Productivity

Solutions The Pink Mac

Syncing Scrivener to PlainText

As I am now using my ClamCase Pro keyboard and iPad full time as my portable writers desk, I have been working on finding a solution that will complete the loop of writing between my iPad and MacBook Pro. When I first received the ClamCase Pro, I was using a multipart system, using the PlainText app on my iPad to write, then using Notational Velocity on my Macbook to sync with my PlainText documents and finally, moving the files over to Scrivener on my Mac where I organize all my writing. It was a reliable system thanks to Dropbox, and it worked, but it was only a one way street. It was a great way for me to import documents I wrote on my iPad back to my Mac, but I could not call up existing files sitting in my Scrivener project back to my iPad to be completed. I suddenly realized that my ClamCase Pro was so powerful that I did not need the crutch of my Mac to assist my writing, instead what I needed was complete access to my Scrivener project files in an infinite loop between my Mac, Dropbox, and iPad, then back to the Mac.

So, I started looking into alternatives for how to Sync my Scrivener folder with my iPad, because ultimately that is what I want and need. I do love Scrivener because its organizational ability is outstanding and if it had an iPad app that mirrored my Mac and my iPad that would be ideal! Sadly, it does not currently as I am writing this, perhaps in the future it may, but I won't hold my breathe in the meantime. Scrivener does, however, sync to Dropbox, also to a few iOS apps, and has built in functionality to work with SimpleNote- but I don't use SimpleNote. I know many people like it, but once I found PlainText I was in love and really don't want to keep switching around between iOS apps.

Luckily, in my research I did find a way to make my Scrivener/PlainText relationship work. Scrivener has an option to “Sync to Folder.” This option allows the user to sync all or some of the files in your Scrivener project to a specific folder and if I were to sync to my PlainText folder within Dropbox, well then, that may actually solve all my problems! So, I gave it a try and I am glad to say it actually works! On the iPad's end, its not the prettiest sight, but the files did show up in the order they appear in my Scrivener file, so I am now able to reference back to previous articles or in progress works between my iPad and Mac. If I create new documents on my iPad, it syncs those back as well and although they fall into a catchall folder, all I need to do is drop them in the correct place to remain organized (upon syncing Scrivener the document then falls into the correct order on my iPad.)

Step-By-Step Guide to Syncing Scrivener with PlainText on the iPad

Step 1: Make sure all your connections are in place. In order for this to work, you need to be syncing PlainText to DropBox. This means your PlainText Files are actually stored in your DropBox file. Even if you do not sync your PlainText across numerous devices, this is necessary. Simply open the system preferences (the cog wheel) within PlainText and use the DropBox option to sync to your DropBox account. You can verify that this has happened by opening up your DropBox folder and seeing the PlainText folder inside. If you open this folder it will show plain text documents of any documents you have created within the app. I suggest creating a folder called “Scrivener” or some equivalent within the PlainText folder so that you have your Scrivener documents separated from your other PlainText documents.

Step 2: Select the Scrivener project you would like to sync. With this process you can only sync one .scriv file at a time to your PlainText, so open up the project of your choice. Give it a once over and make sure that all your text documents and folders are organized the way you want them. This will dictate the order in which the files will appear in your PlainText folder.

Step 3: Getting to the Sync with External Folder Option. From your File Menu hover over the Sync option and then choose with External Folder. See image for details.

Navigate to the Sync with External Folder option from the File menu.

Step 4: Set up your External Folder Options.Within the dialog box that appears, you must first choose the shared folder you would like to sync to. In this option you are going to navigate to your DropBox folder and open the PlainText file that you have stored there and finally select the “Scrivener” file you created in Step 1. By doing this you will have a separate space for your Scrivener documents, which will come in handy for organizing all your PlainText documents. Once your shared folder is selected, I recommend using the settings I have selected as illustrated in the below image. If you are using PlainText you need to make sure your files are formatted as Plain Text files instead of the default Rich Text.

