Logbook: Keep your Backpack Journal updated from your Mac menu bar

Logbook is the first product from "Transmission Apps," a group that is building Mac OS companion apps for our products.

Logbook allows you to keep your Backpack Journal updated from your Mac menu bar. You can update your status and log journal entries without having to log into Backpack. Logbook is $12.99.

It's slick and very well executed. We've been using it for a while and it's really encouraged us to keep the journal updated. We're excited to see what other apps they cook up that work with our products.

How one student uses Backpack as a "digital notebook"

If you're a student wondering how Backpack can help you get organized, check out "Technology Focus: Backpack" over at Student Blogger.

Situation: Your student life is in disarray. Papers are here and there, deadlines and assignments are floating around in your head. Sure, a notebook could help. But you need something digital. What do you do?

Solution: Use the very flexible Backpack web application from 37signals. Best of all, it is just what you need for the price of zero.

Read the full article.

Home organization expert on Backpack: "It’s like magic! My respite of order in a chaotic world."

Crystal Dreisbach, Sparkleizer and home organization expert at Sparkleize the Way You Live, on why she loves Backpack:

Among the many reasons I use Backpack to organize my whole life is the remarkable ability it gives you to store files and share important information with other people.

Here are just a few examples of my everyday Backpack magic:

Meal planning. My husband and I are trying to eat dinner at home more frequently (to save money and eat healthier!) Of course, grocery shopping and meal planning take effort and organization. That is where collaborating on our meal planning page (in Writeboard!) on Backpack comes in handy.

How it works: I might volunteer to cook Monday and Saturday evenings of the upcoming week. So I log in to Backpack from home on Sunday and note on the Writeboard what I plan to cook for those evenings. I also list what ingredients we’ll need to buy at the Farmer’s Market or grocery store. I can even include a link to the recipe, if applicable. He can do the same for his cooking days. We can also make note of who will go to the grocery store, and whose turn it is to clean up the kitchen each night.

The end result is a comprehensive meal plan for the whole week, including menu and shopping reminder list, which we can either print out or access from work, home or on an iPhone! (Check out the screenshot, attached.)

Backpack is "the obvious solution" for organizing a trip

Yahoo! Trip Planner wasn't cutting it for Bruce Boughton. So he turned to Backpack to help him plan his trip instead. Full details at "Planning a Trip 2.oh" [Down at Silicon Beach].

Enter Backpack Having tried the domain-specific solution, I re-considered my problem. Although what I was trying to do—plan a multi-city trip—was quite specifc, it was simply an organisation and collaboration problem. There were loads of tools built for collaboration—why not use one? I chose Backpack because it’s a tool I’m familiar with and also because my girlfriend has a Backpack account as well and Backpack allows you to share pages. Looking back now, it’s the obvious solution—just look at the name.

Anyway, I set up a page for my trip and starting adding notes. What I hadn’t realised is that since I last used Backpack (a few months ago), 37signals have beefed up the page components. My planning fell into natural sections: flight to Toronto, hotel in Toronto, flight to New York, hotel in New York, flight from New York, and flight from Toronto. I wanted to keep these distinct but also on the same page. To do this, I used a new Backpack feature: dividers.

Dividers are a great way to organise a page into sections. Each divider can have a title, or you can have a simple line if you’d prefer. I created a divider for each section.

Next I added notes for each small nugget of information (e.g. Air Canada flights on Monday or details of a hotel) and dragged it into the right section. I chose notes so that I could build up the information progressively and re-order items based on how good I felt they were.

Read the full post.

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.

Backpack reminders can help you quit smoking

"What the World’s Healthiest Guys Know" [Men's Health] talks about quitting smoking. The magazine's hot tip? Use Backpack to send yourself daily text messages encouraging quitting. A study showed that reminders like that double your chances of success.

Here's an area where the United States kicked butt: Only 19 percent of American men smoke, as opposed to more than half the men in South Africa, China, and Ukraine. And 70 percent of U.S. workers are covered by smoke-free rules.

What you can learn from your brothers: Still one of the 19 percent puffing? Set a quit date and rally support. A study published in Tobacco Control reports that people who received daily text messages encouraging them to quit were twice as likely to stop smoking 6 weeks later, compared with those who went textless. Go to backpackit.com to send text messages to yourself on preset days and times.

You can use Backpack for more mundane tasks too. In response to the article, Twitter user Warren posted this: "i have Backpack send me reminders to shave. seriously."

Tips on using Backpack for travel planning

David Duran emailed us to say, "I've seen a post here and there about planning travel with Backpack but for me it is one of the aspects that pays for itself time and time again especially now that you've enhanced the sharing features with multi-user accounts and share-by-email." David even wrote a blog post called "Backpack for Travel Plans." Here's an excerpt.

Glimpse of What’s Coming
The first thing you’ll find is that when travel is in the works, I create a page with a consistent naming convention and add it to my sidebar such that the upcoming trips sort chronologically. This isn’t a direct replacement for my calendar, just a quick look at where we’re pretty busy and when we have some down time. Plus it’s a great unobtrusive reminder that something is getting closer and needs to be looked at more closely.

Capture the Basics Early On
With Backpack, I can create a page far in advance to capture the basics of the trip. I was recently at a conference in Copenhagen for example where I had registered about 6 months in advance. I created the page, forwarded my registration confirmation to it, and the info was there waiting for me to polish off the details later on when the event was closer.

Flush Out the Details with Rich Content
With the ability to forward emails directly to Backpack, create links, add images, and more, Backpack is incredibly robust in capturing a range of information. You can even embed live Google Maps which is absolutely brilliant for travel. For my parents’ trip coming up we started with some basic ideas and gradually filled in the blanks.

  

Sharing
Speaking of my parents’ trip, thanks to the newish sharing features (also brilliant), I can securely share the page with my folks so they can access and contribute to all the information without even having to sign up for an account.

All in One Place Ready to Go
Finally, and one of my favorite parts. When it’s time to head out, I open the page, embedded email attachments, and maps, and print them out to take with me. They’re all in one place so it only takes a few minutes and it saves having to hunt through old emails for reservations and flight confirmations. Easy peasy!

Read the whole piece.

The Daily Netizen: Basecamp, Backpack, and Highrise are "must-have" web tools for telecommuters

Jessica Merritt of The Daily Netizen just published a list of the 100 Must-Have Web Tools for Telecommuters. Here's a description of the list:

Setting up shop away from your office can be liberating, fun, and productive, but you’ll need some smart tools to get the job done. Remote access, organization, and time tracking are just a few of the vital functions you’ll need to take care of. In this collection, you’ll see 100 tools for taking care of business from anywhere in the world, whether you’re in your home office or on a Tahitian beach.

