Google Docs is a great set of productivity programs that lets you share, collaborate, and edits your files from anywhere. However, just because your files are stored with Google doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a backup copy. That is one way SyncDocs can help.

SyncDocs automatically synchronizes the files in your Google Docs account to your computer. If you are to new to Google Docs, SyncDocs can move all your files to Google’s cloud. It can even make Google Docs your default document editor.

Simply select a folder on your PC, like “My Documents”, Syncdocs copies it online and across all your computers, automatically. This folder is then kept in sync. via SyncDocs.

Click HERE if you can not see the embedded video above.

SyncDoc Features

Move your files to the cloud.

All of the files in your SyncDocs folder will automatically be copied to your Google Docs account.

Backup your Google Docs files to your computer.

Your Google Docs files will be backed up on your local hard drive.

Access files from anywhere.

Because your computer files are automatically synced, you can access your files from any computer with internet access.

Make changes while your computer is off-line.

Any changes you make to your files while you are off-line will be synced to Google Docs when you get back online.

Sync across multiple computers.

Syncdocs can also be installed on multiple systems. It will keep your files current on all your computers.

Make Google Docs the default viewer and editor.

Create, view, and edit your files, including Office documents with SyncDocs. Whenever you double-click on a .doc, .xls, or other Office file, it will open in a Google Docs session in your browser. You can also keep using Microsoft Office (or whatever you want) as the default.

SyncDocs is free and available for Window only.

The Bottom Line

SyncDocs is a great FREE way to backup and sync your Google Docs files. You can select what folders you want synced, what to upload / download, and even schedule backups to and from Google Docs. SyncDocs is a great addition to your paperless office.

Check out SyncDocs for more information. You can also install the free SyncDocs app from the Google Apps Marketplace.

Google Goggles is a visual search application that lets you search the web by taking a photo. Launch the app, take a picture of an object, a book cover for example, and Google will return with search results for the book, all without typing.

Google Goggles for Android received an update that brings new features including better business card recognition. Not only does the update improve the text recognition, but it also pulls the info out of the card to make it really easy to add that person as a contact.

Business card recognition is one of the most popular uses of Google Goggles, so we’re rolling out some new updates to make the experience even quicker and easier. Additionally, instead of simply recognizing the content as text, Goggles now recognizes the information as a contact, making it easier to add to your phone’s contact list. via Google

The update also brings a few other features including enhanced search history with notes support. Now when you take a picture with Google Goggles, you can add a note to the photo. That note is private to you and is searchable within your personal history.

Google Goggles is a fun way to search the web and works with text, landmarks, books, contact info, artwork, wine, and logos.

The Google Goggles update is available for Android 1.6+ devices. Download it in the Android Market: Android Market Link.

While the newest update is only available for Android, Google Goggles is also available for iPhones, Blackberry, and several other phones.

How long before Google Goggles becomes the visual search tool for real estate? Image taking a photo of a house and Google returning the age, square feet, lot size, bedroom/bathroom count, and the last sales price. It is not that far off. The app could use your phone’s GPS to determine your location and most of the data about the house is already available on web for free. This would be an amazing way to search for real estate.

The Bottom Line

There are numerous apps available for digitizing business card you receive. This latest update will be useful if you use Google to store your business contacts.

How do you store the business cards you receive?

Dropbox is an online service that, once installed, will automatically backup selected files and/or folders from your desktop or laptop.

Dropbox has a ton of great features including the ability to sync files between computers, share files with others, access your files on your smartphone, and it even lets you recover files that have been deleted from your computer’s hard drive.

How To restore a deleted from from Dropbox

One of the best features of Dropbox is the ability to recover deleted files. Dropbox keeps all the files you store with the service even if the file is deleted from your computer.

To restore a deleted file, click the “Show deleted files” link from your Dropbox home page.

All deleted files will show up in gray. Once you see the deleted file you want, hover your mouse over it, click on the arrow that appears to the right of the file and select “Restore Files” from the drop-down. The file will reappear in all of your synchronized Dropbox folders.

How To Permanently Delete Your Real Estate Files From Dopbox

While the ability to recover a deleted file is fantastic, this also means that all of your deleted files are taking up space in your Dropbox account. You might not have any room to spare if you have a basic subscription and use the free 2 gigs to backup a select number of files or share files with co-workers.

To permanently delete a file from Dropbox you must first delete the file off of your desktop or move the file to a folder that you do not automatically sync with the service.

