Maximizing Tablet Productivity: How to Set Up Your Tablet For Work and Study

Tablets have become indispensable tools for work and study. Since Apple released the original iPad in 2010, electronics manufacturers have strived to create the most powerful and portable tablets.

Many modern-day tablets have processing power and storage capacity on par with some personal computers and laptops, making them the perfect device for the busy worker or student.

Optimizing your tablet for productivity can make a world of difference, but how exactly do you do that? You start by reading this comprehensive guide, which will reveal various tips and tricks designed to help you unlock your tablet’s full potential and supercharge your productivity.

Organize Your Apps and Files Efficiently

A well-organized digital workspace is critical to staying productive on your tablet; you want to find apps and files easily. The screen of my wife’s tablet is crammed full of apps in no particular order, and it drives me crazy!

My tablet’s home screen is clutter-free, with all apps arranged into folders. I have all communication apps in a dedicated folder. Games, Netflix, and my Alabama bettings apps are filed away under entertainment, while email, internet browsers, word processors, etc, are tucked away under utilities.

Organizing your apps and files may only save you a few seconds each time you access them, but those few seconds add up over a week, month, or year.

You should consider saving your files and documents using cloud storage services like Google Docs, iCloud, or Dropbox. These services free up your tablet’s storage space and ensure you can access important files from anywhere with an internet connection.

Utilize Productivity-Orientated Accessories

Today’s tablets come with a plethora of accessories and peripherals, and choosing the right ones can significantly enhance your tablet’s productivity. Styluses can be valuable tools that allow you to take handwritten notes, sketch out ideas precisely, and annotate documents easily.

Purchasing a keyboard case or a Bluetooth keyboard is something else to consider, primarily if you regularly work on lengthy documents or emails. Tapping the on-screen keyboard is okay in short bursts or for the occasional note-taking, but the lack of feedback to your fingers can increase typing mistakes or result in your words-per-minute plummetting.

Aftermarket keyboards make typing feel more natural, mainly if you use a laptop or computer to compose emails and documents.

In addition, other accessories, such as tablet stands or docking stations, should be explored. These help create a more ergonomic workspace.

Lifting up your tablet to eye level or connecting it to an external monitor, keyboard, or mouse can transform your portable tablet into a makeshift desktop computer for maximum productivity.

Leverage Multitasking Features

Early tablets were limited because most could only display one application at a time. However, modern high-end tablets have multitasking capabilities that have become a Godsend to the busy worker or student. Take advantage of features such as split-screen mode or floating apps to work on multiple tasks simultaneously.

You could open a web browser on one side of your screen while taking notes in a word processing or note-taking app on the other. This feature prevents you from having to switch between apps every few seconds or minutes, saving time and improving accuracy.

Most tablets offer gesture controls or shortcuts that allow you to quickly switch between apps or perform common tasks with a finger swipe or a double tap. It pays to familiarize yourself with these features because they will help you streamline your workflow and save you valuable time.

Integrate Cloud Services

Cloud services can facilitate seamless teamwork in a world where collaboration is often a crucial aspect of work and study. You may collaborate on a group project with classmates or work on a presentation with colleagues. Regardless of the task, cloud-based tools come into their element in these situations.

Google Workspace, formerly G Suite, is a collection of cloud computing, collaboration, and productivity tools. Products include Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet, and Chat, which are free. Other tools, such as Drive for storage, Google Docs Editors Suite for content creation, and Currents for employee engagement, are also available.

Microsoft’s Office 365 enables users to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and similar documents from anywhere they have an internet connection.

These cloud-based services allow real-time collaboration, ensuring everyone is working from the most up-to-date document and reducing the need to play email tennis with colleagues, friends, and classmates.

Conclusion

Many people purchased tablets as a gimmick at their launch because they were the latest must-have gadget. Users saw them as larger-screen mobile phones whose primary use was browsing the internet or watching the latest television series or movie on the fly.

However, people striving for maximum productivity soon realized the potential of tablets in their daily lives. Students and workers no longer had to carry heavy, cumbersome laptops because tablets were light, portable, and capable of most tasks previously undertaken by computers.

By optimizing your tablet for productivity, you can potentially ditch your laptop when heading to college, into the office, or traveling on a business-related trip.

Start by organizing your apps and files efficiently to save valuable time in the long run. Learning and leveraging multitasking features and time-saving gestures also come highly recommended.

Investing in productivity-related accessories such as keyboard cases, Bluetooth keyboards, docking stations, and stands can help raise productivity levels to previously unseen heights by transforming your tablet into a makeshift desktop or laptop computer.

Finally, integrating cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace and task management software like Asana and Trello means you can enjoy real-time collaboration regardless of where you work.

Tablets were once devices for playing games, checking emails, and reading the latest news, but those days are long gone. With some preparation and taking advantage of the latest cloud services, tablets have become powerful allies to workers and students worldwide.