If there is one question I get most often it is what computer software or applications do I use in my home office. “What do you use to do the things you do?” The longer I work from my home office, the longer my list of applications seems to get. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that most individuals who work from a home office use more of the applications available to do more of the things staff would do if we worked in a traditional “downtown office.”

I know for me, some of the most useful applications I use are web based applications which enable me to collaborate with virtual staff and clients.

First, and most important to my list of applications is the Mac OSX itself. Yes, as if you did not already know this, I use the Mac computer in my home office. In fact, I don’t have a windoze machine in my office. Why, because the Mac OS is in my humble opinion the most reliable OS out there. It just works. I don’t worry about the “blue screen of death” and I don’t worry about viruses. In fact, missing from my list of applications is a virus program. If one considers for a moment the steps in building an office one can not overlook the foundation. The foundation should be as stable, strong and reliable as possible. Mac OSX gives you that. But it also gives you more. Not only is it a wonderful OS, it provides four of the applications I use everyday in my home office. I use iCal, Mail, Address Book and iChat each and everyday in my home office. Best of all, all four will integrate with other programs I also use each day.

Second is my word processor of choice, Pages part of the iWork productivity suite from the Mac.

Pages ’08
Writing comes naturally when you’re using Pages ’08. Start with one of over 140 templates to write beautiful letters, resumes, reports, business plans, and more. And create media-rich newsletters, brochures, and flyers with point-and-click ease.
Highlights

• Streamlined word processing
• Powerful page layout
• Change tracking
• Advanced image tools
• More than 140 Apple-designed templates, including 80 new templates
• Import from and export to Microsoft Word and other formats

Third is my presentation software of choice, also part of the Apple iWork suite, Keynote. Keynote is not a replacement for PowerPoint. It is so much more. I have used Keynote to produce some great slide shows I have used on my Blog for Profit site. I will provide some examples in the future.

Cinema-quality presentations for everyone — with ease. Keynote puts you in the director’s chair and gives you complete control over how you build and deliver your presentation.

Next, and one that may surprise you is Circus Ponies Notebook. It’s a combination outliner and free-form database that lets you clip, annotate, and share unstructured information. Organize your information using a familiar notebook interface complete with pages and tabs. Best of all you can organize a case in a way that makes sense to you. Not the way the software company believes it should be done. You can import photos, images, film clips, and sounds directly into Notebook from ay source. Display embedded media in your Notebook in Media Frames that give you control over the media item. Import any kind of content from the web or from other Mac apps using NoteBook’s built-in Clipping Services. Copy text and other content directly into your Notebooks without leaving whatever app you are working in. You can even pre-edit clippings before sending them to your Notebook.

Notebook also works with iCal where you can set and manage alarms and to do’s for your projects.

Forth, is Skype. I use it to make almost all of my outgoing phone calls. I also use it for conferences, both audio and video. Skype or some other VoIP is a must in a home office.

Fifth, and another one of those applications I would not live without is pagesender. I use pagesender as my out going faxing program. It sits in my printer list and works just like one of my printers. I simple print to pagesender and use its interface to fax out. Pagesender works with my next must have application which is the first web based application I am going to mention and that is MaxEmail.

MaxEmail’s Internet fax service allows my fax messages to be delivered to my email address, so my fax messages follow me anywhere I go. Whether you are at the office, at home or traveling, you can send and receive faxes without a fax machine or dedicated fax line. It is also my outgoing fax line. I have my own personalized fax number for all incoming faxes. Faxes are sent to my email inbox and come in as PDF’s. Both pagesender and MaxEmail are ideal tools to use as you move to a paperless office. They both eliminate the need for paper. And they both eliminate the need for a fax machine.

Next is PDFpenPro. With it, I can fill out PDF forms and edit PDFs easily. Split, combine, reorder, sign and augment PDFs with text, image overlays & watermarks. Signing is as easy as inserting my signature which is saved to my desktop onto any document I want. In my humble opinion, I just don’t see how you could have a paperless office without this application.

For postage I no longer go to the post office to get my stamps. I use Endicia for Mac. You can print mailing labels, envelopes and InstaPostage labels with ease. Print real postage from your Mac. No more standing in long lines at the post office. It works with Apple’s Address Book and the next program I discuss below.

Next up is Daylite. Daylite works at the center of my business, helping me stay on track and deliver on time. It handles all my contacts, calendar, projects and it is another one of those programs that integrates with Apple’s Mail. As they say on the Web site:

Daylite’s real productivity power is in its flexibility. Thanks to an intuitive process called linking, Daylite keeps everything one click away—contacts, projects, opportunities, appointments, tasks, and more. You can work from a daily task list with all your todo’s, or open a project to see all its linked tasks and appointments. If you prefer to stay on the calendar, just open a meeting to see who’s attending. And Daylite’s smart lists help you customize your view, so you can focus on the data that’s important to you now.

Right along with Daylite is Billings2 from the same ones who brought us Daylite, Marketcircle. Billings2 is a great billing program that works and integrates seamlessly with Daylite.

The last application I want to mention in this post is activeCollab. We use activeCollab in our business, G2 Web Media to manage our projects and to collaborate with each other on what needs to be done. It works the same as Basecamp but sits on your own server. We may switch back to Basecamp in the near future since 37signals seems to keep adding new ways to use Basecamp and its other applications.

Next week we will do a post about the other web based applications we are using with both Home Office Warrior and G2 Web Media. In the meantime, leave a comment with the applications you find you can’t live without in your own home office.