick flow of an Microsoft Access reference book I have in Goodreader.
- Sharing files (or storing files) in ZIP archive format is something I do frequently. Here’s how it’s done in Goodreader.
Manage Large PDFs and Edit with Ease
(6) — this is pretty self explanatory, but there is a LOT you can do to modify PDF documents inside the Goodreader app. Once you play around with this and figure it out, it becomes very handy and useful!
There you go! My six ways I use Goodreader almost every day.
About Don
Don Tomoff is a “recovering CPA”, who is passionate about helping professionals and organizations keep up and adapt to the changing business world that we operate in.
One lesson learned over the years is that all of us, regardless of organization type or size, struggle with similar issues — primarily information management and presentation, and effective use of our time. Let’s change that…one person at a time!
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