Using Our Tools in the Pandemic

COVID-19 is everywhere, in the news, blogs, podcasts, but also quite literally. We’re all giving our best to adjust our lives to the new rules that will impact our societies for quite some time.

We don’t want to give you yet another list of tips for how to work from home. We’re a software manufacturer, after all, and others do this better. DuckDuckGo has a dedicated quick search for tips and news, and there are plenty of blogs covering working from home.

Instead, we asked our user community how they use our products to cope with the current situation.

Keeping Informed

Steffi from Steffi’s Cloud and jmikebailey have created DEVONagent search sets that scan government and other official websites for new information, filter it, and send the new results to DEVONthink. PDFs end up in the database too. This helps them staying calm and focused.

Writing a Journal

Many community members say that they use DEVONthink to write down their thoughts and feelings to reduce anxiety and help cope with the constant news bombardment. jennajon also adds recipes made, neighbors needing help, and events that happened on the day. Documenting how and what she’s doing in these troubled times makes her feel better.

Collecting Information

Community member Blanc is a consultant in accident and emergency medicine and volunteers in disaster relief. He uses DEVONthink to collate and organize all the information that is sent to him from government agencies. This includes the currently fast-changing regulations, information about protective equipment, and how to work despite the shortage thereof. Blanc also collects case reports and updates about COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus being published in major medical journals. For him it’s vitally important to have all this information at hand at any time even if the mobile internet connection should become unreliable.

konterbande, legal advisor, puts all the various documents, letters, and updates related to the crisis into his database. His clients come to him with the same questions multiple times a day and having all the papers ready helps him keep them informed.

Preparing Courses

ChemBob is one of the many teachers who cannot meet his college students in person at the moment. He used DEVONthink and Tinderbox already before to organize his materials, and this prepared him for the new circumstance. He quickly brought parts of his courses and tests online. He also adds received email to his database and, when ready, creates visualizations with Curio.

Visit the discussion thread in our community to read more about what our users do with our products to get through the crisis. If you have other ways to put DEVONthink & Co. good use we’d be honored to read about it too.

And please do all stay healthy and safe, wherever you are.