The relationship Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Dropbox and other web services through the mashup ifttt.com

Get rid of unnecessary intermediate steps to save time

In the analysis of work processes can discover new ideas for improving productivity. If we expand the process in part, will become apparent weaknesses that should be removed or changed.

Let's say you are using Dropbox as a single repository for all files that are received or sent to others. You have to e-mail with an attached file, and you want to send it to Dropbox. To do this, you need to make a number of steps: Start Dropbox, open letter, save the attached file to your hard drive in your Dropbox folder. In this micro process has two key events: receipt of the letter and accommodation in Dropbox file. All other manipulations - are intermediate steps that take so precious to busy people a minute.

Workflow is composed of hundreds of such microscopic intermediate actions, requiring a total of ten minutes every day. Imagine how convenient it would be to delegate to anyone, these intermediate targets and receive the finished result of the micro.

When using Web services a person mediates between them. But we should remember that many Web services are open API and thus can communicate with each other directly. Exists mashups - services that allow to combine data from other services in order to achieve the desired result.

One such tool is the ifttt, which is in beta testing. Use it to connect in a chain of events in the different services, to get rid of intermediate steps, to focus on the key. ifttt service resembles the famous game "Alchemy" - it creates a combination of services to accomplish important tasks.

"If a this is occurred in a single service, the the It occurs in other services "

The formula for this service is encrypted in its name. IFTTT - is an abbreviation of "If this then that" ( «If it is, then it"). Mashup ifttt allows to establish a causal connection between the events in the different services according to the principle, "If this is occurred in a single service, the the It happens in the other services. "

According to the adopted in ifttt terminology, "it" (the cause-event) is called a trigger (trigger), "it" (a consequence-event) - action (the action), usually created by a formula - a task (task), and supported by the services (and some other data sources, which are below) - TV (Channel).

When you create a new task is displayed formula "If this then that". Instead, this and that substituted for the required variables. Clicking on the this, you need to select from the displayed list of channels that service, which will be monitored cause event, and determine how this event. Similarly (after clicking already at that) specifies the settings for the other services, which will be a consequence of the cause event.

In ifttt supported 21 Web service and a number of other sources of data (date and time, a letter to a special e-mail address ifttt, bot ifttt message in Google Talk, RSS-feeds, the phone call, SMS, and even information about the weather at a given territory). Of these services and data sources, you can build dozens of cause and effect combinations.

Consider as an example channel Gmail. For him, there are three trigger: receipt of a letter from some addresses, emails with the specified label and letters contained in the subject or body of the desired keywords. Any of these events can be determined as the cause of the event ifttt-investigation into another service. Channel Gmail supports one action as a consequence of the events, the causes of all the other services - sending a message to the correct address.

Completed tasks as follows.

Currently, the simultaneous execution of ifttt allowed no more than 10 tasks (allowed to create any number of tasks, but at any given time shall be activated not more than 10 of them). This limitation is due presumably with the intention of the developers in the future to monetize the service by Freemium model, offering more features for a fee, or to the fact that the service is in beta and requires containment activity of users on the technical reasons.

You can find a variety of applications ifttt. Here are some of them:

• receipt of SMS-notifications about you are interested in your tweets, Facebook updates, emails, satisfying certain parameters, positions in the RSS-feeds on a given topic and other updates from the various services;
• imports all updates RSS-feed or selected keyword in Evernote, Instapaper and Read It Later;
• fast sending an attachment files in a specified folder Dropbox;
• planning events in the various services on a certain date and time;
• publish posts in WordPress, Posterous, Tumblr via SMS;
• creating audiozametok to Evernote by sending a letter with an attached audio file.

It should be noted that in the coming SMS-messages do not display Cyrillic characters. I reported it to the developers - I hope the problem will be solved soon.

conclusion

Having knowledge of various functions and services sufficient ingenuity, you can create an amazing combination of triggers and actions and to obtain a result similar to magic. A simple and ingenious mashup ifttt demonstrates the power of technology and open systems capable of synergistically interacting with one another.

Let this service will not only increase your productivity, but will exercise the ability to find unexpected relationships between objects and phenomena, even have thoughts about the importance of the analysis of work processes in order to achieve greater efficiency.

ifttt.com