Backpack: Some things you may not have known

We recently conducted a survey of our Backpack customers. We got some great feedback — including that 97% of our customers would recommend Backpack to a colleague, friend, or family member. Thank you! 

While reviewing, we noticed some suggestions about things that Backpack already offers. In "Backpack: Some things you may not have known," we pull out some of the more common suggestions and show you where you can find these features in Backpack. We hope you find these tips helpful!

A "Virtual Office Kinda Life" with 37signals tools

The author of Setting Contexts has published a couple of posts about using 37signals products:

How Backpack is Saving My Sanity talks about using the entire suite of 37signals tools:

For the first time in a few months I feel like I’m more in control - not just organized, but working with my teams more efficiently. And my teams have been very supportive in trying these tools out and participating. While I don’t have the ability to block off time each day to get work done (too many meetings - grrr) without interruption, I can track what needs to be done and get things done before and after the “workday”.

Living a Virtual Office Kinda Life talks about the web-based tools the author uses at work to stay organized and keep in touch. Among the list:

Basecamp - we use it for project management and have just started to share with our clients. It took a full day to reorganize the existing account when I started - I also put together a couple of screencasts for our team to learn how to use it. I’m also planning to do a couple for our clients so that they feel comfortable using it.

Backpack - we use this as our own intranet. Anything internal (not project-based) goes here. This has been really successful in terms of adoption - everyone has been adding to pages as well as adding their own.

Highrise - we’re using this for our CRM solution and to track our new business process. As of right now, only the crayonistas involved with new business have access.

Read the rest of Living a Virtual Office Kinda Life to see the other tools listed (Twitter, iPhones, etc.).

New in Backpack: Email replies to Newsroom Messages

We introduced email-reply to messages and comments in Basecamp a few months ago. It's been a huge hit. Today we're excited to be able to print this new feature to Backpack.

You can now respond to any message posted in Backpack via email.

Just make sure your reply goes above the...

--- Reply ABOVE THIS LINE to post a comment to the message ---

...line and it will appear in the message thread.

This means you don't have to log in to respond to a message or comment someone else posted. This new email-reply feature makes Backpack an even more useful internal communications tool. We think you'll love it.

Thanks again for your continued support.

Plotters use Backpack to create "the greatest birthday scavenger hunt of all time!"

Tim Sullivan plotted out an elaborate alternate reality birthday game for his girlfriend using Backpack. He writes, "I don't think we'd have been able to even conceive of organizing this without Backpack. It's keeping us completely organized and allowing us to pull off what could be the greatest birthday scavenger hunt of all time!" Full details below, courtesy of Tim.

For my girlfriend Linda's 29th birthday, I've decided to upgrade her tired old frankenstein'd computer from 2002 to a powerhouse Alienware gaming rig. Additionally, I've set up an "alien conspiracy" theme for the entire birthday. In order to set the mood properly, I've enlisted a few friends and we've designed and are in the process of playing out an alternate reality game with her as the unwitting investigator. The whole thing ends with her old computer being abducted and replaced with the new Alienware machine.

There are a lot of moving parts to an alternate reality game, including some detailed scripts for the plot, a variety of props for everything from letters sent by email to pieces of the puzzle, phone messages that happen on specific days and people who need to be at certain places at certain times. We'd started by sending a few emails around, but it quickly became way too complex for that. So we set up an account on Backpack to help us keep everything in check.

Assembling the script on a single page using dividers to organize each stage helped a huge amount, especially during brainstorming sessions where several of us were on the phone talking and writing new notes.

The calendar helped us keep the dates things needed to be prepared by (coded in red), as well as the date of the actual launch of the event (coded in green).

Messages allowed us to note conflicts, scheduling problems (like being away for Thanksgiving here in Canada!) and ensure the people we were using for voicemails and in-person meetings were up to speed on any last-minute changes and general progress.

37signals products are "essential web tools for virtual students"

Three 37signals tools made the list at Ditch the backpack: 100 essential web tools for virtual students. Here's what the list is all about:

While learning at home offers great opportunities for working on your own time and schedule, it can also offer drawbacks when it comes to working with others or getting immediate help on a problem. Whether you need help, collaboration, or just want a little extra knowledge when completing your assignments, these web tools will help you find what you need. From note taking to researching to staying organized, the following resources will have you making top grades in your classes.