Choose your options in the Sync with External Folder dialog box.

Step 5: Sync. Once everything is set properly, you can select the Sync option. Once the sync is complete you should be able to turn on your iPad, open PlainText and see a new folder called Scrivener organized amongst your documents. If you navigate into this folder you will then seen a subfolder called Drafts and another called Notes. Open the Drafts folder to see your Scrivener writing project laid out in the order in which they appear in your Scrivener file. Folders will be empty documents (this is for organization) but text documents will show content so long as their had been content in the files on your computer.

Upon Syncing you will find the Scrivener file among your other files and folders in PlainText.
Navigate through the files Scrivener > Drafts until you come to your Scrivener files organized in their original order.

Now you are free to continue writing and editing your Scrivener project on your iPad. PlainText automatically syncs back to your DropBox folder when changed are made to your documents so the next time you open your Scrivener project on your computer it will ask you to sync and it will import all the changes made through your iPad. Because your iPad does have complete control over your Scrivener file, I suggest that you keep your project backed up in case you delete something important from your iPad. The Automatic back up options are found in the File Tab under Back Up for your reference.

If you enjoyed this post, I suggest also reading my previous article on How I use Scrivener to Organize my writing for a short overview on organizing files within Scrivener. Enjoy!

 

lifestyle organization

{You Missed a Spot} Spring Cleaning your Lingerie Drawer

You Missed a Spot is a new Spring Cleaning feature for the month of April focusing on the not so obvious places you will want to tidy up for the season! Each Thursday visit us for a new installment that goes beyond the how to’s of vacuuming, window washing and laundry!

{Organize your Lingerie Drawer}

Your lingerie or underwear drawer is probably the last place you would think to organize, so I figured we should start there! Its not uncommon for people to hoard bras and panties thinking, ‘you can never have too many’ but the truth is, you should be filtering through your underclothing at least twice a year.

Bra’s: You should get fitted annually to make sure you are the correct size or anytime your weight changes significantly. Since we wear bra’s daily for hours at a time, they wear out quicker than you would expect, and you need to know what to look for in order to determine if you should keep or toss one!

Signs you need to toss your bra

  • Warped or protruding under wire
  • Limp appearance to cups
  • Stretched out straps and elastic
  • Rough or matted appearance to fabric

Panties: Like bra’s your panties are worn everyday (hopefully!) and worn for nearly 24 hours in most cases! You should make sure to regularly check your underwear to make sure it is in good condition and immediately toss any undesirable pairs and replace them with a few new ones.

Signs you need to toss your panties

  • Excessive stains (blood, sweat, etc)
  • Stretched out
  • Holes or runs
  • Lining in crotch is ripping

Stockings: Stockings may not be worn as often as your bra’s or panties, but they are significantly more delicate in most cases. Its not rare for someone to put a run or a hole in a pair of sheer stockings the moment they put them on, which is pretty upsetting because no one wants to toss something that’s new, but keeping stockings with imperfections, especially those in visible areas, is just not good sense.

Signs you need to toss your stockings

  • Ill fitting, either too loose or tight
  • Holes, runs, tears, etc
  • Fabric is matting up
  • Discoloration from stains or sweat
I guess you’ll want to get to work now! Good luck and happy cleaning!
Productivity The Pink Mac

How I Use Scrivener to Organize my Writing

In my opinion, Scrivener is the best software available on Mac or PC for writers, both professional and otherwise, or those who need to organize writing projects of any size for school. I began using Scrivener in 2009 as part of my first adventure with NaNoWriMo {National Novel Writing Month}. Since then, I have used Scrivener to write most of three books, organize and plan out numerous others, and most recently, to organize all my writing for my two blogs and digital magazine. I wish that Scrivener had been around when I was in high school and college, because I know it would have done wonders with organizing my research papers, response essays and such. You see, that is really where Scrivener shines. It is an excellent tool to organize writing, research, information, ideas and so much more associated with writing.