We're proud to say a few 37signals apps made the list. Backpack: "Use backpack to get a group calendar, organizer, and more. You can even share schedules, documents, and tasks." Basecamp: "Collaborate with your team and clients by using this project management tool." And Highrise: "Highrise offers online contact management and customer retention management."

The secret to writing a successful to-do list

Some helpful advice for to-do list makers in Basecamp, Backpack, and Ta-Da List: In "Clearing Up a Blurry Work Life" [NY Times], Gina Trapani, the founding editor and lead blogger for Lifehacker, the popular site that offers “tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done,” offers her secrets for writing a successful to-do list.

There are lots of ways you can make a to-do list into something that actually gets done. Often when people get to the point when they are writing it, they are doing a brain dump. They just have to just get things down on paper. But to get to the point where you’re checking things off, you want to make it a do-able to-do list. Things need to be as easy for yourself to do as possible. So you have to break things down into tasks. We sabotage ourselves by writing down things like “Plan the anniversary party” or “Learn French.” Those are projects, not tasks and don’t belong on your to-do list.

Read the full article.

Backpack helps on-again, off-again project stay on track

In "How to manage long breaks in your software side projects" [Signal vs. Noise], 37signals Ryan Singer shows how he uses Backpack to manage an on-again, off-again side-project he manages.

I make a single Backpack page for each project with two lists and some notes. The two lists are ‘To-Do’ and ‘Debt.’

The ‘To-Do’ list is for things I really, truly, honestly plan to do next. I keep it very short, always less than five items. If it gets any longer, I’m probably fantasizing instead of actually planning to do those things. Whenever I return to a project, the top item on the To-Do list tells me what I should work on.

The ‘Debt’ list is for things I should have done but didn’t bother to do. The Debt list is partly a psychological trick. It helps me cut corners without feeling too guilty. Should’ve added validations to that model? Add it to the Debt list. Wrote a condition without thinking too deeply about the edge cases? Just add it to the Debt list. But it’s also more than a band-aid for laziness. If something breaks or I run into some unexpected behavior, chances are a quick glance at the Debt list will point me to a corner that I cut or a step I skipped and lead to a direct solution instead of an hour of head-scratching.

Lastly my Backpack account is SSL protected, so I feel safe storing information about my production environment. I can never remember where a project is hosted, what the username and password are or if there are particularities with the configuration I should know about. I keep all this server info on a note at the top of the page, so each time I need to log in I don’t have to go digging for passwords or welcome emails from my host...

For the Backpack lists, try to be brutally honest. A mile long To-Do list is proof of time wasted, not time saved. Focus your To-Do list on the next few things you need done, and limit your Debt list to Debt that actually matters.

Read the entire piece.

Backpack helps researcher working in imaging of ancient texts

Ryan Baumann is a research associate at the University of Kentucky working in imaging of ancient texts. Below he details how he uses Backpack to organize his work.

I'm often trying to keep track of multiple projects at once, so I use Backpack for the usual organization of notes, ideas, and todos. Since it's completely web-based I don't have to worry about data synchronization issues or being unable to use it if I'm not at one of my regular machines. The design stays out of the way, letting me jot down a short idea or use lightweight Textile markup if I want some special formatting.

But where Backpack really shines is in its ability to share data. It lets me pull together notes, images, and lists to quickly share results with colleagues in a clean, professional layout. Since I work in imaging and visualization, galleries let me easily share images of all sizes with a small preview and some optional descriptive text, on the same page with any other information I want to get across. It's only a short step up from there to have a page other people can readily collaborate on.

All about tags in Backpack

A tag is a simple label or keyword you can use to categorize your Backpack pages any way you want. Then when you click a tag you can see all the other pages that have that tag. It’s a great way to keep your pages loosely grouped in ways that make sense to you.

For example, if you have a page called “Sales meetings” you might want to tag that page “business, meeting, sales, office” or whatever you feel best describes this page. Here's a walkthrough on how to add and use tags in Backpack:

To add a tag, click the "Tags" link at the top of the page you want to tag.

Then add your tags and click the "Add these tags" button. Separate each tag with a space and use quotes for tags with more than one word ("new business").

Once you've tagged a page (you can add as many tags as you want to a page), you'll see the tags at the top of the page.

Clicking a tag will show all the other pages with that tag. Or, you can click the "My Pages" link in your sidebar. On that page you'll see a list of all the tags you've created.

Click a tag and you'll see the list of pages that match that tag.

[Case Study] Scottish wood floor company runs its business using Backpack

Richard McKay, Director of McKay Hardwood Flooring in Glasgow, Scotland, writes in to tell us how his company uses Backpack.

Our company, McKay Hardwood Flooring, a family run Scottish wood floor company, has recently introduced Backpack and is currently planning the future running of our business using Backpack and the other 37signals tools.

Our first task was to store documents that we use on to our 'Important Documents' page. Traditionally these documents were stored on our company server but it was sometimes problematic accessing these via a VPN if we were working from home or abroad. Accessing them on the cloud via Backpack has simplified this task and we are now working faster and with less hassle.

Secondly we are working on a list of company procedures using the 'Notes' feature within the Backpack page.

Another use we have found for Backpack is the online storage of supplier's pricelists (these sometimes get lost within our office. We have also uploaded all the indoor sports court marking layouts (basketball/volleyball etc) and our onsite operatives can acces these at any time no matter where they are working in the UK.

Other uses for Backpack that we've identified are:

A page with monthly snapshots of our web 'analytics' results. Minutes of meetings. All our company brochures and print ads.

A page for each employee listing holidays, absence, etc. A page for each of our smaller contracts - to include our quote, client's order, photos.

After we've got Backpack completely up and running we will switch our attention to using Highrise for our CRM.

We like using 37signals software as it's simple to use and doesn't scare off staff (they've actually embraced it as they realise it's saving them time). Also, it's quick and easy to access.

I am also working on a new start-up, Zungalow.com. We are using Backpack to organise tasks, ideas, etc.

McKay installed the flooring throughout the National Galleries of Scotland.

The company also supplied and installed the wood flooring at the Maggie's Centre, Dundee (a Frank Gehry design).

