Why Bother with Apps and Extensions Anyway?

Hey guys, welcome to this post! You know, we’re diving into something super helpful today: computer apps and browser extensions . These aren’t just random downloads; they’re things I’ve found genuinely useful for school, studying, and just getting stuff done . Think of them as your digital sidekicks to boost productivity . The goal here is to share some tools that can really make a difference in your academic life . We’re talking about enhancing everything from taking notes to staying organized . I’ll even try to link these awesome tools below so you can easily check them out yourself . So, let’s jump right in and see how these digital helpers can level up your study game!

Okay, let’s talk about taking notes digitally, and specifically about an app called Microsoft OneNote . Seriously, if you do any kind of digital note-taking and haven’t checked this out, you’re missing out big time . It’s fantastic whether you prefer typing notes on your computer or handwriting them digitally with a stylus on a touchscreen or iPad . What makes OneNote so popular, and why I love it, is that it’s completely free . Plus, it offers amazing features that you’d normally have to pay for in other apps .

Here’s the thing: OneNote is brilliant for organization . You can create different sections within each notebook . For instance, I use it for school, with separate sections for all my subjects and pages for each chapter within those sections . You can also highlight, underline, draw, and even add audio recordings directly into your notes . I use this often for recording lectures, and it’s honestly quite helpful . Another cool thing is that it syncs seamlessly across all your devices, and you don’t pay a dime for that . Other apps often charge monthly fees for this kind of syncing . It’s just a fantastic app that’s totally worth giving a shot .

Now, let’s switch gears and talk about making your browser work smarter, not harder. One extension I really love is called momentum . It’s a new tab extension designed for productivity and motivation . When you open a new tab, instead of just a blank page, you see the time displayed on a beautiful background that changes daily . You can even add your main focus for the day, which is that one key task you absolutely need to complete .

What’s really cool is you can also add additional to-dos on the side and check them off as you finish them . It’s super helpful for staying on track . Plus, you get a motivational quote every day at the bottom, which is a nice little boost . You can also add links to your most used websites in the upper left corner for easy access, almost like a bookmark . There’s even a small search bar . From my experience, every time I open a new tab, I see a beautiful picture and get inspired to get work done instead of just scrolling .

Another browser game-changer is an extension called OneTab . Honestly, finding this completely changed my life . You know how you end up with a hundred tabs open when you’re researching for an essay or assignment? You can’t close them because they all have important info, but trying to find the right tab is a nightmare . That’s where OneTab comes in . It neatly stores all your open tabs in just one tab . You can even group different tabs together and name the groups for easy access later . You can lock these groups so the links don’t disappear after you open them . The extension automatically clears your tabs when you click on it, but you can also right-click to choose specific tabs to save . If you’re like me and always have a ton of tabs open, this will seriously save your life . Give it a try, 110% recommended!

Okay, let’s talk about learning visually, because for some of us, seeing information laid out can make a huge difference . The third app I want to share is called xmind, and it’s fantastic for creating mind maps . If you’ve seen my videos before, you know it’s one of my most used apps . I absolutely love the customization it offers . You can pick from so many different themes and designs, control the layout, colors, and even the fonts and font size . This is super helpful because sometimes the default layout can look messy, but changing it makes things much neater .

You can also add things like relationships between ideas, floating topics, and summaries . Honestly, there are probably more possibilities than you’ll ever actually need . I prefer using the desktop version myself because the keyboard shortcuts make everything much faster . I’d definitely recommend trying xmind if you’re a visual learner, like me . mind maps and other visual methods can help you memorize things three times faster . It sounds kind of crazy, right?

Moving on to another great tool, let’s talk about taskade . This app is brilliant for planning upcoming projects and organizing your daily to-do lists . What’s cool is it’s available as both an app and an extension, and you can download it for virtually any device and operating system . Inside the app, you can add new projects and organize them using tags . There’s even a progress bar to show you how far along you are .

Within a project, you can add to-do lists and even format the text with bold or underline . You can set deadlines for everything, and there’s a handy calendar view where you can see all your upcoming deadlines at a glance . taskade lets you choose from different layouts for your project, including a mind map layout . What makes this app even more amazing is that you can invite friends to your projects and chat with them in real time . This is incredibly useful if you’re constantly working on group projects . All these features are available in the free version, and I can only imagine what the premium version offers .

