Anyone using Freeform regularly?
Yes, daily! So much so in fact I was about to start a thread in the forum to ask if anyone has figured out a good system for back-ups, as I’ve realised I now have quite a lot of useful stuff in Freeform that I’m worried about losing! All the boards are on iCloud and I can’t see that there’s a folder somewhere where we can lift the files for manual back-up. Has anyone thought about this?
On to actual use, mine starts with a caveat that my employer is heavily into Miro, so I was already comfortable with this type of “whiteboard app”. Freeform simply allowed me to bring such a tool into my personal life.
For me, Freeform has replaced many things I used GoodNotes for, and allowed me to introduce things I already did for work in Miro to other areas of my life. Examples:
When I bought and then moved house in 2020 and 2021 I did all my planning, idea collecting, mapping out costs and priorities, etc. in GoodNotes (in the U.K. buying houses takes a ridiculously long time -I envy our American friends their quick system!-, but also the house needed work doing, and there was a pandemic). The final notebook was over 200 pages. I haven’t completed all the ideas I had (or even stopped collecting ideas), but I’ve now moved the outstanding work to Freeform boards as self-contained projects. E.g. I have a board for the garage conversion I’m planning.
I also used to “administer” my hobbies with GoodNotes, but have now switched to Freeform. For example, I had separate notebooks on craft/DIY projects I wanted to do, including images and links to inspiration, tips and instructions I didn’t want to lose, etc. That all goes on boards now. I had a notebook for my playing of Skyrim where I saved ideas I wanted to explore, maps, checklists, etc. I’m now using Freeform for the same thing with other games, and it works much better as there’s infinite space, it’s easier to navigate when gaming (no flipping of pages) and Freeform handles links and images really well.
For the last month I’ve also been using Freeform as a productivity aid, using it to manage my weekly calendar view and pending tasks. I screengrab my calendar for the week and move post-it’s that have tasks on them about. (This specifically replicates how we used to use wall planners.)
I’ve also been using Freeform to manage long-term shopping lists for the last 6 months, which I’m happy with. I used to keep a list of items I fancied buying at a future date in Apple Notes and Reminders (e.g. book titles, gift ideas, house and garden items, etc.). Now I just have multiple boards and I paste the link in. My book shopping list is even divided up by genre, with different areas on the board for different types of title. (It’s a weird use of Freeform but I really recommend it - links in Freeform show previews, which means you can visually look at your list and click to visit the website!)
Niggles that I’d like to see addressed at some point:
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a more reassuring system for accessing files that means we can do manual back-ups
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I do not find the Mac app a pleasure to use. At the very least, Apple need to implement robust mouse integration so that zooming and moving about on the board are instinctive. It seems mind-boggling to me that they didn’t do this at launch. Miro does this so well. Why am I having to navigate with the up/down left/right bars like it’s the 1990s??
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we need folder support! For now I’ve addressed this by using a letter prefix on all boards that arrange them by type. E.g. all project boards start “P -“. All work notes start with the initials of my employer. All meeting notes start “M -“ etc. I assume folders will come in time!