Sep 20

Back up your mobile photos automatically with IFTTT

Posted in: backups, dropbox.photos, evernote, ifttt, instagram

The last time I wrote a post about IFTTT a few people sent along questions about how it might be used to back up photographs you take with a smartphone. I can understand this desire as I haven’t always transfered photos from my phone to my computer as often as I should have. Two years ago, I lost a phone to the Delaware river, and many vacation photos went with it. My now-in-place IFTTT recipes would have prevented the loss of images. Here’s how to set up an automatic backup of your mobile photos. You’ll want to download Evernote, Instagram and IFTTT. (As an additional step, Dropbox is optional.)

First, a quick look at the applications.

Evernote

This app, above all others, is my external brain. When I’m processing “stuff,” which is anything that isn’t where it ought to be, it generally falls into one of four categories:

  1. An action step
  2. A project
  3. Reference material
  4. Trash

Evernote holds my reference material. This is information that doesn’t require an action but might be useful in the future. Evernote stores information in “notes” that are gathered together in “notebooks.” As of this writing I have 44 notebooks and 263 notes. Some examples are “Books to Read,” “Erin’s Wedding” (my sister), “Gift Ideas” and “Receipts.”

In this case, I’ll create a notebook called “Instagram Backups.” It will hold all of my photos for me.

Evernote is available across nearly every platform, including Apple, Windows, iPhone/iPad and Android. I wouldn’t want to work without it.

Instagram

The social photo-sharing app is owned by Facebook and on smartphones everywhere (it’s available for the iPhone and Android). It lets you take photos, apply a variety of artistic filters and share easily with family and friends. You can even note where you took a given photo. It’s useful and easy to use.

IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) is the scripting tool I’ve mentioned previously. You can create helpful, automatic little “workflows” without having to know any code or specialized computer programming. It’s my favorite thing to come out of the Internet in a long time.

Putting It Together

The idea here is that IFTTT will notice when you snap a photo with Instagram and place a copy in Evernote for you. This creates a backup and makes that photo available to you across every device that’s running Evernote for you. To get it working, follow these steps.

  1. Log into IFTTT and enable the Instagram and Evernote channels.
  2. Click “Create a Recipe.” The “If this then that” prompt appears.
  3. Click “This” to choose the “trigger.” Navigate to Instagram and click it.
  4. Several options appear. Choose “A new photo by you” and then click “Create Trigger.”
  5. The prompt returns with Instragram in place of the “This.” Now, click “That.”
  6. The “Action Channel” list appears. Click “Evernote.”
  7. Select “Create image note from URL.” This will create a new note in Evernote with your photo attached.
  8. Several options appear. In the field labeled “Notebook,” enter the name of the notebook you created in Evernote. In my case, it’s “Instagram Backups.”
  9. Click “Create Action.”

The screen will look like this:

That’s it! Now, every time you shoot a photo with Instagram, a copy will be sent to Evernote automatically. Nice!

I mentioned that Dropbox was optional. (Dropbox is an online back up service for your computer. There are numerous online back up services available, this is just an example.) If you want to use it as your backup repository instead of Evernote, follow the steps above swapping Evernote for Dropbox (or whatever service you use). Or, make a second recipe with Dropbox to create two backup copies simultaneously. Have fun!

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.


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Aug 23

Put the Internet to work for you with IFTTT

Posted in: automation, ifttt, time savers

“Weren’t computers supposed to make our lives easier?” How often have you heard that question in a sarcastic or exasperated tone? The answer is simple, but unexpected. First of all, yes, computers are meant to make our lives easier. But, the reason it often seems they don’t is because computers are dumb. That is to say, they are machines and can only do what we tell time to do.

That can be a hindrance, such as when you can’t figure out the steps necessary to accomplish a task. But it’s also out greatest asset, especially when the steps are simple, clear and effective. One of the best examples I can think of is automation, and my favorite automation tool is something called IFTTT.

Automate Tasks with IFTTT

IFTTT stands for If This, Then That. You can use it to build actions, or recipes, to accomplish tasks for you. A recipe consists of two steps. The second step is triggered when — and only when — the first steps happens. To put it plainly:

If [this happens], then [do this other thing].

Creating Recipes

Let’s look at a few examples to get a feel for it. I post lots of photos to Facebook. I also like to maintain an archive of those photos outside of Facebook, for posterity and as a backup. I could do so manually, dragging each one to my desktop and then into an app like Evernote. It’s not a hassle, but I’m likely to forget a step. Instead, I have IFTTT do it for me. After signing up for a free account, I’m ready to make recipes. Here’s how:

  1. Click Create a Recipe.
  2. A new screen appears with “ifthisthenthat” in bold letters. Note that “this” is a link. Click it.
  3. Time to pick step one! This is the “thing” that must happen in order for step two to take place. Click “Facebook,” and give IFTTT permission to access it.
  4. Choose your Trigger. This is the thing Facebook must “do” in order to trigger step two. In this example, I choose “you upload a new photo.” Click Create Trigger to confirm.
  5. We’re back to those bold letters, but now the Facebook logo has replaced “this.” Click “that.”
  6. Choose your action from the grid. In our case, Evernote.
  7. Click “create image note from URL.”
  8. Finally, click “create action,” confirm that you see “if [Facebook] then [Evernote]”, click “create recipe” and you’re done!

Now, every time I post a photo to Facebook, it’s added to my Evernote account. It doesn’t matter if I use my phone, computer or camera. Off the image goes to Evernote, saving me time.

Using an Existing Recipe

If you like the idea of the service but don’t want to make recipes, that’s no problem. There are hundreds of recipes to choose from, all ready to go. Some popular ones include:

  1. Send an email message to Evernote.
  2. Get updates on what’s new on Netflix.
  3. Receive the day’s weather forecast as a text message.
  4. Receive an email if it’s going to rain, reminding you to pack an umbrella.
  5. Send starred RSS items to Evernote or Pocket for later reading.

It goes on and on. There’s so much you can do, from receiving or sending reminders, watching certain feeds for changes or, my favorite, completing mundane and time-consuming tasks automatically. Create an IFTTT account, start cooking recipes and see what you can do.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.


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