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Do you use PDFs as a part of your day? Do you need to edit PDF documents or maybe combine a variety of PDFs together?

Well, in today's video we are taking a look at three different PDF editors all at three different price points to help you find out which one is best for you. Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

PDF documents have been with us for a very, very long time. But if you're not using a PDF Editor, you may be wasting your time converting documents from a word processor into a PDF and back and forth.

Well, today I want to introduce you to three different tools: PDFelement, Nitro Pro, and perhaps the one you're most familiar with, Adobe Acrobat Pro. We're going to take a look and find out which one is the best editor for you.

PDFelement Pro

Let’s get started by taking a look at PDFelement Pro. Right from the home screen when you first open up PDFelement, you can see some of the major features that it offers.

Now editing a PDF is pretty standard. I'm going to get into that in just a moment, but of course, you're going to want to be able to convert your PDF to other formats.

Here we see a few different examples including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. But combining PDFs may be the function that I am looking for and the one that I use most often when I want to combine or merge different PDF documents together.

PDFelement also allows you to batch process PDF conversion. So if you have a large number of PDFs, you can do so, and they also have a fairly large template gallery.

So if you want to get started quickly, you can do so. But in this example, let's take a look at editing a PDF.

All I need to do is select an existing PDF, either it's one I created or maybe one that I've accessed or has been sent to me. Now any PDF Editor should work in a seamless way, and I find PDFelement does a very, very good job of this.

As you can see, as I've opened up this particular PDF document, you will notice that there are some highlighted lines around most of the text but also the images. So all I need to do is click on this logo, for example, and drag it to wherever I want.

That's right, I've just opened up the PDF document, and I can move things around wherever I need to. And that goes for text information as well.

Let's say I need to add a date for this particular contract. I can work with this very much just like a standard word processor.

So if I want to enter in a date, I can do so and then continue to add client information or other things that may be needed in this particular form. Now one of the things that I really enjoy about PDFelement is that the application looks and feels very familiar.

As you look at the file menu at the top, as you look at the ribbon down below, things look very similar to a Microsoft product. So I find it very intuitive as I'm browsing through the different menus here as I'm looking at the different icons which have been used to find the types of functions and features that I'm looking for.

PDFelement allows you to create form elements directly in your PDF, including checkboxes and radio buttons. And of course, if you want to add some password management or some protection to your PDFs or place a signature, a digital signature directly into your PDF, you can do so as well.

Now, if you would like to try PDFelement for free, I'll leave a link in the description below. And if you like it, Simpletivity users can get 40% off of PDFelement, and I'll be sure to leave that link in the description below.

So the next PDF editor, which we're going to take a look at, is called Nitro. And at first glance, you may say that Nitro looks an awful lot like PDFelement.

We have a similar menu and many of the same features here at the top. But as I've been playing around with Nitro, I've just noticed how fast and how quick it is.

Even notice here as I'm dragging my cursor over the different elements just how quick it is as I want to drag this image over to the left. A very quick and robust experience.

Nitro

Now one additional feature which Nitro has is something called the Nitro Cloud. And this allows you to not only upload and save your documents within the cloud, but this is very helpful when you are using e-signatures because you can track that entire process using the Nitro Cloud.

So a nice little enhancement here within the Nitro interface. But when it comes to me, when it comes to seeing if a PDF Editor is worth its price, it all comes down to conversion.

So let's do a quick test with Nitro. Let's say that I want to convert this PDF document into a Word document.

I'm going to select the convert option. And in this case, I'm going to select Word.

Now, the nice thing with Nitro and other PDF editors, at least some other PDF editors, is that you can convert multiple PDFs all at once. They don't have to be multiple pages; you can actually have separate documents here.

But in this example, I'm just going to convert the single document and select convert. And wow, that was pretty fast, that was super fast.

Look, here I am now in my Word document. And of course, what we want to look for here is, are there any spelling mistakes?

Are there any alignment mistakes? And this is a form that I use actually quite regularly.

This is my training and speaking engagement document, and so I know it very well, and this looks pristine. This looks pretty much exactly how it does in PDF format.

My image doesn't look wonky or misaligned. I don't see any spelling errors here on the page.

It's done a fantastic job of editing this PDF into a Word document. So Nitro is priced at about one hundred and seventy-six dollars.

That's nearly twice as much as we saw with PDFelement. But you do get some additional features and the speed at which not only you can edit the PDFs but also convert, as we just saw, is very, very nice.

Adobe Acrobat

Now the last PDF editor which we're going to take a look at is Adobe Acrobat Pro. And of course, we couldn't leave Adobe off this list because they are the creators of PDFs.

Yes, in case you didn't know, Adobe is the company that actually created the PDF file format. Here you can see just a preview of the many features and functionalities, the things that you can achieve when using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

So really, all of the things that we've seen before and then a few additional formats. Here you see the exact same PDF document.

One of the advantages of using an Adobe product is that there's a good chance that you may already be using the Adobe Acrobat Reader to actually view your PDFs within your computer. So a lot of the display up top, a lot of the menu options, are already going to look very familiar to you.

But I do want to show you one feature that I like a lot here within Adobe Acrobat Pro. And that is the compare files feature.

So maybe you have an older version of the PDF, and you have a newer version, and you want to see what has changed, especially if you're dealing with contracts. And maybe a client or someone that you're working with, they've made some changes in a very lengthy document, and you want to find out what exactly has changed.

So here I have that same PDF here; it's listed under old file. And I'm going to select a new file.

I'm going to select a different PDF document. And I can change a few settings here if I want to.

I can choose if I only want to compare the text; maybe I don't care if a logo or an image is out of place or missing, but I'm going to leave that unchecked for now. And I'm going to select the compare button.

Now, of course, depending on the length of your PDF, this may take some further time, but you can see that I've got some great statistics, some great summary data right out of the gate. So it's telling me there's 12 total changes, and it even breaks it down by what's been replaced, what's been inserted, and what's been deleted.

So I can see that data here on the left and right of the screen. Now, if I scroll down, I'll actually see the two PDFs side-by-side.

And I really like the way that Adobe visually displays this information. It may seem like there's a lot going on here, but I like how they sort of keep things attached so I can see it if I'm on a different page.

Wait a minute, some of this is related to up here to what we see in PDF one to PDF two over here. Now, is Adobe Acrobat the only PDF editor that can handle comparing?

No, there are other PDF editors which do this functionality as well. But I don't think there's another PDF editor that does it as well as Adobe Acrobat.

