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Before I start this post \u2013 a quick announcement.<\/em><\/p>\n My business partner and pod cohost, Dr Jason Downs, is visiting the UK in late April. If you\u2019d like to meet and chat with him about the products we have planned for On The Reg Team in 2026, shoot us an email to\u00a0enquiries@ontheregteam.com<\/strong>\u00a0with the subject line UK visit and he will get back to you. Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s 2026 folks! I see that\u00a0thrift shops are being overwhelmed with donations<\/a>\u00a0as people clean out their closets over the summer break here in Australia.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s face it, the cost of living is only going one way: thrift shops are thriving like never before. I\u2019m certainly thrifting a lot more when it comes to my closet, which means I have added a lot to it\u2026<\/p>\n I recently spent a weekend putting every outfit in the app Indyx and was a bit shocked at the total number of things I own:<\/p>\n 263 individual items?! Yikes! Data is revealing\u2026 I am going to try a \u2018low buy\u2019 year and see if I can reduce the amount through natural attrition.<\/p>\n Taking my cue from the \u2018thrifting turn\u2019 in my closet life, I am trying to also streamline my digital life. My main aim is to make it a bit less spendy.<\/p>\n Between my work needs, the\u00a0business<\/a>\u00a0and my family subscriptions, I literally spend thousands of dollars on streaming services and platforms each year. I\u2019m taking a couple of months off work unexpectedly at the moment, so it seems a good time to do a digital detox and see if I can slim down a bit by carefully considering what tools I really need.<\/p>\n With that aim in mind, here\u2019s my honest (and highly opinionated) update on some of the apps and services which I think are the bare essentials for an academic life.<\/p>\n Obsidian \u2013 a flexible database, with a few quirks.<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t make the rules, but if I did, no one would be able to start their PhD without also installing some database software. Working academics need one too \u2013 just trust me on this. If you ever think \u201cI know I wrote something about that but what the hell did I call it??\u201d, you need a text database in your life.<\/p>\n My database is where I do all the un-glamorous bits of the thinking work: it collects and holds everything from scrappy notes to self, to half finished ethics approvals, to the final draft of that paper you sent off to peer review.<\/p>\n I still use the free-to-use database\u00a0Obsidian<\/a>.\u00a0Obsidian is my \u2018catch all\u2019 place for writing. Basically it\u2019s a markdown editor that acts like your own local version of wikipedia. I wrote a longer piece about it here and I have an\u00a0example \u2018coffee\u2019 vault<\/a>\u00a0that might be helpful if you are setting up for academic work.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a messy writer who starts and stops a lot \u2013 Obsidian is a great place to keep mess organised, as I wrote about\u00a0here<\/a>. If you want a cloud solution, have a look at\u00a0Notion<\/a>, but paying to maintain access to your notes is not ideal. You do pay a price in time though. As a piece of software, Obsidian does have a distinct 90s vibe. It needs to be installed and run locally and automated cloud back ups are tricky (I do mine for free in GitHub<\/a>).<\/p>\n While you can go mad with Obsidian customisations, I\u2019ve found most are more trouble than they are worth. Recently I stripped my tricked out Obsidian install back to bare basics; it still works well and requires less maintenance. So start small, and build more as you need to.<\/p>\n Microsoft 365 \u2013 the unsung hero?<\/strong><\/p>\n I can hear you up the back: \u201cwhat the actual fuck Inger?!\u201d. \u00a0MS Word, Excel\u2026 Fucking Teams?! Are you insane?<\/p>\n Hear me out. When you work with other people, collaboratively, in a large organisation, you need shared digital workspaces and Microsoft Teams does a bang-up job. There\u2019s lots of tools in the 365 sack, and my institution pays for all of it. Not only do they pay for it \u2013 they also have to look after it. If I lose a file or need help, I have someone to call.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed that most university administrators, clever people all, have been on the Microsoft Teams band wagon for years. I only started using it in 2022, and now I wonder how I ever coped before. Have a look at the \u2018planner\u2019 plug in for a kanban style task board where you can track projects and share documents.<\/p>\n And, of course, with most installs of Microsoft 365 comes\u2026\u00a0Microsoft Copilot<\/strong><\/p>\n I can hear the collective indrawn gasp of horror from here, but stay with me. If you need a bog standard AI helper, Copilot is\u2026 ok? I was really dismissive of it until I saw my computer science academic mates using it and decided to take a second look. Peer pressure is a funny thing, eh?<\/p>\n One of my barriers to entry was the way Copilot was presented on screen as only a chat window. You need to use the web interface to get to the \u2018Copilot studio\u2019 space to do serious work with it. Here\u2019s a screen grab of how to find it via the web app under the dot menu, top left:<\/p>\n Copilot has similar functionality to ChatGPT but you know, microsoft styles, so just a bit shitty:<\/p>\n You will need to prime Copilot properly to get good results. Start a chat with setting the \u2018character\u2019 of your assistant (eg: \u201cyou are an expert academic writing editor\u201d). Copilot is more limited than others in how many documents you can share and how it accesses the web. However, for bog standard admin writing you can\u2019t be bothered doing, it does a reasonable job.