Before trying the new “read it later” app, here are some options I’ve already tried. Using the Apple “Save for Later” button, a built-in read it later app. Sending things to my ebook, when I had one. Bookmarks. Syncing bookmarks (and open browsers) across devices with an account, which I found too annoying and disabled quickly. Finally, saving links and articles in a variety of cloud-based apps (Evernote, Google Drive, Google Keep, and Dropbox).
I decided to try Pocket, a “read it later” app that ranked highly amongst several reviews I read. I installed Pocket on my devices, including a browser extension. After one week, I’m enjoying Pocket on the smartphone. The integration is seamless, neatly collecting my “read laters” in one place. I can tag articles with key terms to sort, or find, them more easily later. On the computer, I’m required to sign into Pocket to add something. But once signed in, it’s easy to add and tag articles for later.
A couple of readers commented on last week’s post with their solutions to the “read laters”. One suggestion is to download articles with long-term value, or to read later, to a cloud-based application (e.g. Google Drive or Evernote, a content management system) to ensure syncing across devices. Downloading articles means content will always be available and likely you will also have options to add tags, descriptive terms, or put things into folders to help you find them later. This also eliminates the need to maintain links.
I have tried some of these options already, but I’m selective when it comes to saving something. One of my biggest challenges is having a place to store articles until I can read them. Quite honestly, most articles aren’t worth saving after I read through them. I’m not inclined to spend the time and effort, as minimal as that may be, to download and organize articles that will be deleted right after reading. For this purpose, Pocket works well as a temporary “processing” area for articles to see if the make the cut.
Sometimes I need to save actual links for reference, for example, websites I refer to often that have dynamic content. Pocket will not be a good solution for this, but I can continue to use bookmarks, or a different cloud-based application.
Now to find the time to read everything and avoid a backlog!