Now, for all this advanced functionality, you are going to be paying a premium, especially if you're comparing it to the other two PDF editors on today's video. Acrobat Pro goes for $15 a month, which works out to $180 per year.

Now, you might think that's very comparable to Nitro, but remember, that's $180 per year. You need to keep paying that fee month after month.

So you may want to take that into consideration as you're selecting the best PDF editor for you. Well, I'd love to hear from you next.

What do you think of PDFelement, Nitro, and Adobe Acrobat Pro? Which one do you feel is right for you?

And if you have experience with any of these PDF editors, be sure to tell me in the comments below. Thank you so much for watching.

I hope you give

this video a like. I hope you subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel.

And be sure to leave a comment below. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult; in fact, it's very simple.

Gantt chart, Kanban, Gantt chart, Kanban, Gantt chart or Kanban? Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

If you manage projects, especially with teams, there's a good chance you're using either a Gantt chart or a Kanban board. But which one is better? Which one is ideal for you?

In today's video, we're going to be looking at both the advantages and disadvantages of each, so you can pick the right tool for you. But before we begin, I'd like to thank today's sponsor, GanttPro.

Sponsor

If you are looking for Gantt chart software, you're going to want to check out GanttPro. No matter how complex your projects are or how many teams or dependencies are involved, GanttPro can cover it all.

If you want to add attachments and comments, track your project progress, and assign tasks to individual team members, GanttPro has you covered. So if you'd like to learn more and receive a special discount, be sure to check out the link in the description below.

Gantt Chart

Let’s start our comparison with the Gantt chart. Here I have an example project; on the left-hand side of the screen, I have my individual tasks which make up the project itself.

Each task has both a start date and an end date, and of course, the duration here, identified in the number of days, is calculated for me. But the real power of a Gantt chart is the visual representation happening on the right-hand side of the screen.

Here you can see I have some color-coded bars, each representing the duration of a given task. The top bar identifies the project as a whole.

So here I can see if I started this project on September 10th, I should finish by October 5th at the end of the day. But the real advantage of using a Gantt chart is the dependencies.

Here you can see, not only do I see the visual representation of how long this particular task will take, but I also see what else is dependent on it. Let’s say, for example, I want to install this software across departments, and I'm scheduled to finish by September 21st.

What this tells me is that the soonest I can begin delivering the workshops is the following Monday. Of course, in this particular example, we're not working on the weekend, so the earliest we can do those workshops is on September 24th.

But what if this goes extremely well? What if installing this software takes less time than we predicted?

I'm going to drag this back a couple of days, and what happens now? Well, because of that dependency, everything else shifts accordingly.

Now I can start those workshops a bit earlier, and if we go to our due date, we will be finished by October 3rd. We're going to be finished in advance, and this is one of the biggest advantages of using a Gantt chart.

You can quickly and easily change the duration or the start and end date on the left-hand side of the screen. Or you can simply drag the bars on the right-hand side of the screen, and in this case, I can start reviewing feedback earlier.

I'll be finished an entire week earlier according to the Gantt chart data. Now, one of the disadvantages you're going to want to look out for with a Gantt chart is if there's too much detail required.

Sometimes a Gantt chart is overkill depending on the type of project you're involved with. In this case, I've just got a very simple example with only about five different tasks.

I think if you have something quite a bit larger and maybe you don't have quite as many dependencies going on in your project, it could be too much. If it is a lot more detailed and you still want to go the Gantt project route, I would encourage you to get familiar with minimizing and maximizing subtasks or subprojects or milestones within your project.

But if you have not tried using a Gantt chart, I would encourage you to do so. See if it's the right fit for your team and projects.

Kanban

Next, let’s take a look at the Kanban board view. Here we are looking at the exact same project that we just saw in our Gantt chart but in a different layout.

For those not familiar with a Kanban board, a Kanban board represents different stages in a particular workflow. Here we see four different columns: open, in progress, done, and closed.

The purpose in this example is to have all of your tasks start in the open column and then, as they are started, move from left to right. So as someone starts working on this particular project or task, it moves to in progress.

Once it is finished, it may move to the done column. Sometimes you may want a particular sign-off, or maybe there’s some checking that needs to happen before you can officially close or finish that particular task.

But as you can see, things move from the left to the right-hand side of the board. Now, of course, you will notice there's not nearly as much detail that we can see at this first level.

If I were to double-click on any of these tasks, I can still see the start and end duration, the total time, and all of the data that we saw within our Gantt chart. But one of the advantages of a Kanban board is getting a cleaner, somewhat higher-level view of what is going on in your project.

Depending on the scope, depending on what you are trying to achieve, Kanban may not be the ideal method for you. One of the disadvantages is the lack of dependencies.

For example, it can be very difficult to see if this particular task is dependent on something else and if that's going to prevent it from moving to the next column. But if you are looking for a cleaner way or maybe an executive-level way of viewing your project, the Kanban board view may be the right one for you.

So, Gantt chart or Kanban, which is the right view for you? I'd love to hear your opinion in the comments.

Have you worked with both a Gantt chart and a Kanban board? Which one do you prefer and why?

I'd love to hear from you, so be sure to let me know down below. If you haven't yet subscribed to Simpletivity, I would encourage you to do so.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Do you wanna Asana, or will you thrive with Hive? Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

I've been a longtime user of Asana, which has quickly become one of the most popular project management tools in the world. Recently, I was introduced to Hive, and I have been very impressed as I’ve been trying things out, managing a few mini projects within the Hive space.

In today’s video, I want to give a few comparisons between Hive and Asana to see if you might want to try out Hive for yourself. Here we are with a test project in Hive, and at first glance, you’re probably saying this looks a little bit more like Trello.

We’ve got a Kanban view of this particular project with unstarted tasks in one column, tasks in progress in another, and completed tasks in a third. Of course, in Asana, you can have a board view just like this as well, but when you create a project in Asana, you have to choose between a list or a board.

Change Layout

Unfortunately, you cannot have both; it’s either/or. One of the great things about Hive is that you can view your work in so many different ways.

Up here on the right-hand side, we have an area called Change Layout, and as you can see, there are six different ways in which we can view our project. For example, maybe you want to view your project in a Gantt chart.

Perhaps you want to see where things are laying out, and I just have a few tasks with due dates here, but you can see that, just like a typical Gantt chart, I can change things on the fly. I can drag things to the right or left and see how the duration of the test project will last.

