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How do you guys 'Save for Later' the Articles you like?

6 years ago from , Founder @neue.world

Here's my current scenario - I have about 4 Windows with about 20 articles each; about 70-80 odd articles. I hate the concept of bookmarking because it's horrible list view and I forget to look at it.

Here's what I have tried:

Instapaper: Testing it out right now. But I need to organize every single link into a folder because it does not automatically add links when I'm in a specific folder.

Pocket: I don't like the hidden tag system. Something that is visual and easy to add, check and use.

PS. I did check some other competitors but design-wise, wasn't appealing enough.

Any thoughts on Evernote for clipping articles and using it as a repo?

49 comments

  • Seth RSeth R, 6 years ago

    Pocket. Hands down.

    With the chrome extension you can easily tag articles. I also love the TTS feature that reads articles to you, great for the commute.

    18 points
  • Matt WillettMatt Willett, 6 years ago

    I use a mix of things; If it's short-term 'I will definitely read this later tonight' i send myself a reminder in Google Inbox; usually just with the link in the input field.

    Until recently I was using Raindrop.io, which is helpful with a more visual interface but rather slow sometimes when dealing with larger collections of links and bookmarks. Still a really good service and has a great amount of flexibility.

    For longer term/later recall things, I just recently started using Pinboard; it's a paid service, but offers really good flexibility through various apps and dead simple controls. Pinboard also works with IFTTT so you can set it up to do things nicely based on a few factors.

    For a lot of people, Pinboard might be strange since it approaches the job as a minimally-but-robustly designed service. It has a wealth of great apps and bookmarklets to run on a multitude of devices. It's definitely worth a shot.

    edit: a word

    8 points
    • Spencer JSpencer J, 6 years ago

      +1 for Pinboard. It's one of the few services on the web that actually has badass politics too, and is totally open-web supportive.

      7 points
    • Hans GerwitzHans Gerwitz, 6 years ago

      I have solved exactly your problem with Pinboard's oft-overlooked tab sets.

      When I get overwhelmed by my browser workspaces (Chrome or Safari), I use it to save them all. And then my "new window" setting is to visit my saved tabs (https://pinboard.in/u:username/tabs/) which keeps me motivated to eventually consume them.

      I do wish it was better designed for deleting them or moving them to bookmarks or Instapaper. (I also use Instapaper for "things I want to sit and read with focus", which is different problem.)

      You can also find browser extensions to re-style it if your aesthetic sensibilities are threatened by it's brutalist design. ;-)

      1 point
  • Bharani MBharani M, 6 years ago

    I run a tiny bookmarking service called EmailThis.

    Instead of having to create an account on another website and install additional apps, EmailThis works by sending the web page (after stripping ads and clutter) to your email.

    One of the key advantages of EmailThis is that you don't rely on any external service. So if a service like Readability goes down, you don't end up losing all your saved bookmarks.

    Also, if you are using Gmail or Outlook, you can set filters that automatically move incoming bookmark emails (that EmailThis sends) into specific folders based on keywords/tags.

    You can also leverage the fulltext search that your email client provides.

    EmailThis is available as a browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Opera) and a bookmarklet. If you don't want to install it, you can simply email the URL to save@emailthis.me and my app will reply with the contents of that URL.

    Let me know if you find it useful.

    5 points
  • James Ciclitira, 6 years ago

    Chrome + InboxChrome + Inbox

    4 points
  • Alberto G. de la CruzAlberto G. de la Cruz, 6 years ago

    Tabs.

    So many tabs...

    3 points
  • Cenk ÖzbakırCenk Özbakır, 6 years ago

    I’ve been an avid Instapaper user for years, I use it to save articles I want to read on the go. From there I can highlight passages and post them to my blog automatically.

    For saving other stuff I use Pinboard.

    2 points
  • Luke Fiji, 6 years ago

    I use Refind. It's simple, well designed, and has save, "read later", and tagging features. They also have a little neat community on their actual website. Oh yeah, they also have iOS and Android apps too.

    2 points
  • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, 6 years ago

    There are two reasons for saving an article:

    1. Is when you have read it and you think it will have value in the future (i.e. you will understand it better a year from now or there's info you can reference). In this case, any bookmarking service will do just fine, because you only need to archive them for future reference.