To illustrate the usefulness of the software and how it helps the user organize their writing so that they are almost focused against it, I have decided to give you a peak inside my current Scrivener project where I organize all my writing for the web. Within this project, I manage the content for thepinkmac.blogspot.com, strangeandcharmed.blogspot.com and Strange & Charmed Magazine. As you can see in this first image, each of these websites is a folder and inside those are subfolders that organize my content by month or issue number. In those subfolders you will find the actual text documents broken down by subject or article, a nice high level view where you can see how everything is organized and make sure all items are in their correct place.

Next, you can see how I have files for images and also research. A majority of my blog posts will always have at least one image. Sometimes I use found images online, but many times I need to create the images myself. Once I have my images selected or created, I will drop them into this file and mark them by article so that I know which images will go with a particular post. The same thing goes with my magazine articles, these also need images and I treat them in the same way. Once images are created or selected for publication they are saved directly inside my Scrivener project for organization. Research as well is saved in my project. Scrivener allows you to simply drag and drop different file types like text and pdf files and organize them in your project as well so that all your information is available at your fingertips.

Scrivener has a few alternate views with some extra tools to help you stay organized. In the cork board view you get another high level look at your project broken down by text documents shown as index cards. Here you can add text to explain what each document is about or will be about. This is a great way to use Scrivener to plan out your ideas and what you want to write about. Once you have your ideas all laid out in this cork board view, you have a constant reference guide for your writing that makes it easy for you to jump around between documents without getting lost.

The last alternate view I would like to show you is the split screen mode where you can open two files or documents at once. Here you can see I have a text document open on top and an image file open on the bottom. This is a great way to use your reference tools to aid you in your writing because you have your active text area and another piece of information you can refer back to without switching between documents and loosing your place.

Scrivener is filled with a variety of tools, most of which I did not even touch on. The great thing about Scrivener is that you can use as much or as little of its features as you want. If you want to keep it simple like me, understanding the basic controls and options will definitely give you a great start in organizing your writing and making you feel so much more on task, and for me, personally, that makes me more productive. The Literature and Latte website is a great resource explaining in more depth the advanced tools of the software. There you can find tutorials that walk you step by step through the software so that you can take advantage of all that Scrivener has to offer.

http://literatureandlatte.com 

If you enjoyed this post, stay tuned for my update on Syncing Scrivener to PlainText on the iPad for continuous access to your Scrivener files on the go!

Productivity tech The Pink Mac

ClamCase Pro Unboxing + Review


I hope you all enjoyed my written review of the ClamCase Pro! In case you are interested, here is the video unboxing and mini review I did for my YouTube Channel {youtube.com/MissTrenchcoat}. I really do love this case, I definitely prefer it to most other iPad keyboards for a few reasons.

  1. It connects completely to the keyboard to make a faux laptop: I do not like some other keyboard cases where the iPad sits freely in a cut out space on the top of the keyboard because that means you have to be sitting at a desk or table to use it and I do much of my writing in bed or laying on the couch.
  2. The keys replicate the MacBook style keyboard: The keys on any keyboard can really make it or break it and the fact that this case replicated the MacBook Air to the best of its ability means that typing on it feels familiar to me. Yes, the keyboard is slightly smaller, however, this is probably one of the best external keyboards I have ever seen for any device.
  3. Hot Keys: The Hot Keys on the top bar are absolutely on point and extremely helpful. I know some other keyboard cases that are missing hot keys or don’t make the best use of them and all I can say is these are exactly what I need and as an added bonus, no regular keys on the keyboard have been removed to make room (I have seen some others that remove extra “return/enter” keys or some of the lesser used punctuation marks to make room for additional keys- not cool!)
  4. The multi view stand options: This case is not just a faux laptop, but also an excellent case for viewing media, and even reading. You can prop it up in a number of ways that really make it a completely functioning case.