Don’t want a Gantt chart? Maybe you prefer to see a team view.

This might be my favorite view within Hive, where I can see everyone's work in a nice, concise list. Sometimes when you’re looking at things in a Kanban view, you need a filter or some other way to see who is doing what, but I really like this team view within Hive.

It allows me to get a good grasp of how many tasks I have compared to my coworkers or others I’m working with. This Change Layout option is very flexible, with six different ways to view your projects.

Integrations

Another area where I’ve been very impressed with Hive is how it integrates with so many other tools. Of course, Asana integrates with a number of applications, but beyond integrations, isn’t it great when an application just does what you want out of the box?

Let me introduce you to something you can do in Hive: create a form without needing to interact or integrate with anything else. Here you can see, by selecting your profile picture and going to Forms, you can add a custom form.

I’m not going to start a new form because I’ve already created one, so let me just hit the edit button to show you all the goodness within the form creator. You can give it a title, a description, and choose from all these options on the right-hand side, from checkboxes to radio buttons, short text, long text, and more.

You can even give it a custom confirmation message. But the beauty of any form within a project management tool is being able to tell it what to do with that information.

You can see here that once the form is submitted, I’ve checked the box that says each time a form is submitted, it will be added to a selected project and assigned to a team member. I’ve selected my project here and assigned it to myself.

You can even add a template if you want, though I’m not going to add one now. I’ll just save that, and then we get a link we can share with customers, coworkers, or whoever this form is intended for.

Let’s copy that link, open a new tab, and paste it in. Here we are with our custom form, which could be sent to customers, team members, or anyone else.

This is just a very simple form I’ve created here. It says “Feature Request,” and asks for the type of request and details about it.

I’m going to say it’s a bug fix and write, “I don’t like the way it looks.” After I hit submit, you can customize the thank-you message.

Now, let’s go back to our Hive project, and you’ll notice something new in the unstarted column. Here is that feature request, and just as we told it to, it’s been assigned to me.

I’m going to open this up, and here is all the information that was submitted in that form. Whether you’re a support team or need unsolicited information from others in your organization, you can have it brought directly into your project.

Now maybe I need to follow a specific workflow or do something with this particular task. Speaking of a particular task, let’s open one of our tasks here within Hive.

Tasks

I want to show you some of the features and functionality. A lot of this may look very similar to Asana or other project management tools, such as adding a description, progress stage, comments, attachments, or labels.

Sometimes it’s the small things that make the biggest difference, and one of the things I’ve really appreciated about Hive is the date feature. If I click on Dates, by default, this is a due date, and I can select it with no problem.

But something that many people, including myself, are always looking for is the ability to quickly and easily select a start date. In Asana, you can select a due date, but there’s no easy way to select a start date from this screen.

In Hive, all I have to do is select “Add a Start Date,” and now I can say, “I’m going to start that on Thursday.” With two quick clicks, I can see the duration of this task.

After I hit close, there are my dates right there. When I go to another view, such as the Gantt chart, I can see that start date for the task.

Here’s the “Write report for new product” task, and it makes sense that I can’t view it in the Gantt chart without a duration. I can see that right here, and I can click on any of those items in this new view to adjust or change the duration of the task.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. I might also add that I personally prefer, and this might be because of my experience with Trello, having the view of your task front and center.

In Asana, we often have this left and right view. Most of the time, you have your list on the left-hand side, with a somewhat squished view of your task on the right-hand side.

Of course, you can expand this to full screen if you want, but I really appreciate that when I click on a task in Hive, it comes up full screen. It takes up most of the screen, making it a lot more comfortable for me to work with my tasks in Hive.

Conversations

One of the last things I want to share with you has to do with having a conversation within Hive. Of course, any project management tool worth its weight will have the ability to communicate directly with other team members.

Inside a task, we have this comment section, and these comments will be linked and kept here within this particular task, similar to Asana. Asana has a Conversations tab where you can have a conversation with everyone within the project.

However, I’ve always found that the Conversations tab seems a little static. I have to leave the rest of my list, and these almost feel like individual posts rather than an actual conversation.

In Hive, instead of just integrating with something like Slack, which is very popular with Asana users, Hive has a very good built-in chat group. Here you can see, as I’ve expanded this area, that I can have a discussion with my team while viewing my project on the right.

This is what I’m really looking for: having that conversation while I’m looking at our individual tasks. Maybe I prefer the Kanban view while I’m chatting, while Landin is viewing the Gantt chart because that’s what he prefers, and Barb is looking at the team view.

Whatever works well for them, but I like having this chat built right into the application. I don’t want to have to integrate with Slack or another tool as an add-on.

If I don’t want to view the chat, I can just minimize it and return to my regular view. It’s a nice addition to the Hive atmosphere.

So there you have it, a quick overview of Hive and some comparisons with Asana. I’d love to hear what you think, especially if you’ve already spent some time with Hive.

If you’d like to learn more, I’ll leave a link to Hive so you can try it out for yourself. I would love to hear your feedback and comments.

Remember to subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel. Give this video a like, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it’s very simple.

Do you want to wake up more refreshed? Perhaps you'd like to wake up just a little bit earlier.

Well, in today's video, I'm going to share with you a super cool service which is gonna help you do just that. Hello everyone.

Welcome

Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. I think most of us would like to start our day feeling refreshed.

Perhaps you've read about the benefits of waking up and starting your day a little earlier. Well, if you'd like to achieve either of those things, it really begins the night before.

When you get to bed is crucial. Although you may have good intentions of getting to bed by, say, 10:30, things add up and other things happen in our lives.

Before you know it, it's not until 11:45 that your head is hitting your bed. Today, I want to share with you a new service which I think is amazing.

Not only is it effective, but it's so simple anyone can use it. Let me introduce you to meal.

What is Meal?

meal is a text messaging service which helps you and reminds you to get to bed at a certain time each night.

Now, there are a number of different apps and websites which promise to help you get to bed on time. The problem is that you have to install one more thing or perhaps you have to check your email on a regular basis.

Well, meal is not an app, nor is it a website. It is actually a text messaging service, and that's what I love about this tool.

You don't have to install absolutely anything. It's like having a personal coach by your side, encouraging you and helping you to get to bed on time.

I've been using meal for the last three weeks, and I absolutely love it. It gives me one gentle reminder approximately an hour to an hour and a half before my desired bedtime.