"Backpack has changed my life"

Ryan Hinricher an entrepreneur, realtor, and VP of Marketing for IT Niche, a custom web development firm, writes about finding solace in 37signals tools and Backpack in particular.

Backpack has changed my life. Backpack is essentially online storage, but becomes more than that. A personal intranet, a business intranet, and so much more. Backpack allows you to create pages within an account for projects or even something you are just trying to keep track of. I'm using it for both my online real estate investment company, The Feol-Hinricher Companies and my web development company, IT Niche. I'm able to use this extremely affordable system to manage small projects, allow people to collaborate, image files, create lists, assign tasks, edit and share calendars and more...I think this is an excellent solution for small companies and start ups.

I've been able to lose a lot of paper by imaging; contracts, leases, proposals, and any important document you can image. I created a page for a research project, a page for a family trip, and a page for every web development project my web development company is working on. It is super easy to use (plenty of demos), and is accessible from anywhere...Check it out. This increased my company efficiencies BIGTIME.

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.

Branding agency uses 37signals tools to stay small and stay connected

Brand Guardians, a small branding agency, recently published "Small is the new big.. (or how we run a distributed agency)." The post explains how the agency uses the entire 37signals product suite to get things done.

We are small, but we have a number of offices, on several continents. We have a range of clients – from HUGE to tiny. But the way we work now – well I don’t think we could have done it even 5 years ago very easily.

We use a suite of tools that help us stay small, stay connected, keep us apart (in a good way – less travelling), help us manage our business, organise diaries, manage our clients, keep them connected, store all our crucial documents and data, and most importantly help us to be creative. Sounds good eh? And it doesn’t cost much…

The four core products (which all run in a browser) – Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire do everything we need, and help us do things better, without the need for IT support or training. You should check them out to see all the things they do, but the most important thing they are is SIMPLE...

The benefits are that they allow us to manage our clients and their work, and our time and our ‘stuff’ more efficiently, and quicker, and easier. They essentially allow us to get on with what we are paid to do, help solve our clients problems with minimal problems...We have found that by spending less time and effort managing our business, we can spend more time and effort helping our clients to run their businesses.

Great to see a company using the whole 37signals buffalo, if you will. The post provides more details and also includes this list of what the company doesn't have now that it uses 37signals (and other similar) tools.

What we don’t have (now) is:

1. Any IT staff – or indeed any ‘junior’ staff at all
2. Big servers with VPN and tricky stuff like that
3. Large maintenance agreements to manage big hot servers and ‘kit’
4. Trouble finding stuff like files and presentations and pictures etc..
5. Anxiety about ‘stuff breaking or crashing’
6. large pieces of capital investment
7. No time to talk and meet with clients
8. There are probably more things but I’m bored with this list now…

Read the whole article.

Brand Guardians web site

Two examples of using Backpack to plan a wedding

Benjamin L. Jendrick tells us about how he's using Backpack to plan a wedding:

It just so happens that I'm currently using Backpack to plan my younger sister's wedding (see page).  It's the best tool I could hope to use since my sister is in Florida, my Mom is in upstate NY, and I'm in Arizona.  The beautiful thing about Backpack is that my mother, who still refuses to learn or use IM, was able to figure out how to post photos for favor ideas.

So in a matter of a few weeks, everyone that had ideas, including my wife, was able to put everything into one spot and then discussions could begin about what to buy, how to plan, etc.

I even created a custom CSS file for the page to make it a bit more festive.

Fortunately, the date has been moved back for the event due to busy schedules, which translates into having more time to coordinate and plan.

Thank you for continuing to make incredible products that require almost zero technical knowledge.

This gallery features cake and dress photos.

The guest list is actually an embedded Google doc.

"37signal’s Backpack Journal is a great illustration of the Twitter principle, as applied to business"

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? "Twitter, as applied to business (aka 37signal's Backpack Journal)" likens the Backpack Journal to the popular tool.

A lot of people don’t get Twitter. A lot. They ask me why I love it, use it, and why I tweet so much. I think it’s one of those things that you have to do in earnest in order to appreciate, but I think this screenshot of 37signal’s Backpack Journal is a great illustration of the Twitter principle, as applied to business.

What if you could see what everyone was doing, without having to ask? Exactly.

Learn more about the Journal.

New in Backpack: Share pages via email even if the other person doesn't have a Backpack account

Backpack has always allowed you to share pages via email, but the person on the receiving end had to have a Backpack account before they could view the page. We were never really happy about how that worked. We finally did something about it. Big thanks to Jeremy for making this happen.

Now you can share Backpack pages with anyone in the world via email — even if they don't have a Backpack account. They don't even need to know what Backpack is.

It's the quickest and best way we know to share a functional web page or informational page with someone (or some people). Share to-dos, photos, notes, whatever. Pages you share via email are fully functional. Multiple people can collaborate on the page together by adding new list items, checking them off, adding a note, a file, a photo, etc.

And if they do decide to sign up for Backpack, they page will be pulled right into their account as a shared page. It's all automatic.

We hope you find this enhancement useful. If you don't already have a Backpack account, sign up for one today.

"Backpack is awesome for wedding planning"

Jessica Merritt offers up "Wedding Planning on the Web: 100 Tools and Resources for Brides to Be." On the list: Backpack.

Backpack: 37signals’ organization and collaboration tool is awesome for wedding planning.

Anyone out there use Backpack to plan a wedding? If so, tell us about it. We'd love to see it.

How one team sends SVN commit emails to a Backpack page

Matt Johnson writes in to tell us about how his team is using Subversion (SVN), a version control system, to send emails to a Backpack page. The team's clients can then check that page (or the page's RSS feed) to learn when changes were made to their site and what changed.

We recently switched from a fully featured Basecamp account (Time tracking, etc) to a Basic plan of Backpack to manage the team.  The direction of the project we were using Basecamp changed some, so we thought we'd give Backpack a try.

After adjusting a bit to the new workflow, I realized that I could make it a bit easier for my client to read when we make a change, and what we changed.  We use SVN and so I just forwarded my SVN Commit emails to a Backpack page, which my client could then subscribe to the RSS feed of that page.

We'll be setting it up so that SVN sends it to Backpack right away, but for testing purposes I just have my Gmail account using a filter to forward it automatically.  We have the subject of the commit email notification with the Note: syntax.  Allowing the Backpack page to automatically parse the forwarded email into a note.

I thought it was kind of cool, so I thought I'd share it.

Blue Flavor thinks the Backpack Journal is "fan-frickin-tastic"

In "Powered by 37Signals," Keith Robinson of Blue Flavor details how his team has added Backpack to its arsenal.