So, do you have the ClamCase Pro? What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!

Productivity The Pink Mac

Turn Your iPad into a MacBook Air with ClamCase Pro

The ClamCase Pro is an iPad keyboard case that essentially turns your device into a MacBook Air. Your iPad sits safety in a hard shell attached by a 360 degree hinge to the keyboard and pairs to it via bluetooth. The MacBook style “chiclet” keyboard makes typing feel very familiar and fluid once your hands adjust to the slightly smaller layout. The keyboard itself is a gem, and although it is not full size, I have no problems adapting to the slightly smaller keys and have had very few typing errors thanks to the spacing of the keys from each other. The selection of Hot Keys on the top bar of the keyboard are also very useful. From within any app I can enter my home screen, search, cut, copy, paste, view my pictures, show or hide the onscreen keyboard, control video playback and audio controls, and finally, turn on and off the iPad.
The look and feel of the ClamCase Pro is excellent as well. The outer shell is a nice white polycarbonate and the interior hand rest and keyboard area is surrounded by the same aluminum you would find on your iPad or Mac. The experience of typing is actually so immersive that I often find myself attempting to navigate the screen via a non existent track pad before realizing that I am using my iPad and therefore must utilize the touchscreen. But it honestly hasn’t felt abnormal to me at all. Going from typing to selecting Hot Keys to on screen navigation feels pretty normal after about the first fifteen to twenty minutes of use and I can now actually write entire articles and edit them with ease from my iPad itself.
 
The only thing that feels a little off about the case itself is that its top heavy. The iPad is thicker and heavier than the keyboard which isn’t an issue if you are sitting at a desk or on a hard surface to type, but if you have the case on your lap sitting on a couch or in bed, at some screen angles if you lift your hands from the keyboard, the whole device falls backwards, so that is something to keep in mind.
Overall, the device is pretty spectacular, and for someone who was on the fence about purchasing a MacBook Air, I now see that I have no reason to buy one when my iPad + the ClamCase Pro = On the go writing solution similar to a MacBook Air. The ClamCase Pro retails for $169, however I was able to save $20 with a coupon code and you can too. Use the code Spring20 to save $20 off your purchase! Enjoy!
 
{See my Unboxing and Review Video here}
Productivity tech

What’s In My Bag: Work Tote Edition

lifestyle organization

How to Stay Organized in 2013

How to stay completely organized in 2013 or What I’ve learned about the nature of organization

When I was 13, my mother and step father bought me a Handspring Visor PDA for graduating the 8th grade. I don’t think any gift before or after that had ever kept me as continually gratified. You see, I have been a tech geek for a long time, and I was obsessed with my step-fathers more expensive Palm PDA that I would steal away at every available moment to take notes, create useless calendar appointments and play games. I begged them for weeks for my own, I searched the web and Best Buy for the latest models available and when I found the Handspring Visor, which was more of a value PDA at the time, they agreed to buy it for me as my belated graduation gift. I didn’t get it until later in the summer, right before my freshman year in high school began, but I immediately began searching the internet for free applications I could download to my new device. Books, dictionary’s, note-taking and task management apps were my particular favorite. Go figure!

Once I got to high school, I ended up using my PDA to track everything from my homework assignments to my class schedule, extra-curricular events and social gatherings. I was particularly fond of tracking the money in my bank account, making sure to immediately input any purchases I made into a banking specific app that I used. The school newspaper even featured me in an article during my junior year that was all about students who use new technologies to keep themselves organized. I was certainly one of the few who relied so heavily on a PDA, in fact I only ever met a handful of other students during high school that even owned one. Eventually, I upgraded to a Palm Vx and then a Palm m505 (the later featured a color screen which I considered put me in the big time of PDA users!) during the course of high school. I loved my PDA so much and kept it with at all times. It stayed on my person or in my bag during the day, and after using it to read at bedtime (like the precursor to a kindle), it stayed on my dresser beside me as I slept.

