Getting the most from your studies can be a lot easier if you find the ways of working that suit you best. Some free tools go beyond helping you learn in ways that suit you and actively offer tools that help you do more and collaborate better with less effort. Here are few of our favourites.

Find web content again

Raindrop.io allows you to gather web content to revisit later.  Capturing journal articles from Library eresources is better handled by reference and content management tools such as Zotero, Mendeley or OneNote that are designed to work with these academic information platforms, but for everything else on the web, Raindrop.io is one of the best freemium apps available.  Sadly, unlike its predecessor Pocket, Raindrop.io won't let you bookmark content to read offline later, and you have to pay to unlock all its features.

If this, then that (IFTTT)

If This, Then That (IFTTT, pronounced "if-tee") automates repetitive tasks to allow you to take back your life. A little more advanced to set up than the other life hacks presented here but every bit as useful to the busy person, two separate apps designed to work together, “If” and “Do” allow you to get your mobile device to help organise and share things without you having to lift a finger.

Flipboard

Flipboard lets you follow @uoplibrary and all your other favourite creatives and influencers in one place, neatly turning your social media into a single self-updating multi-coloured scrap book.

Maths apps

Speed up your mathematical manipulations using websites and apps that will variously convert handwriting to print and solve equations for you.

  • Photograph an equation and watch it be solved in the PhotoMath app.  Great for helping you understand how to solve maths problems.  Not so great for solving all your practice problems because you won’t have it in exams!  
  • My Script Calculator converts equations you write on the screen into typed equation, solves it, and then gives you the answer that can be exported to other apps.  
  • Desmos makes mathematical concepts visual, plotting functions as animated graphs and tables, and solving equations.

OpenToonz animation software

Break into animation using the same OpenToonz software previously used by the world famous Studio Ghibli.