<\/p>\n For instance, my university recently asked for my opinion on their change management processes. I had oh so many thoughts, most of them with NSFW words in them. So I used Copilot to generate more fit for public consumption responses. If management care to look at my chat logs, they will see what I really think \u2026 which is a good reminder about privacy. If your workplace supplies the digital tool, they can see what you do with it. Take that under advisement.<\/p>\n Pay your own money for ChatGPT if you want to keep your chats \u2018private\u2019. I\u2019m not sure what is worse: your boss being able to see everything you talk to AI about, or Sam Altman.<\/p>\n TextExpander \u2013 a small spend but worth it.<\/strong><\/p>\n TextExpander<\/a>\u00a0is my favourite kind of productivity tool: the sort that saves time without asking you to become a different person first. It\u2019s about $40 USD a year, which is a small price to pay for the elegant efficiency of the tool.<\/p>\n Basically, TextExpander is a way of saving little bits of writing you type all the time, and deploying them into any program that takes text entry. Sounds simple and maybe a bit pointless, but think about it \u2013 typing takes time. Less time typing, more time doing other things. Also TextExpander ensures consistency. If you want your title, university name or elements in online courses to be capitalised the same way, TextExpander is the answer.<\/p>\n I love this software so much I even wrote a little self published book\u00a0\u2018 TextExpander for academics\u2019<\/a>\u00a0with my pod cohost and business partner Dr Jason Downs. It\u2019s a practical \u201clook book\u201d of snippets for academic life\u2014email sign-offs that hit the right tone, admin templates that stop you rewriting the same messages over and over, research comms you can customise in seconds, and for supervisors, feedback comments that help you be clear without being crushing.<\/p>\n The point isn\u2019t to turn you into an efficiency machine; it\u2019s to shave off the repetitive typing so you can spend your attention where it actually matters\u2014thinking, teaching, writing, or just taking a proper lunch break. If you\u2019ve ever stared at your screen thinking \u201cI have written this exact email before\u201d, you need TextExpander in your life.<\/p>\n Note: the security settings in some universities might prevent you from using TextExpander on a work machine, but it\u2019s always worth pushing back. The company behind TextExpander are used to organisations being worried and have documentation prepared for committees. \u00a0This documentation made it easy for me to go through the process with ANU to approve TextExpander for all staff and students (you\u2019re welcome!).<\/p>\n Apple Notes or similar for catching ideas and weblinks.<\/strong><\/p>\n Apple notes is one of those \u2018comes with the phone\u2019 apps that people often overlook. I did \u2013 for years \u2013 but now I have saved myself some serious money by replacing a couple of online platforms, including Readwise, with this humble app. My approach can be replicated on any similar app \u2013 \u2018Alternative to\u2019 has lots of suggestions for\u00a0Android equivalents<\/a>.<\/p>\n I organise my note taking system for speed first, tidiness second. When something comes up \u2013 an idea, a link, a photo, a half-formed insight \u2013 I capture it quickly in Notes and give it just enough structure to be findable later. Since I do 99% of my reading and scrolling on the phone, Apple Notes is the best way to keep links to webpages I want to come back to later.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t overthink the filing. If I know what the item is for, I\u2019ll tag it (or drop it into a relevant folder for that area of my work or life); if I don\u2019t, it goes into an \u2018inbox\u2019 for sorting later. Over time, smart folders and tags do the heavy lifting; turning a messy stream of capture into a working library I can actually retrieve from, without pretending I have the time (or temperament) to file everything perfectly in the moment.<\/p>\n To copy this approach, start by giving yourself permission to prioritise capture over categorising. Create one obvious \u201cinbox\u201d note or folder and use it as the default landing spot whenever you don\u2019t have time to decide where something belongs. Then add a small set of broad folders for stable parts of your life and work (e.g., Work, Home, Writing, Admin), and rely on tags for everything that cuts across categories (projects, themes, people, recurring topics like #AI). The trick is to tag lightly at the moment of capture \u2013 one or two tags is plenty \u2013 and let smart folders surface collections automatically, rather than trying to build a perfect tree.<\/p>\n Finally, set a tiny, low-drama maintenance habit: once a week (or whenever you\u2019re waiting for a bus or a meeting to start), skim the inbox and rename anything cryptic. Add a tag if it needs one, and delete only the items that are clearly not \u201ckeepers\u201d. The goal isn\u2019t a beautiful archive; it\u2019s a system that stays usable while you\u2019re busy.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Indyx-471x1024.png\"){kind=spacer}
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