Next, select “Show Deleted Files” option in the main menu. Select the file that you just deleted (it should be gray in color) and then select “Permanently Delete”

Bottom Line

Dropbox is a great way to automatically back up important files on your desktop or laptop. Dropbox gives users 2 free GB worth of storage and you can upgrade to 50GB for $9.99 /month or 100GB for $19.99 /month. They also have apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.

Dropbox is an online service that that, once installed, will automatically backup selected files and/or folders to the cloud. Dropbox gives users 2free GB worth of storage and you can upgrade to 50GB for $9.99 /month or 100GB for $19.99 /month.

When installed, Dropbox creates a “Dropbox” folder on your computer. Any files that are saved to this specific folder are instantly synced to the cloud and any other computer linked to your account.  Files can be accessed from any web browser or from your smartphone. There is a free application for iPhone,iPad, BlackBerry, and Android phones.

Getting Started With Dropbox

Step 1. Create a free account or log in if you already have one.

Step 2. Install Dropbox

When creating a free account, you will be prompted to install Dropbox on your computer. Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

If you already have an account, you can download Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/install

Run the Dropbox installer and follow the setup instructions.

That is it.  Now you are ready to backup your files.

How to back up your files with Dropbox

Dropbox will create a “Dropbox” folder on your hard drive.

Any files that are saved to this “Dropbox” folder will instantly be backed up to the cloud. You can use Windows Explorer to drag files or folders into your Dropbox folder or save them directly to the folder.  Backing up your files couldn’t be much easier.

Easy access to your dropbox files.

You can access your files by logging into the Dropbox website or using their Smartphone app.

Dropbox will also install a notification icon in your toolbar.  You can click on the icon to open your Dropbox folder, access the website, change your preferences, or get help.

I installed Dropbox on a laptop that runs Windows 7.  The Dropbox folder was automatically added to my Favorites for easy access.

Adding a folder to your list of Favorites in Windows 7 is easy. While your in the folder you want to add, right-click on Favorites and select Add current location to Favorites. You can also drag a folder over to Favorites to link it there as well.

What else can you do with Dropbox?

Dropbox has several other features that make it very useful.

Sync files across computers

You can easily sync files between computers by installing dropbox on all of the computers you want synced. Any file placed in the Dropbox folder is backed up to the cloud and also synced to the other computer(s).

Let’s say you are working on a file on your laptop at work and have Dropbox installed on your laptop and desktop at home.  As soon as you press Save, Drobox will sync the file to your Desktop at home and save the file to Dropbox’s servers.  Now the file is located in 3 places (laptop, desktop, and the cloud) and can be access from  not only your computers, but your smartphone and any web browser with internet access.

This gives you the freedom to work anywhere and always have access to the files you need. You won’t have to email yourself files or carry around a USB drive.

You will know you files are synced because there will be green checkmarks on top of your files to let you know that they are synced and up to date.

Share folders

Simply put the folders you want to share in your Dropbox, and invite people to them. You can also send people links to specific files within your Dropbox.

Access previous versions of your files

You can easily undelete or undo changes to files when your files are saved to Dropbox. Every time you save a file in Dropbox, it is synced to their secure servers.  Dropbox keeps a history of every change you make so that you can undo any mistakes and even undelete files. Dropbox keeps 30 days of history for all your files.

Access your files from your smartphone

Dropbox has free applications for iPhone,iPad, BlackBerry, and Android phones. You never have to worry about not being able to access your files.

Get more storage for free!

You can earn and exrtra 250 MB  of storage by completing 5 additional tasks like taking the Dropbox tour and sharing a folder.

You can view a complete list of their features here: https://www.dropbox.com/features

What to put in your Dropbox Folder?

Because Dropbox automatically and instantly backs up and syncs files the possibilities are limitless.  Here are a few things that real estate professionals could use Dropbox for.

• Storing the latest version of a real estate contract you are working on.
• Saving any open or pending real estate appraisal orders.
• Data for important applications like Quicken.
• The latest copies of your real estate license, appraiser’s license, and E&O insurance.
• The latest photographs of a new real estate listing. You can easily share the photos with anyone.
• FHA Checklist for FHA appraisals.
• Files or folders that you need on multiple computers.
• Basically anything that is important and that needs to be accessed no matter where you area.

Are you important real estate files backed up?  How do you back them up?

CloudMagic is a Chrome and Firefox extension that adds instant search to your Gmail.  You can search through email, Google Docs, and contacts in one place with only a few clicks.