Then, sometime in the morning, it will check in with me to ask if I met that goal or not. Meal will adjust my settings and keep track of my sleep log as I go.

So, do you want to take a look and see what meal feels like? Let me show you on my device.

Meal Example

Alright, so here I am within my text messaging service. I just want to show you some of the back and forth between myself and meal.

At the top of your screen, you can see that I've asked meal to change my sleep goal for the rest of the summer. What I love is that Emil's responses are just like a real human being, even though it's all artificial intelligence.

I tell a meal that I'd like to change it to 11:00 p.m., and it saves that information. Now, at approximately one to one and a half hours before your desired bedtime, it sends you this gentle reminder.

Remember, bedtime tonight is 11 p.m. Then the very next morning, at approximately 10:00 in the morning, it will ask me if I achieved that goal.

You can respond yes or no, and it will keep track of your goal. Here it's like, again, a great coach off to a great start, keep it up.

Last night again, it gives me another gentle reminder when my bedtime is. This morning, at 10:44, it asked me if I got to bed at 11:00 last night.

I'm going to reply I sure did, yes I did. I send it, and let's see what meal has to say as a response.

Boom, two down, five to go. That's right, it's keeping track of my goals for this week.

If you get this week's goal, you'll have a month-long streak going. So there, another example of the motivation that mealgives you so you can achieve your desired goals.

I encourage you to try meal for yourself. Remember, there's nothing for you to install; it simply uses your text messaging service.

Now, if you'd like to try meal free for one month and get 75% off your first paid month, be sure to click the link in the description below. I look forward to hearing your experience of getting to bed at a regular time.

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked today's video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe.

If you'd like to watch even more Simpletivity, you can click on another video right here. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult; in fact, it's very simple.

Let's get so much more out of Google Contacts. Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity.

Helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. If you use Gmail or any type of Google application, chances are you are using the Contacts page.

In today's video, I'm going to share with you five tips to get so much more out of Google Contacts. Let's get started with accessing the Google Contacts site.

For most of us, we spend much of our day here within Gmail. Ever since Gmail updated its interface, probably the most common question I've received is, Scott, where are the contacts?

In the previous version of Gmail, we had either a button or a drop-down menu on the left-hand side which took us directly to Google Contacts. I was really hoping with this new sidebar on the right-hand side that we would have a mini version of Google Contacts.

They've already given us the Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. It'll be interesting if they actually add a Contacts preview here on the right-hand side.

Until that happens, what you need to do is go up here to your Google apps icon, select it, and then find the Contacts icon. The very first tip today is to get you there even quicker with a keyboard shortcut.

Before I show you the shortcut, we need to make sure that you have Gmail shortcuts enabled. To do that, we want to click on Settings, go down to the Settings option.

On the very first tab, the general tab, scroll about halfway down, and you will see that there are keyboard shortcuts. By default, Gmail has this turned off, so you're gonna need to select keyboard shortcuts on, select this radio button, and then don't forget to scroll down to the bottom and select Save Changes.

Now, with keyboard shortcuts on, all you have to do is select the keys G and C, short for Google Contacts. I'm going to hit G C on my keyboard, and immediately in a new tab, it's going to pop up my Google Contacts.

It might take just a second there to load. I've got quite a few contacts in this sample batch here.

Any time that you are in Gmail, not even just the home screen, you could be within a message. As long as you're not in the search bar,

as long as you're not actually typing something, even if I just open up one of my emails, I could select G C on my keyboard, and it's going to bring me directly to my Contacts screen. The second tip I want to share with you as it pertains to Contacts also relates to Gmail.

Many of the contacts that we see here originated from email communication that we had with these individuals. What Gmail will do by default is add a new contact for every single person that you email or reply to.

However, there may be some of you who don't want everyone to be added to your contact list just because you emailed them or you reply to one of their emails. So let's go back to Gmail for just a second, we're gonna click that gear icon and select Settings once again, and we're staying within the General tab.

Scroll down a little bit further this time, and here is the option that says create contacts for auto-complete. You can see by default, when I send a message to a new person, it adds them to Other Contacts so that I can auto-complete to them next time.

Auto-complete to them next time. This is the default option.

If you like, you can turn this off so that you will manually add contacts yourself. Personally, I like the default option because it helps me to grow my contacts list.

Then I don't have to remember everyone's email addresses or their first name, last name. It's going to remember that information for me.

But if you don't want Google to continually add to your contacts list, you can choose this option here. All right, let's jump back into our contacts list.

Another problem that we often face no matter where you are managing your contacts is duplicates, right? You send someone, the same person maybe has multiple email addresses, and Google maybe creates three different accounts, three different records for the same individual.

Google makes it very easy for us to find those duplicates. Here in the menu, we can select the Duplicates option, and it's going to quickly take a look at all of the duplicate entries.

In this case, it's found two duplicates within my contacts list. You have an opportunity to take a look and see if they are actually duplicates.

Maybe you actually know people with the same name, or maybe you accidentally entered in the same email address for two different people. You can look at some of the data that is duplicated, whether it's a first name and last name.

Sometimes you may have duplicate email addresses. Before I dismiss or merge those accounts, I can always click on them myself and take a closer look at what is going on within this particular account.

What I can do immediately is I can say, you know what, this is the same person, I would like to merge this information and select Merge in the lower right-hand corner. The great thing is that regardless if there are multiple email addresses and multiple phone numbers, like you see here, Google will merge them all.

It will keep both of these phone numbers, it will keep both of these email addresses. Now if you don't want to keep both of them, you can either remove one of them after you've merged them or you could do that right now.

You could select this, hit the edit contact icon, remove the phone number or the email address, for example, that you don't want before merging. I'm just gonna hit the Merge button right now, and there we go.

There you see, I've got both email addresses and the phone number, and I'm gonna do the same here for the one at the bottom. You will notice in the top right-hand corner, if you have a large list of duplicates and you've done a quick review of them all, you can always select Merge All.

It's going to do everything on your behalf. Selecting Duplicates once in a while, maybe once a month or every couple of months, might be a smart idea so that you don't have too many duplicates within your system.

All right, let's go back to my master list or the default view here. A tip that I want to share with you has to do with adding some more visuals to your contacts, specifically adding some pictures.

Here you can see in my sample list I have almost no pictures beside my contacts. By default, what Google is going to do is put the letter of their first name along with sort of a random color beside it.

Here you can see I've got an awful lot of C's with just a few different colors here, a few different shades of purple and maroon or magenta, whatever that is here. It doesn't really help me to differentiate who these people are.

