iPad Productivity: PlainText With DropBox

Every once in a while we test some useful apps that make your mobile devices more suitable for the workplace. For the last three weeks, I’ve had the unique pleasure of using PlainText on my iPad for my blogging needs. If you’re the type who takes notes in meetings, constantly sketching ideas, or even writing up anything on the go, PlainText might be a useful solution for you…because it’s DropBox enabled…

For the uninitiated, DropBox is a cloud-based service that provides a synchronized folder across multiple desktops. But DropBox also provides cloud syncing through other devices, like your iPad, or iPhone. Essentially, it works like this: change something in the DropBox folder from any one device, and it’s instantly changed in all your other DropBox connected devices.

So where does PlainText come in? PlainText is a text editor that provides simple and plain text editing. No spell check, no fancy bezels, no formatting, no-nothing–type away on a white screen. PlainText also links directly to your DropBox account, letting you create text files in the cloud, save them to the cloud, and sync them to your folders at your home computer.

The result? I type out my blog (like the one you’re reading now) and when I get home, the text file is already waiting for me on my desktop to be spell checked and posted to the site.

What’s more, PlainText is a universal app. That means if I really wanted to, I could put some finishing touches on a blog from my iPhone when I’m out and about. Conversely, I could jot down some notes on my iPhone, and then flesh them out on my iPad. The best part is, it’s all waiting for you when you get home.

I’m not sure how practical this is to VARs and resellers in the field, but it’s been helpful for me to focus on a blog or story and not worry about losing the data. It also skips the step of hooking my iPad up to iTunes to copy a file over, like Apple Pages requires.

More importantly, VARs using Android, iOS or any other mobile platform — let us know what your favorite mobile productivity apps are. We’d love to see what kind of mobile trends are evolving in the channel.

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