Remember to Read That Article Later
I forget many things, including all those good articles people recommend on leadership or burnout (I’ve been really needing that last one recently). So for this Tech Tuesday, let’s walk through how to SAVE those articles to read another day.
The Problem
Besides having to remember to read something later, the biggest issue you face is finding a single location to store these. One that you’ll remember.
The Solutions
For Chrome Users: A Simple Solution
If you don’t need/want to remember articles outside of being IN your Chrome browser, this is a great solution. A newer feature in Chrome, you may have noticed the “Reading List” button in the upper right corner.
To add an article to this list, navigate to the page in your browser.
Click on the little star at the end of where your URL is (circled above).
You’ll have two choices: “add bookmark” or “add to reading list.” Select “sdd to reading list.”
Once you’ve added it to your reading list, you can now click on the “Reading List” button to see your reading list.
There’s a simple checkmark to mark when you’ve read it. The app will put it in another section.
NOTE: You can access your Reading List if you use Chrome on your synced browser (in other words, you have a Chrome sync login).
Universal Save: Pocket
Pocket is a freemium with really great free features, so you don’t need to purchase a subscription unless you’re a heavy user.
The perk of using Pocket is that you can access the content from anywhere – and by anywhere, I mean in your browser, phone, and tablet. So you can save an article in your browser and read it later on your phone.
Pocket works similarly to the Chrome Reading list, with more functionality on the app end.
You’ll need to sign up for Pocket first and then head to the Chrome Store to download the Pocket extension. (It’s available for other browsers.)
Navigate to a page you want to save. You’ll know that it’s NOT saved because the icon will be gray.
While you’re on the page you want to save, hit the Pocket icon. You’ll know it’s saved because that icon will turn red (or pink…whatever!).
When you want to read your article queue, you can head to Pocket to read them.
Two shortcuts to get to Pocket:
- Save the Pocket website as a Bookmark in your browser.
Or, right-click on the Pocket Chrome Extension and select “Open Your Pocket List.”
Now that’s just the primary Pocket features. You may have noticed a few other navigation items on the site (see image on left). Discover and Collections are where you can find content based on preferences you set (the latter being user-created) – those are the free part of Pocket. The others are mostly part of the premium feature – a bit of a scholarly way to use the app.
All the Other Ways
OK OK I can’t outline ALL the other ways. But there are a ton of other apps that allow you to “clip” information from a browser. Apps like Microsoft OneNote and Evernote.
The trick is to keep them in a place you’ll frequent. For example, if you use Chrome in the workplace, it makes sense to keep your work-related articles to your work browser. If you’re on the go, an app that syncs between the cloud and your app is a better choice.