I would say that this was definitely the most organized I had ever been and that was because for the only time thus far in my life, I used one dedicated device and method to organize my life. Once I got into college, something slowly pulled me away from my PDA. I think it was the lack of a rigid daily schedule. In college I had anywhere from one to three classes in a day. My wake up and bed time varied, and I was provided with a student calendar that was infinitely useful to me as a freshmen. So, instead of using my PDA, I switched to the pen and paper of the student calendar. Eventually, I wasn’t even using my PDA anymore and my entire system had been broken. Gradually, I was turning more and more away from the PC world I had grown up in and instead turning towards Apple products. One day, it eventually clicked in my mind that my PDA was the technology of a bygone era and it was time to search for the next big thing in personal organization.

However, after college ended, things pretty much stayed the same. I tried to get myself back into the PDA mentality when the iPod Touch first released. It seemed to me like the iPod Touch was the rebirth and natural progression of the PDA I had once known and loved. Almost like it was a PDA 2.0. But, alas, some mixture of lack of early functionality in the device and the touch based input never felt right to me. The Handspring and Palm devices used a stylus input method in which I could type on a virtual keyboard or, more frequently, write with the “graffiti” single stroke handwriting system that felt more natural to me.

After that, it was all downhill and uphill battles for me in the search for complete organization. I’ve learned a lot along the way about my own personal needs and about the nature of keeping organized so lets run through those ideas now.

  • Its more natural (for me) to ‘write’ than ‘text’. Even though I am a 20-something with an iPhone, two iPad’s and a decent run with gadgets of all kinds, I am not a serial texter. This is probably the main reason I haven’t been able to use my iPhone or previous iPod Touch as a primary means for organization. I like to write. Its more fluid for me, and second only to typing on a full sized keyboard, its my quickest means for data entry.
  • To stay as completely organized as possible, you must use only one dedicated means to capture your data. Whether it be an electronic device like a smartphone or tablet; a software program that syncs through multiple devices or to the cloud; or an analog system like a filofax or moleskine, you can only have ONE. One is the magic number… and the loneliest.
  • You must keep said dedicated means of data capture with you at all times. It must be like an extension of yourself, a third arm in a way. It needs to be with you all the time and you need to always use it to capture information of all sorts. Learn to feel incomplete without it and get into the habit of using it to capture more information than needed until its your knee jerk reaction to reach for it.

I hope in the future I find a means of organization that feels as natural and exciting to me as my Handspring and Palm PDAs did at one time. Maybe its my fault for not trying hard enough to form a habit with one particular piece of technology, but it seems like everyday there is a more exciting and more promising option for organization that its often hard to focus on one means for too long. Perhaps thats the real problem though, a short attention span. These conundrums aside, I do know one thing for certain when it comes to personal organization. The best method for complete personal organization is the one you stick to completely. So, pick a method, stick it out and see what 2013 brings you!

lifestyle Productivity tech The Pink Mac

NaNoWriMo 2012 Resources

It’s that time of year again! November has come and it’s the National Novel Writing Month in case you haven’t heard! Whether you are a NaNoWriMo vet or a newbie, there are many resources out there to help you get to 50k success at the end of the month. I have rounded up as many of these resources as I could find for you, so hopefully something or other down below will make the month a little easier for you. Happy Noveling!

For Mac Users

Macworld has a number of staff members who partake in nano, here is their article series for success!

Not to be outdone by Macworld, MacLife also has a mini guide to nano-ing that includes some iOS apps as well.

Here’s a Mac app that turns off the internet for a set amount of time, for those of you who are easily distracted by the Internet. Aptly named SelfControl.

For those of you who have an iPad and want to use that to assist you with your noveling efforts, here is a link to a site with some great app suggestions for iOS.

For Linux Users

For those of you out there running Linux, this is a link of 5 Essential Linux Applications for Nanowrimo.