Let’s tackle digital chaos, starting with where you keep all your important stuff. If you’re not using cloud storage yet, you’re seriously missing out . There are lots of options besides Google Drive, like Dropbox or OneDrive, so you can explore what works best for you . I personally love Google Drive because it integrates perfectly with Google Docs . It’s fantastic having access to all my files and documents on different devices .

If you’re already a Google Drive user, you should definitely download the desktop app that comes with it . It’s called something like “backup and sync,” which is a bit of a weird name, but the app is amazing . It creates a folder on your computer that syncs everything you have in Google Drive . This means even if you lose internet or can’t access Google Drive, you still have a copy of everything right there on your computer . By the way, you can also make files available offline on your mobile device, which is super convenient .

Next up, let’s talk about polishing your writing with an extension called grammarly . This tool is a lifesaver for correcting grammar and punctuation errors, saving you from those potentially embarrassing mistakes . You can paste your essay into it, and it automatically checks for any errors you might have made . It even works within Google Docs, so if you write your assignments there, you absolutely need this extension . It also works on other websites . I use it constantly when writing emails, and it saves me so much time because I don’t have to proofread everything multiple times – grammarly does it for me .

Here’s a surprising feature: in the bottom right corner, it shows an emoji and tells you how your text sounds . This helps me make sure my writing isn’t too formal or too informal . It’s honestly an amazing feature . Whoever thought of that was a genius .

Sometimes you need specific tools for specific tasks, like dealing with PDFs or, you know, avoiding getting distracted. First, let’s talk about PDFelement . If you’ve watched my channel for a bit, you know this is my absolute go-to whenever I need to create, edit, or annotate PDF documents for school . It lets me highlight, underline, add sticky notes and callouts – all the stuff you need for annotating . It also has cool features like text recognition .

This is pretty neat: you can upload an image, and it will recognize all the text on the image and make it editable . That’s incredibly helpful . You can try out PDFelement for free, and if you decide to go premium, there’s even a special 50% off discount available just for you guys . This makes the app much more accessible . So, if you deal with lots of PDFs for school, definitely give PDFelement a try; you’ll love it, and that discount is a fantastic deal . Why not take advantage of it?

Now, for fighting that age-old battle with procrastination, you’ve probably heard of the forest app, maybe from study grams on Instagram . But did you know it also has a browser extension? The surprising part? The extension is free, unlike the mobile app . Here’s how it works: you set a timer to focus on your work, and it plants a virtual tree . If you visit a blacklisted website (like Netflix or Instagram) during the timer, it reminds you that your tree is still growing . If you don’t get back to work, the tree dies . And seriously, you don’t want your tree to die, right? You can blacklist those distracting sites and whitelist the ones you actually use for studying, like Wikipedia . It also syncs with your mobile app, so you can easily keep growing your forest .

Let’s touch on a skill that might seem a little random but is actually super important these days. The next app I love using is called kiki . It’s not strictly a school app, but it helps you practice typing faster . In this day and age, typing fast is just a necessary skill . This app is designed to help you learn it .

It doesn’t just time you; it tells you your exact typing speed, which specific letters you typed wrong, and other detailed insights . I try to spend just a few minutes on kiki twice a week, and I’ve noticed my typing has gotten much faster, and I make fewer mistakes . I would definitely recommend trying this out, especially if you write a lot of essays or take typed notes on your computer . It’s a small change that can make a big difference in your productivity .

So there you have it! We’ve covered some fantastic apps and extensions that can really boost your productivity and make school a little bit easier. Before we finish up, here’s a fun question for you: let me know in the comments down below what day and time it is right now while you’re watching this video . When I recorded this, it was the last day of fall, November 30th, at 8:37 p.m. . I’m honestly really curious about your day and time, so please share it below .

Also, if you haven’t already, please subscribe and turn on your notifications . I’m planning a big giveaway soon, and you definitely don’t want to miss out . I didn’t do one for reaching 100k subscribers, so I decided to do one for the holidays instead, giving you guys some cool stationery for the upcoming semester . Finally, if you want more study tips, inspiration, or just want to chat, come find me on Instagram . It’s a lot of fun over there . You can find me at Ellen Kelly studies . Come say hey, I’d be super excited to chat with you . Anyway, that’s everything for today’s video . Thank you so much for watching all the way through . Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you with another video super soon . Bye!