This little post is really about one particular 37Signals product, Backpack, but I figured I’d give it an impressive title as we actually use a few of their products to run core parts of our business. Honestly, I don’t know how’d we’d survive without them.

But Backpack!? We’ve just now started using it and it’s been fan-frickin-tastic.

We’ve got a small team doing lots and lots of work. Things like schedules, internal communication, workload reporing and the like have always been a bit of a problem, mainly with distraction. There is a need, mostly by me, to know what people are working on and what they’re getting done so I can properly resource them. There is also a need for everyone else to stay in touch without constantly badgering...

About a month ago I read about Backpack’s new Journal feature. It seemed very interesting and after about a week of playing with it, I decided to get the rest of the team to try it out. Now we’ve got an amazing status tool (ala Twitter) AND an ongoing record of what everyone has an is working on. I find this really useful in planning my resources and projects. It’s also got all sorts of side benefits; keeping the team in touch in a low-noise way, reducing distraction by allowing people to announce that they’re busy. “Hey don’t bug me! I’m heads-down!!”

Keith also gives kudos to other features in Backpack:

The Shared Calendar
We didn’t replace ALL of our calendaring needs with Backpack’s shared calendar, but it greatly simplified scheduling PTO, client meetings and events. That stuff was a MESS before and now it’s all nice, clean and sparkly. That alone would have been worth the price.

The Rest
The team is making great use of the pages and their lists, etc. I’ve taken to recording how I do EVERYTHING around the office there (unless it’s shared info, we use Writeboards in Basecamp for that, but it could do.) An aside, business owners, this is something that’s helped me immensely.

If you find yourself constantly re-learning how to do things (ship a package, new employee paperwork, etc.) record it somewhere, like Backpack, and thank yourself later.

So, yeah, Backpack makes a great back-up brain. Oh, and it’s got reminders. Can I tell you how awesome that is? Nick forgets. Yeah, all the time. It’s so nice to be able to set reminders for him.

Backpack makes a very affordable and powerful intranet-like tool. I’m so happy we started using it. Kudos to the guys over at 37signals.

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.

One of our favorite uses for Backpack: "How to" pages

One way we love to use Backpack is for "how to" pages that guide us through confusing tech waters. These tutorial pages mean we don't have to waste time relearning processes from scratch. Some examples:

How to change FTP server for existing files
How to checkout apps from the Subversion repo
How to create accounts for Basecamp and Backpack from the console
How to create File Attachments in the console
How to deploy to staging
How to failover to status.37signals.com
How to format dates with strftime
How to merge a branch into trunk
How to rebase in SVN
How to restart a stage on dev
How to run solr locally
How to setup a local nameserver
How to setup MySQL databases for local apps
How to setup the Unix programs required by our apps
How to test local apps in VMware

And here's a look at one:

Jamis put it together and this was the reaction to it (from a Campfire chat):

Ryan: Jamis, thanks much for that page. really informative and well put-together
Jamis: thanks RS! I'm glad it's been helpful
David: haha, I bookmarked that page! went back there a ton of times for the openbar reform. merged trunk more times than I'd care to remember.
Jamis: yeah, svn rebasing is so insane. Most of the reason I made that page was for me to refer back to :)
Ryan: what a great use of Backpack

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.

CSS tip for customizing the appearance of Backpack pages

Brian Bailey recently posted about how he adds some CSS to Backpack pages in order to customize them. "Simply add a small amount of CSS to the page in the form of a note and you can change the formatting to meet your needs," he writes. Details below.

If you use Backpack, the organizing web tool and intranet from 37signals, you may sometimes wish you could modify the text on a page to fit a little more information on it. I have a page where I collect code snippets and terminal commands and the default font seems a bit large with so much content. Turns out there's an easy solution to this: simply add a small amount of CSS to the page in the form of a note and you can change the formatting to meet your needs.

I've known this was possible for a long time, but finally took the time to figure it out the other day. After a few experiments, I came up with a solution that works great for me. Those of you with actual CSS skills may find much to laugh at with this example - feel free to post improvements. Plus, there is much more that can be done once someone with design skills starts playing with it.

To do this yourself, just create a new note on a page with what you see above (I like to put the note at the bottom). As soon as you save it, refresh the page to see the changes. Feel free to experiment with the font sizes (just change 14px and 12px) and the title colors (color:brown).

Here are two examples, with the standard version first. Check out these ideas if you'd like to explore further. Enjoy!

#1: Before.

#1: After.

#2: Before.

#2: After.

Do you have a neat trick re: a 37signals product? Let us know.

[Case Study] Trigger brings Los Angeles and Shanghai offices together with 37signals products

Melanie Orndorff, Account Manager at Trigger, an entertainment marketing and interactive design company. She writes to tell us how the company unites its two offices, one in Los Angeles and the other in Shanghai, with 37signals products:

At Trigger, we design, develop, and deploy games, websites, and social media applications for clients such as Sony, Paramount, Fox, and Universal Pictures. It's fun work, and it can also be pretty hectic. We use a few 37signals products here at Trigger, but Basecamp and Highrise have proven most useful for our team.

Previously, we would send a huge volume of work assignment emails, project questions, and replies back and forth between our Los Angeles and Shanghai offices. Since many of our team members in Shanghai are not English-speaking, most of those emails would need to be read and translated before work could begin. It could get confusing, and somehow emails always seemed to get lost.

With Basecamp, our project managers in both offices (plus some team members in Portland, Seattle, and Las Vegas) are able to keep all of the communications in one place. Email volume has dropped, and team members are more informed. Because of this, we've been able to take on far more projects than we could handle in the past.

We love being able to discuss projects collaboratively between the offices. Because the messages are displayed in chronological sequence, we know that everyone has the most current information. When updates to work requests are needed, we can follow up with additional instructions and each developer and manager gets the info.

Learn how Trigger uses Highrise after the jump.

Use Jott to transcribe a voice message and post it to your Backpack homepage

Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments. You can even use it to transcribe a voice message and post it to your Backpack homepage. Full details and an example audio track at Jott.

You: Call 866-JOTT-123
Jott: Who do you want to Jott?
You: Backpack
Jott: Backpack, is this correct?
You: Yes
Jott: Beep!
You: Add Task to Home, remember to get lunch for the team.

Jott transcribes your message and posts it to your Backpack homepage.

If you're constantly on the go (or just prefer talking to typing), this sounds like a great way to get entries into Backpack via your phone.