I might like to have some pictures for people that I actually know well. Some of these pictures may come over pre-populated if that person has it associated with a Google+ account, if they've already uploaded a picture on their end.

Some of these pictures may be pre-populated from their own user account. For others that you would like to add their picture, one of the main reasons that I like to add pictures is that this carries over to my mobile device.

When I'm texting with someone or if I'm looking up someone's name to give them a call on my smartphone, I like having the picture there rather than just the text. Let me show you how to do that.

I'm going to select this person right here, just as an example. If you click on the actual icon on the avatar area, you can see that it gives us the option to set a contact photo.

We've got a choice here, this is a recent photo I believe that I've uploaded, it's of myself, but that's not obviously who I want to put in here. My second choice is to upload a photo.

Some of you are probably thinking, well, you probably don't just have their headshots on your system, right. You don't just have them ready to go to upload your photo.

Here's a much easier way for you to do so. I recommend going to one of their social media accounts.

In this example, I am going to use my own account just because I haven't asked anyone else's permission to share their photo in today's video. But you can go to Twitter, you can go to LinkedIn, to Facebook, anywhere where someone typically includes their headshot.

Here in Twitter, all I'm gonna do is select the headshot, which is going to give me a larger preview. If I right-click on this image, I've got a few different options here, and what I want to select is copy image address.

Not this one, not copy the image, but I want to copy the image address. I'm gonna select that, which is going to copy the image address to the clipboard.

I'm going to come back to my contacts, and I'm going to select upload photo. You're going to be presented with a screen or a dialog like this, which typically allows you to select or pick that photo.

Even though I have that same photo here waiting for me, what I'm going to do is I'm going to paste what we just copied on the clipboard. This is that copy image address, and I'm gonna hit Return.

What it's going to do is it's going to actually download that photo to my computer, but it's also immediately going to upload it right here to my contacts list. I can change the dimensions here if I drag it within the corners.

I can rotate it if I like, but I like the way it looks already, so I'm going to hit Done. Now this image is added to this contact.

If I close this up, there you can see, now I have this image added to this person's contact here. For those key contacts, maybe they could be members of your team, your family, or key clients, find their social media account.

If you would like to add their

face alongside their contact, you can just copy the image address and then paste it to get it into your contacts list. All right, the final tip I want to share with you today is all about creating groups.

One of the easiest ways to be more efficient within Gmail is to create groups, so that you don't have to be adding multiple email addresses all of the time. If there's a group of three or five or maybe even 20 people that you email on a regular basis, it's much better to create a group.

Within Google Contacts, they actually refer to these as Labels. Of course, individual contacts can belong to more than just one label.

Here I've got one called Client Team where I have four individuals. When I click on it, I can see those four individuals right here.

I've got another label that's called ABC Work Project, but I don't actually have anyone in this work project just yet. Let me show you a few ways in how you can add people to a Label.

If I go back to my main contacts list, one method of doing so is actually just by checking the few contacts that I want to add. Maybe these are three individuals that I would like to add to this label.

With the three of these selected, all I need to do is select the manage labels here in the right-hand corner of the screen, and I'm going to say ABC Work Project. That is going to immediately add those individuals.

You can see the number three. It's going to add those individuals to this particular label.

Maybe there's someone else that I want to add to that label, and I don't want to go down my long list of people. All I need to do is find them.

I can use the search window here to find them. Then if I select the more actions option, I can see the labels at the bottom of this menu.

Here I can say ABC Work Project, and I've got the checkmarks there. You can see that it's highlighted, or I've got the label attached directly to this contact.

You can also see here on the left-hand side, now it has been increased from three to four. The great thing is, when I go back to Gmail, let me go back to my inbox, and I'm going to start to compose a brand new message.

If I start typing the words ABC, now I get ABC Work Project here, and it actually gives me a preview of some of the email addresses in there. I can select that, and immediately I've got all four of those contacts.

All the individuals who make up that particular label. I hope that you enjoyed those five tips for getting more out of Google Contacts.

I'd like to hear from you next. What are some of your favorite tips or tricks on getting the most out of Google Contacts?

Of the five that I shared today, which one is most helpful to you? Thank you so much for watching.

If you liked today's video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to watch even more Simpletivity, you can click on another video right here.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Is there a perfect time of day to create your to-do list? Let's find out in today's video.

It really doesn't matter what you do for work or what industry you're involved in. You are managing a to-do list.

Whether you like to manage those tasks on a productivity app or prefer pen and paper, you need to find time to review and revise that list on a daily basis. In today's video, we're gonna be taking a look at three different times of day and find out which time is best for you.

We're gonna look at first thing in the morning, at the end of your workday, and last but not least, at the very end of your day, for example, shortly before you go to bed. So let's get started with first thing in the morning.

When you manage and revise your to-do list shortly after waking up in the morning or perhaps first thing when you sit down to your desk, you are setting yourself up for a great day. This is a fantastic time for you to review all of your meetings, all of your commitments, all of the things that you must complete by the end of the day.

However, you might want to be careful about this time because often we allow other distractions to take over this sacred time for you to plan ahead. For many of us, we start our day with email, which seems to distract us and push our to-do list to the side.

Or we may be busy in a conversation with a fellow colleague or an early morning meeting, which takes away this time for us to revise and really optimize our morning to-do list. So be careful and protect this time if you want to plan out your day first thing in the morning.

Next up, let's take a look at revising our to-do list at the end of the workday. Now I'm sure some of you may be saying that you don't really have an end of the workday.

You may often deal with emails late into the evening. You may even have some scheduled meetings with colleagues around the world.

Having said that, most of us still have a time of day when most of our work-related activities are finished. This can be a great time for you to review everything on your list and plan ahead and set yourself up for a great tomorrow.

There's something very special about looking at your day that far in advance, giving you a high-level view of all of the things that you need to accomplish. This can also be an ideal way to close up your workday if you set this up as a regular routine.

If that's part of your routine to manage all of your notes, review your calendar, and review your to-do list, you can safely say goodbye and then move on to your other pursuits, whether that be family or just hanging out with friends. So consider managing your to-do list at the end of your workday.

Last but not least, let's take a look at revising our to-do list at the very end of the day. Now this happens to be my personal favorite and when I revise my own to-do list.

I find that there's something special about taking a break from the end of my workday before I reengage with my to-do list. When I finish work at roughly 5 p.m., I want to get away and spend time with my family and spend time with other pursuits before coming back and revising my to-do list.