Once installed, the CloudMagic search bar will appear in the top right area of the screen.  Start typing a search query and you will see results as you type.   CloudMagic works with both Gmail and Google apps accounts.

How To Install CloudMagic

You can install the extension from the CloudMagic website or the Chrome web store.  CloudMagic is available for Firefox and Chrome on Windows, Macs, Linux.

Click “Install”.

Confirm the installation.

Open your email or reload your email webpage and the CloudMagic search bar will appear.

Add one or more accounts so CloudMagic can start indexing your emails.  Either click on the “Manage Account” under the drop down menu or start typing a search and select “Add an account”.

Type in your email address and password and click “save”.  CloudMagic does not store your emails or passwords, the are stored locally in your system so you don’t have to worry about security.

CloudMagic will start to index your email.

That is it. You can start using CloudMagic.

Hands On With Cloud Magic

CloudMagic has numerous features that make it worth checking out.

Search Gmail, docs, and contacts from one place.

Search your emails, Google Docs, and contacts from one search bar.

Partial Search.

You will start to see search results as soon as you start to type.  This is handy if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for.

Quick Preview

Click on any of the search results to view it.  A new window will open so you never have to leave the screen your are on.

Security

CloudMagic stores your password locally and creates the index on your machine, so there’s no risk of someone looking through your messages.

You can view all of their features on their website: http://www.cloudmagic.com/features.php

Bottom Line

One of the great things about Gmail is how much data you can archive and search through.  You probably have vasts amounts of real estate data, documents, and contacts stored in your Google account.  CloudMagic makes searching a littler faster and easier, especially if you have more than one Gmail or Google Apps account.  The fact that you can search through email, contacts, and docs in one search bar makes this a great extension.

According to their website, Twitter & Facebook support is coming soon.

Square is an application that allows anyone to easily accept credit card payments.  Square works with the iPhone, iPad, and Android phones.

Quickly and securely accept card and cash payments for your business, service, charity – even to sell your couch. A free Square card reader makes payments even faster. Generate email receipts. With Square for iPad, add sales tax and a beautiful list of items sold. Sign on to squareup.com to manage your sales and receipts with an intuitive web-based interface. via Squareup on iTunes.

The Square device is a tiny credit card reader that measures less than 1 inch by 1 inch.  It plugs into the headphone jack of the phone and has a thin slot through which you can swipe a credit card.  The card reader works with their free phone app.

This is a really exciting product for anyone that needs to accept credit cards.

Hands on with Square for the iPhone

Click HERE if you can not see the embedded video above.

How do I use Square?

First you will need to download the free app and sign up for a free account.  You will be shipped a free card reader when you sign up.  You will receive an email when your card reader has shipped.

To process a transaction, just launch the app on your iPhone or Android phone and plug the card reader into the headphone jack.

Type in the amount of the charge and swipe the card through the dongle.

You can also enter a description and attach a photo of the product.

The customer authorizes the purchase by writing their signature across your screen with their finger.  They will also be prompted to enter an email address so they can receive a copy of the receipt via email.  The receipt will include a map of where the charge took place.

You can also process cash transactions with the app.  This allows you to keep your bookkeeping in one place as well as creating digital receipts for your customers.

Why would I want to use Square?

This is a game changer for not only the real estate industry but for small businesses and independent contractors everywhere.  You don’t need a cash register, a wired credit card scanner, or a merchant account.  The Square account is free, the square device is free, and there is no monthly fee.

Simplicity out of the box. Accepting credit cards with Square couldn’t be easier.  Launch the app, plug in the Square card reader and you are ready to accept a credit card payment.  It is that easy.

What are Square’s card processing fees?

Updated 02/22/2011.  Square no longer charges a per transaction fee for swiped transactions. A 15¢ per transaction fee is still charged for keyed-in transactions.

Square’s card processing fees are:

2.75% for swiped transactions

3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions

There are no activation, gateway, monthly, early termination, or hidden fees. Read more about their pricing here: https://squareup.com/pricing

Square could have a big impact on the Real Estate industry.

Anyone from home inspectors, appraisers, and real estate photographers, contractors can accept credit cards on site.

Does your house need some repairs?  The contractor can use Square to accept credit cards after the job is complete.  Home inspectors can accept credit cards after a home inspection.  Real estate appraisers can use it to accept credit cards from clients.  Real estate agents could use Square to accept earnest money from home buyers.

