This is Part 3 of a four part series entitled ‘The Paperless Office Examined’. For Part 1, which discusses the benefits of going paperless, go here. Part 2, which talks about the cons and how you can overcome them, can be found here. Part 4 comes later this week.

As promised, we have provided a list of apps and devices for you to make that transition into paperless. We have only listed the most highly recommended app that works cross-platforms because listing everything available would take centuries. If you have any that you use or you represent an app not listed here, feel free to leave us a comment below with the description and link for our readers.

Read books – Kindle

You don’t need to own a Kindle device to enjoy Kindle books. Download one of the free Kindle apps to read Kindle books on all your devices. The Kindle app is available for every major smartphone, tablet, and computer. That means with these apps, you can buy a Kindle book once, and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed. Source

Take notes – Evernote 

Evernote is a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving. A “note” can be a piece of formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten “ink” note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notes can be sorted into folders, then tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, searched and exported as part of a notebook. Evernote supports a number of operating system platforms (including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Chrome OS, Android, iOS and WebOS), and also offers online synchronization and backup services. Source 

Secure information – TrueCrypt 

TrueCrypt allows you to create a highly encrypted file that appears as a virtual disk drive on your system. You can copy any files on to that “drive” and they are automatically encrypted. The file containing the virtual drive can be copied to any machine, but you must specify the password in order to mount the drive and view its contents. Source

Bonus: 10 Things You Can Do To Protect Your Data

Secure devices – Prey  

Prey lets you keep track of your laptop, phone and tablet whenever stolen or missing — easily and all in one place. It’s lightweight, open source software that gives you full and remote control, 24/7. Source 

Share files – Basecamp  

You’ll like this online application because it allows you to view everything about your project on one page. At a glance you will see the latest discussions and comments, to-do lists, uploaded files and text documents for those that need updating or adjusting. It allows you track projects so you can know what happened when without any confusion. Source

Store files – Dropbox 

Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, and client software. In brief, Dropbox allows users to create a special folder on each of their computers, which Dropbox then synchronises so that it appears to be the same folder (with the same contents) regardless of the computer it is viewed on. Files placed in this folder are also accessible through a web site and mobile phone applications. Source

Track expenses – Lemon

Meet the wallet that’s never lost, stolen or forgotten. Lemon turns your phone into a digital wallet that organizes and stores your cards, receipts, coupons and more, so you can access what you need more conveniently. But the Smarter Wallet from Lemon does much more than store cards, receipts and coupons.  It helps you access and use it in smart new ways.  Think of it as your very own pocket-sized entourage that helps you track your spending, save money, and stay more secure. Source

Sign documents – Digital Pen

A digital pen is an input device which captures the handwriting or brush strokes of a user, converts handwritten analog information created using “pen and paper” into digital data, enabling the data to be utilized in various applications. For example, the writing data can be digitized and uploaded to a computer and displayed on its monitor. The data can then be interpreted by handwriting software (OCR) and used in different applications or just as graphics. Source

Bonus: 2012 Best Digital Pen Comparison and Reviews

Scan documents – OfficeDrop  

OfficeDrop‘s app scans documents directly to the cloud for storage and sharing. The ScanDrop desktop app is available for both PC and Mac, but the iPhone and Android Scanner apps allow you to scan and upload documents using your smartphone. Once uploaded, the document’s text is searchable, thanks to OCR, and sharable with colleagues. Source

PS. It was so hard researching this app because I’m such an app junkie! I now have all of these apps on my computer/phone…