I find it just gives me that much more clarity as I'm planning out my day ahead. Now of course, there are many of the same benefits of planning out your day ahead in the evening as there are at the end of your workday.

So you may want to experiment with both of these times. But for me, it's nice to have that additional clarity and it's also a great way to get to sleep, to have everything closed and taken care of and planned ahead before I retire to bed.

So there you have it, three different times of day to create your to-do list: first thing in the morning, at the end of your workday, and at the very end of your day. Now I'd love to hear from you.

Which of these three times seem to work best for you and why? Be sure to tell me in the comments below.

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked today's video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe.

If you'd like to watch even more Simpletivity, you can click on another video right here. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult; in fact, it's very simple.

Let's get so much more out of archiving and setting reminders here within Google Keep. Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Today, I want to take a closer look at two features within Google Keep: the archive feature and the reminder feature. I'll show you some new ways to use these features to get more out of your note-taking and organizing all of your information within Keep.

A common refrain that I hear is that people have too many notes and too much information on the Google Keep home screen. By using the archive function, we can find a more efficient way to keep the home screen nice and clear.

You're probably already familiar with adding labels to your notes. Here you see I have a few sample notes with labels like work, family, and personal.

If I select the label on the left-hand side, I can quickly narrow down and see just those notes. For example, I can see just my work notes or my single family note.

But when I go back to the home screen, all the notes are presented together, somewhat jumbled. I can drag them side-by-side to group work together, but you may have 50 or even 100 notes staring back at you on the home screen.

One great workaround is to use the archive function. Don't be scared of using archive within Keep; archive does not mean that it's going to put the note in some kind of hidden, hard-to-reach place.

When you archive a note within Keep, it essentially just removes it from the home screen. Let me give you an example.

Here are my three work notes at the top. I'm going to select archive on all three of them, and of course, they have now been removed from my home screen.

If I select my work label on the left-hand side, there they are, ready for me to continue to interact with. I can add notes, add further content, pictures, or check off these things on my to-do list.

They are fully functional for me to use and manage, whether I'm on the desktop view or on a mobile device. You may want to consider getting into the habit of archiving almost everything within Google Keep.

This keeps your home screen nice and clean. As you see here, I have no notes at the moment, but if I go to my labels, I can see them, interact with them, and deal with them.

This does not affect your ability to search for them or add further information. It simply keeps them away from your home screen, and you can find them within your labels.

I'm going to unarchive this one for a second just to show you that unarchived notes within labels appear at the top, and your archived notes appear at the bottom. Next up, I want to show you a new way of using the remind option or perhaps a way you haven't used before.

You may be familiar with applying a reminder to some of your notes. One of the great benefits of applying a reminder within Google Keep is that this will also appear on your Google Calendar.

You can see it, read, and interact with that note within Google Calendar. But what many people don't make use of is using a recurring reminder for some of their notes or perhaps a checklist.

Here I have a note that says "review all comments on my YouTube channel," and let's say I'd like to do this once a week. I'm going to start by picking a specific date and time because I want to make sure it's on a Monday.

I'm going to select the next Monday, and I'm going to select a specific time, say Monday morning at 8 a.m. This last option by default is set to "does not repeat," but I'm going to select it and choose weekly.

You can select a different option or choose custom to give you many more choices as to how you'd like this recurring reminder to behave. But in this case, I'm just going to select weekly.

Starting this Monday at 8 a.m., it's going to give me this reminder. I select save, and now I have almost a new type of label indicating when this reminder will occur.

It shows the reminder and that it is recurring. The great thing is that I can select the reminders option in the menu, and it will filter all of my notes that have a reminder associated with them.

Here you can see both of these are going to come up at the same time. I can edit the time if I don't want them to appear simultaneously, but I can quickly glance at all the notes with reminders attached.

If I want to go one step further, if this is a work activity, I can add that work label. You can have more than one label attached to a single note.

Lastly, I hit archive once again, and I've got a clean home screen here on the front page of Google Keep. Maybe I only want to keep my tasks or notes from today on this screen and archive everything at the end of the day.

This keeps everything nice and clean. But if I go into work, I can see all of my work notes, and if I select reminders, I can only see those notes which will remind me in the future.

I hope you enjoyed today's video. I would love to hear from you next.

What are some of your favorite tips to get the most out of Google Keep as you manage all of your notes, information, and to-dos? Be sure to leave your answer in the comments below.

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe.

If you'd like to see more Simpletivity, you can watch another video right here. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult; in fact, it's very simple.

Shh, do you use spreadsheets as a part of your workday? Do you wish that you could share or connect multiple spreadsheets together with just a few clicks?

In today's video, we are taking a look at Sheetgo, a web platform that makes it so much easier for you to connect multiple spreadsheets and also share that data with other spreadsheet users. Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity.

Today we are taking a deeper look at Sheetgo, and I'm going to share with you three different ways to use the Sheetgo service. I want to show you how you can share data from one or more worksheets and bring it into one worksheet.

I want to show you how you can use Microsoft Excel data and share that with a Google Sheets user. Sometimes we have our own personal preferences, right, as to which type of tool we like to use and the tools that others are using as well.

Lastly, I want to show you how to merge data from multiple workbooks and bring them into a single workbook, consolidating all of that data. So let's take a closer look at Sheetgo.

Example

Let's start out by taking a look at a simple example. Here I have a sample spreadsheet where I have some basic product information, things like inventory, quantity, and the price of each of these products.

On a separate and distinct spreadsheet, I have my sales data, which either I manage, or it could be another member of my team. I would love to have this information visible somewhere within this spreadsheet, maybe have it appear as a separate tab.

With Sheetgo, we can do exactly that. Let's go over to the Sheetgo web platform.

Making a Connection

Here you can see I have not yet made a connection. To get started, all we need to do is hit the plus button here on the bottom right-hand corner.

In order to use Sheetgo, all of your spreadsheets that you want to connect, consolidate, or merge must be stored on Google Drive. But that does not necessarily mean that it has to be a Google Sheet.

As I'm going to show you in today's second example, you can use Microsoft Excel or any other type of spreadsheet as long as it is stored within Google Drive. So in this case, we need to get started by selecting a data source.

I'm going to select "Add Source," and it's gonna show me all of the sheets that I have available to me within my Google Drive account. In this case, I want to use the sample data as the data source, so I'm going to select that.

