Introduction
This article discusses underrated useful tools that can help accomplish a lot more in their corporate job in tasks that are around development and not development itself.
- PDF X-Change Editor
- Microsoft Paint
- Xournal
- Excalidraw.com
- SVG Trace
- Google Slides
The first three tools are Desktop-based, while the last three are Web-based. Let's go over these tools one by one.
PDF X-Change Editor
PDF X-Change Editor is the first tool among the desktop-based ones in this article. It is a powerful PDF tool that allows users to edit, annotate, and manipulate PDF files with ease. Unlike basic PDF readers, it provides advanced markup features, including adding comments, highlighting text, and inserting images or shapes. You can use it to merge or split PDF documents, and you can type, annotate, draw, and use its OCR feature all in its free edition. This makes it a reliable and accessible alternative to expensive software like Adobe Acrobat.
Microsoft Paint
Microsoft Paint is a simple yet powerful tool for quick image editing, annotation, and diagram creation. If you don't have access to a powerful program such as PowerPoint, Paint is the perfect alternative for quick markups, cropping images, and adding basic shapes or text. For professionals who occasionally need to edit screenshots or create simple visuals, Paint is a handy built-in tool that requires no extra setup.
Xournal (or Xournal++)
If you're not on Windows or do not like Paint, Xournal and its enhanced version, Xournal++, serve as a strong alternative, offering more flexibility, especially for handwriting and PDF annotation. It is open-source and it a solid tool for note-taking, sketching ideas, and marking up on PDF documents. With stylus support, it is particularly useful to you if you prefer writing by hand, making it a great choice for digital notebooks or collaborative brainstorming, or drawing diagrams. It is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Excalidraw.com
Starting with Web-based tools, Excalidraw.io is an open-source, web-based drawing tool that allows teams to create hand-drawn-style diagrams and flowcharts as quickly as in minutes. Unlike rigid diagramming software, it offers a more natural and informal way to visualize ideas, making it ideal for brainstorming sessions, UI mockups, and technical explanations. Also, note that it has a Library which gives you templates that are ready to be filled and shared.
Excaldrawio
Library
SVG Trace
SVG Trace is a web-based tool that converts raster images (like PNGs or JPGs) into scalable vector graphics (SVGs). This is particularly useful for designers, marketers, or engineers who need to create high-quality logos, icons, or diagrams that scale without losing resolution. If you're in a situation where you're only met with a logo or an illustration as an image and you'd like to have a vector instead, this tool is the one you're looking for. Note that the image can be enhanced if you used their paid version.
Google Slides
While not used as much as other presentation tools, Google Slides is a versatile web-based platform for collaboration, storytelling, and creating presentations right in the browser. You could work on presentations with your team in real time, add comments to slides for others to see or follow up, and work on the same presentation using your PCs at the same time. You could also edit PowerPoint presentations in it, which allows you edit presentations and sending them back to your team in case you don't have PowerPoint on your PC.
Conclusion
This article presented a few useful tools that can increase your productivity concerning tasks around Development and not development itself. Hope it was useful for you.
Cheers!
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