Sticking around

The Post-it note was one of the great innovations of its time. The small, square piece of paper with the sticky back is as ubiquitous in offices today as it was 50 years ago. You might expect 3M, the international company that owns the Post-it brand, to rest on its laurels and enjoy its continued market presence. But in today’s business environment, it’s not enough to have the walls of your office (at home or at work) covered with colorful squares. With Post-it Plus, 3M created an app that aims to combine the digital and analog worlds.

There are already plenty of digital organizational tools in the toolbox for business owners. From Evernote to 2Do, Post-it Plus is entering a crowded marketplace. But to its credit, the app does not try to beat those apps at their own game. It has a built-in advantage: anyone willing to plunk down $2 on this deluxe edition of this app is probably more than familiar with the sticky note cards.

The Post-it Plus app is specifically designed for people who already use Post-it notes. Lots and lots of Post-it notes. But in a world where cloud computing has made it possible to access your notes everywhere, those people are stuck, just like their notes. The Post-it Plus app allows them to share the contents of those notes across devices and with other users.

Using your mobile phone or iPad’s camera, you capture a photo of up to 50 square Post-it notes at one time. The app will show you the captured Post-its with a little checkmark on top of each note. Uncheck the notes you don’t want to save, then confirm the capture. Now all the notes are saved to a white board in the app, where you can arrange, refine and organize them individually or as a group just by tapping and dragging them around with your finger.

Digitized notes are kept separate, moveable and easy to arrange in a grid or any other formation, creating an accurate but flexible documentation of any idea creation session. Organized boards can be shared with anyone to evolve great ideas and continue collaborating from anywhere. You can also create brand new notes in the app itself and add them to your existing boards. The Post-it Plus App creates a shareable record that exports to common software programs including PowerPoint, Excel, Dropbox, PDF and more.

The Post-it Plus app recognizes all square Post-it Notes, from 3-inch by 3-inch Post-it Super Sticky Notes to Post-it Big Pads, with additional sizes coming soon. The Post-it Plus App is available for free from the App Store on iOS 8 devices including iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. For more information, visit Post-it.com/app.

Matt is managing editor for Nursery Management magazine, a GIE Media Horticulture Group publication.