My second choice here is the data destination, so I'm gonna select this option. You can start a brand new spreadsheet if you want; that's the default option here within Sheetgo.

But I already have a spreadsheet where I want this information to go, so I'm going to say "Change Destination," and I'm gonna select the Sheetgo destination. I've made a very easy label so I remember where I want it to go.

I've got my data source, I've got my data destination, and the last option here is settings. There are a lot of settings you can alter or change here.

You can change the connection name, for example. You can also change if you want automatic updates or not.

I'm gonna leave that disabled just for now so I can show you how things work. Now that I've made these three choices, I can select the checkmark here to save that connection.

Now I have made my very first connection. Here you see the name of it, the spreadsheet connecting, and scheduling is disabled.

The last update was just now. If I go back to this spreadsheet,

New Tab

You will notice I have a brand new tab at the bottom of my sheet, and look at this, it is the name of the connection that I just made. If I click on it, here I have all of the exact same information as the other spreadsheet I referred to earlier.

Now I can always have the latest or most current information here within this original spreadsheet. Maybe I'm in charge of this tab, and this is all the things I need to work with, all the things I need to change or update.

But whenever I want to look at our sales data, I can simply click on this tab below. I may not even be the owner of this information; someone else may be dealing with this information and updating it.

In our next example, let's see how we can share information from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or perhaps a CSV file into other Google Sheets. If you're not familiar with the Google Drive plugin for Microsoft Office, I'll be sure to leave a link to this add-on in the description below.

This allows you to save any Microsoft Office file directly to your Google Drive account, and that's what we're going to be doing here. When you have the plugin installed, all you need to do is select "Save As," and you can save directly to Google Drive.

Of course, you can continue to edit and manage your information here within perhaps your preferred tool or application. We can continue to edit here within Microsoft Excel.

To make the connection, let's go back to our Sheetgo web platform. We are going to hit the plus button, and we need to add our source.

Because we've been using the plugin, that Microsoft Excel or CSV file is now saved within Google Drive, so that is the data source. As for a data destination, let's use the same destination we used last time, the Sheetgo destination.

Lastly, under settings, we can give it a different name. I'm going to call this one "Customer Data" so we can see the difference here.

I'll select the checkmark. Now, this may take a few seconds to make the initial connection.

Here you see the name of this particular connection, where it is going, and the connection has just been made. Let's go back to that original spreadsheet.

Here you see again at the bottom we now have a new tab, a customer data tab, and now we have all the exact same information that we have in our original Excel file. I can continue to edit that information within my original Microsoft Excel file, and every time I save it, it will be updated here within this particular Google Sheet, all by using the Sheetgo connection platform.

Merging Spreadsheets

Our third Sheetgo example may just be my favorite and most valuable to you. In this case, we are going to be merging three separate spreadsheets into one.

Often you may be dealing with information in multiple spreadsheets, different pieces of information, but you'd like to see all of that information in one. Maybe it makes sense to have separate spreadsheets for different sales representatives or for different projects that you are working on, but you'd like to see everything in one single spreadsheet.

Here I have Inventory A, B, and C, all with different information, but I'd like to see them all in this spreadsheet, Inventory All Sites. So let's see how we can set things up.

Let's go back to the Sheetgo web platform, and we are going to select the plus button. Now again, we're gonna add a source, but this time we are going to be adding three sources: Inventory A, Inventory B, and Inventory C, because we want to merge these three spreadsheets into one.

The data destination could be a brand new spreadsheet, but I've actually selected one already. I've created this Inventory All Sites spreadsheet, so that's where I want the information to go.

Under settings, I can always give a connection name. In this case, I'm gonna say "Inventory Merge" just so I can see it later.

I select the checkbox, which is saving the connection, and it may take a few seconds for the merge to take place, for the connection across those three spreadsheets to take place. I should see a notification—there we go, the connection "Inventory Merge" was updated.

Inventory Merge

If I go to my Inventory All Sites, here you can see I have a brand new tab called "Inventory Merge," remember what I named it. Now all of my data is merged together.

I have all of the information from all three of my spreadsheets in a single view. Remember, I can set up automatic updates or manual updates, so my other team members can continue to work in their individual spreadsheets.

Or maybe I'm working with these individual spreadsheets, but I can always come back and see that merged data here. If you would like to try out Sheetgo, be sure to click the link in the description below.

You can try Sheetgo for free and tell me how you enjoy connecting and sharing your information amongst multiple spreadsheets. Thank you so much for watching.

If you liked today's video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to watch even more Simpletivity, you can click on another video right here.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. You know, one of the most common questions I receive is, how do I select the highest priority item on my to-do list?

You've probably looked down at your tasks and been puzzled as to what you should be working on next. Well, I want to share with you three questions that will help you determine your highest priority item.

Note that these are three distinct questions, so listen carefully to find out which one will work best for you. The very first question on our list is this: if you could only select one task to accomplish today, which one would it be?

In other words, if you had to defer every single item on your to-do list except one, which one would you pick? By applying limitations to our to-do lists, it allows us to zero in on our most important work.

So put yourself in that mind frame. Pretend that you can only accomplish one thing today— which one of all the things on your to-do list would you select next?

Now, the second question comes from Gary Keller and his book *The One Thing*. Gary suggests that we ask the following question: which task, once completed, will make everything else easier or unnecessary?

The reason why I love this question is that it puts your entire workday in perspective. It allows you to analyze your entire task list and identify the one thing which is going to have a powerful impact on everything else in your day.

So if you can identify which thing is going to make everything else easier or unnecessary, chances are you should start working on that immediately. The third and final question works like this: as you analyze each individual item on your to-do list, ask yourself, what's the worst possible thing that could happen if you don't accomplish that task today?

For example, are people going to be upset with you? Are you going to start receiving nasty email messages or messages via text or social media?

Are you going to start losing income if you don't accomplish that task today? I realize this puts your to-do lists in somewhat of a negative light, but perhaps that's what makes it so powerful.

In fact, many of my clients find that this is their favorite question because it helps them determine what their number one priority is. So ask yourself, what's the worst possible thing that could happen if you don't do that task today?

You may find out you can defer it or put it lower on your priority list. So there you have it, three questions to help you determine what you should be working on next.

Now I'd love to hear from you. Which of those three questions are going to be most helpful to you as you reprioritize your to-do list?

Or do you have a particular question that works well in your situation? Be sure to share it with me in the comments below.

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe.

