Top 10 Organizational Tools Every Clerical Assistant Needs
Since the clerical assistants have to work within the fast-growing workplace, time management is vital for them. Co-ordination between several activities, and handling papers and calendars is not always a piece of cake. Fortunately, there are many organizational aids, which will help to make this work easier and more efficient.
Here we’ll list and discuss the ten most useful organizational tools that every clerical assistant should employ.
1. Trello: Task Management Made Easy
Trello is an effective project management tool that assists clerical assistants in handling tasks effectively. That is where boards, lists, and cards are employed to track the projects, deadlines, and progress. There are features for creating checklists, delegating work, and setting deadlines so that one does not lose track of what is happening.
Why It’s Essential: The look of Trello is quite simple and contains clear navigation that allows one to focus on activities that need to be done first.
Pro Tip: To change this, use the calendar view to view the due dates that are in Trello.
2. Google Drive: Cloud-Based Document Management
Google Drive is, therefore, very useful for storing and sharing documents. It enables you to access your files whenever you want and from any device; thus, suitable for working from home. Files can be put into folders, members of the team can collaborate on documents in real-time, as well as all items are saved and accessible in one place.
Why It’s Essential: It ensures that important documents are always accessible and securely backed up.
Pro Tip: Use Google Drive’s advanced search features to find documents quickly.
3. Microsoft Outlook: Email and Calendar Management
Outlook is not limited to being an email client as most people tend to think but much more than that. This is a useful tool for controlling appointments and communications with partners, clients, or colleagues. Even the built-in calendar allows for the scheduling of reminders as well as appointments as well as the management of tasks.
Why It’s Essential: It makes excellent management of communication and time allowing you to stay pointed, informed, and organized.
Pro Tip: Organize your outlook by creating tips to help direct the flow of emails automatically.
4. Evernote: Note-Taking and Organization
It will be advisable to take time and learn how to use it since it is a powerful note-taking tool that allows you to capture concepts, to-dos, reminders, and any crucial information. Notes can be arranged in notebooks, searched by tags, and can also include files and images.
Why It’s Essential: Since its use is versatile, the software is excellent for documenting the details that are collected when on the move as well as for categorizing those details.
Pro Tip: When you need to save certain information from the Internet, use the Evernote web clipper that saves the info directly to the notes.
5. Slack: Team Communication
Slack is a tool that allows people from the same organization to be more connected with each other. For instance, it categorizes chats into channels in a way that it easy to follow the project’s progress independently. Files can be shared, messages can be sent directly to each other, and other instruments, such as Trello or Google Drive, can be included.
Why It’s Essential: It minimizes the use of email and centralizes the communication of the team.
Pro Tip: Slack later provides the means of searching for previous messages within the same conversation.
6. Asana: Project Tracking
Now we would like to present another outstanding project management instrument: Asana. It enables working with projects dividing them into activities and distributing them among the project’s members or employees. One can make due dates, monitor the work, and even get an overview of what is expected to be accomplished.
Why It’s Essential: They are best applied to large tasks that involve many people in their accomplishments.
Pro Tip: To bet on project progress, try using Asana’s timeline.
7. Dropbox: File Storage and Sharing
There is another respected cloud storage, it is Dropbox, which is quite similar to Google Drive. One of its features is that it is particularly helpful in cases when the size of a file to be transferred is too large for an e-mail message. It enables you to create at least one public folder, share files between different devices, and be able to access the documents from any place and any device.
Why It’s Essential: It’s a reliable way to store and share files securely.
Pro Tip: Use Dropbox’s file request feature to collect documents from others.
8. Todoist: Personal Task Management
Todoist is an application that will assist you in keeping track of your personal to-do list. They allow you to generate assignments, establish the order of urgency, and monitor your activity. This is easy to use and the key feature is that it will keep you on track and aware of what you really need to be doing.
Why It’s Essential: There’s no better app for handling daily activities at work and controlling personal assignments.
Pro Tip: As for the repeating activities, they should be performed with the help of Todoist’s built-in feature in the form of recurring tasks.
9. Zapier: Automate Workflows
Zapier is an application that integrates other applications and enables users to manage tasks with the help of simple workflows created by connecting applications. For Instance, you can configure it such that whenever an email attachment is received, the attachment is saved to Dropbox, or whenever a message is sent on Slack, it creates a new Trello card.
Why It’s Essential: For instance, it saves time because many of the activities that may need to be done can be performed automatically.
Pro Tip: Begin by utilizing the set templates consisting of Zaps which will allow you to work with zero configurations.
10. Microsoft OneNote: Digital Note-Taking
OneNote is Microsoft’s counterpart for Evernote, albeit with a similar interface for taking and organizing notes. It also works well with other members of the Microsoft Office Suite, for those who are already using Outlook, Word, or Excel.
Why It’s Essential: It is a very versatile app that allows for sorting and categorizing notes and these can be information-based.
Pro Tip: To organize notes, go to “Tags” and take advantage of this tool that allows searching easily for some notes.
Conclusion
Organization is something that is very crucial when it comes to being a clerical assistant, and the right tools will do wonders in helping one carry the day. With Trello, Google Drive, and Evernote, the things that you have to address will not pose much problem and these will also help you become more efficient with your tasks. This is a list of tools that you can gradually implement in your working day to ascertain their efficiency. By having these organizational tools at your disposal, you will be of utmost prepared to control the different demands of the position.