(Note: If you're already a Jott user, add Backpack to your Jott links.)

How to use Fluid to "create a kick ass intranet app using 37signals"

"Create a Kick Ass Intranet App using 37signals" explains how to use Open Bar and Fluid to create "a stylish intranet app that lives in your dock, complete with all of your 37signals services."

The post explains how to set up Open Bar so you can switch easily between apps and explains the benefits:

Having all of these applications in place really creates a great intranet-type workflow. It’s helpful even when working solo but if you have a small team like me it really shines. I also noticed my people used the various apps a lot more once I introduced them to using OpenID to bring them together — as well as putting it all together in Fluid.app.

It then explains how to get the apps to live in your dock:

So we have our cool kid intranet setup with OpenID. Now we need to go download Fluid.app and turn this puppy into a desktop-like application. Fluid is an SSB (site-specific browser), which is basically just a web browser without all the extras and with a customizable dock icon (I would recommend grabbing these nice icons for use with Fluid).

It’s great for tabbing to your intranet window, adding a calendar entry, and tabbing back to Photoshop, to give a quick example. This is a process that just isn’t as exciting when you’re stuck in Safari.

Mac users: Create a Backpack Journal Dashboard widget using Safari's webclip button

Elaptics.co.uk has a blog post on rolling your own Backpack Journal Dashboard Widget using Safari's webclip button:

Safari on Leopard has an awesome, but probably somewhat underused, webclip button which allows you to grab part of a webpage and have it turned into a widget. And as all programmers know, the best code to write is no code. So I have grabbed the updating part of the page as per the widget described and also the team’s recent updates. As a double bonus, it updates the clips when you invoke Dashboard so you get the latest team updates straight away rather than what you’d normally be having to do is refresh your browser’s page yourself.

Ok, I’m blind, where’s this button?

Right here….

And this is what mine looks like on my Dashboard. The webclip widgets also allow you to put different frames around the clip, just flip it over and pick from the options. This season my two widgets are sporting the latest in Torn Edge and Glass themes fashion.

Do you have a neat tip for a 37signals product? Let us know.

"100 Useful Web Tools for Writers" includes Highrise, Backpack, and Campfire

100 Useful Web Tools for Writers [CollegeDegrees.com] is a list that "will help you with your career, your sanity and your creativity whenever your write." The following 37signals tools made the list:

Highrise: Manage all of your employers, vendors, designers and partners with this CRM tool.

Backpack: This 37signals tool organizes group calendars, announcements, files, task lists and more, perfect for writers who frequently work with or manage others.

Campfire: Another 37signals tool, this collaboration solution lets you set up secure chat groups where you can send and share files.

View the entire list.

Kidmondo uses Basecamp and Backpack to create online baby journal

Kidmondo.com is a unique online service for new parents that recently launched. Site creator Daniel Hallac wrote to tell us how he's been inspired by Basecamp and 37signals:

Kidmondo is a personalized online baby journal that helps parents to easily chronicle their child's life and share it with friends and family in a safe environment. Some of the tools we offer parents include, a online diary, photo & video gallery, growth & dental charts, medical & food journals, and an interactive timeline of the child's life.

The early reviews have been positive and many people have equated it to a baby blogging platform or even a baby Facebook. My response tends to be that I find it closer to a baby Basecamp. Basecamp --which we used religiously in the development of the product-- has been a constant inspiration in the design of the site. When we were stomped, we often asked ourselves, "what would 37signals do?"

We asked Daniel (pictured below with his son Davide) to tell us more about Kidmondo's use of Basecamp (and Backpack too):

How do you use Basecamp and why do you like it?
Kidmondo is an online baby journal founded by my wife, Carole and I soon after the birth of our second child. We couldn't find a compelling way to chronicle and share news about our kids with our family and friends, so we went ahead and built one. When we first came up with the idea, we started with another 37signals product you may have heard of, Backpack. Backpack to help us brainstorm and flesh out our ideas and the exact requirements for Kidmondo.

When it came time for the implementation, we switched to Basecamp to manage our engagement with Eastmedia Inc, the web development shop we commissioned to build the site. Luckily for us, Basecamp was also their recommended project management tool and the transition was a smooth one.

We picked both products because they just worked! My wife has a very low tolerance for complex tools and was able to quickly adapt and use it. It allowed us to concentrate on the work at hand and not have to worry about learning the idiosyncrasies of the product.

Which features do you use most?
I believe the message board were the most used tool and became the primary communication channel between us and the developers. Having all communications in a central and searchable repository really helped cut down on miscommunications. Funny story, during the project I was often away from a computer and commented that Basecamp really needed a reply by email function. Low and behold you announced this feature it a few days later. That soon became the most used feature!

Productivity blogger calls Backpack "insanely easy"

Charles Gilkey writes Productive Flourishing, a blog devoted to "all things having to do with flourishing" (i.e. it covers creativity, time management, GTD, personal development, personal productivity, etc.). The site recently asked the question, "Is Backpack Worth the Time and Money?" The answer: Yes!

Backpack proved to be that integrated solution.

Calendar sharing is also a huge feature for me. I’m horrible at telling Angela what I’m doing, even though I often put it in a calendar. My old DotMac service automatically updated her computer when I made changes - so when I no longer had that feature, there was considerable tension as my shifting schedule changed and I didn’t tell her. Having your spouse cook a meal because it’s her turn only to tell her way too late that you’re going to stay late for work causes considerable frustration.

Backpack stepped in quite nicely there, as well. Now when I update my Backpack calendar, she gets an RSS notification that I’ve done so.

But I gained more than those two features. I also really started using the Reminder feature in Backpack, as well. I schedule reminders for important things to remember, and I can set it so that it reminds both of us or one of us. For instance, she had surgery last Thursday, and the doctor informed her that was not to take anti-inflammatory meds for one week prior to her surgery. Rather than try to remember that, I just programmed a reminder that emailed us one week prior indicating that from that she wasn’t supposed to take anti-inflammatory meds during that period. Simple and efficient.

I’ve also been continually using their Pages feature in many different ways. One time I used it to keep a rolling ToDo list for things I needed to do during Annual Training. Another time I used it to keep track of the wines that we like. Another use has been as a shared project tracker. It’s really so easy and modular that you can use it for about whatever you need.

Rarely have I used a product that was so easy, and I dare say fun, that it encouraged me to use it more. Backpack does that to me on a daily basis.