And here are the 37signals tools that made the cut:

Campfire. Set up instant chat rooms with your study group or classroom using Campfire and make communicating as a group much easier.

Writeboard. Create a web-based text document with this tool, then use it to either edit, share, or send yourself a text file of your document.

Backpack. This tool can organize anything from just your own studies to that of an entire class. Make pages, use calendars, post announcements, get email or text message reminders, and more.

See the full list.

Basetwo Media: "Backpack's ease of use encourages collaboration from all of our employees."

Basetwo Media is a leading provider of Corporate Video Production services in Vancouver, BC Canada. Jeff Pelletier, Executive Producer and Owner there, writes in to tell us how his company uses Backpack (below).

Basetwo Media has been relying on Backpack to help in the systemization of our Video Production Company for the past year. As our Company Intranet, it serves as a central repository for all of our policies, procedures and important documents, and as a centralized means of communication.

The pages in our Backpack account are setup much like a book, broken out into chapters for different categories and departments, including a top-level index.

The formatting looks great on paper too, as we print a revised hard-copy every month or so for quick reference around the office. The RSS feed allows everyone to be notified of updates and facilitates quality control by management.

The shared calendars allow us to keep everyone in the loop with regards to our Production schedules, crews and equipment, as well as important administrative and office tasks such as team meetings. We use the 'Newsroom' as a message board for general, company-wide discussions.

Backpack has integrated perfectly into our own personal 'GTD' systems, and all of our employees now use it as a daily To-Do list and organizer.

After having tried a variety of other online tools, shared calendars and a Wiki, we've that found Backpack's ease of use encourages collaboration from all of our employees. Best of all, it's fun to use.

Create a calendar for a specific person/category in Backpack

In Backpack, you can have different calendars within your master calendar. These calendars are useful for grouping events by category or person. You might have calendars labelled "Sarah," "Jeff," or "Juan" for each one of those people. Or "business," "personal," or "travel" for those categories. Each of these calendars can have a different color also. Events will then show up in that color.

To choose the Calendar you want, click the "Calendar" link at the top of every screen.

Then click the "Add a calendar" link in the right sidebar.

Name the calendar, choose its color, and choose who can view it.

Now add an event and select the calendar you want from the calendar pulldown.

Related: Backpack Calendar FAQs.

Logbook: Keep your Backpack Journal updated from your Mac menu bar

Logbook is the first product from "Transmission Apps," a group that is building Mac OS companion apps for our products.

Logbook allows you to keep your Backpack Journal updated from your Mac menu bar. You can update your status and log journal entries without having to log into Backpack. Logbook is $12.99.

It's slick and very well executed. We've been using it for a while and it's really encouraged us to keep the journal updated. We're excited to see what other apps they cook up that work with our products.

How one student uses Backpack as a "digital notebook"

If you're a student wondering how Backpack can help you get organized, check out "Technology Focus: Backpack" over at Student Blogger.

Situation: Your student life is in disarray. Papers are here and there, deadlines and assignments are floating around in your head. Sure, a notebook could help. But you need something digital. What do you do?

Solution: Use the very flexible Backpack web application from 37signals. Best of all, it is just what you need for the price of zero.

Read the full article.

Home organization expert on Backpack: "It’s like magic! My respite of order in a chaotic world."

Crystal Dreisbach, Sparkleizer and home organization expert at Sparkleize the Way You Live, on why she loves Backpack:

Among the many reasons I use Backpack to organize my whole life is the remarkable ability it gives you to store files and share important information with other people.

Here are just a few examples of my everyday Backpack magic:

Meal planning. My husband and I are trying to eat dinner at home more frequently (to save money and eat healthier!) Of course, grocery shopping and meal planning take effort and organization. That is where collaborating on our meal planning page (in Writeboard!) on Backpack comes in handy.

How it works: I might volunteer to cook Monday and Saturday evenings of the upcoming week. So I log in to Backpack from home on Sunday and note on the Writeboard what I plan to cook for those evenings. I also list what ingredients we’ll need to buy at the Farmer’s Market or grocery store. I can even include a link to the recipe, if applicable. He can do the same for his cooking days. We can also make note of who will go to the grocery store, and whose turn it is to clean up the kitchen each night.

The end result is a comprehensive meal plan for the whole week, including menu and shopping reminder list, which we can either print out or access from work, home or on an iPhone! (Check out the screenshot, attached.)