Killing ADD And Boosting Productivity: Saving Bookmarks For Later From Desktop To Android

15.3.12 The Reporter 0 Comments

Have you ever had that moment, where, in researching for something for your work, whatever field you are in, you come across an article so interesting but you really have to file it for later? Because reading it will consume precious time that you could use to just finish your job so you can go home and read all you like?

This is how I frequently feel. Oftentimes, in doing my work research, I come across juicy blog or website articles that would have been helpful to me: for my work or for my personal development. But the catch is that I may have time to read those ONLY during weekends, or for those long bus rides with nothing else to do but wait till your bus gets to wherever you need to go.

So, the solution is to be able to "pack" juicy links and save them for later.

For those who are working in companies with firewalls, or with security protocols like a "zero flash drive policy," I'm sure you could relate. For those who won't be able to save links on the work computer, it may be best if you can find a way to read your bookmarks and links from your Android or e-Reader when you've gotten off work.

Here are some solutions on how you can sync your article finds with your Android/e-Reader:

Use Opera And Opera Link: If you are browser-agnostic, meaning you don't really care which browser you use, then use Opera and use Opera Mini on your Android. Then, activate your Opera Link account, from the Android Opera Mini browser by going to: Opera Button > Settings Button > Opera Link > then proceed to create a new account.

This is better illustrated in this slideshow:





Then, after you configure your Android, this is what you do with your Opera desktop browser:

Click the Cloud icon to enable Opera Synchronization.


Go through the process, either create a new account or sign into an existing one:






When Opera registers that account with the desktop browser, voila! Your browser accounts are now synchronized.


You may do this either either way: set up your Android first, or your desktop browser first.

Then, when you find something interesting, just add it to your Opera Mini Bookmarks folder, as shown below:


And when you're on your Android, just logoff then login to sync your data right that moment. Opera regularly syncs its data, but if you want to refresh the synchronization, the best way to do it would be to turn it on and off.


Use GMail To Send Links To And From Yourself: I find this a little clunky, something über un-techie, but this is faster to do, especially if your company allows you to use GMail. Less awkward if your company will only allow you to use MS Outlook.

Whenever you find a good link to read later, paste in the body of the email, send to yourself, or if from MS Outlook, your work email to your GMail, then later, refresh your Android, find that email you sent to yourself and read in your browser of choice. That simple.

Still, if you want a visual representation of what I talked about, here it is:





Note: If you have inadvertently set defaults for your browser, you may clear it by going to Settings > Manage Applications > Browser/Opera/Dolphin/Whatever has the default > Scroll down to Launch by default > Clear Defaults:





Google Chrome To Phone: 

Just when I thought we'd have to live with kludges for integrating the links we find to read on our Androids, Google actually came up with THE solution to the problem: a whole app dedicated to integrating content from desktop browser to Android Phone.


However, there's a catch: this app is not available in the Philippines yet! So if you're looking for this in Google Play via your Android, good luck to you; you won't find it. You will only be able to see it on the desktop/web version of Google Play.

So meanwhile, our other suggestions may suffice.

Enjoy reading!