For PC Users

Here is a link to writer’s software and resources for PC users, not nanowrimo branded, but still useful for wrimo’s.

Popular Applications

Here is the link for the Nanowrimo trial version of Scrivener. In case you don’t know, Scrivener is a great application for writers of all types. They are also a sponsor of NaNoWriMo and if you win you can get half off the software!

Here is the link for WriteRoom, one of the distraction free writing applications that full screens your manuscript so you can focus on nothing but writing.

Here is a link to Write or Die, one of the full screen apps that prompts you to write with settings that can prevent you from backspacing, and can even start deleting your work if you procrastinate too long. This also has an iOS app in case you are interested.

Other Misc Resources and Motivation

This link is for timeline-mapping software that may help you keep track of events in your novel.

If you are having trouble naming characters, this website is very useful.

Here is Written? Kitten! Which appears to be a web app where you get a new picture of a cat/kitten once you have hit the interval word goal of your choosing. Helpful for those of you who require a dose of cuteness as positive reinforcement.

Found this series of articles from the Guardian on how to write a novel in 30 days.

Moleskine The Pink Mac

My Current Obsessions

Current Tech Obsessions

Ash
etsy.com

Brahmin
brahmin.com

Tech accessory
elaineturner.com

Ted Baker tech accessory
nordstrom.com

Tech accessory
fredflare.com

Rebecca Minkoff Cupid Handbag: Amazon.com: Clothing
amazon.com

Moleskine Plain Soft Pocket Notebook
$17 – liberty.co.uk

Productivity The Pink Mac

Starbucks App Pick of the Week: Instapaper

For those of you who may not already be aware, Starbucks Coffee has something of a partnership with Apple’s iTunes Store and for the past several years they have been participating in a program called Starbucks Pick of the Week. Essentially, when you visit a Starbucks location you can pick up a Pick of the Week card which will provide you, as a Starbucks patron, with a free download for a specific song off the iTunes store. The card has an image and description of the artist and track you will get and on the back is a code for you to redeem your free download. It’s very simple and a nice treat when you go in to get your daily dose of caffeine! The cards change up about once a week or so, and in recent years the Pick of the Week program has expanded to take on apps from the AppStore, tv shows from the iTunes store and even books from the iBookstore! I always make sure to check the Pick of the Week cards when I am in a Starbucks because although they often put out a lot of songs, shows, apps, and books that don’t interest me personally, every once in a while they will have a free download for something awesome! This was one of those weeks!

The App Pick of the Week was Instapaper, the highly acclaimed app for both iPhone and iPad that allows users to save internet articles for later reading on or offline. It basically caches the website so you get full text and images and also creates a simple but elegant filing system for you to keep track of articles you like as well as those you have saved for later reading. I have been very interested in this app but oddly enough never downloaded it because the $2.99 price tag always seemed a little much and I figured I could save myself the money by just bookmarking articles to read later on with an Internet connection. Then when Apple updated iOS to include a read later function that was similar to Instapaper (but, again, required an Internet connection for use) it seemed like there was no real reason for me to spend the money.

Of course, I never got over the feeling that I was missing something special with Instapaper. It was and is still frequently featured in must have app lists for both iPhone and iPad by everyone from the most prestigious technology magazines and pundits to the mass of dime a dozen technology blogs and YouTube personalities (to which I clearly belong). Today, however, is a new day as I have my own free copy of Instapaper. This is no watered down or lite version either! This is the full $2.99 version with all the bells and whistles and it will continue to be mine through updates and new iterations of the app until the end of time. I know, I am getting ahead of myself here but oh well, I am excited, what can I say?!? Stay tuned for now, as I intend to give a better review of the app after I get used to using it day in and day out. I have already established the link to save articles in my safari bookmarks menu thanks to a helpful tutorial provided through the app itself and have saved a few articles to test out.

Until next time my lovely readers {thepinkmac}