Video: Backpack tips for dragging

This video shows you how to use the Home/End and Page Up/Down keys for dragging items around a Backpack page quickly. Also, you'll see how easy it is to drag an item to a page in the sidebar.

Dashboard widget for Backpack Journal

The latest addition to Backpack: The Journal. And now, if you're a Mac user, you can post your status and create new journal entries right from your Dashboard thanks to Roobasoft.com's Dashboard widget.

Recently, 37signals added a Journal feature to Backpack. I wrote a little dashboard widget that uses their API and can post your status and create new journal entries.

Download BackpackJournal.wdgt

To use this, you’ll need your Backpack API Key. To get that, go to ‘my info’ and click the ‘Show your API key’

After that, enter your text in whichever field you want and hit enter. Only the field you changed will be submitted.

Developers, you can use Backpack's API to create your own add-ons for Backpack.

Introducing the Backpack Journal

A few weeks ago we gave everyone a peek at in/out, our internal app for keeping track of who's doing what and what everyone's recently completed.

We mentioned that we were considering building it into Backpack. Today we're pleased to announce that the Journal is now part of Backpack. Just log into your Backpack account and click the Journal tab. The Journal is available on all plans -- from free to Max.

The Journal eliminates the need to constantly ask each other "What are you working on right now?" and "What did you do today?"

Watch a video

A full-size video is also available.

An API too!

As part of the Journal launch, we've updated the Backpack API to include journal entries and status listings. We're excited to see what people build with the journal API.

We hope you find the Journal useful

The Backpack Journal has become an integral part of our work day. We're checking it all the time to see what everyone is busy with and what's been finished. We don't have to bother each other to find out what everyone is up to. It's a huge interruption saver (and we know how interruption is the enemy of productivity).

Web marketing strategist uses 37signals products to replace spreadsheets, email, an address book, folders and sticky notes

Essential Keystrokes recently published "4 Great Tools to Help You Organize Your Business and Projects from 37signals":

How do you keep track of your contacts, project notes, files, status updates, and sign-offs? For many years I relied on a combination of tools such as an Excel spreadsheet, my email, an address book, folders and sticky notes. As my business has grown and become more mobile (meaning some days I work from Panera Bread, some days from the patio, and others in my main office) I have found these tools just aren’t working for me anymore.

I have looked high and low for a solution that would fit my needs (here are some I tested) and after talking with Leah from Working Solo, I have finally found my answer - Highrise and BackPack from 37signals.

The team at 37signals has created a series of web-based products that help you and your organization stay, well, organized! Each of their products serves a slightly different purpose and a slightly different audience, allowing you to get only the functionality you need in a lightweight, web-based application.

I use Basecamp with some clients when managing a large project that requires input, file sharing and deadlines with more than one person. Basecamp is perfect because all the communication is done in one place, thus eliminating the lost emails, constant forwarding and CC-ing that frequently happen with larger projects. You don’t have to worry about missing anything - Basecamp emails you when someone adds anything to the project.

The product I am hooked on that really works for me as a freelance designer is Highrise. Highrise works as a contact management package with a kick. Not only can I keep track of my client contact information, but I can add notes for each one, create my to do list (and get email updates on what is due or past due), and use the dropbox as a back up feature too. When you pull up a client’s name, you get all of their information and notes all at once which is such a nice feature.

Backpack is a great way for your organization to stay on the same page or for you to keep all your notes and files organized. It is a beefed up calendar, file cabinet and white board all in one place. Use it for one person or the whole organization. Get your reminders sent to your phone or email - so you have no excuses.

Campfire is a great way for organizations to stay on the same page even when you are working from multiple locations. Think of it as your own private group IM. The look and feel is no nonsense, elegant and easy to use.

37signals has other products that make collaboration and organization work for you - it is just a matter of checking each of them out and seeing which one fits you best. For me, the answer is Highrise with a bit of Backpack on the side. Each of the 37 Signals products comes with a free trial and depending on the size of your organization and project needs, some of the solutions are free. You just have to give them a try.

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.

Four reasons why Backpack is better than other organizational tools

Micheal Hickerson, Associate Director of the Emerging Scholars Network, recently published OneManOffice: Backpack. In it, he describes why he thinks Backpack is great: 1) You can start using it for free. 2) It's easy to use. 3) Multi-user features make it a great intranet. 4) It's a simple way to make public web pages.

What makes Backpack so great, as opposed to say, oh, any of the other organizational tools out there? 

It’s free.  Actually it’s free for your first 5 pages, but that’s very useful in and of itself. That’s how I got started - created a free account and set up a few pages.  I used the free account for months before I upgraded.  And the upgrades are not expensive.  The lowest level upgrade is $7 per month. (All of 37signals’ products are based on monthly subscription rates.) 

It’s easy. It’s very intuitive, and there’s really nothing to learn.  There are certainly some tricks that you can pick up from the user forums, but you can start using Backpack out of the gate without any kind of learning curve. 

Is there anything else you need to know other than it’s free and easy to use? There is one more cool feature that will make it very useful to anyone who has to share information with colleagues in other offices.

Recently, Backpack added a multi-user feature, so that it can act like an intranet for files, notes, or other things you need to share.  You can also make Backpack pages public, making it a very easy way to create simple webpages.  Here’s a public copy of my reading list, so that you can see exactly how behind I am.

"Here’s a page that I created to help me keep track of books that I want to read...(iBackpack is a little snippet of code so that I can use Backpack on my iPhone - cool, eh?)"

PC Magazine and Declutter It agree: Fight clutter with Backpack

In 12 Tech Tools to Clear Your Clutter, PC Magazine offers up ways to tidy up your tech life. The piece recommends getting started with Backpack.

Wouldn't it be great to get those pictures off your digital camera already? Scan that stack of business cards and get them into Outlook? Transfer videotapes and camcorder footage onto DVD so you can actually watch your home movies? Arm yourself with a smartphone and take your e-mail, calendar, and contacts on the go?...Here are our picks for the best stuff to get you organized—and maybe even help you stay that way:

Getting Started
A good way to get inspired to clean up is by making lists. Backpack is an incredibly easy-to-use, Web-based organizational service that's like having an online loose-leaf binder to use as you please, creating checklists, setting reminders, and embedding important files and links on the page. It's so straightforward, intuitive, and versatile it wins our Editors' Choice award.

Declutter It is Jennifer Chait blog's blog about organizing. She says, "I’m big time into simple living and getting back to a less over stuffed way, less commercial way of life, and instead celebrating a more family and people centered approach to life."