    2. is when the article looks interesting but you don't have the time to read it at this moment. For this, I realised that bookmarking articles with any service means I will never read them, so what I do instead is save them to my desktop or phone's screen, so the next time I find myself with nothing to do or checking my phone, I have this handy article waiting for me.

    In your case, I'd start by looking at why you want to save 80 articles at once and what you think the value of that is. If what you are looking for instead is a way to save that session and pick up where you left off tomorrow, then you can either change the browser's settings, or even use one of those apps that will turn all your open tabs into a text file.

    2 points
  • Victor LVictor L, 6 years ago

    I use my bookmarks bar, and once I'm done reading I just delete it

    1 point
  • Marius Feraru, 6 years ago

    Raindrop + Pocket make a good team for me.

    1 point
  • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 6 years ago

    I can't tell what your end goal is. Do you want to manage the articles, or read them?

    1 point
  • Matt SaundersMatt Saunders, 6 years ago

    +1 for Pocket, here!

    1 point
  • Edgaras BenediktaviciusEdgaras Benediktavicius, 6 years ago

    Pocket Chrome addon then read on Mac and iPhone. The problem is I stuff in more than I read back.

    1 point
  • Kyle LKyle L, 6 years ago

    I used Pocket for a long time but once Google Inbox released their save feature I was hooked. Having articles in a folder of my inbox surfaces them for me a lot more then going into another app...

    The downside it giving more info to Google :(

    1 point
    • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 6 years ago

      i like pocket for articles over this because pocket provides a way to read them immediately in a nice format, where google simply saves the link.

      1 point
      • Kyle LKyle L, 6 years ago

        That's fair. My main need is to surface articles later that I wanted to read. Google Inbox did a better job of this because I am already in it. With Pocket I would just forget about an article and rarely open the app ¯_(ツ)_/¯

        0 points
        • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 6 years ago

          right, but you already are failing to read the articles now. failing or not doing it as you would like.

          either you have an app problem or a habit problem. either way, you'll have to build up a new habit of doing the reading you want to do, no?

          0 points
          • Kyle LKyle L, 6 years ago

            Comments are difficult to discern tone. This comment sounds condescending, but I am going to believe it is not.

            I don't think I have a habit problem. I like to save articles when I know I don't have time to read them. I found that pocket was overkill for how I was using it. When I discovered Inbox could do the same thing that I was using pocket for I gave it a try. It worked better for me. Now I have one less app and a better solution for my own need. This works for me, but I am not saying it is a better solution for anyone else. I am also not discrediting Pocket in any way, it's a great app and does an amazing job at many things. But I just wanted it for one thing.

            0 points
            • Cory MalnarickCory Malnarick, 6 years ago

              Sorry about tone – I'm often blunt when I shouldn't be.

              I'm no spokesperson to pocket, but I'm just doing my UX due diligence and trying to figure out your actual problem.

              Often, people make the mistake in today's age of having an app for everything of expecting apps to modify their behavior. I'm not saying this is you, but that's where I'm coming from at that extreme end.

              All I meant to say is because of your OP and because of some of your comments, it sounds like no matter which app you go with, you'll have to modify your behavior to that app function.

              Again, sorry about tone!

              0 points
      • Laura McCartney, 6 years ago

        I agree. This is much better for mobile.

        0 points
  • David Holman, 6 years ago

    It's two main scenarios for me:

    • No time to read right now, but it looks valuable: Pocket.

    • Read it, loved it, I know I'll reference it again: Evernote.

    Both support tagging so I can read topically, depending on what I'm after during my "research" time. In Evernote, I have a "reference" notebook that holds all these articles.

    1 point
  • Josiah TullisJosiah Tullis, 6 years ago

    I've set Chrome to restore my previous session so I literally just leave the tab open for days, sometimes weeks, until I get back to it. I think more people do this than are willing to admit it.

    1 point
  • Antoine Lord, 6 years ago

    I use Google Inbox, so I installed the Chrome extension and I save the article in my Inbox to read later.