Square not only helps real estate professionals become more mobile but also paperless.

Are you ready to get started accepting card card payments with Square?  You can download the free app and signup on their website, https://squareup.com/get-started

If you have questions or want to learn more about Square, visit their FAQ section of their website, https://support.squareup.com.

As a small business owner I am excited about Square.  How would you use Square?

Blog photos by me.

Evernote is a great tool to keep all of your stuff organized; photos, voice notes, and webclips.  Evernote recently launched The Trunk, an app store for its users.  Evernote Trunk features add-ons and apps for both your mobile and desktop computer.

One such app is the Business Card Manager.  The app lets you take pictures of business cards and then use the image as a reference when filling out the contact information fields.  That contact information can be sent into the iPhone Address Book.  You can email, call, and even access a user’s social median pages directly from the app.  One of its best features of the app is that you can link it to your Evernote account.

Business Card Manager links with your Evernote account, so that you can send your business card photos into Evernote for safekeeping. You can set Business Card Manager to sync with a particular Evernote notebook, so if you have a “Contacts” or “Business cards” notebook, everything can go straight there.

Four main features of Business Card Manager

1. Add new cards by taking a photo on your iPhone Camera.

Add new business cards by taking a photo of the card with your iPhone.  You can also take a picture of all of your cards at once and sort  all of the cards later.  This way you don’t have to enter each card one at a time.

2. A Seamless Search Function interlinked with Evernote.

Evernote usuers can auto-sync their data with a specific notebook.  Evernote will use its OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature to scan and recognize the text inside the image.

3. Use “Tags” to Manage Groups Easily.

Tag your business cards with a group name so help you mange them.

4. Exchange business cards from iPhone to iPhone
Two iPhone users with the app can exchange their business cars by holding their phones close together.

iPhone app screenshots:

The app is $2.99 and you can download the app in the iTunes store.  iTunes link.

Rebliss previously covered 7 Different Ways To Use Evernote including using it to store images of your business cards for free.

The Business Card Manger has several advantages over just using Evernote by itself.  You can access the contact’s social media  pages directly from the app, you can send the contact information to your phone’s contact list, and you take a photo of more than 1 business card at a time.  The ability to sync with Evernote means that your data is accessible from any computer and backed up to the cloud.

How to organize your business cards?

Google Docs now converts the text in scanned documents to Google Docs.  This is a great feature, especially if you are a paperless office.  For example, you can upload an appraisal file that is in PDF format and not only store it in Google Docs, but search the text within the PDF file.

Upload your scanned images (JPEG, GIF, PNG) or PDFs, and Google Docs will extract text and formatting from the scans for you to edit away.

OCR works best with high-resolution images, and not all formatting may be preserved. The original images will be included in the new document to make it easier for you to correct mistakes.

How does it work?

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) lets you extract text from images using automated computer algorithms. Images can be processed individually (.jpg, .png, and .gif files) or in multi-page PDF documents (.pdf). For more information on OCR, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition

How do you upload a document?

Step 1:

Go to docs.google.com and log in.

Step 2:

Click the “Upload” button in the top left corner of the screen.

Step 3:

Select the file you want to upload.

Step 4:

Select to “Convert text from PDF or image files to Google Docs documents”.

Step 5:

You can select a folder to upload to, determine file permissions, and then start the upload.

That is it.  You can now view and edit your document.

To test the service, I creating a PDF file from an appraisal report and uploaded it to Google Docs.  You can see from the image below, Google easily extracted all of the text from the PDF but none of the formatting was preserved.

The OCR feature might be more and more convenient to real estate appraisers.  Appraisal orders and real estate contracts are commonly emailed as PDF documents.  If you use GMail as your email client, you can open the PDF in Google Docs and search for text within the document.

Click “view” to open an email attachment in Google Docs.

The document will be opened in Google Docs.

Now you can search for text within the document.   For example, you could search for the FHA case number in an appraisal order.  This might save you time by not having to read through the entire document to find the FHA case number.

Google Docs currently gives you 1 Gig of free storage.

You can buy an additional 20 GB of storage for $5.00 / year.

Do you use Google Docs to view your appraisal or real estate files?

Image by Ria Dis

Earth day celebrated its 40th anniversary last week.  In its honor, REbliss has put together a list of 8 things real estate appraisers can do to go green.