In I’ve Decided to Backpackit, she talks about how she's using Backpack to reduce the amount of paper she uses:

To give you a brief description of what this tool is all about, it basically is a way to keep yourself organized on-line. It’s a great way to reduce the amount of paper you use. I am constantly scribbling little notes to myself and when I am in “work mode”, my desk can look pretty scary.

With Backpack you can keep up with your schedule using their calendar and also use their pages to keep to-do lists, notes, ideas or whatever!

Do you want to fight clutter? Try Backpack.

Getting the most out of Backpack as a GTD ("Getting Things Done") solution

Brett Kelly, a programmer from Southern California, writes The Cranking Widgets Blog, a personal productivity blog that focuses on David Allen's Getting Things Done. He recently published a post about why he loves Getting Things Done with Backpack.

So, what does Backpack bring to the table that makes me so giddy? Well, several things, actually…

• Polish - Seriously, Backpack looks and acts just like you want it to. One of the driving concepts in the development process at 37signals is that you only include the features that you think most people will need. Obviously, there are tons of people who wish Backpack did [feature] - hell, there are a couple things I wouldn’t mind seeing in the next update - but they choose features to include and make sure they freaking work. And they do.
• The Free-form nature of pages - My Backpack is made up of many, many pages of lists - but there are also a growing number of pages dedicated to specific projects. For example, I’ve been invited to a special luncheon with the Internal Revenue Service in a couple of weeks, and they’d like me to bring along a few things (financial records and such). Before Backpack, it would’ve ended up with me emailing myself a pantload of PDF bank statements, then aggregating all of those emails under a specific gmail tag. Obviously, that would have gotten extremely unwieldy in short order. Now I have all of those PDFs arranged nicely on a few Backpack pages (where you can actually store the files, not just link to them), as well as notes about specific items, a picture of my daughter and a copy of the Gettysburg Address. You shove stuff on a page, drag it where you want it (including to other pages), there’s very little limitation on how you use it.
• Pages can be arbitrarily long - From what I can gather, there’s no set limit on the size of a Backpack page (well, except for the amount of data you’re allowed to store based on the plan you’re using). Using the previous example, I’ve got 38 PDF files on a single page as I write this. I’m pretty sure I could add another 50 and be just fine as cherry wine. I’m also not the least bit concerned with how long my lists get or anything like that, so even you mover-and-shaker types out there can rest easy knowing that you’re not going to “break” the Backpack.
• Each page has an email address - I have one page called “Inbox” where I send random thoughts, new inputs I receive while away from a computer, as well as messages sent from Jott (yep, Jott has built-in support for Backpack through it’s Jott Links service). The magic here is that my new “stuff” is now sitting a click away from the lists that manage the rest of my stuff. Hell, I can even *drag* it to the appropriate list. Freaking sweet.
• iPhone friendly (sorta) - While the default Backpack doesn’t have a special interface for the iPhone (and I’m sure this is one of the most requested candidate features), there are a couple of super easy tricks that allow you to reformat a Backpack page for easy iPhone viewing (without making it look wonky when viewed through a regular browser) and even change the WebClip icon for Backpack when you add it to the home screen.

Derek Newman: Backpack calendar makes family planning "a lot easier"

In "My Tools, Techniques, and Ideas about Digital Learning," Derek Newman talks about using Backpack:

The other tool I use daily is 37signals Backpack application. This is one web application that is bound to grow and grow. Their homepage states that over 1 million people use their products to manage their lives. I use it to take notes on books, digital reading, and anything else that I want. We also use the calendar feature to coordinate our family. Having one central calendar the entire family can access and change makes our lives a lot easier.

See what other tools Derek recommends.

Improved Backpack Calendar Reminders

By popular request, last night we pushed an update which allows you to notify everyone, select people, or just you via email/sms of an event on the Backpack Calendar. Prior to this update, everyone in your account was notified on every event. That lead to a lot of unnecessary notification.

Notify me

Notify everyone

Notify just some people

We hope you find the improved notification system useful.
Thanks for your continued support.

Tips for getting the most out of Backpack on the iPhone

Just Another iPhone Blog recently posted "Tips and Tweaks Make 37signals’ Backpack A 'Must Have' iPhone Application." It discusses using iBackpack to make your Backpack pages look nice on your iPhone and also links to a Forum post that shows how to add a custom Backpack icon to your iPhone home screen.

I came to Backpack to solve a specific work issue/need but am finding it to be an incredibly powerful and useful web-based application. I now use it to communicate with my colleagues and reduce the amount of “telephone” we play when information is incorrectly transmitted. I use it to collect pictures, manage a to do list, store files and documents for easy access anywhere anytime. I used it to collect ideas, information, slides and random thoughts as I prepared a talk I gave at a conference last week. Best of all, it is not only powerful but it is easy to use. In fact, it is the first time I pushed my colleagues toward a new technology that they did not initially curse me about.

The problem is- while Backpack’s pages are fully accessible from an iPhone or iPod Touch they are a bit too difficult to manipulate easily.

Fortunately, some incredibly smart folks have created some amazing “add-ons” that make Backpack one of the most iPhone-friendly and powerful applications around.

Justin Michael at violetpixel.com as created iBackpack. iBackpack is code that optimizes Backpack pages for viewing and use on an iPhone. He has posted screen caps on his site that show the difference...

Justin’s code make each page easily accessible, fully readable. It makes adding, editing and changing the information on a page a breeze. It makes Backpack one of, if not the, best iPhone organizational tools around.

But that left an additional issue. Once I optimized my pages using iBackpack I created direct links to some of my most-used Backpack pages on my home screen. They work great but look downright ugly.

Luckily Grettir Asmundarson at tinypineapple.com created a lovely little iPhone icon and has shared it with anyone who wants it.

Now Backpack works great AND looks great on my iPhone. It has become my most important organizational application in a short period of time and I have no doubt that will only increase as 37signals and other creative folks find new and powerful uses for it.

How do you add that custom Backpack icon to your iPhone home screen? Grettir offers step-by-step instructions at the Backpack Forum.

Backpack is "killer" according to Business II Business

Blair O'Neil, co-owner of Integris Marketing, recently named Backpack the featured business resource at the Business II Business networking group's site.

Backpack now comes in a multi-user version that really makes this tool more like an powerful, on-demand, simple to use, Intranet for small business. You can create as many users as you like (price varies with number of users) and each user can have their own calendars, effectively creating an online sharable calendaring system. The newsroom feature is a like an activity dashboard that also keeps group messaging tidy...

