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I believe I did it. I believe I lastly discovered a system that works for my mind. A system that brings my work and private lives collectively underneath one roof and permits me to remain organized throughout duties, paperwork, and initiatives — and it’s lastly obtainable on Android. That is, in any case, the holy grail of productiveness apps, proper?

Productiveness apps are a dime a dozen today, and I’ve tried means too many looking for one thing that works for me. However after persistently utilizing it for some time now, I really feel assured saying that the app Craft is definitely making a distinction in my life.

I believed I had it discovered

I really feel like I’ve tried every little thing. Notion, Todoist, Trello, TickTick…. I may go on, however the entire article would encompass naming apps, each large and small, that I’ve given an opportunity. Many excel in a particular space, however none caught for me.

My most up-to-date try at discovering a productiveness answer was switching every little thing to Google’s suite of merchandise. Calendar, Docs, Duties, and Maintain are all nice instruments, and I particularly admire Google’s efforts to interconnect them in recent times. Duties is kind of actually constructed into Calendar now, for instance. Maintain reminders present up in Duties. It’s an ecosystem that’s beginning to really feel extra cohesive, however most of those merchandise had been initially constructed as standalone instruments, and it nonetheless feels that means in too some ways.

One of many largest points I confronted when making an attempt to make use of Google’s suite is the shortage of clear group. All the pieces is in its personal place, with no solution to carry all of it into one succinct residence view. Which means, to be able to handle a mission, you’re working throughout a minimum of Docs, Calendar, and Duties.

Docs was presupposed to be my residence base. In my thoughts, this could give me the flexibleness of a doc with the group of a to-do checklist. I created a doc that was presupposed to function the house throughout all my initiatives, after which I’d use duties to trace the trivia for every mission.

Why can’t I create a job instantly in Google Docs that can then seem on my Duties checklist and in my Google Calendar? Positive, the Duties app is tacked on to the suitable aspect of the display, but it surely doesn’t instantly work together with my doc as one may count on. To be clear, you truly can do what I’m describing right here with a piece or faculty account, however I’ve neither of these, and after seeing the implementation in motion, it’s a bit clunky for my tastes. This is only one of many such examples.

Craft, alternatively, does have what I might contemplate a house base. I work throughout a bunch of various paperwork, relying on which mission I’m engaged on. To get a chicken’s eye view of every little thing, I solely want to modify to the Duties view. Right here, all of your duties throughout all of your docs are introduced into one place, primarily based on due date and arranged by doc. This has actually helped me keep on prime of the numerous various things I have to do in a day, and nonetheless seeing the duties organized by doc helps me prioritize what I have to do subsequent.

Maybe extra importantly for me, Google Docs feels stale. The toolbar design has been barely up to date over time, however the doc itself simply doesn’t really feel fashionable to make use of and take a look at. We’ll dive into some design and UX parts I really like in Craft, and the distinction may be very clear.

Craft known as Craft for a cause. This app is a murals in an in any other case boring world of productiveness. When lined up aspect by aspect subsequent to Google Docs, opening up Craft seems like a step into the long run, besides the long run is now and Google Docs is simply previous. Each pixel of Craft feels rigorously positioned, right down to the smallest of particulars. If Google Docs seems like a chore to make use of, Craft seems like residence.

Paperwork are on the core of Craft, and creating a ravishing doc is a central function of the expertise. Like Google Docs, the same old black textual content on a white background is the default in Craft (though in some way even the usual doc seems to be higher to my eyes than what you get in Google Docs), however with a couple of clicks, you possibly can carry your doc to life.

Each doc editors have the same old, baseline options — change the background coloration, the doc coloration, the textual content coloration, give the doc a header picture — however even with these fundamental options, Craft simply seems to be higher to my eyes.

Let’s take it up a notch. In Craft, you possibly can insert all sorts of what Craft dubs wealthy blocks, together with a whiteboard, a spreadsheet-like assortment desk, a wise hyperlink with a wealthy preview, a file, or a card, which is basically a hyperlink to a associated doc inside your doc, however with distinctive designs that basically change the texture of the doc you’re working in. One other nice instance: as an alternative of utilizing a typical line separator, you possibly can select from completely different Washi Tape designs or create your individual. I by no means thought I’d be so excited a few doc; if solely I had had this once I was at school!

Sound design, in a doc app?

Imagine it or not, certainly one of my favourite particulars of Craft is its sound design. There are sound results tastefully sprinkled all through the app, they usually add an extremely nice contact to the expertise. Listed below are a couple of of my favorites.

A pencil on paper if you mark a job full:

The sound of paper ruffling if you create a brand new doc:

My private favourite is the sound that performs if you enter or exit focus mode, a function I exploit fairly continuously when writing for this web site:

In my analysis for this text, I got here throughout a weblog publish from the Craft workforce, which particulars the method of arising with the right sounds for what the workforce envisioned. It’s price a learn.

A really lively group

I actually admire an organization that clearly values its relationship with its clients. Craft has extraordinarily lively communities on Reddit and Slack, stuffed with a few of its most devoted customers who’re continually giving suggestions. The founders and workforce members may be seen replying to a lot of the posts, too.

With that helpful suggestions, Craft iterates shortly. I can’t consider too many firms that ship updates and substantial new options as shortly and effectively as Craft does. Simply check out the launch log.

One of many causes I haven’t written about Craft till now could be as a result of, up till lately, it wasn’t obtainable on Android. Craft began out on this planet of Apple, however late final yr, it unleashed its app within the Google Play Retailer. Nevertheless, Craft for Android remains to be in beta, and I’m hopeful of some enhancements for future updates.

Whereas I’m grateful to lastly be capable to use Craft on my Pixel, the app is missing in some areas. For a primary launch, nonetheless, the extent of function parity with its Apple counterpart is spectacular. That mentioned, in its present type, the Android app appears to be an adaptation of the cellular internet app Craft launched shortly earlier than the Play Retailer model. The net app is technically spectacular with how useful it feels, but it surely doesn’t function the identical easy animations discovered within the iOS and Mac apps. I’d wish to see enhancements on this entrance sooner or later.

Moreover, Craft as an entire doesn’t help end-to-end encryption. Whereas your information is encrypted in transit and at relaxation, I want Craft would help full encryption. Craft makes use of comparable safety practices you’d discover in lots of the instruments we use each day, so this isn’t one thing that may cease me from utilizing it for work, however I might discover extra consolation in realizing that my information is totally encrypted. I might additionally think about using Craft for different areas of life, like a spot to retailer medical data or different private information that I in any other case wouldn’t retailer in an app with out end-to-end encryption.

Lastly, I’d wish to see Craft add help for Gemini. Because it stands proper now, you should utilize Craft Assistant with LLMs from Apple, OpenAI, or Meta. For now, I’ll probably keep on with the native mannequin choices. Admittedly, I haven’t utilized Craft Assistant a lot but, so this hasn’t been an enormous difficulty for me.

I really feel like I’ve barely scratched the floor of what Craft has to supply. We haven’t even mentioned collaboration in Craft, publishing choices for sharing paperwork, or extra in regards to the AI-powered Craft Assistant.

Completely different instruments work for various folks. In Craft, I’ve discovered a instrument so malleable that it really works throughout a number of sides of my life and so well-designed that I truly take pleasure in utilizing it. Whether or not I’m writing my subsequent article for Android Authority or planning a birthday journey with my brother, Craft is the place all of it occurs.