    1 point
  • Andrea GrassoAndrea Grasso, 6 years ago

    Saved

    1 point
  • Marc Ziani de FerrantiMarc Ziani de Ferranti, 6 years ago

    Feedly for general reading list since I get most articles from feed reading, the rest can be saved back to the 'Read Later' list with an extension. Pinboard for Long term saving/categorizing of anything I think might be useful to reference later. Simple and easy.

    0 points
  • Marco BiralMarco Biral, 6 years ago

    Pocket + "Save to Pocket" Chrome Extension. Find an article > Save on Pocket adding tags > Read (or listen) it later > If it could be useful in the future, archive it.

    0 points
  • Juliana V., 6 years ago

    I love channelkit.com It's beautiful and helps me keep my bookmarks in order :)

    0 points
  • Nick NobleNick Noble, 6 years ago

    I tweet them. Twitter search is surprisingly good if you write a good description.

    (I usually read things on the spot, this is so I can find the good stuff / resources again later.)

    0 points
  • Andrew ConnAndrew Conn, 6 years ago

    Send myself emails with keywords in the subject that trigger custom filters I have set up. These filters automatically tag emails I send to myself and mark them as read so I don't get a notification. "Note to Self", "To Do", "Read Later", whatever you want.

    0 points
  • Ettore TortoraEttore Tortora, 6 years ago

    I use a mix of OneTab and Pocket.

    0 points
  • Travis Arnold, 6 years ago

    I've really liked http://stash.ai recently. If you use Chrome, they have a simple extension that makes it easy to stash any site and categorize it.

    0 points
  • Bugsy SailorBugsy Sailor, 6 years ago

    Honestly, I've stopped trying. I got so bogged down with all the things I wanted to read later. Now, if it's not important enough to read now, I skip right past it. If I'm in a truly productive space, then I'm not discovering articles.

    0 points
  • Todd SielingTodd Sieling, 6 years ago

    Pocket. I was a heavy Instapaper reader for years, but the day they announced the sale to Pinterest I switched to Pocket and bought the premium. It does what it does well, I really miss highlights and notes that Instagram supported, but otherwise quite happy with it.

    0 points
  • Tom CTom C, 6 years ago

    Since my daily browser is Safari on OSX, the service of my choice is Safari's Reading List. Dead simple, and easily accessible on the iPhone.. of course in case you're on iOS. The sync works great and I'm pretty sure the service won't have any major disruptions anytime soon ;)

    I never saw any benefit of paying for Instapaper, and it became free too late, also in general I am very skeptical towards any link-saving apps, not to mention abandonware like Evernote ;)

    Why I am skeptical? Because I feel that when people start to use such app, they think they will have a perfectly organized catalog of their favourite articles, and the daily backlog for reading in free time. But in reality, it becomes a bottomless hole, where you just keep on throwing stuff in, and rarely go back... It's kinda the same with Reading List, but at least I don't have the feeling of dreading guilt when launching that extra app, because my Safari is always open ;)

    What would be cool though, is to have a way to send a link to your Feedly "daily feed", so you can read it using an RSS reader of your choice. But only uber nerds will appreciate it (and it's probably somehow possible anyway).

    EDIT: yeah, okay so there's saving to Feedly Board. Extensions for Safari/Chrome. Hooray!

    0 points
  • Mario S, 6 years ago

    I used to pay a dollar a month for Instapaper for years but about 2 years ago I signed up to Evernote Premium and started using it instead: I just clip the artitle into a special read-later notebook.

    But the ugly truth is, 90% of the clipped articles stay unread forever...

    0 points
  • Sally Anderson, 6 years ago

    I usually just email them to myself. I have a Gmail label I apply so I can locate them later.

    0 points
  • Mike MaiMike Mai, 6 years ago

    Post to my own tumblr which I set up as a feed page with categories.

    0 points
  • Stephen Weir, 6 years ago

    Im a big fan of dragdis.com, the trick is to set up all your folders with meaningful names and a good structure.

    e.g if i have three articles open about something for a project im working on i would put them into my current projects folder not just articles.

    0 points
  • Yasser A, 6 years ago

    Since I usually get headlines that I'd like to read more at work, I usually add links to keep.google.com and set a reminder to popup when I'm home (you could set reminders by location).

    0 points