If you'd like to watch another Simpletivity video, you can click right here. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult in fact it's very simple.

Shh, is there a better way to sync your Trello cards with your calendar? Yes, there is, and I'm going to show you how.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

Common Complaints

You know, one of the most common complaints I hear about the calendar sync within Trello is that it takes so long for changes to appear on your online calendar.

Trello Changes

The reason for that is when you make a change after you've set up your calendar sync using the calendar power-up, changes made within your Trello board can sometimes take as many as several hours before they are reflected on your calendar. That can be difficult as you're making changes and wanting to ensure that sync is still intact.

No Edit Button

But there's another issue that many of us complain about: even though I can see that Trello card appear in my calendar, I can't make any changes within my calendar. There's no edit button; all I can do is get that direct link to go back to the card, but I can't actually adjust this due date.

Overview

Today, I want to introduce you to the Trello Connector by Cronofy, which gives you a true two-way sync. I'm also going to show you how to set it up without using up any power-ups within Trello.

Online Calendar

Let's get started with my online calendar. Here you can see I've got a bit of duplication going on between events.

You can see I have some in green, and then I have some all-blue events as all-day events up top. What I've got going on here is I've got one sync using the traditional or standard calendar power-up within Trello (those are the green ones), and here up above, I have the Cronofy Trello Connector sync going on as all-day events.

Due Dates

Another issue with the traditional sync is that every due date within Trello must have a corresponding time as well. Trello doesn't allow you to select an all-day event.

Here you see I've got this due date for July 19th, and it's due at 12:00 noon. I can change this time, but every due date must have a time, which can be awkward when you see those cards in your calendar.

AllDay Events

Often, those cards represent a due date for a task, so it doesn't really have a specific time like 8:00 in the morning or 5:00 in the afternoon. Therefore, some of us may prefer to have them appear as all-day events, and that's exactly what you can do with the Cronofy Connector.

You don't have to have them show up as all-day events, but in this example, I've chosen to show them as all-day events rather than just specific times. That's one of the nice features of having this sync with the Trello Connector by Cronofy.

But let's get back to the bigger issue: the delay and the ability to edit directly from within your Google Calendar. For example, let's say that I am in my Trello board here and I want to make a change to this one here; it's due on July 21st, but you know what, I need to bump up this request.

Making a Change

So I'm gonna select July 19th, pushing it ahead two days. I'm going to hit save, close this card, and immediately go to my Google Calendar.

Refresh

I'm going to hit refresh on this page, and let's see what happens. After hitting refresh, you will notice that Trello card has moved from the 21st to the 19th, just like I told it to in Trello.

But notice the traditional sync is still here on July 21st at 12:00 noon, and it might not move for some time, even though I have that power-up and I have that URL sync set up. It might take a few hours before this shows up over here.

So it's almost an immediate sync when you change a due date within Trello; it's gonna update your online calendar immediately. That is fantastic.

But let's look at it from the other direction here from within Google Calendar. If I want to change something about this team meeting agenda in the traditional sync, of course, there's no edit button.

I can go directly to the card if I like, but there's no way that I can change this due date. However, with the Cronofy sync, I can open up this event, and you'll see I have an edit button.

Save

If I click on this and say, "You know what, I want to push this out to Saturday the 21st," and I'm going to hit save, now we see it changed over here. Here's the team meeting; it's moved to the 21st.

But I'm sure some of you are probably thinking, "Wait a minute, Scott, have you broken your Trello board? What's going to happen on the Trello side?"

Trello Board

Well, I'm going to go over to my Trello board and refresh this page for just a second. Now here is that same card—initially, it was a due date of July 19th, and we pushed it to July 21st.

Now here's something that I've noticed as I've been working with the Cronofy Connector: if we open up this card to see a few more details about the due date, you'll see it actually didn't change it quite to July 21st, but it did change it to July 20th at 5:00 p.m. I believe this may be hard-coded into this service as an end-of-day or end-of-workday setting.

If I am using the all-day events view (remember, I'm using the all-day events view here in Google Calendar), what it is going to do is set that due date for the end of the previous workday. So I've noticed that when making changes not within Trello but within your calendar service, and you're using the all-day event, it is going to default to the previous date at 5:00 p.m., which may not be such a bad thing.

This allows you to complete that task or whatever this card may represent in advance of that due date. But the important thing here is that I can mix and match—I can change things within Google Calendar, or I can change things where I feel more comfortable within my Trello board, and it is going to be updated immediately.

You can see I still have that team meeting (the one that I just changed) still sitting here on the 19th. It's been a couple of minutes since I changed this one—the "reach out to Leslie"—remember, I changed this to the 19th.

That looks perfectly fine, right? It's due on the 19th in Trello and on my Google Calendar, but it's still sitting here using the traditional method.

Power Up

Now, the one last thing I want to point out with using the Trello Connector by Cronofy is that you don't actually have to use up a power-up. There is a Cronofy power-up that you can select from the power-up menu within Trello.

However, if you go directly to trello.cronofy.com, you can set it up yourself without wasting another power-up. That's right, you can make use of another power-up within Trello and then use the connector on top of it.

Let me just show you one last thing in terms of the setup and the different options you have within the Cronofy Connector. This is just the simple setup to create that connection—you can select which boards you want to sync to your calendar.

You can also decide if you only want boards assigned to you or perhaps you want to see all cards that have a due date as it pertains to these boards. Then, on the calendar side, once you select the calendar you want to sync to, you can choose if it's either busy or free—how you want it to appear on your calendar.

Here, as I showed you earlier, you can choose if you want those cards to show as a full-day event or if you'd like them to show at a specific duration. Remember, the Trello default duration is always one hour, from 12:00 to 1:00, because my due dates within Trello are all at 12:00 noon.

So it's going to show up as an hour, but if you'd like it to show up as only 15 minutes or maybe three hours, you can make that distinction here. I almost forgot—this little bonus is that you can enable reminders.

Let's go back into one more comparison. If I open up this traditional calendar sync, you will see that there are no reminders attached to this due date.

However, if I open up the Cronofy sync, guess what? I've told it that I want a notification the day before at 11:00 p.m., so you can enable that as well.

Outro

I hope you have fun trying out the Trello Connector by Cronofy. I'd love to hear what else bugs you or frustrates you with Trello or any of the Trello power-ups.

Perhaps I have a solution, or I can take a look at another workaround in a future video. So be sure to leave your comments down below.

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and don't forget to subscribe.

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