I really think it’s killer when combined with Basecamp. If you use multiple offerings from 37signals, one tip I would suggest is to get an OpenID and use it to log in to your accounts and then you will have the ability to jump back and forth to all of your accounts from a simple dashboard interface.

Try Backpack today.

[Case Study] Author and conflict resolution consultant uses Backpack as "business home-base and sanity tool"

Tammy Lenski uses Backpack to run her conflict resolution firm, Tammy Lenski LLC, and manage client and business projects. She recently released a new book and Backpack is the foundation for her marketing campaign and virtual book tour. Below, she answers a few questions about her use of Backpack.

How do you use Backpack and why do you like it?
My business is a full-service conflict resolution consulting firm for individuals and organizations. That means I offer a mix of services from speaking engagements to seminars and one-on-one coaching to professional mediation. I also blog about conflict resolution at Conflict Zen and about running a conflict resolution business at Mediator Tech. My business is mobile, so I go on-site with clients and use my home office on days I'm not traveling.

Backpack is my business home-base and my sanity tool to manage it all. It's set to load when I open my browser each day because I do almost all my administrative work from Backpack. I love that I can access my project files from any Internet-connected computer and from my iPhone. And I love that everything I need for a client or business project is in one place. When I'm busy or on the road, that helps keep me organized so I can give my full attention and energy to my clients.

Which features do you use most?
I use the Lists and Notes sections every single day, because Backpack is my hybrid GTD/project management tool. I use the Dashboard to keep me focused on big business goals and major goals for the day, and create pages for everything from my annual marketing plan and website updates needed to business projects and travel itineraries. I also use the forward-email-to-Backpack feature to make sure that the most important exchanges about a project are also in the same place as other project files and notes.

What did you use before and why did you switch?
I used a combination of online task lists, Google home page, and Google docs before Backpack. It always felt cobbled together and I wanted a "one-stop" experience for my projects and business planning. I value elegant simplicity -- that's the way I work as a consultant and coach, and it's the way I want to navigate my own work -- and my prior system certainly wasn't elegant or simple! Backpack is. I don't want tons of bells and whistles I'll rarely use, I want a few key features done really well.

[Case Study] Swimming pool company uses Backpack to track equipment, send reminders, and more

Stephen Sowa owns a small commercial swimming pool company based in Addison, IL and he uses Backpack to inventory equipment, send reminders to contact clients, and more. Stephen tells us more:

How do you use Backpack and why do you like it?
One very frustrating thing we run into is one of our clients calls us to get a piece of equipment fixed, but they do not know the specifics on that piece, i.e. heater, pump, filter.  

We used to either rely on memory, or we would have to wait until the engineer got back to us with the information.  Sometimes they would give us correct information, but most of the time not.  So we would have to drive to the facility and gather information.  Sometimes we would have to tear apart a pump to see if the updates had been done, because this dictates which parts we need.  As you can see, we would waste a lot of time just gathering information when we could be repairing.

Enter Backpack. I use Backpack to inventory all their equipment, model numbers, serial numbers and any odd parts that facility has.  Now when a client calls us all we need is what that piece of equipment operates.  I then can log into Backpack via my Blackberry and get all the information I need to pick up parts on the way to the job site.  The minimal amount of money we pay for Backpack has returned itself many times over in productivity.

Which features do you use most?
I use the reminders a lot.  I have all my families birthdays in there.  I also use it to remind me to contact customers.  When customers shut down their pools for the winter and I know I need to contact them well before summer starts to quote them on something, I set a reminder.  I also use them to remind myself to shop around for insurance, and I upload the contact information into it own file.  Now I know when I need to start making calls and where they are at.

I also use linking.  Any project I have going on I put it on my front page and then create a link to the file. This way I don't forget about it, and I don't have to wade through my pages sidebar to find it.

More Backpack demo videos: adding users, sharing pages, and importing Basecamp Milestones

From Signal vs. Noise:

We've recently added a few more "quick hit" demo videos to the Backpack tour. These tutorials show how easy it is add users to your Backpack account and share pages with them:

Video: Add others to your Backpack account
"Backpack excels when you use it with other people. Add co-workers, colleagues, friends, or family to your account and share pages, knowledge, files, calendars, reminders, and more."

Video: How to share Backpack pages with colleagues and friends
"Backpack makes it easy to share a page of information that you've created. People you share with can also add new items and change content on the page. It's perfect for quick collaboration or sharing knowledge."

And this video answers a question we get a lot...

Video: How to get your Basecamp Milestones into your Backpack Calendar
A FAQ from people who use both Basecamp and Backpack is "How do I get my Basecamp milestones to integrate with my Backpack Calendar?" The answer: By adding the Milestones iCal feed into your Backpack calendar. This video shows you how. More details here.

Telegraph names Backpack #6 on its list of the 101 most useful websites

Telegraph.co.uk, "Britain's No.1 quality newspaper website," just published a list of the 101 most useful websites. #6 on the list: Backpack. The Telegraph site says, "To-do lists, notes, ideas and calendar. Excellent for juggling projects and much more versatile than a ring folder."

Web designer finds Backpack addictive

In "Backpack is addictive, given a chance," web designer Zaharenia Atzitzikaki says, "Backpack has found a niche in my digital life that no other online tool has managed to fill."

After a few months I decided to give Backpack a second chance. It had matured, it had collected raving reviews, it was holding a high rank among the GTD crowd, so I succumbed. Then I found out, in my surprise, that Backpack works, after all...

Interesting links that pop into my screen while at work and need some “private” time: Backpack Inbox for later. Work todo lists and notes and drafts and mockups and files I want to share, @Work. Stuff that I wanna buy someday, an image gallery @Shopping. Blogs posts and drafts and ideas, @Blog.

A sample Backpack page (click for larger version)

It’s a terrific tool for the day-to-day digital notetaking, while the new multi-user features that were recently added make it a solid small company Intranet solution, with calendars, whiteboards, shared editing.

Thing is, I don’t think I ever fell in love with this product. I never had an infatuation that faded after time (I tend to do that a lot with applications, both online and offline). My Backpack love grew after quite some time of working with it, so I don’t see us getting a divorce anytime soon.

It’s not only the finished product, it’s the 37S way of thinking: declutter, simplicity, straightforward are some of the words that pop in your mind while using its products, be it Backpack, Basecamp or Highrise.

Give Backpack a try.

Thanks for the kind words Zaharenia.