Your Top Tips: Favorite Workplace Apps and Software

Are there any apps that you just can't live without? Or a piece of software that you'd trust with your work life?

Would you really cope if you lost your task management apps, or if you were disconnected from instant messaging? For some people, losing their favorite software would be like losing an arm – only they'd likely rather lose the limb!

Personally, I'd be lost – and permanently locked out of every one of the password-protected functions on my work PC – without LastPass. And I doubt that I've been through a single day at Mind Tools without using Skype instant messaging.

So, we thought we'd find out your views on this, and we asked on social media, "What are your favorite workplace apps or software, and why?"

Unsurprisingly, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter featured pretty highly! We took those out of the equation, but were still left with fans of plenty other channels for communication and project management. Here is a selection of your replies.

Productivity Apps

Facebook friend Greg Schmierer, a financial planning and analysis manager from Rocklin, California, U.S., said, "My favorite workplace app has been, and always will be, Microsoft Excel. I love this program.

"Ever since Microsoft introduced the Power BI apps Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power Report in Excel 2013, my reports and analyses are much better. They are more powerful and easier to use for my end-user customers.

"I've set up my reports such that a user can click a couple of buttons to get exactly the data or report he or she wants. No more do they come to me asking me for this format or that format.

"I can focus more on helping them achieve their goals rather than spending a lot of my time (and theirs) creating a multitude of reports. This makes all of us that much more productive."

L&D consultant @GeraldCrittle, from Gloucestershire, U.K., said on Twitter, "One of my favourites is @Snagit to capture text and images. The panoramic mode makes it very useful. And @Smartsheet is very good at managing reminders/notifications."

On LinkedIn, Lisa Olszewski from Melbourne, Australia, declared, "Promapp! It's an incredibly powerful process mapping tool but really easy and intuitive to use. And it is a great company with excellent customer support."

While Sam Parsons, one of our own client success managers at Mind Tools, said, "For project management, I'm currently loving Meistertask. It's a great Kanban board, really intuitive and in-depth, with awesome social/team functionality. Perfect for balancing multiple projects at once."

Kumar Vivek Anand, from Bhilai, India, simply replied, "My Effectiveness." It's a To-Do List and task management app.

Communication Apps

Nick Rodriguez flew the flag for Slack. (Mind Tools Club members can see our review here.) He said, "It's such a great application to keep your team engaged on various tasks. I also love that you can integrate other applications to work seamlessly."

The team at BridgeWorks (@TheGenPeople), intergenerational consultants based in Minnesota, U.S., agreed, "We're big fans of @SlackHQ over here! It's how we stay connected, organize conversations, and share fun gifs all day!"

Tracy Price, from Yucaipa, California, U.S., said, "Outlook keeps everyone informed, on time and organized.

"You can set up reminders for deadlines and meetings, hold people accountable by sending an invite with a confirmation, and it stops the 'Oh, I forgot' and the 'Oh, I didn't know' conversations from happening.

"I use the occurrence tool to schedule that every Monday or end of the month reminder. Color coded. Prioritized. Alarmed. Confirmed. Outlook is my friend!"

Have we missed your personal favorite app or software? Add it to the list in our comments section below, and tell us how it helps you to work better.