1) Go Paperless

a) Convert web pages to PDFs and store them digitally instead of printing.  You can use PDFmyURL to convert web pages to PDFs in one click.  There are also several Google Chrome extensions (Web2PDF and html2pdf) that will convert web pages into PDF documents.  There are also free programs available for creating PDF documents like CutePDF Writer.

b) Export your MLS data as PDF or excel documents instead of printing.  Many MLS services have the option to export your search results in several different formats.

c) Do you still use a fax machine?  Faxes can be both sent and received online.  You can forward your fax number to a service like eFax.  eFax will deliver your faxes to your email as a PDF document so you can store them digitally and not have to print them.

d) Does your appraisal company have documents each employee needs access to like a company manual?  Consider storing them on on a network for everyone to view online.

e) Buy an external hard drive to store your appraisal files digitally instead of keeping a hard copy.  You can use a product like Pogoplug to access your data remotely when out of the office.  You can also store your appraisal files in the cloud.  Here is a list of 10 free websites you can use to backup your appraisal files.

2) Use Recycled Paper and Remanufactured Ink and Toner Cartridges

There will always be something you have to print.  If you must print, use remanufactured toners and recycled paper. Business cards can also be made out of recycled materials.

3) Turn off your office equipment and lights at night

You can save energy and money by switching off your computers, printers, and lights at night.  During the day, be sure to turn off lights when you leave a room.  You can even set your monitor to power off rather than use a screensaver.

4) Recycle old computer equipment instead of throwing it away

Best Buy will recycle your electronic equipment no matter where you bought it.

And we’ll take just about anything electronic, including TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cell phones, and more. Most things are recycled absolutely free, with a few restrictions.

Staples also has a recycle program.

5) Use glass or ceramic coffee mugs instead of paper or plastic

Do you make coffee or tea in the office?  Use glass or ceramic mugs to help reduce waste.

6) Replace halogen lamps with compact fluorescent bulbs

Fluorescent light bulbs use approximately 75% less energy than traditional bulbs and last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

7) Recycle

Set up a recycle station in your office to collect trash, paper, and plastic.

8) Raise the A/C

You can save on energy costs by raising your air conditioner by just one degree.

Now go tell everyone about it!

Going green not only helps the environment and saves money, but can be used as leverage with current and potential clients.  Would going green help you gain your clients trust?

Do you have any tips to help real estate appraisers go green?

Pogoplug might be a good solution for real estate appraisers that need to access their computer files when they are out of  the office.  Pogoplug allows you access to your external hard drive from anywhere, essentially creating your own cloud storage.

The term “Cloud” refers to a place on the internet where you can store your files so they can be accessed from any internet connection.  The key with cloud storage is that instead of storing data on your own device, users rely on a third party storage servers.  You probably use some form of cloud computing everyday, Gmail, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc.

The Pogoplug connects your USB drive to the Internet so you can easily share and access your files from anywhere.

The Pogoplug is the perfect accessory to your connected life. Imagine accessing all your files and media at home from any laptop or desktop computer, anywhere in the world, or sharing this content with friends and family without having to upload. There’s even an iPhone application so you can always “phone home” to get your files!

How does it work?

Pogoplug connects to both your external hard drive and your router.  Once connected, you enter your unique Pogoplug registration code into my.pogoplug.com and you are ready to use and access your data!

According to the website, it is a 60 second setup!

Your files are stored on your own hard drive and pass through the cloud via Pogoplug’s secure protocol.  With Pogoplug, your files are not stored out on the internet somewhere, but can be accessed from any internet connection.

So how much is the Pogoplug?

The Pogoplug is $129.00.  This might sound a little pricey, but with Pogoplug, you can create your own personal cloud storage.  You usually have to pay for a service such as Dropbox or ZumoDrive in order to access your files over the internet.  With Pogoplug, you store your own files on your own hard drive, connect the Pogoplug, and your done.  No service, no installation, and no monthly fee!

What about Security?

Pogoplug offers fully encrypted access to your files through the HTTPS protocol. This protocol is the same encryption security that your online banking system uses to protect your account access.

According to their website, there will be add-ons soon.

Pogoplug is getting even better all the time. Our system is expandable over the Web. Soon, your Pogoplug can connect directly to popular sites such as backup, file synchronization, photo printing and more.

It will be exciting to see what develops will make to work with the Pogoplug.

Pogoplug seems like a fantastic solution for Mobile Appraisers or anyone who needs to work remotely.  How often do you need to access your computer files when you are out of the office?