Crocodoc is a web based application that allows you to share and mark up documents online. It is very simple to use and you don’t even have to have an account to use it. You simply upload a document (MS, PDF, JPEG, PNG), share the link with those whom you want to review it, and take a look at their edits. Here’s an example of one I uploaded.

I can see this being helpful with getting feedback from your team regarding registration forms, important letters, and newsletters. My wife proofs all of my newsletters, but because we do not have MS Publisher on our home computer, I can not just email it to her. This way, I could get a same day proof from her without printing it out, taking it home, having her edit it, and then fixing it the next day.

This tool could be beneficial for a church member to look at bulletin/newsletter proofs and many other admin purposes. Of course there is a short 5-10 minute learning curve, but it is a pretty basic and handy tool!

In the administrative-heavy world of Children’s Ministry, the files on your computer are precious. What would you do if you lost forever some of these valuable documents that you use year after year:

• Volunteer applications
• Pictures from previous ministries
• Parent and child letters
• Fall festival to-do lists

I would dare say that many of us are ministering daily with all of this information and more stored on one computer. How many times have you heard of a friend moaning of their computer crashing? What did you say? It won’t happen to you? That’s what your friend said! I decided several years ago, as I was accumulating these documents that I would ensure they were backed up on our church server.

That’s when I discovered Allway Sync. It is a free synchronization program that is extremely versatile. You can simply back up one folder on your computer to your church’s server, a jump drive or an external hard disk or you can go as extreme as creating automatic daily syncs or excluding certain types of files or folders.

I back up all of my children’s ministry files here at church and I back up my school files between my church laptop and desktop at home as well. This program has worked flawlessly since I installed it over 2 years ago. The license allows free use for any personal or non-profit situation and their End User License Agreement leaves the door open for church/non-profit organization use. Do don’t lose those files!